A Solitary God In A Dark Multiverse 120 A Fitting Punishmen

"So you're just... an unrepentant killer?" I asked, while stunned by the simplicity of the dragon's motivation. The dragon thought about my words for a moment but then nodded.

"Ygaynth..." I muttered, feeling anger well up within me. I was unsurprised that its motivation was simplistic, but that didn't keep me from experiencing anger. If anything it made the anger I felt be purify and intensify.

I felt righteous anger. The sort of anger that one felt towards a cruel king whose motivations were simple greed or pure l.u.s.t. There was no method to the dragon's chaos or cruelty, no greater design to it, no n.o.ble cause that offered even the most superficial justification. It was just violence for the sake of violence.

"Your actions are truly unforgivable." I informed the dragon, now more sure than I had ever been that I needed to do something significant to the dragon.

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"Kill him." The death domain told me, speaking directly to me as I wondered what to do about the beast. There was something appealing in so straightforward a solution to my dilemma.

"If you kill him and take his skull throughout the world below Puerto Rico, no one will be brave enough to defy you. Not only will you do your duty as a G.o.d of life, but you'll also ensure that the slaves you seek to free are actually freed." The death domain added.

"Althos... You can kill the dragon and then reanimate him. He, like the slave-taking reptilefolks who died during the battle at the encampment, can atone for the lives he took in undeath." The necromancy subdomain told me, whispering into my mind.

I chuckled, inwardly, at the knowledge that the necromancy subdomain had noticed that I generally only took lives if it was done to protect other lives. It was smart and was trying to manipulate me into reanimating the dragon. I didn't hate that though, instead, I thought it was funny.

For a moment I actually considered it. But only for a moment. After all, there were other dragon corpses out there. I didn't need to make one of my own. When I consciously realized this, I mentally heard the subdomain huff in annoyance.

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"How could I most suitably punish you?" I asked, thinking out loud. The dragon looked at me, but there was no fear in its gaze. Its scarlet eyes only held admiration for me and an acceptance of whatever p.r.o.nouncement it knew I was on the verge of declaring.

"I have an idea..." A surprising, silken voice said, within the confines of my mind. The voice belonged to a subdomain.

"This dragon inflicted terror on this region for millennia. The pain it caused, both physically and emotionally is... beyond measurement. But if you want a fitting punishment, maybe the way you should punish the beast is to allow others to inflict pain on it." The subdomain of pain offered. I went silent for a moment and wondered what it meant.

"The dragon is now among your wors.h.i.+pers. You don't need to kill or even hurt it yourself. After all, the beast didn't hurt you did it? Instead, you can allow the descendants of those it hurt to vent their rage on it." The subdomain suggested. My eyes widened as I began to understand its suggestion.

"The beast wors.h.i.+ps you. If you order it to atone for its sin by going from community to community and spend hours each day just taking the attacks of the descendants of its victims it will obey you." The subdomain of pain told me.

This was an interesting idea. And it was one that I genuinely liked. It punished the dragon in a way that mildly fit its crimes while demonstrating my power over the beast. It proved the reality that I had subjugated the dragon, all while giving the people of the world below Puerto Rico a fair target with which they could vent their rage.

It didn't take me long to come to a definitive conclusion: this was the best possible punishment that I could enact on the dragon. Inwardly, I sighed, thanked the pain subdomain, and then refocused on the scene in front of me.

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The dragon was looking down on me, but only in a literal sense. Its head was situated high above me, and I craned my neck upward to make eye contact with the serpentine beast. I took a step towards the beast and placed one of my hands on the same scales I had touched before.

In doing so I stole the last bit of its sanity and sighed in delight as I felt the madness that had invaded and taken control of much of the monster's mind finally fully dominate it. The dragon stopped looking at me and instead looked straight ahead. As it did so, it opened its mouth and roared.

The sound that exploded out of the dragon's maw was an ear-shattering one. It was easily the loudest thing I had ever heard, and it echoed throughout the vast tunnel that the dragon had long ago modified. Though it didn't bother me, I could detect dissonant, maddening tones in the sound and wondered what sort of an effect such a sound might have on mortals if they had heard it.

It took perhaps a minute or two before the dragon finally stopped making the sound. As it did so, I looked at it and opted to activate my knowledge-based powers to learn more about the ancient beast.

