#oakgall

[coffeenuts]

[primarilymedievalish]

I LOVE YOUR FIC, THIS IS NOT THE END. I left like, 3 comments (I was the one who was talking about the fact the last gnome arc was a happy/angsty accident on shubbles part, what if shrub had more to lose, ect.)

Anyway you said you had more headcannons about the corruption. *plops down on floor in crisscross-applesauce position*

…can you tell me about them?

:3

I thought it was you! Hello hello! :D

Boy, do I ever. Thank you so much for asking! Let me gather my references. (I have so many headcanons. I hope you are ready, because I am about to talk a lot.)

So, to begin with, corruption as I see it is a parasite. Its purpose is to consume and to spread. I was very inspired by some real world fungal and bacterial parasites, especially fireblight, various cankers and rots, and the myriad fungal infections that effectively consume and insects body and control their movements to spread their own spores (there are a lot of these; unfortunately, I don’t have my references for which species I was most inspired for with me at the moment, so please do not cite me in a paper or anything). Fireblight, in particular, inspired a lot of my descriptions of corruption in the gnomes: I described the corruption affecting Mr. Oakgall as “…something reddish in his glare, and his veins were bruised, and his skin looked dull and water-soaked, like blighted hawthorn flowers.” 

Fireblight is a bacterial infection that affects the rose family of plants, especially apples and pears. It heavily inspired my corruption worldbuilding, because it:

Spreads through damage, but also through stomata (natural openings)

Depends on environmental conditions like temperature/water (it spreads in the warm seasons, and severe storms can give it the opportunity to spread)

Overwinters in cankers

Forms black necrotic lesions 

Gives a ‘water-soaked’ appearance followed by black and shriveled tissues

Spreads through a bacterial ooze leaking from the lesions

Can be prevented, but nowhere near perfectly

Spreads rapidly and can quickly decimate an entire orchard

As of my knowledge, has no effective cure except cutting off the affected limb

This, to me, screams corruption.

I was also very inspired by those fungal parasites that infect insects, because something that eats away up to 40% of a host’s body mass before flying them around while the host is actively dissolving and spilling spores everywhere also feels appropriate to these themes of corruption and consumption. Also, mycelial networks in general, because I like symmetry, and having the thing that decimates the gnomes do so while almost imitating that which matters most to them is the kind of horrible mockery of a mirror that I love.

So, corruption in living beings will often reflect these parasites: cankers and galls and ooze, until the being in question is all but completely devoured; dead by all rights, but stil moving around at a host’s bequest, until it runs out of use. I imagine black and red traceries along the circulatory system and above lymph nodes, and lesions and protective lumps as with fireblight, and as extreme by mass as the infected insects above. Both body and soul can be consumed, and usually go together. While your body is turned against you, so is your mind. In the end, nothing is left that is capable of sustaining life. It’s a slow, horrible death. Trying to treat it is ineffective; trying to remove it will often kill the host.

However, unlike all of these real world inspirations, corruption is inherently magical. It isn’t limited to a single host organism or substrate, unlike these real parasites. Any physical form it takes is derived from the things it consumes, and what it loves to consume best is magic and magic’s close counterpart: life force, or souls. Anima, if you will. That which animates. Corruption exists to devour, and it takes the qualities of the things it eats. Not, however, unchanged. But a wall devoured is still a wall, although squishy and red and wet and not at all structurally sound. A tendon devoured still acts like a tendon. A person devoured still wears their face and speaks with a voice just enough like their own to be recognized.

Demons are corruption personified. If a person is passively consumed, that’s one thing. If they are actively consumed, like we see in canon with Sausage, that is how new demons are made. I wrote a little about that in this post, but basically that’s how I imagine the Bratwurst situation: Sausage was all but fully devoured by Xornoth’s corruption, and since the corruption ate him, it took his form and was capable of sustaining itself after Sausage’s death. Sausage, meanwhile, is absent the devoured parts of his body and soul. (I have a lot of thoughts about this, and a fic that touches on it, but for the sake of keeping this post somewhat shorter than a novel, I will abstain from going into further detail.) Xornoth was an elf, once, before being fully consumed before the story even began, almost beyond the point of recognition. Joey, however, was for the most part corrupted passively and externally, with the help of the crown: as Xornoth said once, why bother corrupting him when he was already on his side? So while attempting to remove the corruption from Sausage and Xornoth would kill them, Joey is absent most of these aftereffects. Once the crown was removed, he was more or less back to normal. (More or less.) Gem’s corruption, too, was superficial: sometimes fireblight can be killed with antibiotics before it has a chance to really enter the host, just as the anti-corruption potion could remove the corruption that latched onto the ‘bruise’ left by Scott’s curse before anything could really go wrong.

