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0.0.6Veyrath
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magic system

Rootspeech

A local art of hearing impressions stored in living wood, powerful because its witnesses can be wrong.

Your view · this device
155 words
Codex of Power · Verdant essence

Rootspeech

Discipline
Balanced; reliable contact, interpretive testimony
Rarity
Uncommon trained practice
Reach
Touch to a single grove, never beyond a connected living root network
Regarded
Respected by mourners, contested in courts

IThe Source. Impressions retained by living plants and shared root systems

Who wields it. Listeners trained to distinguish sensation from interpretation

The rite. Touch exposed living root and repeat an observed rhythm without cutting it

Known practitioners. Iven Morn; Sereva Morn

The Balancea reading of what is written down, not a judgement of the magic
Reach1
Price7
Ward6
Bound tighter than it reaches

The price and the wards are heavy for what the magic actually manages. That can be the point, but check that anyone would still pay it.

Nothing to flag. Every working on record keeps to the laws this system sets, and each one names a price.

The Grimoire2 workings across 2 disciplines
Memory1
Ask the Standing WitnessTrained listener

Hear one recent impression from a living tree

Price A personal memory becomes inaccessible until rest

Range TouchLasts MinutesCast by Touch a root and repeat the rhythm of the remembered event

Countered by Interrupt contact; dead wood cannot answer

Restoration1
Graft a Lost NameMaster

Reconnect a displaced impression to a consenting living grove

Price Risk of permanently retaining the stranger’s memory

Range One connected groveLasts Uncertain; may last generationsCast by Join compatible roots while the bearer speaks the remembered name

Countered by Incompatible roots or absent consent

Listening without ventriloquism

A tree remembers pressure, light, injury and repeated movement. A listener supplies language, introducing interpretation at the very moment a witness seems to speak. The best practitioners report uncertainty alongside the remembered scene.

A place in memory

To receive an impression, the listener temporarily yields one of their own. Familiar names usually return after sleep. Deep workings may exchange memories permanently, leaving someone certain of an event they never lived. Consent matters on both sides: a cut root cannot refuse a question, but its answers lose the surrounding context.

The testimony nobody can own

The cedar at The Thorn Fortress remembers a child brought to the first chamber. Some hear a victim; others hear a volunteer. Iven Morn refuses both conclusions until the impression can be heard without court prompting. Avel Morn has heard her own childhood words in the same root, suggesting the network can transport memory as well as warmth.

Mentioned in
Alceria
See also
Ask the Standing Witness
spell

Hear one recent impression from a living tree

Veyrath
Graft a Lost Name
spell

Reconnect a displaced impression to a consenting living grove

Veyrath
Sereva Morn
character

Sereva carves names in living bark using shallow cuts designed to heal visibly.

Veyrath
Iven Morn
character

Iven treats a tree’s recollection as a witness that can misunderstand what it sensed.

Veyrath
Starward Covenant
magic system

Rare long-distance workings that bind a promise to a star’s return and consume the speaker’s remaining years.

Veyrath
Hearthbinding
magic system

A measurable craft that moves existing heat through prepared vessels and living roots.

Veyrath