Stroph

Stroph is a Sporeborn, which is a species of mushroom people. He is agender and has no preference for pronouns in city language (which is basically English), as the Sporeborn language's third person pronouns only differ based on whether something is alive or inanimate rather than gender. For the same reason, he does not label his attraction.

Stroph lives in the forest, about a 20 minute walk from the city of Deepveil. He only fluently speaks Sporeborn, but nearly all citizens of Deepveil only speak the city language. He has attempted to learn some, but only has a tiny amount of knowledge at this point. He prefers to be alone so it doesn't bother him much either way.

His friends are Harlow the library owner (fluent in Sporeborn), and Millie the general store owner (rudimentary knowledge only). He is acquainted with Lin, an angler (zero knowledge).

He didn't have a name until he met Harlow — the first person he could actually speak to — who wanted to know what to call him. He decided on "Stroph" after Harlow showed him a mycology book page on his parent species, Stropharia Aeruginosa. [wp link]

Mycelium

The Mycelium network is a massive, sprawling network that covers most ground in the forest, though it doesn't enter the city walls. It is sentient, works somewhat like a hivemind, and it cannot be killed or injured just by destroying parts of it. Harvesting mushrooms does not harm the Mycelium in any way.

Sporeborn can communicate with the Mycelium by touching a mushroom, any exposed Mycelium, or simply the ground if they are out in the forest. It converses with them and can impart its feelings directly, as well as locate things for them in the forest. It calls the Sporeborn "beloved".

It takes an extreme amount of energy from the Mycelium in order for a Sporeborn to come into being, and historically there has only been one alive at any given time. To help offset the energy they require, they are formed within large dead trees.
Or, occasionally, corpses.

Sporeborn are formed as children who look about 7 and grow from there. They already know Sporeborn language and the layout of the forest from the Mycelium. Stroph in particular was born from a large patch of trees that fell during a landslide, about 5 years after the previous Sporeborn died in a flood.

Stroph's current design. Cut off on purpose for spoiler reasons.

Stroph in his room at night.
His bed and pillows are stuffed with dried moss.

Stroph speaking with Harlow.