CDC2 Ancient Wonders: Standing Stones Swap Meet

[Eyrezer]

The build:

The story:

The life of a fungus herder could be a lonely one.

Most mushrooms were skittish creatures preferring the quietness of the deep forest and the solitude of their own kind. Too much sunlight, noise or disturbance and they grew slowly or not at all.

For this reason, fungus herders were often quiet, introspected folk. Some of the most renowned fungus herders in all Historica were the tree-folk of the Enchanted Forest. Tree-folk were often reclusive themselves, sometimes living out their entire lives in the same valley or grove. Their introspective nature enabled the tree-folk to discover the magic of fungi – both metaphorical and mystical: the phosphorescence of gilled Pixie chalices; the healing power of Witches’ Steeples; or the purifying abilities of Spotted Purple Caps, capable of negating evil rot incantations.

Of all the tree-folk sub-races in Historica, the best fungus herders came from the grent sub-race. Although few grent would admit it to outsiders, part of the secret to their success was that they could form symbiotic relationships with many fungi. Tiny fungal hyphae would wrap around grent roots and even penetrate the root interior. The fungus provided its grent partner with minerals in exchange for nutrients and other chemicals the fungus needed but could not produce itself. This skill enabled the grent to intimately monitor the health of their herds and encourage spore growth.

Even grent, however, sometimes needed help propagating their fungal herds.

In a grove within the Enchanted Forest, stood three ancient standing stones. Twice the height of a man, these stones stood in a slight semi-circle. For most of the year they stood grey and largely unadorned; not even moss or lichen marred the surfaces. At the autumnal equinox, however, faint traces of purple and silver runes appeared carved into the rockwork, hinting at a long-forgotten magical purpose.

Uncovering one – likely incidental – use for this magic, the tree-folk had repurposed the standing stones for the annual, highly anticipated fungal swap meet. Grents, other tree-folk and the occasional wild dryad would herd their finest fungal specimens across the forests to this one grove. Under a full moon, the magic of the standing stones would ripen the fungal spores, which spawned in vast multi-coloured clouds. The air seemed almost to sparkle as moonbeams fell on clouds of spores.

The normally solitary tree-folk were affected by the occasion too, becoming almost giddy. They swapped stories and news; traded fungal specimens; and, on occasion, frisky grents even coupled to propagate baby grent saplings.

This particular year, the first to arrive at the standing stones were a small group of grent. There was Ngaio, herding a troop of sharply-pointed Witches’ Steeples; the juvenile sapling Mahoe attending his first meet and showcasing some tiny puffballs, most still waiting for their pinks caps to erupt; and Kawa, corralling a mixed herd of Firecracker white caps and Sour Buttons. They were all good samples and likely to generate plenty of interest when the trading began in earnest.

All focus, however, was on Kauri, or more specifically the magnificent specimen he was showing off.

‹Is that an Ogre’s Eye? I didn’t think there were any left!› said Kawa.

‹Is that actually up for trade?› asked Ngaio.

‹I’ll give you all my puffballs› added Mahoe.

The Ogre’s Eye was a rare mushroom that was pale green in colour and with a large black spot on its crown. From above it resembled a large eye, hence its common name. While striking in appearance, this was not the reason it was causing a stir. The Ogre’s Eye was bioluminescent and soaked through with magic. It was an ingredient in many potions and highly sought after by elves, mages and even Nocturnan necromancers.

Kauri let their excitement wash over him before responding.

‹Hah, no way! I’ve already got a buyer lined up in Cedrica. This one is just for show - I've already removed all its spores. I thought you’d like a look before I make my fortune.›

Kawa looked away to hide his disgust. This was a classic move by Kauri, who loved showing off but also proved damn successful at almost everything he tried. Kawa moved off to inspect Ngaio’s troop, refusing to give Kauri any more attention. Tiny Mahoe, however, was clearly impressed, shuffling up for a closer look.

Thankfully the moment didn’t last long, with another arrival. A hulking tree-man shuffled into the standing stones glade, preceded by a collection of red and white capped -shrooms.

