PRM Faction: Fungus

PRM Faction: Fungus

 The Mycus, also known by the more common name, 'The Fungus', is a hivemind race of homogonous invaders and terminally infected victims.  The fungus does not expend energy trying to 'conquer' areas or organisms; instead it focuses the vast majority of its efforts trying to reproduce as much and fast as possible.  Defense and offense are largely limited to key organisims; typically those that can spread fungus the fastest or coordinate the fungal spread in a rather general manner.  Even the controlling members of the race exist only to aid the spread of the fungus, and those underneath it have even less indvividuallity than the zombies do; being made of one material.  Only a handful of 'true' fungal monsters exist; the rest being victims controlled by the fungus.

 In the core game, there are only 6 types of true fungal monster; the small fungal sprout, the mature fungaloid, the fungal queen, the fungal tower, the fungal bloom and the omnipresent fungal spore.  although many creatures can be affected by the fungal infections, namely (n)pcs, ants, and zombies, the fungus deals outright damages any other organic life their spores touch.  Many fungal structure regularly eject spores, and most will explode into a cloud of spore upon death, leading to several of its attackers becoming fungal monsters or becoming infected.  This will often lead to a cycle of infection, where whole colonies of ill-prepared creatures will die or become fungal spawn.
 This is the strength of the core game Mycus faction.  They spread by dying or being attacked, and even if left in peace, their spores will cover the ground and breed an armada of mindless spore spreaders.  Once one fungaloid exists in an area, it will propogate until the wholre region is unlivable.

 In the PRM mod, the fungus retain much of this strategy.  There are currently only two new types of 'pure' fungus; the tender and the boil.  The fungal boils spawns fungal tenders, while the fungal tenders function as a more aggressive 'defense', injecting fungal spores into wildlife and hunting down disturbances.  Many creatures now have a fungal form, which will also attempt to use physical attacks to spread spores.  Fungus proliferation has expanded to such an extent that, although the fungus dont have much physical prowess on their own, they will amass hordes of infected defenders, such as fungal dionaea, fungal tardigrades, fungal shockers, fungal survivors, and even fungal marloss men.
   The fungus in the mod is more insidious and subtle than in the core game, and they creep into areas with the help infected animals that migrate.  The fungus is a problem that, if left to grow, will become harder to root out with every passing second.  Even after the exsanguination of a fungal queen, the base fungaloids will continue to reproduce and continue to attack.  Every single monster must be purged to end a fungal threat, which unliek zombies, do not require new victims or combat to spread.  Fungus and infected creatures do not share the same faction, though they are not hostile to one another.

 Fungal strength lies in its insidiousness, how it creeps across the land almost as a function of time.  They do not need to fight, and are undoubtedly the weakest combatant of any faction of the game.  They can reproduce without their queen structures, and use native species to spread themselves by controlling the behavior of their still-living hosts.  Their death will eliminate huge threats to other fungal structures, and so are suprisingly some of the most secure encampments of the game.  Fungus is an ever-expanding threat, and when left alone and within the reality bubble for any length of time willgrow to menace whole regions.