## Statistics Galactic Age: ~888,000 Subjective Age: ~110,000 Homeworld: [[Amantir]] Home Sector: [[Sundered Harmony]] Affinity Groups - [[Past Projects/The Plague Lords/Affinity Groups/Scientists]] - Displaying Genius - Mushrooms & multicellularity - What is Science? - "Recognizing your place as a single cell in a great tapestry" - [[Past Projects/The Plague Lords/Affinity Groups/Politicos]] - Get Wine Drunk & Scream (Politics) - "MUSHROOMS ARE BETTER" ## Goals 1. Prepare the galaxy for the coming of the Big Tree and find allies for your faction. 2. Learn how to blend in with human societies so that you can pass that information through the GMN (Greater Mycorrhizal Network). 3. Find the Plaguesmith. ## Character Notes Once upon a time, a Bureaucrat used this body. She was nice enough, as you recall, for a Bureaucrat. A rising star in that strange interstellar cult, Micelle had such a beautiful name you couldn't help but reach out. Unfortunately, in your earlier years, you didn't really understand human anatomy or neurology very well and first contact was... fraught. Micelle's still in there, you're not a murderer, but she's spent the last three-quarters of a million years on what might be deemed the single greatest acid trip in the history of the galaxy. While she's enjoying a well-earned neural vacation, you've simply picked up the reins of her body's various systems and put them to use. Oh and what a use it has been! You quickly offloaded most of the work of managing this sector to one of your networks, and its done a marvelous job of routing resources to the appropriate areas. You understand that the humans living in this Sector haven't been happy for some time now, dealing with the grand melee they call the [[The Sundering of Harmony|Sundering of Harmony]]. That isn't really your problem, as far as you can tell. The Imperial Bureaucracy is a strange sort of cult; they tirelessly organize the galaxy only to give control to the most destabilizing and disorganized actors they can find. As a result, your method of simply distributing resources based on expressed need has made you one of the most influential and well-regarded figures in the entire Bureaucracy, despite the fact you have no interest in it whatsoever. You want to make a place in the galaxy for your people. You come from a dwarf galaxy orbiting [[Lakh]]. A place incomprehensibly far away for most people and jealously guarded by the servants of the Big Tree, your home is host to a network of fungi and vegetation vast enough to chain the stars themselves. Your sub-species is a sort of airborne spore which specializes in colonizing grey matter without destroying it, which makes you the [[Big Tree|Big Tree's]] preferred diplomats. Normally, you'd be tasked with negotiating for resources from passing Leviathan Cults and the odd void-walking trader -an exceptionally rare occurrence. A few dozen haploids back, however, the Big Tree indicated a need for a new kind of resource; alliance. You and a few hundred other aggregate spore clouds ("Aggies" amongst yourselves) were purpose-bred and launched through space at relativistic speeds. Most died, wiped out by the strange and occult boundaries placed by [[Celestial Empress|Her Majesty]] at the edges of Her empire. You, however, survived. You permeated the boundary and occupied a host. Now, you need to find a way for your people to show their worth, to make allies, and to secure a safer way across the gap between galaxies. You've come to the [[Plague Council]] because it's happening in your house. You were asked (politely, which was odd) by the Saint Bureaucrat to whom you unofficially report (the upper echelons of the Bureaucracy are impossible to navigate) to host this event, and to ensure that House Orman has an heir by the end. You don't really care about that last bit, but such an august gathering is a ripe opportunity for nation-building. There may be some challenges, given that humans are far less interesting than the many kinds of mushroom and fungus you've been cultivating on your personal station, but you're pretty sure you can get through to them. ## Connections 1. [[Attaché Cerul]] 1. "Paxillus Vernalis. At first glance it appears to be a poison, but on closer inspection it's actually a completely *different* poison." 2. Cerul is a clever sort, for one so young and unmushroomlike. They've learned the power of making oneself ubiquitous, though they retain the unicellular perspective which so limits most humans. You're not sure what exactly their end goal is, but you know what it looks like to cultivate a network. Cerul isn't just slapping their name on everything they see, they're connecting themselves to only the greatest and most successful projects. Over time, that's coming to mean that their name is synonymous with that success. You've been watching them for ten thousand galactic years or so, and already you can tell that they're beginning to make themself into a legend. You've tried to strike up conversations many times, but their total lack of interest in mushrooms means you never get as far as you'd like. Will you find a way to connect to the brand icon, or will you remain like mushrooms in the night, permanently separated because you cannot move? 2. [[Speculator Mahlah]] 1. "Tricholoma