‹Baob, you’ve really packed on the rings› said Ngaio in greeting. ‹You look like you’re ready to go to seed!›

When tree-folk reached a certain age, they gave up their mobility to put down roots.

‹True, I am. This will be my last swap and I’m giving away all my troops in preparation.” Baob was a different sub-race from the grents, a much stockier group known as mallowmen. Three large trunks grew from his hunched back curving outward in gentle lines.

The offer of free mushrooms was enough to entice tiny Mahoe to the newcomer.

‹What is it with everyone going to seed all of a sudden? First Rimurapa, now you› interjected Kauri, shifting his specimen in a transparent attempt to restore attention to him.

‹Rimu’s gone to seed?› said Kawa in shock. He’d always been close to that particular grent and it came as a surprise to hear the wizened mentor had settled down without letting him know.

‹Yes, over by the Notomys’s coast› Kauri preened delivering the news to his rival. He’d intended to wait until there was more of a crowd before doing so, in order to embarrass Kawa in front of more kin.

Hearing that development, Kawa immediately lost interest in the swap meet. While he needed to stay to revitalise his herds, he resolved to visit his old friend as soon as he the meet wrapped up. He wanted to perform the fungal exchange rituals known to ease the transition to a sedentary state – and find out what had caused his friend to seed years earlier than expected.

The herders and their herds:

From left to right: Kauri - the Ogre’s Eye; Kawa - Firecracker white caps, Sour buttons; Mahoe - pink cap puffballs (mature and immature); Ngaio - Witches’ Steeples; Baob - red-capped toadstools, pink-spotted boletes, red hard-caps

Build notes:

Spoiler

Kawa first appeared in my CMF entry here while Rimurapa first appeared in my build Notomys: Fish Tales. The grent names are drawn from native New Zealand trees: Kawa is from both Kawakawa and Pohutukawa; Rimu is a tree while Rimurapa is a seaweed; Kauri, Ngaio and Mahoe are all trees.

The treeman Baob reminded me of the Baobab tree, which is part of the mallow genus; hence “mallowmen”. I was inspired to use this piece as a tree-man from an old build by Sean and Steph Mayo (seen here on Flickr). I’ve looked but cannot find it on the GOH forums themselves. The base part only has 4 studs so it was challenging to get it sufficiently tree-like!

The name “grent” was previously (first?) used by Henjin Quilones and is a Portmanteau of Groot (from Guardians of the Galaxy) and Ent (from Lord of the Rings).

As many will already know, the symbiotic nature between some fungi and plants is a real phenomenon. Here is a very brief description but it is such a cool biological relationship! I decided the word “mycorrhizal fungi” might be getting too scientific for this fantasy world though…

The orange tree uses this technique from Tips and Bricks.

Thanks to those on the Discord server who encouraged me to keep improving the outline of the base. It looks far more organic than my first cut and was worth the extra effort.

A bonus picture of Boab:

Comments and constructive criticism welcome!

Edited November 12, 2021 by Eyrezer
Minor addition to story text; added an additional photo (although some details are different from the final!)

[W Navarre]

I love the minifigs and details that you presented below, that's the highlight for me! That said, all the vegetation in the MOC is great, and the design of the pillars works well. The irregular border works great too, although I do think it may have been better with brown for rich soil instead of tan which looks like loose sand  .

[Umbra-Manis]

Love the vegetation taking over the environment, and the figures!

[Kai NRG]

Great job with the colorful vegetation, it's really fun to spend some time identifying the different parts you've used.  The tree with the semi-circle tiles is quite cool too and I also like the way the stones turned out.  The characters are great too, especially the tree-man.

[Grover]

Really beautiful little build.  Lots of detail here, which makes sense for foliage.  The groot characters are perfect, and the rockman tree is perfect!  Your use of bright colors really works here, and there are some creative parts like the hard hats and the orange half dome bricks.  Good job on the story and the irregular base too!  Look forward to more of your builds!

