A colossal, intelligent fungus that engulfs the far firthan end of the bridge.
It is a wild forest of tendrils, mushrooms, and various other growths, many of
which are edible or provide other important material to Longbridge.
Features
The Bridgehand earned it’s name for the shape that it makes as it grows around
the top of the 11-firthan pillar. From a distance it appears overwhelming
purple, but any colour can be found somewhere inside. For miles, the bridge is
dominated by a wild forest of tendrils and mushrooms, sometimes taller than
some of the buildings in Longbridge. These structures grow tallest near the
edges of the bridge, leaving the central street relatively passable, until you
get too deep into the forest and the thicket becomes impossible to navigate.
Unlike most mycolids, the Bridgehand doesn’t appear to produce spores. It
simply grows longer, taller and denser as it ages, apparently drawing
sustenance from somewhere on the ground. The Bridgehand grows very quickly and
yields many useful resources; it is a critical source of food and materials,
and life in Longbridge would be much harder, if not impossible without it.
Near the stones, long winding tendrils sprout from a thick carpet of hyphae
and tangles of smaller interwoven vines. Some tendrils end in a round nodule
about the size of an orange. The nodules, and the tendril itself are edible,
and a favourite meal staple of many residents.
The tall mushrooms stems are a solid, compacted mycelium and are very
rigid, and this makes them an excellent source for a lightweight, wood-like
material used for buildings and furniture, called mycowood. The stems grow
anywhere from 1 to 4 meters or more. The caps of these mushrooms are edible,
usually purple, and grow up to 2 meters in diameter.
A brightly coloured slime clings to the outside edges of the bridge for some
distance in front of the boundary of the Bridgehand. This grows very quickly
and is regularly harvested by farmers, who scrape it with a long-handled tool
similar in shape ro a broom, but with a flat metal blade at the end. The slime
is also edible and is replenished roughly as quickly as it is harvested. It has
several medicinal properties, and can be processed, shaped and dried into a
hard plasticky material with many uses. At night, it displays subtle patterns
of bioluminescence, including ripples, waves and sometimes coherent shapes.
Most of the Bridgehand, except for slimes, is covered in a fine,
candy-floss-like layer of hyphae, which can be spun into thread for clothes or
compressed into a form of parchment.
Underneath
In the Underneath, the forest is just as dense and impassable, and the
Bridgehand shares the space with several unique creatures not found elsewhere
on the bridge. In the dark, new features of the fungus emerge, including
bioluminescent spheres up to the size of a plum, which grow in bunches like
grapes. These are not edible and residents don’t have much use for them.
Further inside, clusters of black stalactite-like protrusions grow from the
floor of the Underneath. These secrete a clear gel which burns the skin,
probably a defence mechanism against the various creatures that make a living
here. With proper alchemical preparation, this substance creates a powerful
hallucinogenic effect when consumed in the correct doses.
Spore infection
The Bridgehand is attempting to warn the cultists of an infection of exogenous
spores that has taken hold within the brightslime layer further down the
Bridge. This is robbing the Hand of nutrients and will threaten to poison
people who eat the slime if it reaches the populated end of the fungus. The
Bridgehand suspects the spores will infest the brains of humans for it’s own
purposes, and it is trying to recruit help to eradicate the infection.
Most of the varied forms of growth found in the Bridgehand are both edible and
nutritious, and those that aren’t find all kinds of uses.
Edible
Brightslime
Brightslime grows on the sides of the bridgestones ahead of the boundary of the
Bridgehand, and is harvested by workers using a long-handled scraping tool. It
is directly edible and quite nutritionally complete. Although the texture is
unpleasant, the flavour is tolerable, but very mild. It has been described as
“like mashed bananas, but far away”. It grows very quickly, easily as fast as
it can be harvested, and is never in short supply.
Capmeat
The flesh of the heads of the large mushrooms. It is a firm, pliable
consistency and has a rich savoury flavour. It is dense in protein. The caps
are very large, up to about 2 meters in diameter, feeding many dozens of people
each. The meat is usually sliced into slabs or cubes, fried with salt and
spices, and served in a thick sauce.
Bobfruit
Large, spherical growths found along the length of the Bridgehand’s tendrils.
About the size of a large orange, they are directly edible, sweet, and well
enjoyed by most citizens. Grows slowly compared to some of the other parts of
the Bridgehand (so still pretty fast) and has strong flavour similar to
strawberry milk. Commonly eaten raw or prepared into a dessert.
Lowfruit
Amorphously shaped growths found on the crawling vines near the bottom of the
main forest. Dense and flavourless, they can’t be eaten raw, but are prepared
by dicing into small chunks and boiling until soft. Still relatively
flavourless, they can be enhanced by adding salt and spices to the boiling
water, and serve as a good vehicle for sauce or gravy.
