Wood Wide Web: Already a term in biology. "Research has shown that beneath every forest and wood there is a complex underground web of roots, fungi and bacteria helping to connect trees and plants to one another. This subterranean social network, nearly 500 million years old, has become known as the "wood wide web"." (BBC)
Fungiverse: Most similar to the term fediverse though I never understood the "universe" part of the term. What does it mean in this context? Its more a social network, right? Much more like the internet it is based on a certain protocol.
Fungal/Fungi Web: Shorter than Wood Wide Web and maybe easier to say. In contrast to Wood Wide Web, maybe it's also better to not confuse tech and nature here. I also in general like the term "social web" more, because it emphasizes that it is basically going on top of the usual web just through a new protocol.
I think Wood Wide Web would be best, because it could emphasize that it should be energy-efficient and have the goal of connecting people to collaborate toward a sustainable future. Also: in a story that plays in a world in which humanoid plants live, it would just make sense that they discover the Wood Wide Web at some point. What do you think?
Why universe? It has nothing to do with virtual reality and it sounds very sealed. But what we currently see with the introduction to ActivityPub to Wordpress for example is that it actually becomes a part of the Web. Its more similar to the web than it is to virtual universes.
The concept “federated” only makes sense in the current context. We have centralized social networks. They are bad. We want something else and think federation could do it. But it would be nice to have a metaphor that somehow stands on its own legs without relying on the old system. And the main thing that ActivityPub brings us is that the web becomes a social place.
That’s why I find “social web” better. It’s more future-oriented and less defensive.
Ok, now I get it. My bad. However: the analogy misses the main part of the Fediverse: the protocol. Where do you get the monks the messages from?
I edited my reply since you already answer the first part elsewhere.
The protocol seems not that relevant as in the end it is just a means to exchange text without relying on centralized infrastructure. A snail-mail postal service works mostly the same, although regional mail sorting centers are somewhat centralized and could be compared to fediverse relay servers (Lemmy doesn't have those yet).
For me the protocol is the most important part. Making social interaction and networking work dezentrally in the web is a huge deal.