Blue Blight (Blighted)

“Stachybotrys Chartarum. Because of misinformation, S. chartarum has been inappropriately referred to as toxic black mold. A variety of health problems have been misattributed to S. chartarum.”

The fingerprints of Chartarum only appear black to humans, though. Sporebound who view it see it for what it is: Blue glowing mold, otherworldly, that should not be there.

S. Chartarum has a hard time competing with other fungi. Mycelium win in the forest. Psilocybinia and Penicillium win in decomposition and mushroom cultivation. Chartarum therefore requires their absence. Drywall and buildings devoid of nature, but left to neglect and decay. Food and bodies that cannot decompose naturally. The absence of the influence of Psilocybin and other psychedelics on people.

Chartarum requires a lack of nature, urbanized yet neglected areas. Concrete deserts and leaky roofs. It requires a world too toxic for the other Mycos to thrive. It requires a crushing of human curiosity, a disdain for nature, an uncaring eye towards the downtrodden. In the most selfish and greedy among the humans, it has found an unwitting host to carry out their will.

For most of Earth’s history, the Blue Blight has been pushed to the margins, unable to compete with the fungi of the other Mycos in the natural world. In the modern, industrialized era of urbanization and runaway capitalism, Chartarum has found an unlikely ally: the very humans who need that natural world in order to survive, but are willing to sell it out for their short term personal gain.

Chartarum has become very good at harnessing humans with those selfish tendencies, and in the past couple centuries has built a global empire consuming the world. Most of the humans involved have no idea the connection to the Blue Blight, and those that do are so controlled by the mold that it no longer matters.

At the base of the pyramid, most of the people working for the Blue Blight aren’t actually infected at all, and won’t read as Blighted. For them this is their day job, how they put food on the table, or just something they got pulled along for. They might be naturally greedy, or selfish, which makes them great candidates for being infected one day. But if it’s just a job for them, they’re more likely to let things slide. Evil and corruption do not require most involved to be compelled by evil and greed; it only requires that common people keep the gears grinding, and ignore what’s being ground up.

The ring leaders for different groups are Blighted, controlled by the Toxic Blue Blight. The Blue Blight chooses more charismatic people who are selfish, greedy, and can be manipulated towards their ends. The mold controls them subconsciously, influencing them, but not consciously. They are stronger, faster, smarter than humans, but they don’t realize it.

Sporebound can recognize Sleepers by their glowing blue eyes, but Sleepers cannot recognize them, as they know nothing about the Mycos or this struggle. However, that doesn’t give the Sporebound a free pass to hang around Sleepers causing trouble. If they linger too long, get too close, the Sleepers will get a sense that there’s something off about the Sporebound, that they’re trouble, worth hassling and looking into.

“There is an idea of a Patrick Bateman; some kind of abstraction. But there is no real me: only an entity, something illusory. And though I can hide my cold gaze, and you can shake my hand and feel flesh gripping yours and maybe you can even sense our lifestyles are probably comparable... I simply am not there.”

Some of the Blighted are important enough for the Blue Blight to control directly, infecting them consciously and subconsciously. They might think they’re allied with the Blue Blight, but in truth the Blight is in charge.

These Blighted aren’t to be messed with willy nilly. They’re incredibly powerful, and can recognize Sporebound by sight. They have access to powers that can destroy a Sporebound.

Luckily for the Sporebound, the direct control of the Controlled is at odds with their ability to pass as human. They’re the classic eccentric billionaire, the deranged leader who has trouble dealing with the common person. If Sleepers weren’t masked to it, they’d know something is off, but the Blue Blight hides this from them. A Sporebound will spot them right away by the blue mold creeping all over them. They’re unlikely to be spotted, however; besides carefully orchestrated interviews, they’re hidden from the outside world, behind a curtain of assistants and security. The Consumed are at the root of the rot, but are the hardest to gain access to.

Sporebound do not want to commune with the Blue Blight, but the Consumed might. If a Sporebound falls upon bad enough luck, it might decide to commune for them. A Blighted who has captured a Sporebound may leave them unconscious (or dead) with the Blue mold, and something unfortunate will probably happen to them.

The Lackies and Sleepers cannot intentionally commune with The Blight – they don’t even know of its existence.