Bunches
Small, bioluminescent spherical fruit about the size of plums, which grow
in clusters resembling grapes. Confusingly, the term ‘bunches’ refers both to
single fruits and whole cluster. Bunches apparently don’t cause any ill
effects when eaten, but taste awful. They are harvested in small numbers for
niche alchemical purposes, but don’t have many other uses.
Seer’s Slime
Clear slime found on the black stalagmite growths in the Underneath. It is one
of the few parts of the Bridgehand which is not edible by humans. It will
irritate the skin if touched, and burns with a capsaicin-like sensation when
eaten. Don’t get it in your eyes.
Seeing Tea
A hallucinogenic mix prepared from the Seer’s slime found in the Underneath
below the Bridgehand. It is used by members of the Cult of the Hand
to induce visions in
which they attempt to communicate with the Bridgehand.
Consumed raw, Seer’s slime will make you very ill, but it can be alchemically
prepared into a psychedelic tincture. The preparation concentrates the slime by
a large factor, and mitigates most of the ill effects of the raw slime, but is
still very unpleasant to taste, and is an off-putting opaque yellow-brown
colour due to the alchemical treatment.
Non-Edible
Mycowood
A lightweight, sturdy material harvested from the stems of the larger
mushrooms. Similar to balsa wood, but much stronger, suitable for constructing
buildings, and is the most widely used building material for new buildings or
additions to pre-split structures. Stems are dried for several weeks before
being milled and squared into timber. Unlike wood, there is no visible grain,
instead having a mottled, blotchy pattern similar to perlin noise.
Mycoglass
A very strong, mostly transparent material similar to acrylic or pyrex, made by
alchemically processing brightslime. It can be formed into panes, beakers, and
other items while still soft after processing. Once it hardens, it is very
resistant to shattering and heat, and will not return to a malleable state.
Widely used by mixers. Unsuitable for storing or mixing strong acids.
Hash
Longer fibres from tendrils formed into a rigid panel. The fibres are stripped
from harvested tendrils after removing edible bobfruits, then dried, woven
together, and pressed with heavy stones. The sheet of hash is fairly fragile,
and is suitable for decorative screens, as a canvas for artwork, and for
temporary structures, but not proper construction. Cheap to make and popular
with children building forts.
Parchment
A thick but durable form of writing paper made from pressed hyphae. Comes out a
slightly pink or purple colour. Lasts several decades before the fibres begin
to decay; decaying parchment turns to dust slowly at the edges and crumbles
inwards. This process is slow enough to rescue whatever information by scribing
it to a new parchment. Higher quality parchment can be made with a higher
density and alchemically treated to give a whiter colour and prolong it’s
stable lifespan for much longer, up to 200 years.
Ink
A simple, waterfast black ink made from brightslime and candle black.
Quite some distance into the thicket of the Bridgehand, a colony of a few
hundred people live in a small makeshift village. This is the Cult of the Hand,
the remnants of a previous religious sect worshipping the Bridgehand for it’s
bountiful resources, now a small commune of naked hippies that attempt to
commune with it in thier psychedelic ceremonies. They don’t often find
themselves with visitors.
Culture
People living here are known as ‘members’ rather than ‘citizens’ and take the
lineage name Handeland.
Members mostly refrain from speaking verbally, and communicate to the extent
necessitated by their simple lifestyle using gesture and a system of sing-song
tones which has been preserved from the older tradition of worship poems, and
extensively documented by Eloryn. Members believe the Bridgehand is sentient
and intelligent, and attempt to communicate with it using seeing tea, a
hallucinogenic mix derived from the seer’s slime found in the Underneath.
Despite lack of direct evidence, they are actually correct; the Bridgehand is
in fact intelligent and attempting to influence their visions.
Seer Troupes
Seeing ceremonies are conducted in troupes; small groups of about ten lead by
one person known as First, assisted by one or two Seconds whose expertise is in
preparing the seeing tea. Each ceremony begins and ends with a song, and
consists of all seers sitting in a particular arrangement, consuming the tea,
followed by a discussion of the visions lead by the First in which they try to
piece together a coherent picture of the Bridgehand’s intentions. Apart from
coordinating the group, First’s job is to assemble, revise and remember this
picture, and propose methods of communicating back to the Bridgehand. Seer
Troupes may be started and joined by anyone, and there are currently three or
four regular troupes, with the oldest and largest troupe being the most active.
A hallucinogenic mix prepared from the Seer’s slime found in the Underneath
below the Bridgehand. It is used by members of the Cult of the Hand
to induce visions in
which they attempt to communicate with the Bridgehand.