Deathsglove

The video is of several slime molds and fungus in time lapse. The slime mold in particular influenced my ideas for the subject of this post. As I was going over the final comments on Whom the Gods Hate, I picked an entry for readers to chew on while they wait for the release of the book. Deathsglove makes an appearance in the upcoming book but I don't go into as much detail in the book as I do in the glossary. This is common with the flora and fauna of the world of Tanavia. I typically have a much lengthier description in my glossary than anything in the narrative. I do this mainly because it wouldn't really fit the flow of the story to stop and have the characters discuss the history of a particular flower or fish but I use it for my own reference to the world. Sometimes the characters might discuss something about a plant or animal at length if it seems natural, but more often than not they don't.

Deathsglove – the name given to a species of lichen that is highly aggressive and omnivorous. Deathsglove was only discovered in the last hundred years. It lives in natural caves formed underground by flowing water. The lichen is a single organism in each cave system it inhabits. It can flow slowly over time through the smallest cracks and will do so if it senses nutrition in another cave system. There is a history of a cave village at the base of the Grey mountain range in Ledina. The whole village was destroyed by the deathsglove organism that made it into their cave system. All that remains in the village are its structures--even the lichen left the village once it leeched all the nutritive elements within it. Deathsglove is a pale green color, often mistaken for white. It looks slimy and innocuous, lining cave walls and floors. Its appearance belies its extremely dangerous nature. It is highly toxic, delivering strong neurotoxins on contact, rendering them unable to move within seconds. It can be alternately sticky and slippery depending on its needs. For instance, when lining a cave floor it might make that part of itself slippery. Once its prey has slipped and fallen onto a larger patch, it will change its nature to become so sticky nothing has been known to escape it. It then proceeds to slowly devour its prey, covering it completely over time. The prey generally dies within a few days of being captured. The deathsglove has been known to allow the prey to rot, leaving parts of the body so as to attract further prey. Nothing is above being eaten by deathsglove. Everything from small flies to humans are consumed by the lichen. Deathsglove is one of the reasons people now avoid dwelling in caves on Tanavia. Any opening that may lead deeper into the earth could potentially be a passageway for the deathsglove to traverse. Once tales of the lichen spread, people became wary of it. It invades slowly enough that once noticed a mining operation, for instance, can shut down in time to escape harm. Caves that have been known to house deathsglove are marked heavily with carvings all around the entrance. Even if it looks as if the lichen has been gone for years, these caves are only used with great caution, as the lichen can re-infest at any time. Deathsglove cannot poison a person through heavy boots and thick clothing that has been treated with the sap of the iron bark tree. However, the lichen need only touch its prey directly on its skin for a second for the toxin to get into the system. The lichen can leech through untreated clothing without much trouble. The neurotoxin is highly valued by hunters, though gathering it has a high mortality rate. Understanding this, only those wishing to harvest from the lichen brave the caves with the warning symbols carved on them. Gatherers always go in groups of two or more, since there is no known way to escape the deathsglove once one has been captured. Those captured are killed by their partners to avoid the agony of a days long death.