Cooker

Makers of illicit drugs.

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Emporos

The Red Grith's drug makers wield the power of possibility, wielding superscience of its era to create magical drugs. They are called emporoses.

In the Red Grith, the emporoses use advanced scientific processes to create potent synthetic drugs for sale. They create them via hyperscientific methods that allow them to run multiple experiments with the same ingredients at the same time. For example, if an experiment needs one fluid ounce of water, they can run that experiment twice at the same time with only one fluid ounce of water, allowing for use of controls and A/B testing to experiment more rapidly. In terms of the process of creating drugs, this allows quicker generation of drugs and quicker development of new kinds of drugs, giving the Red Grith an edge on competitors.

In order to tap into this power, an emporos needs special equipment - equipment made from a glass called potiri - and neutralized ingredients, and decades of study into hyperscience, specifically hyperchemistry and hyperbiology. The Red Grith sponsors promising members to school to learn these or recruits desperate students.

The processes of creating drugs varies by drug. There are six that the Red Grith specializes in:

• Florid: a red liquid injected via a needle that causes the blood to rush to the head, creating a flushed appearance; it is a very strong stimulant. Prolonged use increases the risk of a stroke. It is highly addictive.
• Minium: a red powder usually inhaled nasally, though it can be melted and injected with a needle; it is a painkiller. Prolonged use causes gastrointestinal issues. It is highly addictive.
• Vicious: pills of various colors that are potent inducers of violent psychosis, energy, and paranoia. It is addictive, but few who use it live long enough for the addiction to be the problem.
• Sourweed: enhanced plants that have an acrid smell when burnt; if dried and burnt as incense, its smoke inhaled, it will cause a pleasant drunken feeling. Prolonged use causes lung damage. It is not addictive.
• Pinch: venom distilled from fire ants and altered via hyperchemistry to be a mild orange fluid that is drunk in tiny doses. It causes the skin to tingle and makes tactile senses more intense. Prolonged use causes shock and organ failure. It is mildly addictive.
• Jinx: hallucinatory chemical derived from multiple sources, this chemical is taken mixed with food. Prolonged use causes permanent but mild hallucinations. It is not addictive.

Emporoses are skilled in hyperchemistry and may also know how to make other useful substances. The risk, however, of running multiple experiments or chemical processes is twice the risk of failure.

PRO -1 ATH -1 STR -2 AWA +4 WIL +1 PRS -1 STH /

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Mabend

Other drug cookers of the Red Grith make drugs that derive from the emotional energy generated by their own personalities. These are called mabends.

The most potent drug made by the Red Grith is called jalada. It is a light that, when it touches the face of a user, makes their entire personality louder and more free, instilling a feeling of well being, self-esteem, and contentment with where one is in the world. It lasts about an hour, then is followed by a crash wherein one forgets one's own name. Prolonged use causes the crash to extend until it is permanent, requiring more and more use of jalada. It is highly addictive.

Mabends create this drug by washing in rushing water (usually a shower) while experiencing intense emotions. They do this by focusing on intense memories, and in order to get a wide range of emotions, they seek out certain experiences. Sometimes this means intentionally falling in love, other times it means getting arrested, other times it means jumping off something high, other times it means taking a long nap. Any experience that gives them an intense emotion must be focused on for hours afterward, meditated upon right up until they rest for the night, and then the following morning, they wash in a torrent of water while focusing on the memory and feeling. Then, they gather the water to mix with the next experience. Once they have done this with 100 experiences, they add seeds of mandrake and petals of belladonna, boil it into a tea, then carry it back to thre torrent of water. There, they flash a bright light through it. The light is captured in the torrent, bottled, and sold. To use it, users must boil the water to release the light, placing their face above it to absorb it.

However, mabends do not have to mix 100 emotions into it. They can make mixtures of any kinds of emotions, so long as they are sincere, and these can be used to enhance emotions of anyone who consumes them (via the same method as jalada). However, the Red Grith does not pay for these to be manufactured.

The risk doing this work is that the emotions never come back. The process of making these emotional concoctions requires AWA rolls at every step (initial experience, focus on it until before med, meditation before rest, awakening, showering). The difficulty is 10, 13, 15, 11, and 15. Any failure causes emotional damage to the mabend. Later, they must roll their alchemical skills when boiling the mixture with belladonna and mandrake against a difficulty determined by the success rate of their previous rolls.

PRO -1 ATH -1 STR -1 AWA +4 WIL +1 PRS +2 STH /

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Maruntuk

The Green Grith only uses, sells, or otherwise works with natural drugs. But they have some really strong stuff because of it. Some use magic of the element of fungi to create powerful hallucinogens and psychedelics. Others use plant magic. But the end result is magical inebriants that they either use for themselves, sell as fundraising, or use to incapacitate their enemies.

