During the time in which the Seelie Courts are ascendant the local hedge transforms with a deluge into a thick mist filled swamp that washes away or severely warps all but the most well maintained Trods. Through it is still possible to navigate by foot, those who seek to travers the hedge in this season are wise to invest in a Wherry. However, for one daring to enter its many misty bayous and dark enveloped broads the multitude of groves containing hedge bounty offer an enticing reward.
Summertime in the hedge begins during the witching hours of Walpurgis Night (30th April). Those who have become temporarily trapped in the hedge during this transformation have claimed that as the crown shifts from Winter to Summer the hedge begins to heat up. The snow and ice thaws into a thick mist the blinds the viewer from the terraforming that takes place. Anybody caught out during the transformation will find the heavy rains wash away this mist to revel an unfamiliar part of the deep hedge.
Environmental Hazards
The Hedge in summer is bathed in a putrid humidity. Steam and fog rises over the oily waters or from the 'coast' making navigation difficult at the best of times and can occasionally render visibility to near zero. Out in the marshes willow-the-wisps dance to attract the unwary to watery graves. This presents a dilemma for the Lost of recent times as received wisdom says an exit can be found around the 'shadows' of the Mortal realm: in a time where Street lighting is been an ever present feature of the Mortal realm one can never be sure if the light in the fog invites salvation or death.
Local Flora and Fauna
Briar Wolves
Nimble pack animals that resemble wolves with long front limbs used for combat or fishing along the riverbanks. Although they both appear and display animalistic traits, their eyes are all too human albeit one with atavistic tendencies. Unlike in other regions, the common Briar wolf is relatively low down the food chain.
Heracleum Mantegazzianum Rex (A.K.A. Regal Hogweed)
Introduced into Britain as an ornamental plant in 1893, the invasive phototoxic weed known as 'Giant Hogweed' soon escaped domestication to find a new home in the hedge. Its wyrd mutated 'hob' counterpart, the Regal Hogweed, has evolved to become top of the local food chain. Standing up to eight feet tall on three squat growths, the Regal Hogweed digs its toe like roots into the silt of the marshland to walk along the banks of the many hedge rivers and gullies. It is a slow and lumbering creature which hunts via a ring of bud like sensors around its mid torso, a collection of fine hair like thorns on its lower body and along its roots (though it is still hotly debated by members of the autumn court what exactly these appendages detect. Its distinctive floral 'crown', similar to other species in the Hogweed family, emits a sweet smell that entices other creatures to climb upon its Green and red speckled stalk 'neck' either to taste its nectar or the hedge fruit that sometimes grows from it. Its bulb like head contains a long vine like tongue which it uses to deliver its venom which first weakens and then paralyses its prey for consumption, often displaying symptoms of Phytophotodermatitis in the victim.
Rumours:
- I'm sure you've noticed it too; but where there's one hogweed a few more are certain to be around. I have a friend see who said he saw a group of them surround and pin down a swamp dragon...husked it in a matter of minutes he said...Can't be true right: I mean how would they even coordinate a thing like that...dumb plants...
- You know Annabel Lee gets anyone who's encountered the Hogweed to go into quarantine right: taking liberties I say...literally. However, I heard once this autumn courtier went to study them and ended up breathing in too many of their spores so that one of those things grew inside him... used his corpse as a puppet until it decayed to collapse and the weed was at full maturity...horrible way to go if you ask me...
Traveling at night in the hedge can be even more dangerous than travelling by day: the arching branches of the thorns form a thick canopy blocking the pale moon light and many a fool has been led to a watery demise following the light of spontaneously combusting swamp gas. Except not all the lights on the marshes are that banal. Once the sun begins to set beneath the horizon the Lantern men go on the prowl. No accurate description beyond a spectral figure with long raking claws and a lantern on its right middle digit exists but a Changeling knows one is near by from the deep seated sense of unease they feel. Their ambiguous nature has made some to speculate that they might be some sort of 'double take' caused by prolonged stay in the hedge, the Clarity of the witness or the weight of a guilty conscience.