[Name: Ygaynth Earthslide (Level 18 Magician)

Species: Black Dragon

Alignment: Chaotic Evil

Personal virtue: Chast.i.ty

Personal vice: Wrath

s.e.xuality: Heteros.e.xual

Magic sensing: Ygaynth is an incredibly powerful magician. It wouldn't be an exaggeration to say that this beast is the most skilled magic user you've met to date.

Ygaynth has been viewed as a terrifying force of nature thanks in no small part to the fact that it is so magically powerful. Even among the magically inclined dragons, Ygaynth is a colossally powerful living disaster. Ygaynth's soul resonates with the school of ecomancy, magic that transforms the environment. It is through this magic that the dragon creates tunnels, caverns, and more.

Faith sense: Ygaynth is now insane, even by the standards of black dragons. What's more, is that Ygaynth's insanity is entirely due to your corruptive influence. The dragon's mind is currently scrambled and it is in a transitional state. It is adjusting to the new reality your vile madness presents it with.

Ygaynth's rewritten mind, its distorted perceptions, and even its very sense of reality will all be subject to your whims. The dragon will become more like an abomination than another dragon, and it will be obedient to your will.

Authority detection: Black dragons are notoriously independent, even amongst dragons. Among its own kind, Ygaynth is grudgingly respected but has no particular authority. The dragon is the undisputed ruler of the reptilefolks who live in the world beneath Puerto Rico. It doesn't have any nonreptilian followers.

Soul-sense: Ygaynth isn't naturally pious and so the beast wouldn't make a particularly good member of any religious cla.s.s.

Draconic knowledge: Black dragons are wrathful embodiments of the earth's fury. They are powerful creatures who are well-known for embodying the destructive fury of an earthquake. As a species they tend to resonate well with ecomancy, one of the most dramatic schools of magic.

One of the powers that comes with a black dragon's ties to the earth is that they possess the power to take a deep breath and then exhale a considerable number of small rocks as a surprisingly effective ranged attack.]

I leisurely read through the entry, grateful for the tidbits I picked up that I hadn't already known. Some of them, like the word "Ecomancy", informed me of bigger things to keep an eye out for, since before today I had never heard that word. Others, like the ability of black dragons to breathe rocks, were just handy bits of trivia I ought to keep in mind in the future.

When I was done reading the profile I willed it away and focused on the dragon in front of me.

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"h.e.l.lo, Ygaynth." I said to the ma.s.sive and dangerous beast now that was done roaring. There was a confident smirk on my face as I spoke to the beast. The dragon looked down at me and there were new emotions in its gaze that hadn't been there before.

There was a joy I hadn't seen visible in the scarlet iris of the dragon's eyes. There was also an eagerness that the dragon radiated, now that it was done roaring.

"Master..." The dragon replied, speaking to me with an odd respect and reverence audible in its tone.

"I know what your punishment will be." I informed the creature, speaking calmly to the gargantuan monster.

"Please, share it with me. Or inflict it, if that is your wish." The dragon told me, speaking in a way that made it clear that it was ready to accept whatever I wished for it to endure.

A small part of me, a s.a.d.i.s.tic part, felt mildly annoyed the dragon was so ready to endure whatever punishment I deemed appropriate. I recognized that that small part of me wanted violence. And to be fair, a fight against a creature as powerful as Ygaynth would have been kind of fun.

I sighed and mentally silenced that little voice. It only took me a second to refocus and did Ygaynth my full attention.

"You only have one life to give." I told the dragon, lying to the beast and to myself at the same time.

"Since you only have one life to give, your punishment shall not be to die. Instead, your punishment will be to suffer. It will be to feel pain since you can at least endure pain." I told the dragon. Its eyes widened, but as quickly as they widened they narrowed once more. It didn't reply and waited for me to expand on my cryptic p.r.o.nouncement.

"I am going to send you from community to community throughout the world underneath Puerto Rico. I will tell the people of the world beneath Puerto Rico that you have been humbled and this is your way of atoning for your sins." I told the dragon, beginning to explain the scheme devised by the subdomain of pain.

The dragon remained stoically silent. I almost admired its pa.s.sivity to the punishment my subdomain devised.

