Odangi Mushroom (World Guide, Technical) (Patreon)

The infamous odangi mushroom is the spore structure of the aphix odangi fungus native to the swamps of Jevia III. The pale blue, phallic mushrooms appear in clusters of three to five, thrusting up from a cream white lump of fungal mass. Mature odangi in their prime are prized for their sweet, almost candy-like flavor, and their strong aphrodisiac qualities which become quite potent after cooking. Raw odangi are edible, but the glowing blue fluid which gives them their sweetness also ensures that anyone consuming them will find themselves unable to escape the effects of the potent "shroom spoo".

Immature odangi, under about 28 centimeters in height, have no intrinsic value. Though edible, they lack the succulent sweetness of mature examples. Over-aged odangi, over about 70 centimeters in height, are bitter and generally unpalatable. They also lack the aphrodisiac qualities of younger samples. Both immature and over-aged odangi also lack the defense mechanism which has made the species both famous and infamous.

Mature odangi are perfectly passive organisms until the presence of certain mammalian pheromones triggers their defense mechanism. They will then twist their caps toward any nearby source of heat, and ejaculate their blue fluid filling in short, powerful bursts. This sticky shroom spoo instantly adheres to fur or flesh, and quickly morphs into a dangerous, cream colored fungal matter. This immediately begins to grow, and won't stop until it completely covers the victim from head to toe.

In its native environment, odangi-imparted fungalgrowth is relatively slow. Each growing patch will spread to cover between one and four additional square centimeter of the victim's body everyten minutes. This rate depends on how large the patch is, with larger patches growing faster, as well as how much outward growth occurs. These fungal nodules and ridges form as the fungus is allowed to linger, and areas so covered are more difficult to free from the infestation.

Despite tales to the contrary, odangi fungus can be removed from a victim, a fact which allows brave colonists to venture into the swamps and pick them by hand, though not without considerable personal risk. If the shroom spoo splatters on, or the fungal growth finds its way into, any of the victim's body orifices, it will become permanently entrenched. It will regrow no matter how many times removal is attempted, and faster each time. A full covering of fungus therefore becomes inevitable.

Shroom loving colonists on Jevia know to be careful when they go picking. Some take the precaution of wearing some protective clothing to cover their abdominal orifices. Many, however, swear that such precautions don't produce mushrooms as sweetly saturated with shroom spoo as those who pick in the nude. One thing they can all agree upon, is that letting the fungus grow on their bodies feels really, really good. And the more, the better. At least up to a point.

Odangi fungus doesn't actually cause physical harm to its victim prior to full encasement. It does, however, exude an insidious aphrodisiac that it readily absorbed through its victim's skin. As soon as the fungus starts growing upon their body, the victim starts to feel completelyat peace with the world around them, and just a tad bit aroused. At ten percent coverage, inhibitions start to fade away. At forty percent coverage, survival instinct starts to wane. At about sixy percent coverage, the victim feels an insatiable urge to let the fungus fully cover her body. At this point, unless someone else intervenes, and assuming the fungus hasn't entered a body orifice, full encasement is virtually inevitable.

Only when the victim is full encased does the odangi fungus begin to insinuate itself into her flesh. This process is completely painless, and its progress can be gauged by the growth of a spore structure around, and over her head. This flat mushroom spreads out to a diameter of a roughly one meter, and each centimeter of growth coincided with about one percent of the victim's body becoming infused with fungal threads.

It takes about a day for the mushroom cap to fully grow, though the victim becomes a virtual zombie several hours before it finishes. Still conscious, but under the complete control of the fungal stew injected directly into her brain, the creature shuffles about the swamps in proximity to an odangi cluster. Should it encounter an interloper, it will attempt to gently, physically coax the new victim toward a crop of mature odangi mushrooms, and not allow her to leave until she has an ample mass of fungus growing on her body.

So-called shroom-zombies live between one month and three years depending on their circumstances. Fresh shroom-spoo renews them, though they are incapable of obtaining it for themselves. Only by obtaining new victims, and being splattered as the mushrooms ejaculate upon them, can the zombies survive for any length of time. When they do eventually perish, they collapse into a mass of cream colored aphix odangi, and will begin to sprout their own odangi mushrooms withing days.

The only evidence that a particular mass of aphix odangi was once a zombie, and not a product of spores, is the bones that often stick out of the mass, and the bits of clothing or accessories they were wearing when the fungus encased them. Most mushroom pickers who brave the swamps consider it bad form pass up mature odangi produced by formerly zombie specimens. They consider the picking an act of respect, and one which certain risks were acceptable in order to carry out. Not a few lingered within their growing coat of fungus just a bit too long in order to pick such mushrooms, eventually becoming a new patch of fungus to perpetuate what any rational soul ought to have considered a perverse and completely unnecessary side-cycle of life.

In modern times, most odangi mushrooms are harvested in large, automated bio-industrial facilities. Unlike native, naturally occurring odangi, examples produced in this fashion have a far more virulent spoo. The resulting fungal mass grows much more quickly upon its victims, at a rate of ten to twenty square centimeters every five minutes. It is also virtually impossible to remove, insinuating threads of itself into the painlessly victim's skin as soon as it begins growing.

Industrial odangi also lack most of the aphrodisiac qualities of the natural variety, though they maintain the sweet flavor. Odangi thus produced can be obtained in many places throughout the Marian Drift prefecture, always thoroughly pre-cooked to prevent zombifying accidents. These are considered acceptable, if uninspiring by the culinary elite, and thanks to the recent liberalization of xenoexperience law, fresh, natural odangi have made their way onto the market, along with all their attendant risks.

Unknown to the public, the vast majority of industrially harvested odangi are utilized by Vixanti Corporation, and it's Gelitech subsidiary. Shroom spoo is one of the principle ingredients of biogel. It gives the gel its self-healing qualities, and the ability to insinuate itself into the host's flesh, converting it into more biogel while maintaining its functionality with respects to the host body's overall life processes. It's also what converts the hosts body completely into biogel when triggered, either deliberately, or by imbalances within the gel itself.

Cooked industrial odangi are available to the public at the prohibitive price of ¢500 per average, 40cm stalk. Natural, cooked odangi can be acquired for ¢1,000 per stalk. Natural, uncooked odangi are classified as xenoexperience catalyst items, rather than food. They can be acquired for ¢85,000 per stalk, and not a little jumping through hoops owing to their additional classification as aggressive biohazards.

On Jevia, there is a bit of a cottage, pick-your-own tourist industry, where naked guides escort would-be shroom pickers through well maintained swamp environments. There, the tourists can pick mushrooms, feel what it's like to have the aphrodisiac fungus spreading out over their bodies, and maybe even have a carefully managed encounter with the zombie of a previous tourist who wasn't as careful as she should have been.

Relative to many other xeno-peril experiences offered to tourists across known space, picking one's own odangi mushrooms is relatively hazardous. One in fifteen tourist pickers become mushroom zombies on their first outing. That number gradually improves to about one in ninety over six or seven outings, at which point they've become experienced enough to know how to minimize risk without having someone constantly watching over their shoulder.

Though the risk seems quite outrageous, the potential profit to be made is more than enough inducement to bring in a constant stream of prospective mushroom pickers. Trips quickly pay for themselves as tourists become temporary professionals, netting ¢100 per stalk. With each outing netting each picker about 20 stalks, and at two outings per day, the profits add up very, very quickly.