Arvernense. Deceptive, clever, older than they should be." 2. Mahlah is absurdly, stupidly old. You've experienced many more years than they have, but they have been around longer than some stars. They, unlike almost anyone else in the galaxy, can remember a time before Bureaucrat Micelle was legendarily associated with mushrooms. While you doubt they'd remember enough to realize that the Micelle of today has essentially nothing in common with the Micelle of eight hundred thousand years ago, you still feel a certain healthy caution where Mahlah is concerned. That said, they're one of the galaxy's most useful and influential power brokers, which means you aren't willing to fully avoid them. Perhaps Mahlah's many secrets will give you the tools you need to safely introduce your people to the galaxy. Will you cultivate Mahlah's assistance while keeping them in the dark, or trust them with the greatest secret of their long, long life? 3. [[Spy Morir]] 1. "Labyrinthomyces. A well-concealed delicacy." 2. You don't mean to be judgmental, but Morir is a bit odd. It's not just their pathological disinterest in mushrooms (seriously, what is it with people in this sector?), they also seem weirdly interested in hearing about the [[Imperial Bureaucracy]], of all things. You've known them for half a million years or so, since not long after you colonized this body. For that entire span, any time you've run into one another, they've plied you with questions about this person or that person, and which policies were getting approved or denied, and all sorts of other impossibly dull topics. You've done what you could to supply that information, since what you got back was usually enough for you to pass on to your Bureaucratic handlers pass on to your Bureaucratic handlers as your own work. This arrangement has been fruitful (like a mushroom) for millennia upon millennia. Now, though, Morir will be in the center of your power, poking and prodding. Will the spy's natural curiosity lead them to uncover something they shouldn't, or will you find a new ally in your inconspicuous incursion? 4. [[High Seat Oro]] 1. "Amanita Porphyria. Poisonous, but young and ever-shifting in shape." 2. The high seat reminds you of a mushroom. They're dangerous, but not wantonly so. Unlike many others who attain such lofty positions, they have grown more focused, rather than less, over time. Though they do not yet understand themselves as single cell in a greater organism, you believe that they are at the beginning of that understanding. You suspect that Oro intends some mischief as regards their house, and suppose that the Bureaucrat you once were would have been obsessively documenting the details. That would, of course, be an intolerable incursion on your mushroom-cultivating time. Even so, Oro has shown you kindness and friendship for long years (around 250 KGY, 25 K subjective years), though they only pop up from time to time (like a mushroom). Will you be able to commute the friendship into a place in the galaxy for your people? ## Mechanics Special: Spore-Friend You have been marked by a vast and inscrutable power. You know this power's name, but cannot transmute it into words or symbols. Its name is an electro-chemical impulse, one which melds and mingles with the surface of your body to produce a unique identification signature. Its name is a song and a story and a scientific treatise all at once. You call it the Big Tree. This effect modifies your Asset and Lien, below. Instead of your loyalty being to the Empire and Bureaucracy, your fundamental loyalty is to the mushroom cult which is currently spreading throughout both. Your mechanics are the same, but you can now commit treason without being executed, so long as that treason serves your cult's aims. Instead of being summarily executed, another member of the cult will arrange for your case to be lost, or the witnesses to die, or some other convenience. If you turn against the cult, or reveal its existence, you will be killed. **Asset:** [[Bureau Buddies]] Being a member of the Imperial Bureaucracy is a difficult life full of responsibility and obligation. It is also a source of almost infinite power, when used correctly. Your deep connections and good reputation among the other Bureaucrats give you the ability to make requests, pull strings, and general shift the odds in your favor. Any time you or another character in your line of sight is required to pay one or more Resource Assets, you may declare use of this Asset to reduce the cost by 1. (e.g., a Lien or action which requires the expenditure of 1 Resource Asset may now be fulfilled for free). If three or more characters participate in the action, you may reduce the cost by up to 3. **Lien:** [[Servant of the System]] You are a Bureaucrat first and foremost. Glory, personal comfort, humanity, all of these things are secondary considerations to the fundamental goal of serving the Celestial Empire. Any time you have the opportunity to do something for the good of the empire, regardless of the personal cost, you must do that thing. The only exception is when such an action would constitute treason against the empire, the Imperial Bureaucracy, or the Celestial Empress. If you fail to do so and it is discovered, the Bureaucracy will have you summarily executed.