Grottsong Moss

Description:

Grottsong Moss is a soft, damp-laced moss that drinks from silence and resonance. Named for the way its filaments hum faintly when disturbed, it is said to remember every voice ever lost in stone. Found in cold grottoes and half-drowned fen caves, it clings to shaded stone like a patient listener. Lorebinders and whisper-keepers harvest it during fog-bound dawns, believing it can bind breath to word and word to will. Beneath its softness lies an uncanny memory—murmurs that echo long after speakers are gone.

Structure & Growth:

• Forms dense, velvet-like mats across cave walls, sunken logs, and standing stones within marshes


• Filaments extend deep into porous rock and bone, feeding off vibration and moisture


• Thrives in places where sound carries strangely—often where water drips steadily or voices echo oddly


• Appears dormant in light, but grows rapidly in gloom, particularly near the mouths of barrows or fog-pools

Color & Glow:

• Surface is mottled brown and black, but glows faint green when touched or sung near


• Glow intensifies briefly with spoken runes or music, then fades


• Spores drift like mist when shaken—harmless, but known to absorb nearby sound for several heartbeats


• Under moonlight or still water, the moss gleams like runes carved in moss agate

Scent & Reaction:

• Smells faintly of wet stone, hollow bark, and the breath of deep caves


• Touch brings calm and faint tingling—used to quiet fevered minds and seal confessions


• When burned, produces a cool smoke that deadens noise and wards off spiteful wights


• Steeped in springwine, it becomes a draught that grants clear voice and true memory for a short time

Folklore:

"Grottsong remembers. In the old tales, it grew first from the breath of a dying god, whispered into a cave no one has found since. Seers say it listens to prayers unsaid, while bone-callers claim it can hold last words until the right ear returns. Carved stones wrapped in fresh Grótsong are sometimes left in sacred wells or caves of offering, the moss preserving oaths too dangerous to speak aloud. In some rites, it is braided into the beards of the dead, so their voices are not lost to the dark."