#mycelial network

[lifebloodblue]

I wonder if the idea for the mycelial network in Star Trek had any origins in the myth that stepping into a ring of mushrooms can teleport you. Even subconsciously. What if one of the writers thought “how about mushrooms that can teleport you… in space!”

(To be fair you can add “in space” to just about anything and have a concept for a Star Trek episode. Or season-long arc. Or series-wide McGuffin.)

[zoetica]

A ripple of symbolic spread inside IPGL has been documented. If you couldn’t attend the opening night of Aberrant Plexus, consider this your contamination proxy. Don't miss the closing. Psychogametous Transmission Study was performed on November 20, 2025 in the Sensory Pollinarium during my exhibition at Metamorphika Studio, London. This work extends my research into psychogametous lifeforms: theoretical entities that reproduce through the transmission and reinterpretation of symbolic information. Written and directed by Zoetica Ebb Laboranta as Dr. Ichim Fung Neo [ @neofung ] as Dr. Bockowski David Varhegyi as Dr. Ferenczi Sound by Takatsuna Mukai ⁨ Cinematography by Odd Duck Films Psychogametous Transmission Study follows the instant perception expands into communion. The image enters through the eyes and rewrites both mind and body, turning sight into contact and thought into radiant exchange. Within this shared circuitry, gesture, language, and desire reorganise into new configurations linked across innumerable consciousnesses. The host and the organism awaken together, boundaries dissolving in a surge of mutual recognition. Transmission becomes revelation, a state of lucid ecstasy where mind and matter join the endless rhythm of becoming. Psychogametous lifeforms encode biological data into images, texts, and sounds, using human cognition as a host medium, transforming thought and perception into reproductive processes. Unlike memes or linguistic “word viruses,” they manifest physically after informational transmission, blurring distinctions between the living and the representational. Their continual mutation through creative reinterpretation suggests a hybrid form of evolution in which information itself becomes a biological vector, positioning consciousness and culture as active environments for life.

Here, we witness the first observable phase of their life cycle, when symbolic data activates within the host and begins translating cognition into biological form. When Δ-MC7's mycelial lattice threads through Dr. Ichim's sensorium, her perception is refocused through the organism’s own distributed awareness, infinite alien synapses humming in and through her.

The vision is contagious.

[leaky-port-nacelle]

Tarka: *is one of the chief scientists making a next gen spore drive*

Tarka: *successfully steals that spore drive*

Tarka: I just want to go to this one specific parallel universe where my friend is, and I have the coordinates, but I need more power than god to get there so I’m willing to essentially doom Earth and Ni’Var to destruction to get there

The crew of Discovery, knowing damn well that a spore drive can simply travel between universes on its own in less than a minute and be home for tea as long as it has the right coordinates: what a shame we have no alternative way for you to get there to convince you not to do this. Real shame.

[harborselkie]

networking (of the mycelial variety)

[csolarstorm]

Xerneas and Yveltal are Fungi: Let Me Explain...

Source: Bulbapedia, Wikipedia, Bulbapedia, Enchanted Nature

Xerneas and Yveltal are my favorite legendary designs. There's something weirdly alien about these bio-luminescent approximations of fauna, like they're trying to look like animals and failing. I've always thought they looked a little bit...fungal.

Xerneas and Yveltal are like batteries. They're life energy brokers; Xerneas distributes life, while Yveltal drains it. Supporting and draining life is one of the main characteristics of fungi. In fact, it's like their whole thing.

Some fungi have a mutualistic relationship with their hosts, where they actually benefit their health. And in general, fungi are essential to supporting the ecosystem. Then there's fungi that are simply parasitic.

Fungi can also go dormant, as well as their spores. Staying still is their thing, just chilling in dark places. Xerneas and Yveltal's dormant forms are especially weird, showing just how anomalous these creatures are.

Now allow me to lichen fauna to fungi.

Sources: Bulbapedia, New Forest Pics, Wikipedia, Mushroom Diary Blog

This is xylaria hypoxylon, also known as Stag's Horn fungus. (Not to be confused with Yellow Staghorn.) It reminds me a lot of the dormant form of Xerneas, or the "deactivated" form it takes in the PC.

Stag's Horn is also bio-luminscent, which means the tips of the fungus faintly glow - much like the tips of Xerneas's antlers.

Speaking of the first legendary Fairy Pokemon, mushrooms are often associated with fairies. Fairy Rings are circles of mushrooms that are connected by mycelium underneath. (I'll get into mycelium in just a second.) There are too many myths about Fairy Rings to get into here, so for now I'll just point out the Fairy Ring around Valerie's Gym in Laverre City.

Sources: Bulbapedia, Sussex Wildlife Trust, Enchanted Nature, UK Wildlife

I'm not sure whether Bulbapedia or Dr. King on Pokemon Amino first likened Yveltal to Devil's Fingers, but the similarities are uncanny. Like Yveltal emerges from its cocoon, Devil's Fingers emerge from what is called their "egg stage". I tried to find the least unsettling picture of this that I could. Enjoy...?

I mean, what kind of bird turns into a cocoon, anyway? Honestly though, fungus isn't supposed to hatch from an egg either, so this is all mixed up.

Okay, so Xerneas and Yveltal are based on different aspects of Yggdrasil. But if you were going to design Pokemon based on Yggdrasil, the World Tree that connects the universe, wouldn't you base it on fungi rather than an actual tree? Mycelium can actually partner with the roots of plants and other fungus to create a widespread beneficial mycorrhizal network, a truly interconnected ecosystem of organisms.

Source: BBC News - How Trees Secretly Talk to Each Other

And that's why Xerneas and Yveltal are fungi. Or it could be part of their inspiration, at least. They're not necessarily inspired by these specific fungi, but I think the concept may be part of their design. Either way, Gen VI is especially fun to research!

Reviewed by @fluffybunnybadass.

Check out my posts about Pokemon Legends: Z-A:

Poll: What Does the Λ in Legends Z-A Symbolize?

Pokemon Legends Z-A: What Is the Λ?

Is Z-A Just Zygarde-A? (%1000 Zygarde and the Fragments of the Tree of Life)

Aaah, it's an A! Is the A in Z-A the Tree of Life?

How much longer am I going to have to wait for a freakin' Unova remake?!

[e-rose]

[angelnumber27]

I don’t want to be a person- I want to be part of a mycelial network composed of hyphae that are just all of my favorite mutuals.

just me and my girls hanging out. transporting nutrients. forming fruiting bodies. creating mycorrhizal networks. Thats the dream

💭🧚🏼🍄🦠🔬🍄‍🟫🦋🌿🤞🏻

[meetonalphacentauri]

Last time I focused on Paul in a very short scene. This time I've done an up close (excessive?) look at Star Trek: Discovery season 2 from the POV of Hugh Culber in five parts.

Part 1 of 5: REBIRTH

(parts: 2, 3, 4, 5)