anyway, I have a couple of different interpretations of corruption but the 'corruption as a disease' is the one I do the most often (sue me i think it's cool)

*cracks knuckles*

okay, so- the whole tree/corruption dynamic type thing is something that i've been thinking a lot about recently and not just bc i got flashbanged w/ the rough fic outline of a lone Treespawn P1 and Corruption spawn (Graftspawn?) lltnf getting it on surreal style bc they're the only ones who can really understand each other as both children of something 'other'

this is more of a basic overview tbh (i'll need to find my google doc)

Corruption is a semi-eldritch sapient disease w/ prion disease (specifically chronic wasting disease) and rabies vibes that originates from shapes. (specifically, it generates from a overabundance of energy, think how you can only put so much air into a balloon/so much water in a bottle until it pope/overflows) mindset is all about survival, since it is very much mortal, and its survival depends on how many hosts it has. no more hosts? it's dead.

Treeangle however, is sorta fungus-like as in the actual treeangle isn't so much the force behind it, as much as the 'fruit' of the 'mycelium' and is therefore completely OTHER. you can't kill or even HURT it in any way that matters, distant, really only interacts with those it takes interest in, or first generation treespawn which it 'sculpts' itself. in the eyes of the tree corruption is just a disease and therefore, it cleanses it.

I like the idea of the influence of both being able to be 'seen' in a mindscape sense, with the 'tree' being seen as a jagged tangle of roots, and corruption appearing mostly as a chaotic, yet fluidly shifting mass of flesh, bone, and veins, albeit one that roughly takes on the appearance of its original host. (I actually made some art of a example of this in regards to my canon-adjacent au-)

Corruption is more... personal, hands on, it goes 'if you want it done right you gotta do it yourself' and just DOES it with no hesitation. Corruption may not have the same sort of set of feelings that shapes do, but that doesn't mean that it can't grow fond of a host, or even fall in the closest thing to love it has. I mean, that is how Corruption Spawn (not to be confused with Corruption Born) come to be-

in rare cases, corruption hybrids might form, though these are quite rare, likely with only one or two actually known about- Corruption Born shapes/animals (caused when their parents are corrupted either during development of when conceived) however are much more common and much more well known about

but i like thinking deeply about things and I feel like going into depth with corruption hybrids,

corruption itself is sorta a shapeshifting horrifying mass of flesh, blood, bone and other viscera that exists in the mindscape, so it makes sense that CorHybs could also end up looking REALLY fucked up/horrorfying, but also at the same time, there's likely the other half to think about. what better way to really get it spooky if CorHyb actually look prefectly normal for the most part....

tho when corruption hybrids feel strongly, esp as pouchlets they have a tendency to go horror mode™️ even if they're happy to see you. this happens more often as pouchlets bc they're easier overwhelmed/they don't know how to control their shapeshifting yet