Elissa once wandered alone, never feeling at ease amidst the bustle of busy caravans or great cities. Her home was Kultapeth, where she returned to rest and resupply. Kultapeth was always eager to hear of her travels, and Elissa would read her travel journals front to back for her curious friend.

The idea for Elissa to carry a parasitic fragment of Kultapeth with her was her own. Though she enjoyed writing about her travels, she could never really capture the full beauty of things she saw or the hospitality of the people she met. She wanted to do justice to the wonder she experienced but always felt she fell short. With a fragment of Kultapeth along, the parasite would be able to truly experience the world, and return to it's host full of memories that could be absorbed directly.

Hosting a fungus is not unheard of, however it is an infrequent practice at best. To share your mind with another is a daunting thing. Elissa worried that her solitary nature would win out, and she would not be able to carry Kultapeth for long. However, as his personality developed, she found the fragment- now going by Kultap- to be the perfect amount of company. Kultap in turn has no desire to return to the hive mind from which he was born, preferring his and Elissa's hive mind of two.

Read more bits about this world that I'm creating over at World of Elissa Nax