"The purpose of this is punishment is twofold. The first part of it is to cement that you are my humble servant by allowing creatures weaker than you to freely inflict pain on you. When they see the pain you are in and that you refuse to fight back they will recognize my power over you. The second part of it is to allow them to vent their anger, loss, and hate on you, the source of their anger, loss, and hate." I told the dragon, lecturing it quite easily. The dragon finally opened its mouth to speak after I said that.

"Will this... Please you?" The dragon asked, looking at me as it spoke. There was a genuine curiosity in its gaze that I recognized and decided to indulge.

"This punishment allows you to feel a bit of the suffering you inflicted on others. So yes, it does please me. Eventually, it will end. You are a powerful creature. I desire powerful servants. In time I will free you from this punishment, and I will make use of you in other ways." I informed the dragon, speaking to it frankly and honestly.

The dragon considered my words, and then it felt satisfied with whatever inscrutable thoughts it had mulled over. I studied it for a few moments, curious as to what the beast was thinking. When I scanned its brain, all I learned was that the simple creature was satisfied that I had a punishment for it that I deemed somewhat fitting.

None of this was satisfying to the crueler part of me that existed deep in my heart but that I often ignored or actively suppressed. And frankly, it was hard for me to say that that part of me was wrong. I did want the dragon to legitimately feel pain.

Ygaynth was known, even to the system, as a natural disaster given form. And yet that t.i.tanically powerful creature was now my minion. It felt anti-climatic for the beast to submit to me, but I recognized the whole-hearted sincerity I felt emanating from deep within the beast. The conflict between us was over. But that didn't mean I had to be done. I turned inward, curious to see if the system had an idea I could use to satisfy the dark urge I felt in my heart for pain.

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"So... I think we can all agree that there is something unsatisfying here, right?" I asked internally. Within the confines of my mind, I spoke to the system primarily, but also to the domains and subdomains that lurked within me.

I was initially met with silence. That silence didn't last long though.

"You could have just killed the dragon you know. It's not our fault you insisted on keeping the thing alive." One of the domains, the domain of death complained. I chuckled at its remarks. Another domain proceeded to verbally berate the domain.

"Shut up! Althos did the right thing. And obviously he did the hard thing too. He is keeping Ygaynth alive and will likely use the beast as one of the weapons in his a.r.s.enal to ensure that slavery is abolished. We should be proud of him." The domain, the goodness domain to be exact, replied. There was anger in the thing's voice, but the anger dissipated after the domain's response to the death domain. Another domain quickly chimed in as well.

"My... somewhat rude, fellow domain is correct. Althos you did the right thing by not killing the dragon. Admittedly, I have concerns, about your decision to bend it to your will using the offputting powers of the eldritch domain, but that is less important than your objective success here." The life domain told me, acknowledging the success of my unorthodox methods of transforming the dragon into my wors.h.i.+per even while politely complaining.

"I am actually happy that he used the powers of the eldritch domain. It's nice to see him take to a domain's powers so swiftly." Another domain, one with a dark and unsettling voice, replied. I knew which domain was talking, the domain of evil.

"You would like that he takes to the eldritch domain so readily!" Snapped the domain of goodness. I chuckled at its short temper.

"Well, I also like the eldritch domain..." Muttered another, softer voice. The kindly voice belonged to the subdomain of fungi. As if to back this remark another domain interjected and shared its insights.

"Well, sweetie... You would like it, since both the great old ones and the outer G.o.ds were fond of fungi and the worlds they controlled are still filled with the stuff." The domain, the domain of law, pointed out. The subdomain of fungi sighed in annoyance at this contextualization of its fondness for the eldritch domain.

This interaction was amusing to me, but it was ultimately a distraction from the matter at hand. So I decided to interrupt it.

"Listen, as amusing as this is to overhear, I came here to do something that would likely satisfy those of you with complaints. I came here for ideas. I want to do something to Ygaynth that would inflict some pain on it. I am thinking that this is the perfect time to design a new power." I told the domains and subdomains that lived in my mind.

"Oh? Care to share what precisely you would like to do?" Asked the domain of law, now intrigued by this. If I could look at the domain, I would have. It was interesting to me that it was the first to speak up. I replied to the domain with a smile on my face.

