Ardny Tribal Zu'aan

History

The Ardny tribe shares a very interesting history, that molds itself around unarguable survivability. First accounts that explain the origin of this civilization date to the year of 4E 7, when a large group of biologists, engineers, and agrologists were sent by the Xenea Empire to explore and discover the still pretty unknown lush lands of the Naltan Fungi Forest; the group was tasked to collect information on the fungi in the forest, along with the wildlife and the vegetation, and had to regularly write reports to send back to the empire to notify them of their progress in research.

However, something about the Naltan Fungi Forest was different to that set of explorers, be it the dark environment created under the canopies of the trees, where the only source of illumination came from a glowing light blue, nearly neon, species of fungi, be it how time just seemed to pause within that silence, or be it how the faint effects of komorebi called them further and further into those unexplored territories, which made it so that, as the group set up camp, a few seemed to slowly wander alone within the forest, making the numbers dwindle slowly over time.

As we arrive at the year 4E 14, communications between the empire and the expedition group were nearly fully abolished, which made it so that not even the camp itself seemed safe from the unique nature of that forest, since it was also overtaken by the ever-expanding fungi; mold had ruined storage, weapons, clothes, and the few still sane members tried to focus a system of command around order and sanitation, but the vast majority had already embraced what was to come for them: a slow and natural decay that grew despite their best efforts.

They started realizing themselves that resources would disappear the more they actually tried to fight that decay; and leaving was seen as impossible, if one began running from how deep in the forest they had gotten, it would take months to leave it, so the most accurate outcome would be to also decay within that forest, but, this time, alone. As the years passed and the fungi became a fundamental part of that quasi-outpost, the group slowly became a part of the forest itself.

They stopped obeying hygiene rules, their supplies began lasting longer as they took to eating sets of fast-growing fungi from the sides of trees and bushes (not without some initial casualties, of course), they remade their clothing and weapons from what was around them, mycelium strands woven into strings of fabric that were tied together into clothes that, instead of slowly ripping, would only expand over time, and blowpipes loaded with known toxins smeared onto darts.

By the year of 4E 41, any remains of the old outpost had fully decayed, unlike the Ardny tribe, which began calling itself The Mold Covenant, a collective of individuals who are a fair part of the forest just as would be any tree; the zu'aan’s very skin seemed to discolor with their new diet, they carried a persistent wet and muddy smell due to their different hygiene, their breathing seemed to adapt to living around spores, which became more of a shield, if anything, language as they knew it became increasingly irrelevant as a concept, all of which worked almost like their very existence is shaped to be an organ of The Mold Covenant and the Naltan Forest.

Psychology

As time passes, the Ardny lose their fundamental psychological ability of experiencing themselves as discrete individuals, substituting that notion with an idea of the colony-self; this happens all due to the excessive exposure to the fungal biological logic, which erodes their perception of selfhood, shaping a civilization that is integrated to a level beyond any expression of communal unity, where individuals have no choice but to be absorbed into the Covenant.

Personal history, names, and any sort of autobiographical memories, regardless of how important they were to shape one's way of being or the person they've become, fade away, fully replaced by the collective consciousness promoted by the mold. Language as a concept became gradually more and more inefficient for the Covenant; any sort of cognitive process which made language a fundamental part of society, be it self-expression, be it abstract terms, or even communication as a creation of bonds, were seen as unnecessary.

Instead, the Ardny created an epistemology that functioned via identification through smell, since most of them shared the same putrid fungal odor; texture, used as a matter to tell the healthiness of one's skin, for example; and spore density, which was a metric used to tell the distance from another Ardny zu'aan, since their bodies would be able to spread those spores independently. In contrast, if the spore density was dispersed, it was clear that there existed an intruder that was interrupting the forest's cycle.

It'd be unfair to treat the Ardny as emotionless; however, it is, to an equal degree, necessary to regard the loss of differentiation and individuality within emotions that the members of the Covenant feel. Things such as friendship or love require stable individuals that contain at least some grasp of long-term narrative memory, which is something the Ardny left behind. Instead, their attaching bonds develop themselves via a biological cycle of co-dependence, which also impedes them from feeling any sort of concrete grief.

So when a member dies it's less like the loss of a loved one, and more like a small scar that all feel and move on from. This unique development made it so the Ardny are extremely aggressive towards any outsider; their very presence is taken as an interruption to the Covenant's functioning, therefore it is more similar to biological sanitation than any uttered ideology. When individuals happen to wander within that forest, be them other zu'aan or be them kin'toni, they are responsible for the alteration of spore density levels, which equates to dangerous threats.

The level of threat is elevated by characteristics which are more interruptive on a sensorial level. Any perfumed, metallic, or even verbose sort of interruption tends to be dispatched with extreme speed, for example; their ways of aggression too follow fungal logic: it is coordinated, immediate, and unnegotiable. Regardless of an outsider's intention, their very existence is but a contamination. The most common stance taken by other tribes is to see the members of the Covenant as feral, infected, and mindless subzu'aan.

however, many authors tend to observe their hyper-adapted, post-individual state as a very interesting phenomenon that happens with the association between zu'aan and nature, not as if they lost humanity, but as if they've evolved past assumptions of what is necessary for a society, where things such as guilt aren't coherent enough, where responsibility is collective, where choice is secondary, and where anxiety is replaced by unarguable sensors that already know what is a threat, and will simply act upon it as it manifests itself.

