Mel Manes
Kiliano Ratha
A manes, i, is a type of monster that appears in NetHack. The manes is a nonliving monster that is the most basic form of minor demon a player character can encounter. A manes has infravision, can be seen via infravision and will follow you to other levels if it is adjacent.
Manes are described as "the gnats of the dungeon" in their encyclopedia entry for good reason: they are very weak individually and move at a sluggish 3 speed, though their attacks can pile up damage against early characters with low HP or AC, since they can roll upwards of 10 damage per round of attacks. This makes swarms of manes potentially deadly if a character is careless and/or gets overwhelmed by the speed system not distributing actions in their favor.
Manes swarms are likely the first set of monsters where running through a corridor or door is employed as a tactic, since funneling them throw narrow areas makes dispatching them much easier. Most characters can also make the swarms much easier by gaining a few levels worth of HP, using ranged attacks, attaining reliable accuracy with their primary weapon(s), and/or shoring up their AC.
In Roman mythologhy, Manes (MAH-nays) are chthonic deities sometimes thought to represent souls of deceased loved ones, and were associated with other similar beings worshiped in domestic, local, and personal cults as part of the di inferi (Latin "those who dwell below"), the undifferentiated collective of divine dead. The word manes is Latin, and has a singular form manis that is not used for the meaning specific to these spirits[2] - in English, the word has no singular, and so NetHack just uses manes for the singular as well.
Manes are differentiated from other types of Roman spirits by the writings of the theologian St. Augustine, and in City of God he cites Latin-language prose writer Apuleius as saying "that the souls of men are demons [in the sense of "familiar spirits"], and that men become[...]Manes if it is uncertain whether they deserve well or ill". Roman tombstones often included the letters D.M., which stood for Dis Manibus - this can literally mean "to the Manes", or figuratively mean "to the spirits of the dead", and continued to appear even in some later Christian inscriptions. The Manes were honored during public festivals such as the Parentalia and Feralia in February, and it is speculated that the gladiatorial games, originally held at funerals, may have been instituted in the honor of the Manes.
The manes of Dungeons & Dragons, also known singularly as a mane, makes its debut in the 1st Edition Monster Manual as a dead soul that was chaotic evil in life and sent to the Abyss. Manes appear as three-foot humanoids with pale, bloated and maggot-ridden bodies, and their eyes constantly drip liquids: the transformation into this wretched form robs most of these souls of their memories, leaving only a persistently vague sense of loss and the resulting bitter rage; only a rare few manes retained even fragmented memories of their mortal lives. This also leaves the manes as semi-intelligent and practically feral beings, driven entirely by hatefulness: they wander the Abyss in swarms of a dozen and hordes of up to a hundred, attacking non-demonic entities with their jagged teeth and claws.
Manes are considered "sub-demon" entities and expendable cannon fodder by other demons, and are treated as literal "fodder" for demon lords and princes, who consumed them as a food source (which would erase the manes permanently) - a few manes occasionally gained the self-awareness needed to recognize their position in the Abyss and fight to improve it, which rarely ended in success. The forces within the Abyss may transform a manes into another demon at random, and those showing a glimmer of intellect or a particular cruelty may be manually promoted into higher-ranked demons or other beings depending on the promotee - they were are just as likely to be culled in order to prevent the upending Abyssal society by a transformed manes potentially rising to the status of demon lord.
In SLASH'EM, manes hit as a +1 weapon but are otherwise unchanged, making little difference (if any) for dealing with them in practice - as SLASH'EM is based on NetHack 3.4.3, a starting character can comfortably use hit and run tactics against manes swarms.
I recently saw a sight that makes the hearts of mycophiles everywhere go pitter-pat. I saw some shaggy manes. In the fall amateur and professional mushroom lovers start to pray for rain. If we are lucky, when it rains and when it freezes will be well placed in time, and mushrooms will appear in woods, and pastures, even gravel roadsides, in great variety and number.
Among the easily identifiable edible mushrooms are the shaggy manes, which pop up through the gravel along our local logging roads, some years, in great abundance. They stand, sometimes in clusters, like British soldiers in white shaggy busby hats with a touch of brown on top. Mycologists, those of us who study fungi, and mycophagists, those of us who eat fungi, call the shaggy mane by its scientific name Coprinus comatus. Coprinus, from the Greek, meaning dung, for many of its smaller coprophilous, dung-loving relatives, and comatus from the latin meaning long-haired, as in a shaggy mane. For you mycophagists who might worry about such things, the shaggy mane gets its nutrition from other sources in the soil.