Maruntuks develop drugs out of plants. They use their power to enhance plants to make their drugs more potent.

Maruntuks know how to tap into the elemental energy of plants to heighten the power of the plants they work with. To do this, they must bond with nature by communing with all the greenery around them, preferably in a place with lots of plants, often in the greenhouses where they grow their plants. The maruntuk must have a deep knowledge of the plants they are communing with and focus on them via meditation and, preferably, by inhaling their fragrances, touching them (without harming them), and even perhaps tasting parts of them that can be safely consumed without harming either the maruntuk or the plants.

If they are a good keeper of plants and protector of nature, and if they succeed in their meditations, they will eventually, after many meditations, become attuned to the green and able to sense the elemental energy of plants. Once they are able to sense it, they can encourage it to strengthen or improve the plants they use in their work by making small offerings to the plants or by using special whispering chants.

Maruntuks work with several kinds of mundane plants in their greenhouses:

• Marijuana
• Poppy flowers
• Peyote cactus
• Tobacco
• Kratom
• Jimsonweed

Heightening the effects of these plants also heightens the side effects.

They also sometimes grow and work with two magical plants:

• Chloerofarm: the leaves of this plant can be dried and smoked to increase metaphysical awareness. Side effects include paranoia, confusion, and forgetfulness.
• Ypnochymos: the flowers of this plant can be rendered into a tea or juice that provides a feeling of calm and inner strength. Side effects include gastrointestinal distress and sleepiness.

The selling of potent "green drugs" funds a lot for the Green Grith, though members also make use of them.

PRO / ATH / STR +1 AWA +2 WIL +1 PRS -1 STH /

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Poitigeir

The drugs created by the Violet Grith are extremely potent, drawing from ancient stories of fungi and storied powders and liquids that have magical properties.

Pronounced “potigare”. They collect the mushrooms from fairy rings to make drugs with. This causes them to permanently hallucinate, which in turn gives them bizarre insights and powers. And allows them to make the most potent drugs in the world.

Just picking a mushroom from a fairy ring is generally safe, but doing so over and over again with apparent intention draws the ire of the fey. Doing so as a friend of the fey still draws their ire. Doing so and making concoctions from it results in being struck with permanent hallucinatory state. This makes them see the following:

• Ancestral sight: they view some people as that person’s ancient ancestors. (1)

• Dream sight: they view some people as the last dream that person had. (2)

• Fear sight: they view some people as that person’s worst fear. (3)

• Legend sight: they view some people as their cultural heroes or legendary figures. (4)

For each new person they meet, they roll a d4 to determine which one they see. While nothing they see is real, it is all true.

The powers the mushrooms and fey ire grant them as they work include the following:

• Fungal lore: they know much about fey fungi without really studying it.

• Intensify mushroom: the effect of a mushroom can be intensified by the breath of a poitigeir.

• Molding touch: if they enter an emotionally distressed state, their touch causes anything living to mold, power of 11+.

• Random geas: because they have drawn the ire of the fey, poitigeirs end up having to do strange tasks to assuage that ire. Completing a task alleviates the intensity of their hallucinations. Not completing a task in a certain amount of time causes their hallucinations to intensify.

• Sporing: hallucinatory spores spread from the poitigeir when they shiver, shake their head, or tremble in any way. Though these exist only as an hallucination, they still can spread to others causing them to hallucination. 20’ diameter range, power of 11+. Everyone is affected, even if they are an ally. They prevent this by washing their hair much more than usual.

The intensity of their hallucinations runs on a scale of 1 to 12. They roll a d6 at the start of the campaign to see where they start. A 1 is mild auditory hallucinations with some rippling effects visually. A 5 or 6 is strong auditory and visual hallucinations but the ability to distinguish those from reality. A 12 is a complete divorce from reality.

The drugs they create are as follows:

• Ashlin: dried mushroom pills that are the most powerful hallucinogen possible.

• Backa: powdered mushrooms that give a heightened sense of awareness with mild hallucinations.

• Colla: mushroom tea that causes a deep sleep with intense dreams.

• Sasta: dried mushroom pills diluted to allow simply a sense of intense happiness.

They all last about six hours, and all of them have an intense comedown period of about six hours per dose.

PRO / ATH / STR -1 AWA +2 WIL -1 PRS -1 STH /

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Saam

The Blue Grith avoids participating in the drug trade except through a handful of specific substances that are more medicinal or supportive than recreational. Their dealers provide medications usually denied to the poor and oppressed, substances restricted to use only for the powerful, substances for harm reduction purposes, and milder recreational and relaxational drugs. They pride themselves on knowing what someone needs rather than what they want.