Culture

Culture for the Ardny was quite expressionless, not to disrespect their creations, however it would be foolish to speak about them as an attempt to put emotions out into the world, as has already been analysed by their lack of the primary psychological ability to have a perception of self-hood. So, rather than rituals, they have cyclical habits that are either self sustaining or necessary for the very maintaining of their biological logic, which makes them different from other tribes as they do not have any memory preserving practices such as funerals or birthdays.

Their architecture, or the lack thereof, is quite interesting, most of the Mold Covenant chooses to reject permanent structures such as their fallen outpost or well constructed houses, simply choosing to take what the forest provides for them as a home instead, sleeping almost like fungi were to be their blankets, hollow trees, rot cavities, or dense mycelial mats all served as homes for them; modifications to those spaces were quite rare and often done within that natural cycle of the forest, such as by encouraging fungal growth as a matter for ecological adaptation.

They rejected fire fundamentally, it was seen as one of the biggest threats for the covenant's functioning in fact, as for light, they chose to utilize bioluminescent fungi as an alternative, and, even then, it was never used as a symbol or a decorative accolade, more-so for darker areas where the tree's komorebi didn't reach, so that the Ardny could be able to better guard their ecosystem; Furthermore, if it wasn't for their obligation to protect the forest, they probably wouldn't even light things up as they do, considering how they saw darkness as neutral instead of as an actual threat.

Clothing, as has been mentioned in the History section, is often made by the weaving of mycelium into fabric; which is done nearly the same regardless of gender, constructed around one's body for protection, which makes their fashion quite unique, with clothes that instead of ripping and weakening with the passage of time just tended to expand themselves along the zu'aan's body. Other than usability, no sense of style was really developed amongst the Mold Covenant's default clothing, things like mud, mold, and fungi were basically an extension of their bodies anyway.

So it could barely be considered clothing, its fairest comparison being camouflage suits, since it's one of the most useful tools they have for their defense. Their diet varied a lot from the usual one encountered in zu'aan tribes, being based entirely on the consumption of mushrooms, mold, and even spores; there didn't exist agricultural practices, storage piles, or even a scheduling for the meals, it worked as simply as walking up to a colony of mushrooms and eating a couple.

It is not considered harming the forest since the Ardny knew their feces and their very own corpse would give all the nutrients back anyway. The identification of food by smell, texture, and a developed instinct they grew to know which sets of fungi were edible or not, in their transition stage to what is now the Mold Covenant there were a number of casualties to be able to develop that knowledge. Overall, their culture serves the objective to maintain the metabolic cycle of the forest, and it does that pretty well, almost like the Ardny became another chemical element within the biology of that system.

It is not expressive or emotionally strong as examples from other tribes, but it serves its one purpose well to the extent it's able to.

Government

It has been made quite obvious by the previous descriptions of the Ardny tribe that they lack any expression of a formal organized government; that absence creates a system (even that word seems to be dishonest to the Ardny's political functioning) that works despite its absence of any leaders, councils, elders, laws, institutions, or any sort of political entities in any degree, however, that absence doesn't part from anarchist methods or principles, instead it parts from how the Mold Covenant encounters itself in a strong post-government reality.

Where the very concept of governance doesn't exist due to its irrelevant additions to the forest's metabolism. If we are to discuss the regulation of that society, it is done fully via the biological logic of feedback factors, where things that are positive or additive to the health and spread of the covenant (such as a dead body) are allowed, whereas something that interrupts that functioning is seen as a threat and the Ardny act as the very antibodies combating the potential pathology.

Even the set of actions taken isn't debated or chosen, in fact they don't need any sort of leadership, it's all but an automatic array of coordinated attention, the best example being intruders (better explained in the Military section). When it comes to decision-making, that is also a concept already far from individual conscience or verbal skills, falling back into the logic of non-personal collective responsibility, this is best illustrated during the pregnancy of female zu'aan within the tribe (even that is done in an apathetic manner.

Simply seen as a phenomenon necessary for the maintaining of the Mold Covenant, no accomplishment or family bonds were ever established), where many members would be responsible for having increased watch time over pregnant members, to make sure their food and water supply can be restocked without the pregnant individual's effort. Internal conflicts are almost null due to the abolishment of individuality, and in the few times where they don't dissolve quickly, members that are causing the conflict, be them children, elders, or adults, simply get executed on the spot.

Since, for example, an increase in the voice's volume, or physical agitation, is something that would disturb the spore density in the air, the other members of the Mold Covenant quite simply see the members in conflict as a threat, even if they are a part of the Covenant, treated as if they've devolved before the tribe's integrated state, leading to their killing, which is justified as a manner to integrate them back into the biological cycle. Other tribes see this system as brutal, chaotic, and savage, something uncivilized in what is more regularly seen during the Twilight Age.