People aren’t the only thing that can get corrupted, of course; anything can be eaten away, especially if it is/was once alive or contains large quantities of magic. Shrub’s people were doubly doomed.

Whole ecosystems can be decimated in weeks. Cities can starve. Rivers can go red and turgid and poisoned, reeking from rotting plants and dead fish. Buildings crumble; roads give way. And everything that falls can be used by the demon to build a mockery of it somewhere else.

Corruption can be removed, though with difficulty. Because it combines its own inherent magic with the magical and physical properties it obtains from what it eats, to eradicate it, one must use both magical and physical removal techniques. This is why neither Katherine’s potions nor most actual removal sticks in canon. It’s just not enough. Like fireblight, or mold, it will just come back.

All of this corrupting, of course, feeds the corruption, and therefore the demon the corruption is attached to. Which strengthens the demon, allowing them to spread more corruption, further strengthening themselves and the system… I think you get the idea.

Skulk corruption, like we see in season two, is similar, but without a single head like a demon. More like a fungal network or a slime mold, in that sense.

Also, corruption is squishy, and smells like rotten blood, and is basic like lye. It can give you a chemical burn if you touch it for too long, and then you’ll probably get corrupted if you don’t wash the site very promptly and thoroughly, and ideally use one of Katherine’s potions to keep it clean. I describe it with as many rot and mold and viscerally horrible words as I can, because it’s a very visceral type of awfulness. It finds the heart of you, and consumes it, until there’s nothing left of you that can exist apart from it.

I think that’s the overview? I’m crossing my fingers that any of that makes sense. I hope you enjoyed!! :D

TLDR: you are what you eat. And ecologically-inspired horror is fun.

[judelaws-hairline]

tagged by ✨ @rckhudson ✨to list my top 5 fave films and let people vote which one matches my vibe the best

tagging: @kodachromism @persephonaddams @gael-garcia @cupuasu @loveistheonlytruth @oakgall @joanofarc @nameless-and-joymaking

[birchblood]

tagged by @stlamb :) palettes here i can't remember which mutuals are interested in astrology so i'm only tagging a few who i think *might* ? be interested. but if you're a mutual or follow me tag me in this if you do it!! @sonechkotut @liefst @arugularocks @oakgall @heavensghost @azureseawater @saimaaringedseal @marusyenka

[dpalden]

‘I don’t know!’

Pen and inks

[joqatana]

Jujubes . . #oakgall #gallwasp #waspgall #waspgallofinstagram #andricuskingi #redconegallwasp #redconewaspgall #parasite #symbiote #oakleafgall (at Ukiah, California) https://www.instagram.com/p/CEr5SXBJ__u/?igshid=r8gko7lazvvn

[anthropocenesketchbook]

Two kinds of gall on a valley oak. #valleyoak #quercuslobata #oakgall #andricusquercuscalifornicus #californiagallwasp #andricuskingi #redconegallwasp #gallwasp #sciart #naturesketching https://www.instagram.com/p/Bo78auvArBx/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=t8f794ddzs31

[capecodartandnature]

I posted a few days ago about making ink from oak galls and came to realize some people had no idea what a gall is. I found quite a few on my walk today so thought I’d share. Galls ate formed when an insect, in this case a wasp, lays an egg in a plant—usually in a twig. The plant responds by creating a casing around the intrusion, giving shelter and food to the larva. The wasp bores a single hole to escape and by the time we find them they are usually empty and dried up. This is a hood time of year to find them as they get blown off branches, etc. do be aware that other insects, eggs, etc. may be inside if you bring them home. #capecod #oak #oakgall #wasp #nature #plant #getoutside https://www.instagram.com/p/CMfgy26nsH4/?igshid=o2q0oym4393m