As it ages, strange things happen to the shaggy mane. Its gills and cap deliquesce; that is, they self-digest and turn into a black fluid, as does its relative the inky cap, C. atramentarius. It is said the black fluid can be diluted with water and used as ink.
But the shaggy mane is better eaten. Picked when young, the mushroom is edible and choice, though somewhat watery and delicate of flavor when compared with other mushrooms. Flavor can be intensified by boiling off the water during cooking. Denis Benjamin, in his excellent book Mushrooms: Poisons and Panaceas suggests shaggy manes should be treated like corn. . . the butter should be melted in the pan before you pick them. He is joking, of course, but the speed with which they mature to deliquescence makes fast action necessary.
Although among the safest mushrooms, the shaggy mane may, very rarely, react with your physiology like the inky cap usually does with everyone when consumed with alcoholic beverages. Ears and nose turn red, and strange metallic tastes, lightheadedness, rapid heartbeat, and sometimes nausea or even worse are experienced. As some of you may know, these are the same symptoms of Antabuse or Disulfiram, the drug sometimes given to alcoholics to make consumption of booze an unpleasant experience. The toxins coprine and antabuse both interfere with alcohol metabolism causing acetaldehyde to accumulate in the blood. Fortunately ,for alcoholics and unwary mycophagists, recovery is normally spontaneous and complete.
Crater Lake Foundation is also part of our organization, donating to park needs and acknowledging special individuals. We have also partnered with REI to provide the best trail information and access available and help fund the Crater Lake Ski Patrol.
Imagine the salty, cheesy crust on a grilled cheese sandwich, but wrapped around a shaggy mane mushroom-that's exactly what this recipe is. The inspiration for it came from two different places. Read on and I'll explain how to make the best shaggy mane recipe I know.
The second part came from remembering a recipe in the first cookbook I ever owned: Lidias Italian American Cuisine. The recipe was veal scalloppine battered with parmigiano reggiano. I decided to combine David Arora's battering of the shaggy manes with Lidia Bastianich's cheesy crust, and it worked out great. It's super easy, you take some shaggy manes, dip them in a little flour, then egg, but instead of the usual breadcrumbs, you use shredded cheese instead.
Cheese cooked until crisp is called frico in Italian, and chefs have been using it for a long time. Little mounds of grated cheese can be baked until golden on a non stick silpat or baking tray, then removed when cool and used to garnish all kinds of things.
I've seem frico chips garnishing salads like croutons, as a chip alternative, and I even remember one frico recipe from Lidia Bastianich that's made with apples and montasio cheese, which sounds great.
A great part of this recipe is that it can also be prepared gluten free. You don't need glutinous properties of flour to make a crust like this, all you really need is some sort of dry substance that the egg can adhere to and moisten, which allows the cheese to stick. There are plenty of ways this could be adapted to create other things too.
I found some Shaggy Mane on Wednesday in thick redwood duff. I was looking for chants in a spot nearby (optimistic, but too early) and these beautiful delicate caps marching across the forest floor caught my eye. An awesome sight to behold. Thank you for the great recipe. My manes were still young and fresh, so the batter and frying "steamed" the mushrooms, which kept a moist pocket of warm juice in the space between the stem and cap. It reminded me of eating the most tender fried oysters ever. I did half with bread crumbs, half with grated cheese. Both delicious. I'd like to try this recipe with morels next spring.
We have hunted Shaggy Manes for 30 or more years. We clean them as fast as we can and put them in a pot of near-boiling water, which stops the mushroom from turning to ink. Then I spread them out on a towel and let them cool. After that, I can use them now or later, or if I have too many I freeze them.
I found my first shaggy mane today and this is the recipe I used. I loved the brightness of the squeeze of lemon. After cooking, the stem was still a little tough so I didn't eat that part. The rest was thoroughly cooked and delicious. Thank you for the inaugural recipe. Plus the tip about the dry and wet hand when breading. I will use that the rest of my life!
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