Which leads to a lot of condemnation towards this collective consciousness functioning, especially towards the killings that happen regularly to anyone who dares challenge the forest's biological logic, seen as an undemocratic set of policies.

Military

Their military operates itself in a post-institutional method, instead acting as an extension of their biological notions, which makes it so the military doesn't conceptualize itself as a separate entity; no army is maintained in a formal sense, there exists no proper hierarchy amongst them, their military exists within the environment, defense is an automatic immune response, it's simply the organism responding to an antigen; all of this makes it so aggression passes an ideological state into a natural one, one that acts as a reflex with the objective of maintaining ecological balance.

For those who choose to challenge the Ardny, they will experience what would be like to fight the forest itself, for the Covenant fully embraces their environment as a method of near invisibility, coating their bodies in mud, spores, leaves, and decaying biological matter, which, when combined with their discolored skin, allows them to achieve concealment from sight very effectively, especially at night. Fighting the Mold Covenant is regarded as a hellish experience, their forces disappear extremely effectively into the patterns of nature.

And, even in a situation where one is able to fight back, it'd be nearly impossible to tell the remaining numbers, or to even distinguish a body from another, or one from a simple part of the biome; so even if an invading force is able to keep up a good fight, as long as they remain in the forest they will never truly be safe. This silent yet biologically hostile logic also extended to their weaponry, which is able to pack quite the punch even with its simplicity.

Their most utilized weapons would be blowpipes, those able to shoot darts that are near invisible while in movement; those same darts, when smeared with poisonous toxins, could be lethal by themselves, or enough to paralyze an opponent, which allows the Ardny to embrace their fungi-selves, tearing the incapacitated body to shreds, being themselves the decomposers of something still alive. Furthermore, they'd develop the skill necessary to use their spores as a defensive method as well.

Hence, many fights ended quietly, without any confrontation, show or chase, just people going into the forest to rot. Their coordination works almost perfect for a non, hierarchical system, they just react to spore density and disturbances in the environment as practical signs to react to; movement seems to be synchronized by nature, where the Ardny just grab weapons and move quietly towards the danger, which makes them scarily fast, they act without at all hesitating, negotiating or deliberating.

Moreover, if a death happens as a result of a fight (an intruder or a member of the Ardny), the consequences of the fight would only see the Mold Covenant nourishing itself; corpses are dismantled, seeded, and piled in decomposition areas, thus, they are simply given back to the metabolic cycle, each death is nothing but nourishment It is different from both practices that seek to mourn and those which try to hummiliate the dead, it is simply taken as biological matter to recycle and sustain the covenant.

Religion

Now, when describing religion, it is crucial to differentiate what is done by the Ardny from faith, while for many foreign tribes their practices are seen as rituals that derive from a very strong dogma; however, that view fails in being comprehensive of the fact that most of the Ardny's, and by extension the Mold Covenant's, practices act as the process of integration that those zu'aan have undergone as a means to be absorbed into the forest's metabollic cycles; practices that make it look as though dogma from an outside point of view might include biolum tending, and decomposition zones.

Alongside practices around all natural and collective feeding, which leads to this contrast that seems to mimic doctrine but lacks the mental structures needed for a religion. It'd only be fair to give a fair description of why the examples previously cited may be very associated with the idea of doctrine, things such as the decomposition piles or common killings that might take place amidst the Covenant are seen as morally absurd, and could only be explained under justifications that are rarely seen outside of extremely faithful societies.

This is emphasized due to the tribe's formality through casual repetition, where the reactions to these practices are basically non existent; this characteristic is one usually attributed to rituals. However, as has been stated, these practices distance themselves from religious practices, this is explained because their management happens solely due to its purpose to maintain the ecological balance within the forest's ecosystem, there is no appeal made to supernatural agents, iconography, or any recreational practices as a means to achieve deeper spiritual understanding.

The actions are just seen as physiologically needed; this same biological logic is the purpose behind the repetition that, as previously mentioned, is often associated with ritualistic purposes. Another set of practices that makes the metabollic logic of the Mold Covenant get commonly associated with religion is their set of naturalized rules, which almost seem like moral codes or taboos, but once again, it serves no other purpose than the very ecological maintaining of the forest.

This set of "rules" are some that, when put in a concrete manner, really leave no room to any spiritual interpretation, when things such as trampling mold (which is, as previously mentioned, a food source), which may lead to the formation of an unwanted fungal mat to be spread over it, or trampling other things such as seedy sources for glowing mold, which is necessary to light up some darker areas of the forest, all of this operates similarly to their human antibody notion.

Overall, the Covenant's forest logic once more surprises authors by transpassing notions associated with zu'aan societies, creating a system that can be associated to religion and doctrine but undeniably functions without any symbolic mediation, narrative-making, moral code, divine deity, or whatever characteristics are done as a means to justify the existence of the plurality of religions amongst the zu'aan, allowing the Ardny to once again serve as an amazing example to show the consequences of breaking the barrier between zu'aan and nature.

Miscellany

Nearby Groups

Unknown

Unknown

Unknown