Dwarves and Giants are not exactly fast friends, a few wars have seen to that. However, at times of peace, and even seldom during times of war, Dwarves and Giants have been known to fall in love, just like anyone else. The resulting child is born between two worlds, too tall to be a Dwarf, too short to be a Giant, too wide to squeeze through the tight hallways of a Dwarven stronghold, but too slender to wield a weapon meant for their parent. Because of this, they are often shunned, sometimes subtly, other times forthright, and retreat away from either group. Often times it is easiest to sequester themselves in the depths of a dwarven stronghold, the tapped mines that no longer hold any value to the world above them. In doing so they find themselves in a dark, cold, and dank environment, however, they often find that they are not alone, meeting with the descendants of those who were once in a similar position as they are now.
Meeting face to face with a Myconid, these shunned Dwarves would not at first glance eye them as cousins, as the deep, dank former mines have warped their appearance to suit their environment, similar to other Half-Giants. Generations of seclusion in the moist, lightless underground have turned them into walking fungi, able to take in nutrients from the earth around them. The Myconids have made not only adaptations to themselves, but also to their society; they have developed various bioluminescent light sources, domesticated rats and bats and insects, and developed new ways to build homes and towns.
Perhaps most interesting of all is their mode of communication. Over the generations, as they began to resemble fungi more and more, they lost their mouths. However, they developed a new means of communicating with on another as well as outsiders should they need to, the colony is inoculated with spores, allowing them to communicate telepathically with anyone else they wish to, as long as they are connected by these airborne spores. This means they are also able to detect when a newcomer enters their colony, and allows them to communicate directly to them should they wish. The entire colony shares these spores, so they are also able to communicate with others when outside the colony, but only at a short distance.
A newly added member in the form of a shunned spawn of a Giant and a Dwarf will not immediately resemble their new neighbors and they’ll never be a mirror image, but over the years they will begin to appear more fungal in nature, the fungus growing on them will feel and appear more natural to them, and they will stop using their mouth to talk. Within a few generations their descendants will be indistinguishable from the Myconids that welcomed their ancestor.