MYCOGEN — …A sector of ancient Trantor... Buried in the past of its own legends, Mycogen made little impact on the planet. Self-satisfied and self-separated to a degree… The microfarms of Mycogen are legendary, though they survive today only in such oft-used similes as "rich as the microfarms of Mycogen" or “tasty as Mycogenian yeast." Such encomiums tend to intensify with time, to be sure, but Hari Seldon visited those microfarms in the course of The Flight and there are references in his memoirs that would tend to support the popular opinion… (Prelude to Foundation)...
Mycogen Sector is a location in Isaac Asimov's Foundation series.
Description[]
Mycogen is one of the many autonomous sectors of Trantor, a district whose identity is defined by isolation, strict customs, and devotion to an ancient past. The Mycogenians are descendants of the early Spacer world Aurora, and they preserve their history and mythology as a religion centered on the memory of that lost paradise. Baldness is their universal mark, enforced through ritual depilation, while hair on outsiders is considered obscene. Their economy is built on subterranean microfarms whose products, the celebrated microfoods, sustain the sector’s prosperity and reach the tables of the Imperial elite. Mycogen’s culture is rigidly patriarchal: men, called Brothers, are the only full participants in social and religious life, while women, called Sisters, are confined to silent domestic roles.
Society is governed by a religious hierarchy in which the Elders rule from their hidden sanctuary, the Elders’ Aerie, and are served by the Proctors, who enforce custom with severity. The center of all life in the district is the Sacratorium, a temple dedicated to Aurora and filled with mourning for the world they believe was stolen from them.
Events[]
Mycogen is the third sector Hari Seldon and Dors Venabili visit during their flight across Trantor. Introduced to the sector through Chetter Hummin’s contacts, they are disguised in the kirtles of Brothers and Sisters and quickly discover the extent of Mycogenian xenophobia. They tour the underground microfarms, where the Sister Raindrop Forty-Three explains the operation of the food systems and entrusts Hari with a copy of the Book of Rules, the sacred scripture that preserves the memory of Aurora and hints at the existence of humaniform robots. Fascinated by these accounts, Hari becomes convinced that a relic of such a robot may exist in the Elders’ Aerie, the private sanctum above the Sacratorium.
Defying taboo, Hari and Dors infiltrate the Sacratorium. Inside its funereal hall, they witness the ritual austerity of the Brothers and the ancient screens that display Wendome and the landscapes of Aurora. Ascending secretly into the Aerie, Hari discovers a motionless, metallic humanoid figure — a robot preserved as the holiest of relics. Their intrusion is uncovered by Sunmaster Fourteen, leader of the Elders, and they are threatened with death for sacrilege. Intervention comes only through Chetter Hummin, who rescues them from execution and drives them onward in their desperate flight. The Mycogenian episode becomes one of the decisive moments in Hari’s search for psychohistory, exposing him for the first time to the living legacy of robots and the ancient Spacer past.
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