Black Flesh

The **Black Flesh** is a microorganism native to the soil in the Taadži homeland, which mostly lives as a diffuse hyphal mat, similar to fungi when they're not producing mushrooms.

## Names

*Here be names of this stuff in your languages. Fell free to include your writing, IPA, etymology and stuff.*

## Description

In the state of a 'mat', it is entirely a detritovore, eating decaying matter in the soil. In this state, the primary danger of the Black Flesh is as a respiratory illness, similar to mold infestations in houses - The disease is usually not fatal, except in the very young, very old, the immunocompromised, or those already sick with something else. Under normal circumstances, this disease only happens indoors, in houses that are infested with the Black Flesh.

In favorable conditions, the Black Flesh earns its name by becoming a colonial organism. It forms black pools on the surface, from a few centimeters to many meters across. These colonies will still eat decaying matter, but they also become passive predators similar to carnivorous plants - these pools are like tar pits, sticky and sometimes deceptively deep, and produces digestive enzymes when touched.

Anything that stumbles into the pool is likely to become trapped, or struggle away with chemical burns and clinging pieces of Black Flesh.

These colonies will dry up or disperse if conditions are poor, but they have a number of defensive adaptations - they can form a temporary "skin" on their surface in response to extreme cold, heat, or drought, and they respond to fire in unexpected ways.

After a forest fire, Black Flesh colonies will send up tall spires, up to three meters in height. These broadcast spores, similar to IRL mushrooms that are the first signs of life after a forest fire. Hyphal Black Flesh in the soil may send up smaller "fingers" of black from the soil.

## Disease

The Black Flesh is usually a mild respiratory infection under normal circumstances, which can be fought off by the immune system and immunity can develop. However, more virulent strains can have much sore serious effects.

Black Flesh infection usually manifests similar to a systemic fungal infection - Most healty individuals will only experience cold or athsma-like symptoms, while serious cases will progress to a pneumonia-like disease. In particularly unpleasant cases, the Black Flesh gets into the bloodstream, causing organ damage and meningitis.

In the Black Flesh's homeland, this is a seasonal disease, only arrising when the hyphal mats within the soil begin producing spores. The Taadži, with semi-subterranean longhouses in their native land, were particularly prone to experiencing this disease. This was essentially a fact of life, up until the advent of symbiosis: unfavorable weather caused a widespread famine to weaken the immune systems of an entire generation, resulting in a wave of serious Black Flesh infections.

While Black Flesh is usually an acute infection that only lasts until the patient recovers or dies, many immunocompromized people developed chronic infections. A few individuals developed colonies of Black Flesh in their guts, and in at least one case, the Black Flesh mutated into a more benign, symbiotic form. This allowed the infected to digest some rotting or otherwise indigestible foods, in exchange for slightly higher energy requirements and a slightly lower birth rate. The next time a famine came around, the symbionts were more likely to survive, as they had a wider range of nutrients they could rely on. The Taadži, having a tradition of autopsies on notable dead, eventually discovered the Black Flesh was the source of these people's hardiness. In most, there is no visible sign of the symbiosis, except for rare breakouts of Black Flesh on the very old, like IRL actinomycosis.

## Known ways to eradicate

*If you need to explain, you don't need to explain.*

## References

Me lazy. If anyone is not, welcome here as well.