"Well, I'd like to create a power that forces a creature to obey me without s.n.a.t.c.hing up its freewill. Ideally, one that causes those who choose to disobey me to experience considerable, persistent pain." I told the domain. This intrigued a number of the other domains and even a few subdomains who "closed in" in so far as they could, given the metaphysical s.p.a.ce we were located in.

"That sounds pretty... evil." Muttered the domain of evil, intrigued by my statement. It sounded excited.

"I like powers that involve me." Whispered the subdomain of pain. It was pleasantly surprised by my declaration and closed in on me. I wasn't a fan of the relative, metaphysical proximity of the strange subdomain. That said, I was still grateful for the subdomain's a.s.sistance, so I didn't tell the eerie subdomain to back off.

"This power creates false pain? In that case I am involved. And I must say... This is an uncharacteristically nasty thing you want to create, Althos. I am impressed." Muttered a voice I hadn't heard in a while, the voice of the trickery domain. I sighed at the domain.

"I never said it was false..." I uttered, annoyed that the trickery domain insisted on inserting itself into this conversation.

"This power would directly a.s.sault the senses of its victims. That means it involves me." The domain told me, reb.u.t.ting my complaints in a way I couldn't really refute. I chuckled, semi-sarcastically, and accepted the domain's self-made invitation.

"So, this is a power I can create?" I asked the a.s.sembled domains and subdomains, after a few moments of silence. They spent a minute, or at least what felt like a minute, discussing this amongst themselves, and then "turned" back to me.

"Yes you can. Archfey had access to a power like this that their kind once called a 'Geas'. Their ancient version of what you would be making a G.o.dly power was a handy ability that they routinely inflicted on mortals which punished mortals who dared to try and disobey an archfey's commands." The subdomain of pain, taking a leaders.h.i.+p role at the moment, told me quite confidently.

I smiled, pleasantly surprised at this news and then closed my eyes. Though the conversation felt like it had taken longer, only a few seconds had pa.s.sed in the real world. As I closed my eyes, I requested that the system create the sort of power outlined by the domains and the subdomains. A few moments pa.s.sed before I received a delightful notification.

[Alert: You can now use a new, synergistic power ent.i.tled 'Geas'.

Geas: This is an active power that takes from a number of domains and subdomains. With it, you can give commands to mortals and punish them if they refuse to obey you. If a mortal refuses to obey your commands they will experience significant pain for as long as they refuse to obey you.

You can use this power five times per day. When you become an archfey you will be able to use this power freely.]

Reading that notification brought an arrogant smirk to my face. And it infused me with arrogance as I opened my eyes and laid them upon the black dragon I had made into my servant.

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"Ygaynth... Listen to me." I commanded, infusing my voice with pride. The dragon's gaze had never left my form. It was silent as it waited for me to speak more.

"You are to travel from community to community, and in each community, you visit you shall offer yourself as a punching bag for the people of the community to pummel, and you shall not fight back at all. You shall spend an entire day in each community before you leave." I explained, launching into an explanation of how I intended to punish the dragon.

"If you willingly deviate from this, in anyway, unless I call you to my side, you shall be wracked by considerable pain and your dreams will be laborious nightmares that shall not grant you a good night's rest." I told the ma.s.sive beast, arrogance audible in my voice.

I intended for the dragon's dreams to be the sole solace the cataclysmic monster received, provided it obeyed my commands. I didn't want Ygaynth to die, even though in the off chance that that happened it would be little more than a mild inconvenience and not a true failure or setback.

"If you obey me, your dreams will be restorative and enjoyable reprieves from the sorrow and pain of your waking hours. You are to offer your body as a sacrifice to atone for your sins, for a period of time that only I know. Until the day that I decide you have suffered enough, you are to go out into the world and atone for your past actions." I told the dragon. I activated my power as I did so, transforming the words into a binding command.

Before my very eyes, a soft golden glow encircled the dragon's head, further illuminating it since the beast was already inside the silvery aura of my "Unfettered divinity" power. I watched as the glow began to intensify and then seeped into the dragon's head, vanis.h.i.+ng from view as it did so.

I watched as the dragon's eyes began to glow a soft, fel, shade of green. I wondered for a second what was the cause of that ocular change before I realized that the beast had received a notification. The dragon was silent, as it often was, for a few moments before speaking once more.

