Tarnberries

The Dreaming Fruit
Filed under: Mirecourt Flora | Memory-Altering Plants | Marsh Botanicals
Contributor: FDG Field Botanist No. 3
Last updated: May 2025

Overview

Among the mire’s waxy vines and waterlogged roots, clusters of deep blue-purple fruit grow low to the ground, half-buried in mud and mist. Known as Tarnberries, these small, potent berries are not meant for human consumption, though they resemble edible marsh-fruit from a distance.

They are harvested sparingly by fae emissaries, and often kept in bone-pouches or mirrored boxes. Used correctly, they can dull pain, erase moments, or soothe trauma. Used carelessly, they become doors into memories—and water.

Appearance

Size: Slightly smaller than a blackcurrant, but more oblong.
Color: Deep blue-black or purple, often with a waxy sheen. In moonlight, they appear almost metallic.
Vines: Grow low and tangled, with thick, leathery leaves that repel water. The vines often coil around stones or grow out of partially submerged corpses—a sign they’ve taken root in memory-laced ground.
Scent: Earthy, faintly metallic, with occasional flashes of mint or rot.

Often found near:

bog-edge graves
stillwater pools reflecting nothing
sites of past tragedy or birth

Fae Realm Use

In the Mirecourt, Tarnberries are considered minor sacred medicine, especially among emissaries and servants of Lady Wyr. Their main uses include:

Dulling of pain or emotional weight before diplomatic rituals
Short-term memory suppression after traumatic bargains or forbidden observations
Induced sleep for those resisting transition between realms

Certain emissaries (especially those of the Heron Prince or Sir Croakemire) carry them to offer to humans—either as gifts or gentle punishments.

Effect on Earthly Humans

Consumption of Tarnberries on Earth—accidental or otherwise—leads to powerful cognitive and emotional effects:

Mild Dosage (1–2 berries):
- Vivid, disorienting dreams of drowning, floating, or reliving early childhood memories
- Temporary confusion upon waking—often with the loss of a single recent memory, such as where one parked, what one argued about, or who one meant to call
Moderate Dosage (3–5 berries):
- Total loss of memory from the past 24 hours
- Intense sleep lasting up to 18 hours
- Waking sense of having “traded something,” with no recall of what
Heavy Dosage (6+ berries):
- Hallucinations
- Recurring nightmares of being submerged or bound by roots underwater
- Risk of memory displacement—substituting dreams for real events

No cases of permanent physical damage have been recorded, but psychological scars are common among those who consume Tarnberries in unprepared states.

Folklore and Warnings

“The Day That Wasn’t”
Tales circulate of travelers who pick and eat a handful of Tarnberries during hikes through forgotten marshes. They report skipping an entire day, or remembering conversations that never happened in this world.
Dream of the Other Cradle:
Children who ingest even a drop of Tarnberry juice in Mirecourt (often unknowingly through enchanted food or fae trickery) often dream of a second birth, with different parents, voices, and lullabies. These dreams repeat on birthdays.
The Mirror Tongue Test:
Local folklore says that if you eat a Tarnberry and then try to speak your full name into a mirror, you will either:
- fail to remember your surname
- say a name that no one has ever heard before

Harvesting and Handling

Tarnberries are extremely delicate and should not be picked with bare hands, as their oils absorb through the skin. FDG recommends:

Glass tools or bone tweezers
Gloves treated with iron dust
Immediate sealing in wax-paper or mirrored tins

NEVER refrigerate Tarnberries. They vanish overnight if placed in cold storage, often leaving behind a wet note in handwriting the handler doesn’t recognise.

Summary for Field Operatives

Trait	Detail
Threat Level	Low, unless ingested. High if used in proximity to emotionally unstable individuals.
Signs of Presence	Blue-black berries in mossy tangles, unusually quiet bog patches, sleeping animals nearby
Containment Risk	Moderate. Spoils when moved between realms. Causes amnesiac episodes if mishandled.
Engagement Advice	Do not consume. Wear gloves. Record presence but avoid removal unless cleared by HQ Botanica. Report dreams of drowning or “unbirth” within 24 hours of contact.

Quote from Field Report #301:

“The tea had a strange aftertaste—wet soil and something colder. I dreamt of being born in a church that had no roof, surrounded by strangers who called me by a name I don’t know.
When I woke up, my own name sounded wrong. I haven’t said it out loud since.”
—FDG Dream Archive, Entry 211, Birchfield Watcher