[cunabula27]

Very late posting today for reasons that mainly escape me, even though I've been stuck indoors for the last two days avoiding the rain. Anyway, this is an oak gall I photographed in the middle of last week in the fog, looking for all the world like the sort of reference image that Tony Roberts might have used back when he was a science fiction illustrator. ______ #today #diary #calendar #photooftheday #lockdownproject #nature #flora #woodland #woodlandphotography #oak #gall #oakgall #fog #scifi #reference #surrey #uk #panasonic #lumixg80 https://www.instagram.com/p/CHlRhetHAa3/?igshid=ksh9j9a833r2

[wildlife-renegade]

Spotted an Oak marble on a chilly walk yesterday. These are made by Gall wasps. Looks like the little creature has already departed into adulthood. #gallwasp #gallwasps #oakmarblegall #oakgall #oaktree #oak #oaktrees #wasp #wasps #insect #insects #insects_of_our_world #insectsofinstagram #naturephotography #nature #natureblogger #naturefacts #natureuk #insectsarecool https://www.instagram.com/p/B62ybIQHs2V/?igshid=dnop528y1qie

[anna-lacina]

Jeszcze jedna ciekawostka z niedzielnego spaceru, pewnie większości znana, ale na wypadek, gdyby ktoś nie wiedział, co to takiego, informuję, że tak wyglądają galasy na liściu dębu szypułkowego (Quercus robur). Galasy tworzone są przez galasówki - niewielkie błonkówki z rodziny (kto by pomyślał?) galasówkowatych 😁 Te akurat to robota galasówki dębianki (Cynips quercusfolii). Każdy galas stanowi magazyn żywności dla rozwijającej się larwy. Dorosły owad składając jajo do tkanki roślinnej, równocześnie powoduje, że roślina pod wpływem fitohormonów u niektórych gatunków zostawionych przez dorosłego owada, częściej wydzielanych przez larwę, sama produkuje taką narośl. Wewnętrzna warstwa galasa zawiera białka tłuszcze i cukry, wszystko według potrzeb i upodobań larwy. Bardzo to IMHO sprytne. Kiedyś z galasów produkowano atrament. #galasówkadębianka #горіхотворка #орехотворка #oakgall #cynipsquercusfolii https://www.instagram.com/p/B4E2yeKhQPh/?igshid=p0ka0x6sojp1

[mew521]

Oak Gall #oakgall #walkinthewoods #shadeswamp #mewphotoaday https://www.instagram.com/p/Bz5e5sogL-T/?igshid=i67q121xh4b6

[msbarrows]

Still playing multiple characters in short bursts rather than grinding on just one. Somany is working her way through quests in Minas Morgul. Knarlie is still wandering around in Enedwaith (and likely will be for some time). My boxed pair of Zraven and Oakgall are dashing around questing in Ered Luin, and today reached level 15 and got matching surnames. I’m looking forward to when Oakgall starts getting his hunter guide skills.

[exetertrees]

Oak apple galls. I was lucky enough to see them close up. #galls #oakgalls #oak #oaktree #quercus #quercusrobur #englishoak #nature #tree #oakapplegall (at Exeter, Devon) https://www.instagram.com/p/CNxkekwB9rm/?igshid=1c3ir8n6rebz8

[dpalden]

Boiling up oak galls - the first step in preparing yarn for dyeing with the solar-cooked concoction in the kilner jar.

[karmazain]

When you spend months failing to identify this weird little miniature-apple-looking fruit you keep finding in the dirt, far away from any tree that ought to be making apple-looking fruit.... ...of course there's a gall wasp involved 🤣 So I am working on the Lucky Maggot Ball charms, which are the product of gall fly larvae infesting goldenrod stems. But these are so darn cute, I want to make something out of them too even though I haven't heard of any particular folklore around oak apple galls before. I guess I just need to hang out with one for a while and see what it has to say. #oakgalls #bayouhoodoo #bayouhoodooherbal #witchgarden #seraphinstation #bigluckyhoodoo #rootworkersofinstagram #magicalherbs #foraging #plantidentification #oops https://www.instagram.com/p/Cii-XqXPvom/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=