> Why? Can two mushrooms merge to become a bigger mushroom?
Two mushrooms anywhere near each other *are* the same organism, in general.
A mushroom isn't a separate creature. It's the fruiting body (reproductive organ) of the actual fungus. A fungus consists of a network of threads called a "mycelium", which in the case of a mushroom-organism permeate the soil.
A "fairy ring" (ring of mushrooms ruining your lawn) is caused by a type of fungus that puts its reproductive organs only at the edges of its mycelium. Each of those mushrooms belongs to the same creature, just as your fingers aren't separate organisms.
(Ringworm is a fungus whose mycelium permeates animal skin, and the ring shape occurs for the same reason.)
And while visible mushrooms don't generally merge, there are related organisms called "slime molds" which live as single-celled animals most of their lives, but merge to create little fungus-like fruiting bodies at reproduction time.
"John R. Snead" <jsnead_at_netcom.com>:
[form/set substance]
>Is there any particular reason that this spell has been eliminated in so
>many Sorcery revisions? It's always seemed like a useful, but not
>terribly overpowered spell to me, have I missed some massive
>abuse-potential which renders it suspect?
Well, it makes crafts extinct, depending on interpretation. If I have form/set bronze, do I really need to also know redsmithing? Can't I just visualize a sword?
It also allows the cruelest spell short of Tap INT: Form/Set Flesh,
which allows the sorceror to horribly deform and maim his enemies (or
heal them, of course).
- --
Carl Fink carlf_at_panix.com
". . . my purpose is not to examine all the possibilities. My purpose is to
create strife and controversy for no reason." Dave Barry
End of Glorantha Digest V4 #311
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