Rumours:
- I have a friend who is a darkling, proper goth child but she's pretty on the level...anyway she says she can understand what the Lantern Men are saying...it's like you have to listen carefully to the voice in the breeze or some shit like that. Apparently she also does 'favours' for them, weird things like collecting the heads of dolls and leaving them under a certain tree near a hedge gate...
- I heard the reason nobody knows exactly what the lantern men look like is because your brain actively tries to shut their image out...I've heard people say they are attracted to noise but I reckon its concentrating on them that draws them in...why you ask? Well I heard from a friend of a friend about this kid who kept seeing shadow monsters in their room at night and whenever they talked about it to someone more seemed to turn up that evening...I bet they harvest peoples dreams but they need a way in and cause we can lucid dream we have some sort of natural defence mechanism.
Anglo-Saxon and pan-Germanic folklore tells of serpentine creatures dwelled in river and mere. Though many surviving tales depict such creatures as ambivalent water sprites such as the Nix of the Rhine and the Danube, the Nicor are brutal, ugly and cunning. Nicor can grow up to 20 feet long from the tip of their long Gavialidae snout to the tip of their tail and are noted for having a scaly 'humanoid' torso which they propel with webbed talons on the end of muscular arms. Beyond their pelvis is a long reptilious tail with two vestigial legs which it uses to balance upon the river bed when it rears up to attack. Nicor are solitary and territorial creatures which predate using the murky waters and the element of surprise.
Rumours:
- Its pretty stupid to think of the Nicor as simple beasts, like all 'wyrm's they are dangerously intelligent and have an insatiable greed...it is possible to negotiate 'safe' passage through a Nicor's territory if you can offer the right price...and catch one in a good mood...
- Many tales tell of the Nicor luring dupes into peril with music but that's not strictly true. Sure they are known to 'sing' a deep throaty baritone but its not to lure prey so much as to herd them by attracting other creatures: it just triggers some primal instinct in hedge beasts and draws them closer...
Spencer's Nepenthe
A giant and colourful plant that appears on the banks and amongst the trees on small islands. Spencer's Nepenthe is a carnivorous plant resembling the 'pitcher plants' of more tropical regions. However, it has a unique method of luring prey by emitting a mixture of pheromones and sound mimicry that gives the unwary the belief one of their kind is in grave danger.Swamp Dragons
Truly the rarest but most dangerous creatures during summer. Swamp dragons are seldom seen outside the deeper hedge in areas containing large bodies of water. They are fierce two legged creatures, similar in appearance to the sea Wyvern, that can grow in excess of 60 feet yet in their wetland homes can easily hide below the waters due to the purply-black hide. They breath out concentrated methane gas which they can either ignite as a flame weapon or use to poison would be attackers. Swamp dragons are one of the few 'wild' creatures that can pose a significant threat to 'The Tower' and if one strays too close it will become the subject of a hunt.
Rumours:
- Look, if you don't believe me I wouldn't blame you but from what I heard the Dragons actually have a 'society' of sorts...full of intrigue and wot not, but then what would you expect from something that's only a few steps away from one of them. so how do I know? Well 'Big Al' sends some of his boys out in the first few days of Summer, all draconics right, carrying some bundles of paper like their lives depend upon it...from what I've heard the dragons send any of there's who've caused too much trouble our way and anyone who the monarch needs to disappear fast gets sent off to them...every body wins then except the poor buggers that get stickked...
- So all hedge beasts can enter the mortal realm right...well what could a full on dragon hide itself as I wonder? Well, I was hanging around the mortal realm a few years back when there was that massive oil tanker spill and the PR guy doing the rounds with smug insincerity looked just like one of those fucker's...you don't think they were behind it???
Wyrd-Mites are small insectoid creatures similar to ticks in that they lay their eggs in the skin of their prey. These parasitic creatures are little more than a minor annoyance in most circumstances but as they live through siphoning glamour from their host one should always be weary.
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