Fablevine

A plant beloved by the fae, fablevine is a common sight in their forests. The vine is dark blue in colour, thin and ropey, anchored by thin tendrils. It sprouts indigo coloured leaves along its stem, and in spring it flowers with wide, deep red blooms, reminiscent of amaryllis but smaller. It stays in flower for a month, before sprouting sweet, yellow berries, known as fableberries. The berries of the vine are the reason the faeries are so fond of it, for when eaten they encourage impulsive actions. For faeries, who enjoy watching and participating in human dramatics, this is an excellent way to facilitate their entertainment. The berry is well known around the world, and goes by names such as Bad-Idea Berries, Trueberries and Brother's Bane.

In most places, people know well enough to avoid it. The strong associations with faeries serve to warn off the level headed, and the well known stories of people who have eaten the berry and gone on to commit heinous acts, only to be filled with regret and shame when the effects wore off. In particular, the berry has associations with kinslaying, a grievous sin, giving rise to it's northern name of Brother's Bane.

Uses

Medicinal

The flowers of the fablevine have a reputation for being poisonous, but a lesser known property is that, when infused and diluted, the same poison is an effective treatment for inflammation and arthritis. This use of the berries has become more widespread, as the Prince of Sprouting Sorrows, a faerie noble, has been passing the knowledge on to magicians and village healers, encouraging humans to grow the vines themselves. Because this use can seem magical to those without an education in either medicine or magic, there have been cases where perfectly mundane people making this remedy have been mistaken for fae or magicians.

In Magic

The properties of fableberries have applications in magic that concerns emotions, or the mind. Generally, they are used in much the same way the fae make mischief with them, to make a person more susceptible to influences - magical influences, in this case. Magi who specialise in those areas often use magic to cultivate the vine, further introducing it to areas it would not normally have grown. Such people are rarely well-regarded at the best of times, and the reputation of this plant does not help their image. In some areas, cultivation of the vine is illegal because of its association with nefarious enchanters.

It is not useful for Hermetic enchanted devices without further magic to keep it alive and healthy, but if such were used then it would provide a +4 bonus to mind-affecting magic.

In Winemaking

The use of fableberries in winemaking is an uncommon one, because the magical properties of the berries linger into the wine. As the vine is not widely grown, the wine it produces is also expensive. Fableberries produce a clear white wine with a sunny, yellow tinge, which has an exceptionally sweet taste. Apart from its magical properties, the wine is rather one-note and unexceptional, so while there is a small market for it among the nobility in some areas where it makes an interesting display of wealth, it is rarely found in this form. There are two exceptions of note - the first its use in some religious practises, see below, and the second its consumption among the fae.

Faeries are not affected so strongly by the properties of the berry, and sometimes a lord or lady of the fae decides to show off by having a human ferment the berries for their court. There are stories of winemakers who have been approached by mysterious strangers, offering outlandish rewards if they can produce good wine from a supply of the berries, and of those which are true the stranger usually is or represents a faerie lord. Sometimes their promised price seems small, and are often open ended so that a canny person might derive great rewards from the stranger, and other times the payment is grand or fantastical. These latter cases are usually too good to be true, with the story ending on how the cruel faerie twisted the reward into a punishment, or at least into something meager.

Religious

The fablevine has places in the rituals of several religions. It is not something that can be found in the everyday observances of the pious, but among mystery cults it is among the substances that may be consumed in the belief that it brings them closer to their patron. In cults of gods and goddesses of love, for example, it is often used along with, or in place of, hallucinogenics.

Climate

Fablevines are, fortunately, quite sensitive to the climate. They enjoy deep forests, where they wind around the trunks and branches of trees, hanging from the canopy in ropes of red flowers and yellow berries. The vine grows poorly in soil which is frequently disturbed, meaning it is rare around human communities. With its popularity among the fae, they have taken to planting it where they live, and as a result the vine is frequently found in new and unexpected places.

Legends

Numerous folk tales have ties to the Fablevine, usually in cases where the fae have been or have been blamed for interfering. It is sometimes associated with demons as well, but this is uncommon and confined to those sects which consider faeries to be Infernal. Usually, these tales take on forms familiar to any who have experience with the fae and their legends, where either a faerie tricks a human into consuming the berry, thus putting into motion a range of tragic or farcical events, or else the faeries demand a price of an unlucky human for disturbing their gardens. Sometimes, the cunning hero is able to overcome the fae and gain some reward, but more often the stories end poorly for all involved, save for the faeries who watch and laugh from the sidelines.