Progression, Decomposition and Creating Topsoil

[QafianSage]

So, this is a bit of a niche question, but I've been wondering - Progression can obviously cause plants to rapidly grow, but could it be used to make plants rapidly rot as well?

I ask because I was thinking of the ability to use seeds to rapidly generate topsoil via Progression; you'd plant some seeds, accelerate their growth, accelerate their rotting, and repeat the process, in a fashion similar to an accelerated version of the way that pioneer species colonize things like new volcanic islands. You'd probably need to mix in some manure or stuff like that, and use nitrogen-fixing species for the best effects, but it seemed like it might be a useful ability (albeit somewhat redundant with Soulcasting, probably).

On the other hand, I wasn't sure if Progression could be used to accelerate rot in the first place, or whether the fact that Investiture is fuelling the growth would prevent you from using saprotrophic organisms (e.g. fungi) to do the decomposing - if you're supplying the energy, would they consume the plants you put them on?

Edited June 23, 2023 by QafianSage

[Quantus he/him]

Progression is, more or less, an infusion of Life Investiture that promotes health and growth and resistance to biologicalsickness, etc. (like general Investiture does in the population overall, to a much lesser degree.  So I think you'd have to cycle Progression and Division for a Growth and a Decay side, since "Decay" is the primary ability of the Division Surge.  Or else specifically target the microbes responsible for the rot so they are just eating and reproducing a whole bunch, treating the compost pile as a simple growth medium and not the target of the Surge.  

[External Gills he/him]

I studied soil as part of my bio bachelor, so warning: long rambling nerd stuff.

The big difference between plant growth and rot, is that while growing is something plants do on their own, rotting is a complex process done by a large number of micro (and not-so-micro) organisms and physical proceses that break down plant matter in both mechanical and chemical ways.

So if you wanted to rot plants using Progression you'd first need to have those organisms present, and then use Progression on them rather than the plant. At that point the question becomes: can you use Progression on fungi and bacteria? The answer will probably in part depend on if people perceive them as similar to plants because of Cognitive nonsense.

Let's say that works, you're still not quite there yet. Another part of decomposition is creepy crawlies eating, digesting and pooping out plant matter. Progression can't help with that. And that's not mentioning the run-of-the-mill oxydization plant matter goes through just laying around, and other such abiotic factors (like how organic soil matter adheres to inorganic particles)

So even if you could aquire the necessary micro organisms to break down plant matter, and Progression works on them, there are other, abiotic, processes at work in the creation of soil that it can't speed up. You still end up with a sort of plant slurry that will work well as a fertilizer, but it's not soil. Soil is complex, living and breathing, an ecosystem all by itself. It takes years to properly develop on its own and when destroyed its very difficult to restore.

Edited June 23, 2023 by External Gills
Typos and punctuation