Goriah

Art by Colin

## Background

Goriah grew up deep beneath the ground in an Underdark city of Myconids, a sentient, bipedal race of fungi, ruled by a house of Myconid Sovereign lords. Goriah was groomed as he matured to be a druid of the Underdark. Helping defend their civilization from the monstrosities that lie in the dark. However, tales brought in by traveling bands of dwarves ignited a curious spark within Goriah; causing his fascination and wonderment of the surface world to grow with each passing season. However, Goriah's dreams of traveling to the surface were dashed by not just his own mentor, but the Sovereign lords themselves, who all share a collective conscious; a hive mind due to their proximity to the Sovereign's spores that flooded the cavernous interiors of the Underdark like pollen in the spring. They saw traveling so far away from their kingdom as a betrayal of duty, and reprimanded Goriah for such thoughts, demanding him to never think of the surface again, and think only of his duty. Goriah grew to resent his lords, but had to repress his emotions and thoughts due to the collective conscious being capable of reading into Goriah's secrets.

During one particular patrol, during the aftermath of strong seismic activity causing tunnel systems to shift and shuffle about, Goriah found himself traveling down a tunnel away from his patrol group, and his mentor. By some sheer miracle, deep inside the tunnel, as Goriah mapped, Goriah discovered a beam of light through a crack in the ceiling. Goriah, curious, approached and discovered, by some incredible chance, that this light was indeed from the surface. Goriah used his druidic powers to break through the wall, and traveled upwards. After seeming hours of traveling up this small tunnel that seemed to reflect this strange light, Goriah clawed his way out of the damp, crowded underground and onto the surface, where the Myconid only dreamed of being.

As Goriah surfaced, it entered into what appeared to be a forest as the sun was setting. Goriah explored the forests and saw the many animals and flora that itself did not understand at first, as the surface was so wildly different from the Underdark. Goriah learned as much as it could from the surface environment, and decided to spend his first night among the trees and animals, a decision which would cause him to learn a terrible setback. Upon resting, Goriahs eyes were assaulted by bright rays of light as the morning sun arose from the horizon. Due to Goriah's species being from the Underdark, where they evolved to see in none to low light environments, the sun blinded Goriah simply being in its presence. Goriah took this opportunity to hide deeper into the brush of the forest until it found shelter back into the hole it dug from. Goriah was then presented a choice; to return home and accept punishment for his abandonment of his druidic duties, or never return home and live on the surface.

Goriah pondered this thought, and as the sun set again, Goriah understood what this strange celestial body was and gained a better understanding of the world, but Goriah wished to know more. It set out to find the deepest darkest canopies of the forest and began to meditate. Goriah, now absent from the presence of the overwhelming Sovereign Lord's spores, Goriah's mind began to become clearer and clearer. Goriah wished to break the chains of his origins that shackled him to what it perceived it's destiny to be, seeing it as an illusion of servitude. Goriah then decided that it should finally decided to choose its druidic circle, which would have been decided for him upon reaching an older age in his society. Goriah meditated in different spots of the woods, hoping to find an answer which it itself could not hope to find, to consult the elements he found himself in. It did this for several hours until nature itself responded to Goriah; with answers that now have become clear to Goriah, it began the arduous process of assembling the pieces needed to initiate Goriah into the Circle of the Land, alone , to be an emissary of the woods and use its powers to defend the delicate balance of the natural and civilized worlds.

## Appearance

Goriah is a member of the Myconid race found in the dark depths of the Underdark. Myconids are a race of sentient bipedal fungus with glowing eyes and fibrous mycelia skin, which was a material that appeared like condensed root systems that formed complex joints and limbs such as fingers, arms, eyes, and more without the use of harder materials found in other organisms such as bones, while also greatly reducing their weight. Myconids themselves resemble several different families of mushroom from all types of species, Goriah itself resembles that of a sub-species of Portobello mushrooms.

Goriah itself, is a Portobello mushroom myconid standing at around 4'3 with glowing sea-green eyes and a pale-tan complexion coloring his mycelia skin. Goriah wears a simple cloak made of leaves and fibers that he took from his forest that stretches down to around its knees, but sometimes wears various armors underneath the cloak to remain out of sight, which it had recently wore Dire armor underneath. Goriah likes to keep its appearance simple when it can, but Goriah also sports some amount of accessories on its person; of which it carries a pair of shaded lenses that greatly reduce the severity of the suns rays on its eyes, which it purchased in Sundaria, as well as a variety of trinkets during its adventures. Goriah is also accompanied by a party of three small forest spiders, which it thinks of them as pets; the spiders names are Tim, Tam, and Tom, and usually hide underneath of Goriah's mushroom cap, but sometimes slide down on strings of spider-silk resembling the appearance of a cork hat to a degree.