In the Land of the Obliviax Eaters

From the desk of Humberto Malladonnina, scholar of Schelotto:

Obliviax, or "memory moss" is one of the most intriguing specimens for scholars of magical flora. For one thing, the most important attribute of the moss, the ability to absorb memories, is the most dangerous aspect of studying it.

There are two facts about obliviax that most people are unaware of:

1. Those who ingest obiliviax moss in a certain amount gain not only the memories contained in the moss; they also develop a dependence on the moss, becoming consumed with the desire to attain more memories, through the moss if possible; through other means if necessary.


2. An obliviax colony, having grown to a certain size and having attained a certain amount of memories, achieves sentience of its own, of a sort[1].

Those who become addicted to the obliviax moss are distinguished by a kind of glossolalia, starting off as a momentary mumble and growing to a constant monotone in a normal speaking voice once the addiction has completely taken hold. This takes the form of recountings of the memories, both acquired from the moss and of the original personage, scattered across various lifetimes and experiences.

A small bite of obliviax once per day is enough to keep the obliviax eater sated, although they will maintain their ramblings while they go about their regular business. Once a day has passed without access to the moss, the cravings become stronger and stronger and the mental state of the eater deteriorates rapidly.

Once three days has passed, the addict will no longer eat or drink, concentrating instead solely on acquiring memories. Often the most convenient method is to consume the recently-living brain tissue of a sentient creature, the memories of said creature being absorbed by the eater[2]. The cycle then continues.

Because of the nature of this feeding, obliviax eaters are often confused with zombis and other supernatural creatures and it has been a great disservice to scholarly pursuits that these still-living, presumably still-thinking creatures are all too commonly destroyed prior to a proper examination and autopsy.

[1] - Large colonies of moss have been observed to engage in behavior which can only be characterized as being beneficial to the future survival of the colony, behavior which most closely resembles that observed in the medium order of herd animals and other comparative beasts. Conjecture that the colony can achieve anything more than this by way of intellect, including even approaching the most crude and base peasant, is groundless speculation at its worst.

[2] - Although poorly understood, the mechanism that I posit that is behind this absorption of memories is based on the infection within the personage of the obliviax itself, which should be visible upon autopsy. Unfortunately, no specimens of recent enough vintage for the moss to still be extant have been made available to scholars, at least to my limited knowledge.