The Chorus of the Mire
Filed under: Mirecourt Flora | Haunting Flora | Emotional Resonance Fields
Contributor: FDG Field Botanist No. 11
Last updated: May 2025
Overview
To the untrained observer, Reedwraiths appear as nothing more than tall, water reeds—perhaps slightly darker than average, perhaps shivering when the air is still.
But they are not moved by wind.
They are moved by feeling.
Reedwraiths are one of the Mirecourt’s most quietly dangerous phenomena. They do not attack, but they amplify. Joy becomes mania. Grief becomes despair. A single act of rage, even fleeting, can ripple outward like blood in water.
And they always hum before someone cries.
Appearance
- Height: Typically 3–6 feet tall, though some grow taller in deep mire pools.
- Color: Dark green-black with coppery undertones; stems slightly translucent when backlit.
- Texture: Rigid but fibrous; tips end in soft, threadlike fronds that appear to quiver independently of wind or motion.
- Glow: In fog, Reedwraiths develop a subtle bioluminescent outline, appearing to sing when viewed through thermal or low-light optics.
Clusters often form in:
- drowned crossroads
- forgotten ritual sites
- dried-up funerary marshes
- ponds where no animals drink
Behaviour and Effects
- Emotion Amplification Field:
Within roughly a 15–30 metre radius, Reedwraiths create an empathic resonance chamber. Emotional energy within this zone becomes contagious—magnified and echoed between individuals.- A single mourner may cause a group to sob
- An anxious child may induce panic
- Small arguments become violent outbursts
- Joy becomes overstimulation, sometimes ending in collapse
- Harmonic Hum:
Reedwraiths emit low, haunting harmonies that vary depending on nearby emotion.- Anger: deep, rattling drones
- Grief: mournful, melodic keening
- Love: off-key lullaby tones, like a broken music box
- Fear: quick, sharp chirps resembling heartbeats
- Fog Chorus Phenomenon:
In thick fog, large fields of Reedwraiths are known to form choirs, synchronising their hums in tones that resemble chanting, prayer, or pleading. Entire communities have reportedly fallen into waking trances or suicidal depressions after encountering such events.
Folklore and Signs
- The Whisper Windless:
If reeds hum without wind, it’s believed someone nearby is about to have an emotional breakdown—or has just been forgotten by someone they love. - The Rage Marsh:
A story persists of a woman who screamed her grief into a Reedwraith grove for seven nights. Her sorrow fed them so deeply that now, anyone entering that grove either screams or falls silent. There is no in-between. - The Splintered Choir:
Rare isolated reeds found growing in pots, old houses, or abandoned rooms hum faintly when left alone. These are called splintered wraiths and are never to be moved—doing so causes fractures in emotional equilibrium, usually resulting in mass hysteria or depressive contagion.
Harvesting and Handling
Extreme caution advised.
- Reedwraiths are to be observed, not harvested.
- Cutting the stems causes instant emotional backlash—most commonly in the form of:
- overwhelming guilt
- sudden onset of ancestral memory
- hearing one’s own voice cry for help
- If collection is absolutely required:
- Operative must wear a hollowed porcelain mask to dampen resonance
- Cut only during total silence (earplugs required)
- Wrap in woven fogcloth lined with beetlewax and salt
Summary for Field Operatives
| Trait | Detail |
|---|---|
| Threat Level | Moderate to High (Indirect). Safe if emotions are controlled. Dangerous in group settings. |
| Signs of Presence | Humming reeds in still air, crying without cause, voices amplified in fog |
| Containment Risk | Very High. Relocation leads to uncontrolled emotion fields. |
| Engagement Advice | Limit team size. Suppress strong emotion. Leave offerings of silence before entering large groves. Do not raise your voice. If humming begins, hold your breath until clear.** |
Quote from Field Report #218:
“We entered as a team of four. One was grieving. One was in love. One was hiding something. One just wanted to help.
By the time we left, we had all cried. One was missing. And the reeds were louder than ever.”
—Recovered transcript, Mirecourt North Access Trail, 1992
Faylinn Defence Group 