Birthright Diseases

[geeman]

At 03:55 PM 12/13/2004 +0100, Hrandal wrote:



>Caer-RootA tuber that grows only in Caerbhaiglien sites. Elves

>occasionally chew it to receive visions. The effect is dicey - sometimes

>pointless hallucinations, other times violent illness. If it works

>properly, the land "speaks" to the person taking the drug - this is like a

>province-wide version of the Commune with Nature spell. It also allows

>the character to make Knowledge checks with a +5 modifier for any facts

>pertaining to the province, and to check as if the appropriate Knowledge

>was an untrained skill. This bonus lasts for 1 hour after awakening from

>the Caer-root trance.At the GM`s option, it may also allow the land to

>communicate with the character in a more meaningful fashion.While in the

>grip of the drug, the character is insensible and helpless.Fort save DC

>17Initial: 1d6 CON damage and Nauseated for 1d4 hoursSecondary: 1d6 WIS

> damage, unconscious for 1d4 hoursIn order for the drug to be effective,

> the character must pass the first save (if they don`t, they just vomit

> the root back up) then deliberately fail the second save. If they choose

> to resist the secondary effects, they gain no benefit from the Caer-root.



Nice. I was looking at some various drug effects, but hadn`t gotten to

that weird category that is somewhere between recreational and religious

like peyote or such things.... I may tweak the effect a bit, but I like

the general idea quite a bit. It has an adventure potential all by

itself. How does "tranceroot" sound for the human (Anuirean) name of the root?



Gary

[Hrandal]

Sure, tranceroot sounds fine. I don't know enough gaelic (or whatever it is that BR elven is based on) to give it a proper elven name, or I would have done.


Another idea - perhaps a little silly

Sidhelien's Bane (Elf-bane)
This is a sticky goo made from special fungus harvested from Faerie Rings on a moonless night. The plants contain a trace of Awnmebhaigl, which makes this poison highly toxic to elves.

After reading the posts about elven ageing possibly being tied to nature sites, I would consider that this poison causes an elf to age at a fantastic rate, and perhaps interferes with the flow of Mebhaigl for regency purposes as well.

Gathering this poison is tremendously risky, as it is very easy for the Faerie Folk to nip through at these times to cause a little havoc. Many a would-be poisoner has been dragged off to the Shadow Realm for their troubles.

[geeman]

At 02:03 AM 12/14/2004 +0100, Hrandal wrote:



>Sidhelien`s Bane (Elf-bane)This is a sticky goo made from special fungus

>harvested from Faerie Rings on a moonless night. The plants contain a

>trace of Awnmebhaigl, which makes this poison highly toxic to elves.After

>reading the posts about elven ageing possibly being tied to nature sites,

>I would consider that this poison causes an elf to age at a fantastic

>rate, and perhaps interferes with the flow of Mebhaigl for regency

>purposes as well.Gathering this poison is tremendously risky, as it is

>very easy for the Faerie Folk to nip through at these times to cause a

>little havoc. Many a would-be poisoner has been dragged off to the Shadow

>Realm for their troubles.



Interesting. I`m going to admit a little bias on my part here--I`m a

little pro-Elf. A Sidheite, if you will. I don`t mind using aging effects

(which are generally avoided in 3e+) to express certain campaign themes,

but in this case since it is often the mortals who enter elven lands and

emerge aged in ways that are not explained by the time of their absence I

think this one might work better in the setting if elves were immune to the

aging effects due to their everyouthful status. But that could be just my

bias talking....



Gary

[irdeggman]

How about Shadow Mushroom or Shadow Spore? A tie in to the Shadow World would do an awful lot towards explaining why it works the way it does. Sidhelien age normally when in the Shadow World. The fungus could exist in both worlds simultaneously and be found in Elven Forests. Functioning the same in both worlds, that is it has the same effect on the faerie seelie in the Shadow World. It could be found only under a full moon (and other conditions that correspod to the strong proxumity of the two worlds).

[geeman]

At 11:46 PM 12/14/2004 +0100, irdeggman wrote:



> How about Shadow Mushroom or Shadow Spore? A tie in to the Shadow

> World would do an awful lot towards explaining why it works the way it

> does. Sidhelien age normally when in the Shadow World. The fungus could

> exist in both worlds simultaneously and be found in Elven

> Forests. Functioning the same in both worlds, that is it has the same

> effect on the faerie seelie in the Shadow World. It could be found only

> under a full moon (and other conditions that correspod to the strong

> proxumity of the two worlds).



