What They Are
In the past hundred years or so, there's been a lot of exploration on Pern. A lot of expansion. A lot of industrialization. A lot more disposable income and young people tromping around the Southern Continent who don't know that you're not supposed to put random plants in your mouth or up your nose just to see what happens.
There are inevitable results of this.
While it turned out that a number of plants thought lost had somehow been secreted away by the early colonists, and there were a few things that just turned out to be very fun indeed, the Holds and Weyrs and pretty much everybody except the few Healers who realized that these things might be useful was not fond of the idea of the masses having access to such things. That led, at the time, to most of them being declared contraband just about everywhere. There are some minor variations in some of the milder things, but on the whole, getting caught trading in (or sometimes even possessing) such materials can often be grounds for confiscation, large fines, exile, and in a few particularly strict very small Holdings, hanging.
Healers have an exemption for most things, and so there are licit producers, but there are strict prescribing procedures and things like fellis are kept locked up. Of course, that doesn't mean it never goes astray.
How To Get Them
The thing about contraband is that's expensive. The thing about expensive things is that they cost a lot of marks. The thing about the average Pernese person is that they don't have a lot of marks. Tobacco is relatively affordable but regular use will probably cut into an ordinary person's budget for anything else fun; most of the other things are going to lead swiftly to impoverishment to anybody who doesn't have a large income stream from something else, legal or otherwise. The chart gives a sort of relative idea—see the key below it.
If you want to be trading in these kinds of things, PLEASE TELL THE STAFF. There may be IC consequences down the road for dabbling in such things—but we promise, if we spring them on you, they'll lead to more RP, not less. Random using, we just expect you to be sensible enough to stick to what you can afford.
How To Get Off Them
And, er, yeah. A lot of these things are addictive. Some of them are very addictive. We generally expect people who want to dabble in such things to play accordingly.
The List
This is not necessarily an exhaustive list. If there's some mind-altering substance that is not in this chart that you would like to introduce, just poke a staff member.
| Substance | Cost | Addictive | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tobacco | $ | 3 | The familiar standby. Available loose or in pre-rolled cigarettes, including some with flavorings. Not banned in most places, although smoking in public indoor spaces is frowned-upon. |
| Fellis - Juice | $$$ | 3 | The juice of the fellis plant, mostly used by the Healer craft a a pain reliever, generally avoided for long-term use except with the terminal, getting it recreationally usually involves somebody having paid off a Healer. |
| Fellis - Powder | $$$$$ | 4-5 | The dried extract of fellis. Less pure varieties can be smoked; others are inhaled through the nose or, by the very dedicated, injected. Much stronger opiate effect than the juice. Compare to heroin. |
| Cannabis (Weed) | $$ | 1 | Also an old favorite. Usually smoked. Some Healers keep a tincture of it for appetite and headache problems. |
| Ephedra | $$ | 2-4 | A stimulant; used by Healers to help with breathing problems in smaller doses, in much higher doses it improves wakefulness and productivity, reduces appetite, creates euphoria, and and occasionally cause heart attacks. Usually taken orally. |
| Ergot | $$ | 1 | A hallucinogen. Not as effective as LSD and prone to causing nausea and sometimes convulsions, gangrene, and miscarriage—the Healers keep it to induce abortions. |
| Mushrooms | $$$$ | 1 | Psilocybin-containing mushrooms are not widely cultivated, though some of them do exist. Harder to find and more expensive than ergot, but milder side effects. |
Ordinary people can probably afford $ daily and $$ weekly. Nobody but a Lord Holder would likely be able to manage $$$$$ on a daily basis without resorting to something seriously unethical to make extra money.
An addiction of 1 is essentially non-addictive, except perhaps psychologically. 2, you can probably use it once every couple days without it being habit-forming. 3, daily use for a few days may result in a noticeable withdrawal and most people will be dependent after a few weeks. 4, repeated use even with gaps in between will almost certainly result in addiction. 5, may possibly result in withdrawal symptoms after only one or two uses. In 4-5 cases, withdrawal after long use is potentially fatal if not managed well.
At Igen Weyr
Tobacco is widely available and generally not frowned-upon unless you're smoking in the caverns; the air circulation isn't really very good and people will scowl at you, which doesn't stop a number of people from doing it in their own rooms.
Cannabis is officially frowned-upon, but generally only in public; private use is still fairly common. The fines for sale, however, are stiff.
At the moment, most of the other items are either very difficult to come by, or available only legitimately from the infirmary. (Well… *mostly* legitimately.)
