Object Class: Mirecourt Relic — Auditory Link, Tide-Affected
Containment Level: Cautionary — Passive Listening Only
Status: Contained — Vault Section M2, Shell Archive
Description:
A naturally flat snail shell (5.2 cm diameter), chalk-white with faint iridescence. Surface spiral is etched with microscopic glyphs or runes of uncertain origin—these have resisted all chemical analysis and replication attempts.
When held to the ear, the shell emits a barely audible vibration, producing sensations described as mud shifting, breath beneath water, and deep insect chirring. Use is accompanied by immediate physiological stillness in the user, followed by dissociative trance-like states.
Recovery Report:
Object recovered from the trouser pocket of a comatose boy, aged 11, found face-down in the drainage channel of a marsh stream near Cooling. No prior history of sleepwalking or seizures. Boy awoke two days later repeating a phrase in reconstructed Brythonic, identified by Institute linguist Dr. Iwan Rhees:
“Yn clywed an lēdhen war an lēn.”
(“I hear the mud breathing.”)
Phrase has since been observed in every confirmed activation.
Anomalous Properties:
- Auditory Conduit:
When activated by proximity to the human ear, the shell establishes a brief two-way connection with a non-verbal fae entity believed to be emissary-class. Communication is symbolic, emotional, or rhythmic—translators report pressure-based “words,” emotional pulses, and echo-patterns. - Environmental Effect — Lunar Tides:
Following each confirmed usage, the next full moon’s tide arrives early, sometimes by up to four hours. Noted pattern has been cross-referenced with Environment Agency tidal records since 1996.
Usage Restrictions:
Personnel are prohibited from active engagement. Shell may be monitored passively via underwater sound relay, but no contact attempts may be made without approval from the Mirecourt Oversight Circle.
Notes:
Shell is presumed linked to a deeper wetland network of communication between emissary-class fae. Agent Crosse theorises that “each shell is a node—this one simply found its way across.”
Further shells are suspected to exist in regions of high marsh density, particularly those coinciding with old Saxon ferry crossings.
Faylinn Defence Group 