Deep within the forests of southern Southfell, close to the border of the Silva Folium Forest, there grows a plant whose feathery fronds are stained a deep crimson colour. Some have likened it to the colour of aged red wine, but others more aptly say it resembles the colour that people bleed.
For centuries, healers used Bloodfern as a poultice; its crushed leaves could stop a bleed in moments. When the dried leaf was steeped in water, it could draw heat from the body and ease a fever.
But in recent times, the plant has fallen out of favour. Most humens refuse to touch it and it vanished from prescription lists and hospital shelves. What was once a staple for any healer suddenly became a plant of folklore. Anyone who still used it for its healing properties did so quietly and discreetly.
Over time, the Bloodfern became associated with the Bloodbound vampires who were exiled from the region. The plant could still clot a wound and ease a fever, but the association with the Bloodbound overpowered its healing properties, and so it fell out of favour.
It’s said that the Bloodfern grows where a Bloodbound has spilt blood. Some say that it’s the vampire’s own blood, once soaked into the soil, that gives the fern its deep red colour. Others say its the blood of humens, carelessly dropped by the Bloodbound, that gives the fern its colour.
Yet I have never seen a careless Bloodbound spill humen blood. When something is sacred, one tends to care for it, yes? I must confess, I’ve never seen a vampire use the plant for themselves. What use is a plant with clotting properties and the ability to break a fever to an immortal being? That’s not to say I haven’t seen them use it; I’ve seen it in the hands of the Bloodbound who care for a pledge under their name.
Today, it’s a plant of folklore, but also a herb that can be found on the black market, if you know where to look. Several known batches were burnt to the ground, but it still grows in the wild. Some say that the Bloodbound still spill blood, and so it grows.
~ Nerien.