[Eyrezer]

On 11/1/2021 at 11:44 PM, W Navarre said:

I love the minifigs and details that you presented below, that's the highlight for me! That said, all the vegetation in the MOC is great, and the design of the pillars works well. The irregular border works great too, although I do think it may have been better with brown for rich soil instead of tan which looks like loose sand  .

Thanks @W Navarre! Yes, the figbarf has attracted the most attention on Flickr. I just love those Groot minifigures. I only own the baby Groot in Ravagers uniform so actually borrowed the one out of uniform from a friend for the final build. The vegetation was a fun learning curve for me. Getting it suitably organic is obviously quite the challenge. You are right about the tan but it came down to brick availability. What can you do? (Apart from run off to BL!) 

On 11/2/2021 at 8:58 AM, Kai NRG said:

Great job with the colorful vegetation, it's really fun to spend some time identifying the different parts you've used.  The tree with the semi-circle tiles is quite cool too and I also like the way the stones turned out.  The characters are great too, especially the tree-man.

Thanks @Kai NRG, yes I love a bit of NPU for vegetation - I'm slowly raiding my coral reef build for parts.

On 11/6/2021 at 3:34 PM, Grover said:

Really beautiful little build.  Lots of detail here, which makes sense for foliage.  The groot characters are perfect, and the rockman tree is perfect!  Your use of bright colors really works here, and there are some creative parts like the hard hats and the orange half dome bricks.  Good job on the story and the irregular base too!  Look forward to more of your builds!

Cheers @Grover, high praise indeed for the minifigs. I'm going to keep Boab built for a while as it was a fun challenge to build, especially the leaf sash around the front. Should be a couple more builds and stories on the way soon.
 

Edited November 12, 2021 by Eyrezer

[jtooker]

I love the lore you've set up to go with this piece.  The grent's and their relationship with this part of the world is terrific.  All the mushrooms are inventive.  Great job pulling me into the scene.  The MOC does a great job filling in any details my imagination might require.

[socalbricks]

Excellent work! The work you did on all the fungi and trees is impeccable - I particularly like the "Ogre's eye", the use of minifigure hands for the fungus (?) on the left edge of the MOC, and the orange tree in the back! The use of red construction hats for a couple of the fungis was also creative. The design for standing stones is great as well!

All your grent figures look excellent. Baob is my favorite - he has so much personality, and I really like how you added all that foliage to him! The Rock Raiders rock monster is such a "niche" piece that you rarely see it in MOCs. Its cool that you were able to put it to such great use!

The story is an example of great world-building - it makes the grent culture feel tangible or "real".

Keep up the great work!

Edited December 1, 2021 by socalbricks

[Aurore]

What an amazing display of clever plant and fungi design! I really love how the Grent integrate with the environment, while the sleek design of the stones allow them stand out.

Story-wise, the swap meet is a great idea and I'm glad to see you develop the concept of the Grent Fungi Herders. Little Mahoe and his pink cap puffballs may be the cutest thing in the whole Enchanted Forest! 
Would you mind if I add your fungi to the guide to Historican flora and fauna?

Edited December 1, 2021 by Aurore

[Eyrezer]

Thanks @jtooker! The GoH lore and storytelling is what drew me here in the first place, so very happy to make some small contributions to its growth.

Thanks @socalbricks, much appreciated. Designing the mushrooms was a lot of fun. I had quite a few more as table scraps but didn't want to overwhelm the build. I'm sure some more will resurface elsewhere. The ones on the left with the minifig hands are intended to be the Pixies' chalices mentioned early on. Boab, he warms my heart, too. I've kept that build aside to re-use for another day. 

Thanks @Aurore too. Insightful comment about the composition. I deliberately chose not to add any foliage to the standing stones, but I hadn't thought about the contrasting look you identified. Just lucky! Yes, please do add to the guide. In case you want to add any parts notes, most should be obvious but the puffball caps might be so: Clikits! 

Edited December 3, 2021 by Eyrezer