[SolemnGolem]

Dark Mario: Two natural powers vie for supremacy and resources: a psionic Fungal Sprawl, which projected temporary psychic creatures, versus the Scaled Folk, which relies on technology and war.

The Scaled Folk represents sorcery, evolution through rapid mutation, and change and action. The Fungal Sprawl represents psionic powers, static existence, cogitation, and passivity.

A much younger civilization - the humans - have stumbled onto this fight. The earliest contact was with an exploration team that initially contacted the Fungal Sprawl and befriended it. (The Sprawl intentionally created the Toads as projections that humans would find appealing and non-threatening.) The humans also contacted the Scaled Folk, and was eventually taken hostage by them after one human turned traitor and sold out his crew for the piddling sum of Six Golden Coins. The crew was petrified, including the leader, an experienced female explorer, and the traitor continues to advise the Koopa and upgrade their lighter-than-air weapons programs.

Now, years later, the Fungal Sprawl faces eventual extinction as the Scaled Folk burn and despoil its biomass. The human civilization has sent two brothers in an effort to neutralize the traitor, topple the Koopa rulers, and recover the petrified exploration team.