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Author: Phillip Pullman

Title: Aborescent Sporocarp Nodules

Article type: Liminal Phenomena Document

Liminal phenomena type: Threshold


Description:

Arborescent Sporocarp Nodules, more commonly referred to as Arbocarp Nodules, designate a category of thresholds which can provide access to the Arborescent Liminal Space System. Nodules consist of a spherical region of space with a diameter of five to thirty meters, centered below the surface of the ground, generally low enough that only a third of the Nodule protrudes. These Nodules are filled with a spongy, claylike soil, which may exhibit anomalous properties that are lost when said material is taken out of the boundary of the threshold.

To enter the Aborescent Liminal Space System from a Nodule, you must dig a hole into the soil large enough to fit your whole body and enter it, making sure to keep all your parts within the boundary of the threshold. Then, close your eyes and attempt to clear your mind of all thoughts. The recommended strategy is to consider the soil beneath you, and the silt beneath that, and the stone beneath that, and the worms in it, and the bones in it, and so on. After a few tries, you should emerge from the Nodule with a dusting of soil into the Arborescent Liminal Space System.

Specific Nodules:

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Addendum: Cultural Analysis

Arbocarp Nodules, when close enough to human settlement, tend to become centers of local religious and cultural expression despite the relative rarity of natural liminal-awareness within the general population. There is no current consensus regarding the origin of these cultural practices; while it is often theorized that liminal-aware individuals begin said practices via the dissemination and eventual evolution of stories regarding the Aborescent Liminal System, the undisturbed nature of many Nodules contradict this claim. Another prevalent theory is that the nature of Arbocarp Nodules changed over time, such that larger groups of people could unwittingly become subject to liminal effects, gain liminal awareness, and spread practices in that way. No evidence has been found for this explanation, either.

Examples of Stories and Practices Suspected to be Influenced by Nodules:1

Location: Supual, Bihar, India
Type: Superstition

It is believed that the black round of clay formerly undisturbed since the time of the Videhas is the burial site of a severed foot of a minor god. In times where the name of this deity was remembered it was the site of a temple known for warding off leprosy, but now, when it is only known as the God’s Foot Mound, for women, it is said that walking upon it will cause difficulty in pregnancy and childbirth, and for men, it causes the growth of tumors upon the face, the size and shape of frogs.

During British rule, to dispel the superstition, a certain colonel began an excavation of the mound. No one dared to watch him but his soldiers, but even they tired of watching. When they came for him at nightfall, they found only his discarded shovel and the hole he had dug.

Location: Amherst College, Amherst, Massachusetts USA
Type: Cultural practice

The “gray mound” is known to be a good place for making decisions pertaining to one's future. In 1997, a student, seized with the idea that treasure was hidden beneath the mound, dug into it and was never seen again.

Location: Somewhere in Poland placeholder text
Type: Story

This was told to me around the time of the Vietnam war. Said the huge, toadlike man before me:

“When they killed everyone here, the only ones left were the poor Chaputs, my parents, who had been in England when the Nazis came. They had little money, and so they worked menial jobs. They could speak no English, imagine that. Wanting to come back home, where your father worked, and his father worked, and his father’s father before that, but you’re trapped on the other side of the world, an ocean on one side of you, the fascists on the other. But they were tough, and lived, and had me there even with the bombings, God rest their souls. And one day they said to me, Louis, dear, we can finally return. I didn’t want to, of course. I had all my English friends. They came back, because they had to. This is our land.

But they didn’t know how it’d changed. Land is much like a person, you see. And all the blood it drank had made it bitter and bad for living in. What was so bad about it? Well, everything looked the same, but—oh, it is hard to explain what I mean. You couldn’t sleep. It felt like living on a rotting blister. And we got poorer, and poorer, so much so that we went hungry some nights, and all the while I, the brat, was saying please, let us go back to England, please! Now if I was my own father, I’d have gotten a whipping! But my father was so kind that he said nothing.

But then one night, my father crept out of bed without my mother knowing, though I saw him walk past, and followed him on tiptoe. He retrieved a shovel from the barn. Then he walked in circles, over and over again, until he finally stopped, and started digging. He said, you dig too, Louis. So I did. And we dug, and dug, until the ground began to become like dark flesh, seeping gray blood. Yes, really. It was like caramel. Then we found the bones, and my father said: take the bones out to the birch tree. And we did. Then we buried them again, each in their full skeleton, and sprinkled their graves with water. The next day, that mound appeared. And everything was good again.

I was young then, but it really did happen, I swear it! No one believes me. I do not care if you believe me. But after that, we started doing well in business, and people began to move here, and with them came development. I pray to God that when they knock on my door to tell me to leave, I will be dead.

Location: Huaxi, Hongya County, Sichuan Province, Mainland China
Type: Practice

A type of ceremony is carried out at certain marriages of wealthy families. The marriage occurs near the "grey-blue outcrop" (灰蓝凸), where both bride and groom are dressed in brown clothing, as opposed to the traditional red and gold. The bride sings a song. Then, they are both made to stand atop the mound, where two holes have already been dug traditionally to the depths of their waists. After entering the indentations, water is poured into holes and, wet and dirtied up to their waists, the two lovers kiss, and the ceremony ends. The ceremony represents a connection to the land, as well as a smooth and bountiful marriage, "planted" into the earth.

In recent years, Western garb is generally used, and it is common for brides to sing a pop song as opposed to the more traditional music. To avoid damaging clothing, the holes are now dug only to the depth of the ankles.

Location: somewhere in South Africa
Type: Story

A traditional children's fairy tale was told to me by the mayor of a town. I have documented it as closely as possible below.

The Story of the Blue Flint

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