The story of the Mockernut begins not in soil or water, but in the echoes of forgotten melodies. Legend speaks of a time before time, when the Weaver of Realities, a being of pure sonic energy, was experimenting with the very fabric of existence. A dissonance, a fleeting, unsettling chord, arose from her hand – a chord so profoundly unusual that it solidified, taking on a tangible, almost melancholic form. This was the first Mockernut. It wasn’t born of growth, but of a catastrophic note, a testament to the universe's capacity for both creation and profound sadness.
Early Mockernuts were incredibly unstable, prone to dissolving entirely or, conversely, expanding into vast, shimmering pockets of silence. They were observed by the Chronomasters – beings tasked with cataloging the anomalies of reality – and meticulously studied. It’s theorized that the initial Mockernuts were conduits for raw emotional energy, particularly regret and longing. The Chronomasters believed that each Mockernut absorbed these feelings, growing denser with the weight of forgotten sorrows.
One particularly disturbing account describes a Mockernut found nestled within the ruins of a civilization that collapsed after a single, perfectly replicated sunset. The silence surrounding it was palpable, broken only by the faint, rhythmic ticking of an unknown mechanism.
Mockernuts aren’t static. They exhibit a wide range of morphological anomalies, often reflecting the emotional state of their immediate environment. A Mockernut exposed to intense joy might develop iridescent scales, while one found in a place of deep despair could become coated in a viscous, grey substance resembling solidified tears. These physical changes are not merely aesthetic; they are believed to be linked to temporal echoes.
The Chronomasters discovered that a Mockernut could, under certain conditions, briefly "replay" events that occurred in its vicinity. This wasn’t a perfect recreation; rather, a fragmented, distorted impression, like a half-remembered dream. They documented one instance where a Mockernut pulsed with a faint, blue light and briefly showed the lingering image of a child weeping over a broken toy. The toy, remarkably, was identified as a miniature clockwork bird, a popular automaton of the era.
Further research revealed that the size of a Mockernut correlated with the duration of significant emotional events. A particularly large Mockernut was discovered in the heart of a battlefield, radiating an aura of profound fatigue and the lingering scent of gunpowder. It was estimated to have absorbed the cumulative sorrow of countless soldiers.
Centuries later, a secretive cult known as the Cult of the Silent Bloom emerged, worshipping the Mockernuts as vessels of forgotten wisdom. They believed that by meditating near these anomalies, one could access the collective memories of the universe – a dangerous and often debilitating experience. The cult’s rituals involved intricate patterns of silence and deliberate acts of mourning, intended to nourish the Mockernuts and, in turn, receive guidance.
The cult’s practices were largely based on misinterpreted Chronomaster texts. They held the belief that the "Silent Bloom" – the iridescent sheen that occasionally appeared on a Mockernut – represented the blossoming of true understanding. However, in reality, it was simply a byproduct of the Mockernuts’ unstable energy fields. Despite this, the Cult of the Silent Bloom persisted for centuries, ultimately vanishing without a trace, leaving behind only cryptic symbols etched into crumbling stone.
One unsettling detail about the cult was their obsession with collecting "Forgotten Sounds" – recordings of moments of intense emotion, which they believed could be used to strengthen the Mockernuts.