The Poison Forest of Amdapor

[LuckyFish]

The first time I entered Amdapor I was struck by the beautiful but alien terrain. The giant puff balls, spores filling the air, the insect webs, those weird floaty-spinny things...I wanted to know more, so I checked the lore book. Unfortunately, all that said was that its earth aspect had waned recently, allowing access.

That's not a lot to go on, but I think I have a theory on what's really going on with the fungus of Amdapor.

As alien as the fungus is, I've seen a place a lot like this before: The Poison Jungle, from Nausicaa and the Valley of the Wind. The Poison Jungle is a vast hellish forest of fungi and insects where toxic spores choke the air. It's also, contrary to appearances, not a sign of corruption but of healing. The insects and fungi are gradually cleansing the earth of the nuclear, biological, and chemical fallout of a long-ago war, and eventually will make the world habitable again.

I wonder if something similar isn't going on in Amdapor.

Thoughts on this?

[DJMau]

Now that you mention that place, I kinda wonder if everything there's been mutated due to prolonged exposure to the void via Diabolos...if that sort of thing is possible. Not too keen on the characteristics of the void

[LuckyFish]

I had a bit more to say but ran into a word count limit. (???)

I was going to say that plants seem to be (generally) aspected Earth, and the description of the Earth Hell suggests that molds and fungi are Umbral Earth. So perhaps the fungi are not just mutants, but a carefully cultivated project of the Elementals to drain away the Void energy in a more healthy way. If they were actually a product of the Void, I think we would find some inside but they abruptly stop at the door.

[Shadotterdan]

I was actually thinking along different lines. We see some of the effects of high end white magic in some of the Amdapor dungeons, but I think that the giant growth of organism that are usually either very small or even microscopic is a result of white magic. Whether due to some unforseen event or a planned act as a defense measure, it shows what kind of abominations something one thinks of as only good can create.

[StarDrake]

I had a bit more to say but ran into a word count limit. (???)

You can actually get around the character limit by editing your post afterwards. Goofy, but it is what it is and won't be mod punished.

Anyway, I noticed the similarities between Amdapor and the various fungi forests of Nausicaa immediately, and I very much suspect Amdapor's design is a nod toward Nausicaa. There's no direct lore on where the fungus came from, but it wouldn't surprise me if it turned out to be a stage of natural cleansing. Amdapor has been described as being "reclaimed by the forest", so it seems as if what's going on there isn't totally anathema to the natural process of the Shroud.

[Okamimaru]

i figured it was lower than the surrounding area located in a giant tree stump in a swamp... seems natural that it would develop molds and fungus and creatures attracted to that sort of environment