Brambleberry
Brambleberry is the term for the small fruits of thorny Bramble plants, which vary in colour and flavour depending on varietals but share a common shape with numerous minuscule fruits clustered around a common core.
All brambleberries begin a pale green colour, developing more distinct coloration as they ripen. Three colours are commonly found, with two others more rarely seen, a fact explained through a legend spoken amongst the common folk. Each type of Brambleberry is sweet but tart in flavour, with a distinctive flavor that renders it distinguishable from its peers. They find use in a number of ways, from producing fruit Schnapps to jams and preserves to desserts to vinegars.
According to the legend of the Brambleberry, it is said that the Bramble was planted by the Immaculate Dragon Sextes Jylis, during the battles against the Anathema, when the armies of the Immaculate Dragons had been surrounded by their foes. Born of his seeds, the Bramble’s leaves and berries emerged the green of Wood, and he offered up their fruit to feed the armies of his fellows. The Immaculate Danaa’d held that her soldiers must forage for themselves, and the many berries they foraged turned the black of Water in their hands; The Immaculate Hesiesh held his back strength and so his soldiers needed supply, and the many berries they picked turned the red of Fire; the Immaculate Mela had supplied her armies well but would not cast away an advantage, what few soldiers could be spared picked some berries, and these turned the blue of Air; and lastly, the Immaculate Pasiap was busy with his soldiers repairing their defences when Sextes Jylis presented his gift… he simply grasped the offered plant as if it were a mortared stone and placed it into a gap in the walls, where it rooted and grew so that its thorns impeded passage. Where his hand had brushed the berries, they turned the ivory of Earth. This tale is not officially acknowledged by the Immaculate Order, which considers it apocryphal and without support in the Immaculate Texts.
Danaad’s Brambleberry fruit are coloured black or darkest blue, commonly occurring across Creation but most numerous on the Blessed Isle.
Hesiesh’ Brambleberry fruit are coloured red, commonly occurring across Creation but most numerous in the River Province and coastal North.
Mela’s Brambleberry fruit are coloured blue, uncommonly occurring across Creation (most frequently in the coastal North around Cherak and the river meadows of Linowa).
Pasiap’s Brambleberry fruit are rare, and do not occur on plants of their own, instead appearing as single white or golden fruit amidst fruit of other colours. Such brambleberries are considered delicacies, carefully gathered to produce dishes and liquors affordable to few outside the ranks of the Scarlet Dynasty. Some have noted that brambles bearing all-golden fruit can be found on some screens and tapestries dating from the First Age, though knowledge of where such plants can be found or how they might be created has been lost to Creation.
Bloody Brambleberry fruit are a deep purple-crimson in colour, and unlike other berries have lost their tartness entirely, for a sickly-sweet flavor tinged with a hint of Iron. They are found growing along the edges of Shadowlands, and some have observed that when such dread areas expand over Brambles, those plants which do not perish seem changed by their survival, producing Bloody Brambleberries in place of their previous fruit. Though not particularly pleasant to eat, Bloody Brambleberries are known abortifacients, inducing miscarriage. A jelly preserve made from these berries can sometimes be found amongst the goods sold by The Guild, while possession of either that preserve or the berries themselves is banned within the Realm.
Strangely, though instances would be rare even if it were it true, there are occasional tales that Shadowland Brambles will still bear an occasional Pasiap’s Brambleberry, and that this is indistinguishable from its Creation-born counterpart despite the properties of the surrounding fruit.
