Drugs

There are several substances within Aetolia that are for recreational use and serve no curative purpose. Generally when they are used, it is for the purpose of roleplay. Many guilds have laws - or at least rules - in place that bar novices from using these substances.

Alcohol

Consuming alcohol in Aetolia can be, much like in real life, either a pleasurable or a rather detrimental experience. Many Aetolians enjoy celebrating a particularly stunning victory with a flute of champagne, or perhaps just knocking back a few flagons of ale with the lads. A few brave souls even take pleasure in doing shots of tequila or whiskey, though what enjoyment can be found in that is beyond this humble writer.

It must be pointed out that the effects of drinking alcohol range from simple slurred speech to serious alcohol poisoning and death. When you type STAT, the second line will show you your level of sobriety.

The amount that a given quantity of alcohol will affect you is determined by your tolerance. Tolerance is based on two things: your player level and how much you drink on a regular basis. Among non-drinkers, the player with the higher level will have the higher tolerance, but a low-level player could easily out-drink a high-level player if the low-level player is a regular drinker.

To increase your tolerance, you need to get fairly drunk (however, drinking to the point of vomiting is not necessary) on a regular basis. Every real-time day, your tolerance goes down by a certain amount, but each day that you get fairly drunk, your tolerance will go up by more than that.

Notable varieties of alcohol

Ever a land of legends and fantasy, Aetolia boasts its own fair share of legendary drinks and other reputable concoctions that will put you on your ass in mere moments.

• Liquid Steel is a beer, originally brewed in the Dahkota Hills, known for its incredible potency. For years, it reigned as the most powerful (and deadly) alcoholic substance in the world, but has long since been dethroned, as innovations in brewing continue. The recipe for this drink remains a mystery, but a few local notorious brewmasters have been spotted selling their own version of it.
• Absinthe is the favored liquor of Omei, a powerful spirit made with anise, boasting a strong licorice flavor. The Goddess, and Her order, favor absinthe for its hallucinogenic properties, which unlike in the real world, are highly vivid and often terrifying to the uninitiated. It is said that a vast quantity of this drink is stashed in the Garden of Dreams, where anyone can stumble upon it.
• Power Play, the creation of the vampire Erzsebet, is the strongest known mundane alcohol in the game. Its typical cheap price and the sizable vessel it is offered in certainly adds to its dangerous appeal. The only drinks stronger than this are very rare, typically the rewards of various quests. At one point, an unexplained bug changed numerous instances of Power Play into a drink known as "a slimy green potion", which had identical alcoholic strength, and a rather disgusting description.

Smoking

Smoking most commonly serves the very specific purpose of helping living players cure various afflictions, or put up auras of rebounding, but in recreational use, the lands of Aetolia are host to unimaginable varieties of herbs and other substances that can be burnt and inhaled in exciting and foolhardy ways.

Cultural Smoking in Aetolia

Aetolia exists in no time period we can put a finger on, so the subject of smoking, as with many topics, is a slippery slope in terms of what can and cannot be roleplayed. Pipes are as old as the trees, and tobacco use dates well before the Dark Ages, so these are considered naturally safe subjects. Many players have been known to smoke cigars or even cigarettes, which tend toward frowned-upon modern themes, though research suggests that the use of these implements dates back as far as the 1400s.

Types of Smokables

Cigars, Cigarettes, Cigarillos

Evidence of primitive cigarettes have floated about Sapience for centuries, nothing more than a simple tobacco binder wrapped in leaves or specially treated paper. Culturally speaking, these fell off the radar for some time, until an emerging smoking trend began in Delve, with mass-produced cigarettes becoming extremely popular in mainland Sapience.

These come in many varieties of sizes and shapes, but the most common are cigars, cigarettes, and cigarillos, each produced in several styles and flavors.

Cigarette Locations

Room	Area	Sold by
The Oasis	El'jazira	a rotund, silk-draped tobacco merchant
a shisha cigarette
Intersection of Golden Road and the Imperial Circle	Djeir	a sallow Djeirani merchant
a slender white cigarette
a dark clove cigarette
Overlooking the Zaphar River	Delos	a rail-thin tobacco merchant
a thin cigarillo
a dark cigar
a slender white cigarette
Beginning of a cobblestoned street	Kentorakro	Adil, a tobacco merchant
a mint-scented cigarette
a slender white cigarette
Toppled monument	Hashan	an aged Troll merchant
a rank-smelling blunt
a dark cigar

Lobelia

Celebrated for its relaxing properties, lobelia is a potent plant whose effects are strengthened when smoked. It enjoys an obscure, but socially accepted use as a recreational depressant in Eleusis, though instances of lobelia being smoked have been seen elsewhere, as well.

Cactus Weed

Cactus weed is a plant that grows in the deserts of Aetolia. When smoked, it will induce 'visions' of giant, colorful happy faces. Cactus weed use is common, even fashionable, among the denizens of El'jazira and Djeir, where it serves as a common relaxant, neither decadent nor crude.

Unable to absorb the intoxicants from smoke, the undead injest their own answer to cactus weed, the serum ebrius. Injecting this liquid, the unliving can enjoy countless, spaced-out hours in which they muse on the inner workings of the universe.

Myrrh

Myrrh is a strange substance with magical properties that are rumored to connect to the Pools of Creation. Long ago, the influence of Belakai, the Shaper infused myrrh with a property that stimulated mental growth and triggered the learning centers of the brain. Eating the resinous ball would allow one to learn up to 15 lessons in any given skill at a time. Now, with the advent of better-funded tutors and detailed written studies, any Aetolian can perform this simple feat.

Since then, myrrh has returned to its roots, a hallucinogenic plant with magical properties, an intoxicant highly enjoyed by Omei. When smoked, it opens the brain to conduits linked with the Garden of Dreams, causing the user to experience all manner of waking memories, ideas, visions and nightmares.