A saam is a maker and provider of drugs and medications who have the ability to know what a person needs by listening to them. They gain this ability by living amongst those they serve, usually because they are born amongst them, though this is not a prerequesite. As they live amongst those they serve, they come to know them, giving them mundane insights into them. In order to take that to a magical level, they need a mentor who will each them to listen to unspoken words (and thus, unspoken needs) and to connect to the energy of providing.

Necessity is a powerful force. It drives most living things and many unliving things, and fulfilling it is as potent as appeasing a Divine. Saams learn to connect to necessity by fulfilling it, finding ways to meet the needs of those around them, then seeing the flickers of its power within those moments and capturing it. They capture it in special capsules called saampelds. Their mentors provide them their first saampelds, which they use to capture their first bits of necessity. Eventually, they fill up enough saampelds to begin using them to wield their powers. Saampelds can be used for the following:

• Create capsule: though it is possible to create a saampeld without already having one, that skill is generally lost to the saams of the Blue Grith. Instead, they rely on the fact that a full saampeld can make ten empty ones.
• Capture necessity: saampelds fill up after ten minor needs are met or three major needs.
• Deep listening: the ability to hear what someone needs from what they are saying, even if they don't say it. Effectively, read people +6 for that specific purpose.
• Fulfill prescription: if someone has a prescription from a healer or doctor, a saam can use a full saampeld to fulfill a month's worth of it.
• Alleviate illness/pain: if someone has not seen a healer but needs symtpons or illness treated, the saam can spend a full saampeld to provide a three-day dosage of medication the person needs to help them get by.
• Harm reduction: if someone has an addiction, the saam can give them the substance they need in a safe dosage by spending a full saampeld. However, they cannot do this more than once per six weeks without trying to meet deeper needs.
• Relaxation aide: anyone in need of destressing, relaxation, or recreation may be provided with a night's worth of substances to help with that at the cost of two full saampelds.

Other uses may be possible. Consult with the GM.

If someone takes a substance from a saam and sells it instead of using it, they cannot get another substance from the saampeld until they make up for it by providing something necessary to someone in need. Saams work in tandem with the various street healers that work for the Blue Grith. Part of the Commitee for Support.

PRO -2 ATH / STR -1 AWA +3 WIL +1 PRS +2 STH /

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Yothagosa

The Green Grith only uses, sells, or otherwise works with natural drugs. But they have some really strong stuff because of it. Some use magic of the element of fungi to create powerful hallucinogens and psychedelics. Others use plant magic. But the end result is magical inebriants that they either use for themselves, sell as fundraising, or use to incapacitate their enemies.

Yothagosas create drugs out of fungi, using magical powers to make most potent hallucinogens.

To do this, they must first commune with fungi. This requires burying themselves beneath a bed of fungi, usually psilocybe mushrooms, and sleeping there for six days with no food or water save what nature provides. They then must rise up without washing off any of the fungi, which will be growing into them, and going under a new or full moon to bleed into another bed of fungi of a different species. They repeat this process every month for thirteen months. If they survive, they will begin to understand fungi deeply and sense their magical properties. They will also permanently have mushrooms growing out of parts of their bodies, whom they speak to and hear answers from that never make sense and are only audible to themselves. This is never distressing to them.

In this state, they can speak to and understand other fungi as well, and from there, they can encourage any fungus to become psychoactive and/or hallucinogenic. They can coax any fungus into having one of the following properties:

• Mood-altering: the emotional mood of the user changes either to euphoria, morose, or erratic.
• Mood-heightening: the mood of the user deepends; if they were happy, they get happier; if they were sadder, they get sadder.
• Awareness-heightening: +1 AWA for the duration of the dosage.
• Consciousness-altering: the user experiences uncontrolled hallucinations. Afterward, they roll a d100. On a 1, they have permanent hallucinations. On a 100, they have an epiphany. Any other roll has no effect.
• Behavior-altering: while high, the user has lowered inhibitions, makes unexpected choices, and will attempt things they might not otherwise, with a +1 to any attempt.
• Memory-revealing: locked away memories return to the user. They roll a d100. The higher they roll, the more personal significance it has for them.
• Magic-empowering: any supernatural, innate ability they have, they gain a +1 to.
• Focus-granting: they can hyperfocus on one single thing for the duration of the dosage. If there's something they want to hyperfocus on, they must roll a d100. On a 1-20, they hyperfocus on something else.
• Identity-altering: they have an hallucinatory experience that reveals memories, the future, the present, and alternate realities, permanently altering 1-3 of their motivations and giving them a new name when it is over.

Other effects may be possible. Consult the GM.

PRO -1 ATH -1 STR +1 AWA +3 WIL +1 PRS -2 STH +1