Ancestral Mycelium
The Ancestral Mycelium was a superorganism on Orceron, a distant relative of the Hemmoian species. A vast networked organism of fungus, the Ancestral Mycelium originally connected primitive Hemmoians, known as the Terrahemmionids and later the Neurohemmionids, through a fungal neural network. Located primarily underground on the Orceronian continent of CCHemmo, the organism was spread across thousands of kiloverts of land.
Origin of the Hemmoians
Modern Hemmoians initially developed from the fruiting bodies of this mycelium, having developed mobility through a phase of rapid evolution triggered by drastic changes in the planetary environment. In addition to sharing nutritients through the mycelium network, these early Hemmoians existed in a state of natural biological hivemind. Although the connections between consciousnesses were limited, the network allowed for the transmission of thoughts and ideas, and could be called a primitive hypersentience.
Divergent evolution
Eventually the mobility of individual Hemmoians led to their divergence from the mycelial superorganism, and the hypersentience was lost. Although a collective way of life was deeply embedded in Hemmoian culture as a result, they developed individual personalities. The experience has also left a deeply seated yearning in the Hemmoians to return to the ancestral, unified way of life, that eventually resulted in the theories of Grand Unification and later realized in the Independent Hypersentience Collective, among other collectivist movements.
Destruction in the Great Cataclysm
The Ancestral Mycelium became functionally extinct when the planet of Orceron was rendered uninhabitable in the Great Cataclysm of Orceron, essentially severing the Hemmoian species from their ancestry. Samples of the mycelium exist and later centuries have seen revival attempts in cloning and simulation experiments, but the original mycelium has been lost forever.
This is considered a great tragedy by many Hemmoians, and led to the development of a line of thinking placing great importance on the sanctity of evolutionary processes. While mainstream Hemmoian culture has embraced the mixing of technology and biological processes as well as genetic engineering and cloning, the natural evolutionary development of biological organisms on untouched alien worlds is seen as a process that should not be interfered with. In the Hemmoian Federation, the protection of galactic biodiversity falls under the jurisdiction of NPERC, the HFed Nature Preservation and Evolutionary Regulations Commission.