"Master, thank you for your kindness and your mercy. I intend to go out and receive the punishment you have deemed I deserve." The dragon informed me, the fact that it could speak revealing that the beast was being sincere. I smiled, and gestured for the dragon to leave, while I mentally aimed at it and restored its ability to fly.

I effortlessly released the dragon from the prison I had constructed for it. And then the dragon opened its wings and I got to watch the beast flap its mighty appendages so that it could lift itself off the ground.

I felt a powerful gust of wind explode from the beast as the dragon hurled itself off of the floor beneath us with the mighty and rapid beatings of its wing. A moment later the serpentine monster was hovering in the air, and orienting itself in the right direction it needed to travel in so that it could reach the encampment of reptilefolks who once served it.

As the dragon did this, I composed a notification alerting the people of the world beneath Puerto Rico that the dragon was now my servant and wors.h.i.+per. I informed them that the dragon was atoning for its sins, and would be visiting communities so that it might be an object that descendants of its victims could slake their rage on.

I finished composing the notification right as the dragon began to fly in the direction of the encampment. I grinned as I watched the creature speed off towards the very beings who once served it. Those same beings were the creatures I had once sworn would never have to fear the dragon again.

Today I kept a promise I made to them. And that made me smile.

I wordlessly sent out the notification I had composed in my head. I aimed it at every creature dwelling in the countless caverns and tunnels that were situated underneath Puerto Rico's surface. I wanted everyone to know that I had made the dragon my servant.

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[Alert: The Humbled Dragon

The ferocious dragon named Ygaynth has long been feared and revered as a tyrannical force of nature by creatures throughout the world that exists underneath Puerto Rico. Earlier today that dragon encountered Althos and as a natural consequence of that had a 'Come-To-Althos' moment.

The dragon has been instructed by Althos to atone for its sins by visiting the communities in which it was feared and offering itself to the communities as a punching bag. The dragon will not harm those who come to it intending to do it harm, instead, it will meekly sit there and accept their judgment.

Althos understands that this is hard to believe. Ygaynth was a mighty, cruel, and awe-inspiring symbol of terror once and now it is not. Instead, the dragon has become a servant of the G.o.d whose mere presence irrevocably altered its state of mind. So as a means to encourage people to muster the courage needed to give Ygaynth a good beating, Althos is ready to bless the first people who descend on the dragon, weapons in hand, and anger in their hearts.

Be brave and the dark G.o.d of freedom and the earth itself will bless you. This is but one of the miracles he will show the world.]

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[Fungi subdomain details:

The subdomain of fungi governs all fungal life in the multiverse. It is a strangely powerful and eerily commonplace subdomain that was ignored by all but the strangest and least humanoid-like G.o.ds or G.o.ddesses in the past despite its friendly demeanor. It is obsessed with 'making friends' and has a particularly skewed perception of friends.h.i.+p.

The subdomain of fungi offers power over mold, spores, yeast, and other things a.s.sociated with fungi, including, rather obviously, fungi itself. This subdomain offers power over and eventually total control over all manner of fungal life.

The fungi subdomain is a bizarre subdomain and the lifeforms it governs are breathtakingly diverse. Fungi can survive underwater, deep underground, and in an array of other environments. Though lesser fungi are incredibly simple lifeforms, greater fungi, such as Mi-gos can be astoundingly intelligent.

This subdomain has an interest in a.s.similation, and one of the things that mark it as bizarre is that to gain increased power over it you must infect living beings, fungal and non-fungal alike, with one of the powers of the subdomain: the parasitic spores you can now wield. Those infected by the spores become wors.h.i.+pers of yours who wors.h.i.+p you as a G.o.d of fungi.

Quests to gain further tiers of influence over this subdomain will involve the building of a fungoid empire. This empire could be a subtle, unnoticed one, or it could be one made up of fungoid beings who wors.h.i.+p you as their G.o.d-fungus.

Fungi subdomain pa.s.sive powers:

Fungal knowledge: You possess knowledge concerning various types of fungi, yeast, molds, spores, and other things related to fungi. This includes evolved fungi, spores, and other things that are beyond your ability to manipulate, just yet.

Spore production: This power allows you to freely create spores. Spores are units of reproduction in fungi and other plants. The spores you create need not be used to create new fungi or other spore-borne lifeforms and can instead be used in a range of ways.

