Mother Fungus

Mother Fungus
Mother Fungus's shrine, shown in #mc-world-news from an unknown location.
Aliases	Eternal Mycelium, Great Connector
Affiliation	Fungal Concordant (Religion)
Physical description
Species	Red Mushroom
Gender	Woman

Mother Fungus is the central figure of the religion founded by GoatWhisperer called the Fungal Concordant. The religion purports that all Mycelium in the world, as well as all red mushrooms, tie back to a single fungal organism, this organism being Mother Fungus.

According to the Fungus's followers, this mycelium even extends to the dirt blocks which permeate the world, and the Mother Fungus is able to know all through Her tendrils which reach every corner of the world. In short, the Mother Fungus is believed to be omniscient. This results in a series of restrictions which adherents to the religion engage in out of respect, including:

1. Refraining from consuming mushrooms/mushroom soup, except as a sacrament as part of a religious ritual. Mushrooms are parts of the Mother Fungus's body, and to consume them as common food is disrespectful to the Fungus. However, the Mother's Chosen on occasion will incorporate fungal ingredients into dishes on special occasions in order to bring themselves closer to Her. Those who regularly consume mushroom soup draw the ire of the Mother Fungus's followers.
2. Respecting the natural world, limiting the level of unnatural landscape in living spaces. It's thought that the mycelium's presence in dirt, especially grass-dirt, contributes to wellness/health as well as mental wellbeing, and may even have anti-mob spawning effects. To eradicate the "green-space" is to put artificial construction above the natural wisdom of the Mother.
3. Building large red mushrooms near places of residence. It's thought that by implanting these larger fungal bodies near the home, the Mother Fungus is able to sense more of the surroundings and is thus able to keep the inhabitant safe. Each mote of mycelial material contains within it a certain level of consciousness from the Mother Fungus, so the more of the fungus is in an area the higher level of consciousness the Mother Fungus has in that place. The singular Mooshroom Island in the southwest (ancestral home of Goatwear) can be thought of as the densest "nerve cluster", almost like a brain.
4. Distaste for brown mushrooms. Red mushrooms and brown mushrooms are mycelial forces of good and evil respectively which permeate the world-- the brown mushrooms belong to a so-far unnamed mycelial organism which exists in opposition to the Mother Fungus. Acolytes of the Fungal Concordant root out brown mushrooms wherever they find them, believing they give agency to the force of evil much in the way the presence of the red mushrooms give agency to the Mother Fungus. The only permissible use of brown mushrooms is to create mushroom soup for sacraments, and even then followers are uncomfortable keeping the mushrooms around, being that they are believed to be evil made corporeal.
5. Recognizing the sanctity of Mooshrooms. Mooshrooms are thought to be the most holy of organisms-- a union of holy mycelial growth within a living, moving being.
   1. Keeping Mooshrooms as domesticated animals in pastures is atrocious to followers of the Mother Fungus (imagine it as keeping angels locked up in a sweatshop making blue jeans.) If a Mooshroom is to be kept in a location, it should be afforded lavish amenities befitting (or even exceeding that of) a player out of respect for their divine origin, and should not be crowded. Followers of the Mother Fungus have a duty to release any Mooshrooms in the world kept in subpar conditions, and better yet to return them to the Mooshroom Island rather than leave them to wander the wilderness.
   2. One of the most heinous acts one can commit in the eyes of a Fungal Concordant acolyte is not even killing a Mooshroom (although that act is incredibly poorly received as well), but shearing one, returning it to life as a simple cow. This is akin to cutting off an angel's wings to a follower of the Mother Fungus, and could stand to break even the strongest friendships.
   3. Interestingly, only a single brown Mooshroom has ever been discovered (see: Mr. Brown), and despite the followers' distaste for brown mushrooms, the brown Mooshroom is seen as one of the most insightful and revered of the Mooshrooms. It is thought Mr. Brown was a prophetic gift from the Mother Fungus-- a cow ingrown with the very substance of evil which allows him to understand the mechanism of evil inside and out and give insight into its nature.