Noxi (Micelium)

NOXI

They are not animals.

And they are not quite intelligent beings.

They exist somewhere in between.

Imagine three states of life:

- living creatures;
- fungal organisms;
- the residual memory of life.

These little beings are born at the intersection of all three.

They are literally a fragment of mycelium in which an imprint of a soul has accidentally taken root.

***

They cannot be tamed. They choose their keeper themselves.

You can feed them.

You can catch them.

You can lock them up.

But they will live alongside only someone they have chosen to accept.

***

When they die…

they do not leave a body behind.

They gradually turn back into a mushroom.

Sometimes after a month.

Sometimes after a hundred years.

No one yet knows what determines the timing.

And if that mushroom is nourished again by the right mixture of spores, life magic, and decay magic…

a new little one is born.

But it is no longer the same one.

It is like a new personality grown from an old memory.

***

Noxi - a reference to their twilight nature and their connection to Dalamar.

***

Noxi can be found throughout the fungal world: some live near Axylin and steal Ginger's food, some carry off Kirt's arrows, some doze in the library dust of Dalamar, and others accompany travelers.

***

Their color is determined by the mushroom that was brought to life.