Spores you create are created within yourself. You can unleash them in a number of ways, limited mostly by your creativity. You can infect other living creatures with the spores within you via a kiss, s.e.xual activity, or through the usage of new potential limbs such as a proboscis. You can also now incorporate fungal mutations into the array of mutations currently at your disposal.

Spore mastery: You gain the power to detect and control spores. This power allows you to manipulate spores however you wish and can be used synergistically with the other subdomains and domains under your influence.

For example, you can poison creatures using your spores or you can transform them into restorative substances that help people. That's not all you can do either: you can make spores addictive drugs that further corrupt the soul each time a mortal comes into contact with them, a simple consumable that wraps the minds of those who eat them into a dreamscape totally under your control, or you can transform them into insidious, parasitic spores that destroy an individual's free will.

Parasitic spores: The defining power of the lowest tier of influence over the fungi subdomain is this power right here. This power allows you to create parasitic spores within yourself that you can use to infect and dominate all manner of creatures, living, dead, or undead alike. Infected creatures are drawn into an elaborate, fungal supermind that unifies all victims of the parasitic spores.

Creatures infected by your spores lose their free will and become permanently, hopelessly enthralled. Their minds are tied to those of other victims of the spores, your mind, and they also gain an eerie awareness of the subdomain of fungi, viewing it as the second most important thing in their lives. Unsurprisingly, the subdomain itself will forever be seen as less important than you.

If left uncommanded than creatures infected by parasitic spores will seek to infect others with the spores as well. They will attempt to do this covertly if they can, including through s.e.xual activity, but if not they will eventually resort to force. If there are no nearby creatures to infect with the spores than those infected by them will resume what pa.s.sed as 'normal' behavior for the infected individual prior to infection, all while muttering constant praises to you.

You can also kick out creatures who are part of the fungal supermind. The process of being kicked out of the supermind rends the minds of those who endure it, and often drives them insane. Their form of madness is characterized by a desperate yearning to once more be tied to their G.o.d and the supermind.

This is one of your few lower-tier, transformative powers that can affect extraplanar beings. That means that even demons, devils, and other sorts of extradimensional beings can be turned into parasite-infested servants and wors.h.i.+pers of yours.

Parasitic fungi are normally relatively pa.s.sive and subtle in how they affect the appearance of a creature but if you wish you could turn creatures infected by your parasitic fungi to transform into fungal ma.s.ses or fungal monstrosities that do not even remotely resemble their uninfected counterparts.

Fungal reanimation: Creatures infected by your parasitic fungi that are killed or die reanimate after they perish. These reanimations are actually soulless husks that are now even further devoted to you and devote their every waking moment to converting all other creatures to your wors.h.i.+p.

If a living creature that is infected with your spores were forcibly given treatment that killed the infection that tied them to you then they'd be able to return their old lives, though they'd always remember the powerful sensation of having a mental link to a G.o.d. Such a sensation would fill them with a longing to once again be tied to you.

That is not the case for a creature that has died and is being reanimated by the spores after it has died once. Such a being would immediately perish if it were forcibly given treatment for parasites or fungus.

Fungal growth: You can effortlessly speed, slow, or even reverse fungal growth and maturation.

Lesser fungal manipulation: You can manipulate lesser fungal ent.i.ties, including fungal folks and other, weaker fungi. Most unmoving fungi are lesser fungi. You can awaken such ent.i.ties, and can also forcibly evolve them into the next tier of fungal lifeforms.

Hive-mind mastery: Your powers over swarms, minds, eusocial creatures, and now fungi have granted you this power. You can now create and modify hive-minds however you wish to do so and can enter a hive-mind without subsuming the individual wills of the creatures inside of it.

Fungal aura: At will you can generate an aura that perpetuates releases parasitic spores into the air around you.

Fungal subdomain active power:

Fungal transformation: You can target a non-fungal being and transform them into a fungal creature. Doing so makes them fall utterly under your influence, and gives them an aura of fungal abilities including a breath weapon that fires out parasitic spores. You can do this once a day.

Fungal subdomain blessing or curse details:

Blessing a creature with the fungal subdomain transforms them into fungal champions who are well received by fungi everywhere. Cursing a creature with this subdomain marks them as foes of fungi who fungi will do anything possible to stymie.]