Fungal infections



Fungi are crucial participants in the peculiar Qud ecosystem, and play a central role in the game's main quest.

Fungi are perhaps most notable for their infectious spores, which may spread to the player and other creatures.

Carrying a fungal infection endears the host to fungi across Qud, significantly improving their reputation with the Fungi faction. Infections may be considered symbiotic or parasitic depending on the scenario. For example, a fungal infection on the main weapon hand could prevent a from attacking as effectively as they previously could and provide little benefit. However, a infection on the arm might be considered a valuable asset to a player that desires to learn new secrets about the world of Qud.

Common Varieties of Fungal Infection
Fungal infections are spread by the spores of the, , , and.

There are four common fungal infections. Each infection is spread by a particular color of brooding puff, but the association between puff and infection is randomly determined for each playthrough, so there is no easy way to know ahead of time which type of infection one will get from a particular brooding puff.


 * - Emits a cloud of fickle gill spores in response to damage
 * - +10 Cold resist, grow occasionally
 * - 5% chance of revealing secrets upon entering a new zone
 * - +10 Electrical resistance, -5 Heat resistance

Effects
All infections also grant +200 reputation with Fungi and -200 reputation with the Consortium of Phyta. This is removed when the infection is cured.

Modes of Transmission
Fungal infections are obtained by contact with fungal spores.

When a creature who is not with the Fungi faction (for players, having less than  reputation) enters any of the 8 tiles surrounding a, the puff will spew its infectious spores into the air. The spores act similar to a gas, and will generally linger in the air for around 60-100 turns. Any creature or player that is in the same tile as fungal spores must make a toughness save each turn (difficulty 10) or become afflicted with itchy skin, which eventually leads to the fungal infection after 2-3 days.

Drinking or eating  does not help in fighting off itchy skin, but certain cooking effects can give temporary immunity to itchy skin or remove an existing itchy skin effect. For details, refer to the itchy skin page.

Fungal spores can also be expelled by any creature that hosts a infection, and those spores may in turn infect other creatures.

 Fungal Habitats  Fungi spawn in zones that are randomly generated with a fungus patch, fungus grove, or fungus forest postfix. These zones can appear in any biome, including under ground, though they are somewhat uncommon. When such an area spawns in the world, it is typical for multiple connected zones to each be populated with fungi.

Fungal zones have a recognizable type of blue grass. They are also filled with and, which, though harmless themselves, can often obscure the visibility of nearby brooding puffs. It is also common for fungal zones to include creatures that are infected with one or more fungal infections. These creatures often have the and friend to fungi postfix on their name.

Curing Fungal Infections
The Corpus Choliys contains the cure to many known diseases and infections in Qud, including fungal infections.

The fungal infection cure recipe is randomized for each playthrough, but will always have the same general structure. To cure a fungal infection, one must:
 * 1) Eat a raw corpse of a random worm-like creature.
 * 2) Spray a mixture of  and one other random liquid onto the infection.
 * 3) * This step must be completed within 100 turns of consuming the corpse.

The worm-like corpse required to initiate the cure will always be one of the following:

The liquid required by the cure will always be a 1:1 mixture of and one of the following randomly chosen liquids. The mixture must be put into a and applied to the infection.

Additional Methods of Losing an Infection
In addition to completing the cure described in the Corpus Choliys, a creature may also lose a fungal infection by:
 * Having the infected limb dismembered.
 * Cooking a recipe that temporarily grants a mutation which equips a natural weapon into the infection's body slot.
 * For example, cooking with can grant Quills, which temporarily equips  to the body and will remove any fungal infection from that slot. Mutations that do not force unequip worn items do not work for this.

Relevance to the Main Quest
is a unique fungal infection that the player contracts during the game's main questline. As part of the Pax Klanq, I Presume? quest, the player is given a choice of which body part they would like to be infected with. Unlike other fungal infections, cannot be cured by using the recipe in the Corpus Choliys. It can only be cured by completing its associated quest.

Benefits and Detriments
There are many benefits to hosting a well-placed fungal infection on the body. However, there also some notable drawbacks.

 Benefits 
 * acts as a 2d3 unarmed weapon with unlimited strength bonus when it is contracted on a weapon hand.
 * This is the most powerful unarmed damage available to mutants (equivalent to the damage of a carbide hand bones implant).
 * provides a constant source of secrets, including rare and sought-after secrets such as the locations of legendary merchants. Hosting multiple mumble mouth infections at once can result in a vast amount of new knowledge, and open up interesting opportunities to explore lairs and ruins.
 * provides a continuous supply of . These can be used as healing tonics.
 * Significantly improves one's reputation with the Fungi faction.
 * Grants bonus armor (AV), and in some cases, additional elemental resistances.

 Detriments 
 * Prevents a host from equipping items to the infected body part.
 * For creatures that prefer to fight with a weapon, an infection on the weapon hand can be particularly problematic.
 * Seriously harms one's reputation with the Consortium of Phyta faction.
 * Several notable NPCs that the player will encounter during the main quest are part of this faction and may become hostile if the player's Consortium reputation is too low.
 * All fungal infections have a low AV bonus compared to the AV (or DV) bonuses granted by high-tier equipment.
 * has a particularly notable penalty to DV and quickness.
 * can spread between a host and the host's companions or Temporal Fugue clones, which can lead to many infected body parts over time.