Wolf Weed Moss

The Distant Cliffs and Wolf Weed Moss

The lush, soft, colorful moss grows at the very top of the Distant Cliffs. Despite the slate rock soil, both the orchard and the moss are nurtured by magic, which has turned the remote and inhospitable landscape into a colorful world.
At first glance, the only living things on the top of the cliffs is the moss, but it is teaming with life. The moss grows flowers as well that in turn nurtures many insects and small animals. The moss also purifies the water that runs through and along the cliffs.
For the very few that come to the orchards of the golden apple on top of the Distant Cliffs, the wolf weed moss is the first thing that they will see.
The colorful moss stretches for hundreds of miles all along the top of the cliffs. Certain parts of the moss is more colorful than others. When closer to the apple orchard, the moss is a variety of colors, greens, pinks, purples, and yellows.
It is easily identifiable by its vivid purple tufts.
The moss can be eaten, though it does have a bitter taste. Especially due to the lack of sun cover on the cliffs. The moss that is sheltered by trees tends to have a more earthy taste, while the tufts that grow near water has more of a seaweed like taste.
The moss that grows by the orchard is very fragrant, smelly strongly of apples. It has a simile taste to apples, though with a very sour aftertaste.
When placed in water, any particles will be filtered by the moss, leaving the drinker with a crisp, clean, delicious drink.
Its name grew into legend, and then forgotten, as the legend of the golden apple grew through the millennia.

The Golden Apple and Wolf Weed Moss

Due to the remote location of the Distant Cliffs, many of the people who searched for Golden Apples of their own, died at the base and top of the cliffs. 
Many died of starvation, nor realizing the moss was edible. However, most died of heat exhaustion before they could reach a source of water. While the moss could be sucked on for water, it is often not enough to quench thirst.  
Many of the people who went in search of an apple died way before even laying their eyes upon the Distant Cliffs. While most that reached the cliffs did died, reaching the woods and eating from the moss was the way a handful of apple bearers did indeed reach the orchard.

Characteristics

Grows: Wolf weed moss grows only on the Distant Cliffs in the Shadow Woodlands
Lifespan: Wolf weed does not die unless it is cut from the soil.
Vulnerabilities: It is invulnerable to disease, drought, and flooding. It does not protect itself from being cut however.
Habitat: It thrives especially near the golden apple orchard, near water, and under trees. The hearty material grows on the rocky slate of the cliffs, but all attempts to transplant it to other parts of The Shadow Woodlands has been unsuccessful.
Features: Colorful moss. It has an especially vivid purple color. It is very springy and can be eaten.
Mythology: The moss is closely tied to Ahmenebar, the golden apples, and the wolves that live in the Shadow Woodlands. Many religions, especially those that followed Ahmenebar, would cut large tufts of the moss and use it in their ceremonies. Though it slowly fell out of the myths during the last 300 years, only mentioned in rituals by the the Daughters of the Seven Gods.
Uses: Water purification, cools the top of the cliffs, food if in a pinch, and in purification purposes for different religions.

The Golden Apple and Wolf Weed Moss

The first legends of the Golden Apple, shortly after Ahmenebar's rise to power, were spread through Ludo's northern counties. 
It was assumed, since Ahmenebar traveled with a wolf companion, that wolves were protectors of the golden apple. After de Barro finds the second Golden Apple, people from all over the world make their way to the Shadow Woodlands. 
When the orchard flourishes, close to 300 years after Ahmenebar's first apple, the moss that grew on the cliffs flourished as well. 
Once people began searching for the apple and coming across the Distant Cliffs, did they name the colorful moss Wolf Weed Moss.
It is all but forgotten about in the stories of the Golden Apple until Rosalind comes across it in her search.

Type

Organic

Apple Characteristics

Magic Strength: The orchard of the golden apple has left the purple moss far sturdier (and colorful) than any of its counterparts found anywhere else in the world. The purple moss is very hearty and is edible, though it does have a very sour, earthy, seaweed like taste. 
Magic Weakness: The moss does not have any weaknesses. It has been generally left alone for hundreds of years since the last apple was found until the current quest for the last golden apple.
Magic Quirks: Due to its feeding on the same cliff face as the golden apple, the moss is quite edible. It can also be used to purify water. Moss found close to the orchard will have a distinct sweet smell and taste.