I like it. The SW is one of those core BR themes that I really think it`s

hard to over-emphasize, so just about anything that intimates the looming

nature of that plane over the world of light is a good thing. In this case

combining it with elven themes makes it a double-plus. I don`t know how

this kind of thing might get re-written when I actually sit down to

scribble it up--weird issues like how the theme is going to interact with

the game mechanics don`t usually crop up until actually playtested or at

least written down--but on the whole the ideas expressed have been quite

imaginative. Kudos.



In mulling this over, I`m thinking maybe it should work kind of like this

in broad strokes: The Sidhe are ever-young in the world of light, but lose

that ability when in the SW (or otherwise outside the material plane of

Aebrynis.) Upon returning to their home plane they do not remain the aged

by their experience off-plane, but return to their previous, youthful

appearance. I just can`t wrap my head around players running into an OLD

elf in BR. It just doesn`t add up IMO. At least, not an old elf that

remains old. If a character were, however, poisoned and the PCs had to

find a cure for his/her infection, that would be very interesting and would

provide an excellent adventure hook not unlike the kinds of things in

LotHK. When the PCs return with the cure and administer it they watch the

elf return to his "natural" ever-young condition. It`s nice and visual.



Gary

[Hrandal]

This is another idea along the lines of drug/poison, its called Night-eye.

Night-eye is a type of reed which grows along the banks of forest rivers, and is most commonly used by woodsmen who work in shadowy areas and guards who want to stay alert on night watches.

Night-eye is most commonly prepared by being cut and then quickly boiled into a tea (only fresh Night-eye reeds will work for this.) The stem contains a mildly toxic sap which causes the pupil to dilate and increases visual acuity for a short time.

The effects of Night-eye tea are
-1 to all attacks, saves, skill checks, ability checks when in bright light such as sunlight
+2 to all Spot checks in dimly lit areas
Low-light vision

Fort Save DC 12
Initial: 1 CON damage
Secondary: 1 CON damage

Ladies in the courts of the Brechtur have long used the effects of Night-eye to enhance their beauty by putting a few drops in their eyes before a social engagement. This practice is harmful over the long-term, but has also been gaining a little ground in the court of Endier, where many things Brechtur are often adopted in an effort to flatter Guilder Kalien.

[irdeggman]

Originally posted by Hrandal@Dec 19 2004, 12:29 PM
Ladies in the courts of the Brechtur have long used the effects of Night-eye to enhance their beauty by putting a few drops in their eyes before a social engagement. This practice is harmful over the long-term, but has also been gaining a little ground in the court of Endier, where many things Brechtur are often adopted in an effort to flatter Guilder Kalien.

Interesting, but I don't see how it enhances beauty.

[Hrandal]

I've heard that in real history female courtiers sometimes used Belladonna to make their eyes look large and dark. (And I think pupil dilation is supposed to be a sign that you are sexually attracted as well.) Ladies fashions - who can understand them!?

Another example of self-mutilating fashion was a fashionable clay that was used to keep Geisha's skin very white. Unfortunately it was loaded with heavy metals and after a decade or so of using it the skin turned yellow and hung off them like turkey wattle.

[geeman]

At 09:31 PM 12/19/2004 +0100, irdeggman wrote:



>>Ladies in the courts of the Brechtur have long used the effects of

>>Night-eye to enhance their beauty by putting a few drops in their eyes

>>before a social engagement. This practice is harmful over the long-term,

>>but has also been gaining a little ground in the court of Endier, where

>>many things Brechtur are often adopted in an effort to flatter Guilder Kalien.

>

> Interesting, but I don`t see how it enhances beauty.



If I might jump in: It`s a nod to real world historical beauty

techniques. The idea being that a dark, doe-eyed look with a full pupil

was beautiful. Also, pupil dilation often occurs when one is looking at

something that one likes or finds otherwise arousing, particularly

sexually. When you look at someone whose eyes dilate when they are looking

at you it is a queue that they are physically attracted. Lastly, in a

fully open pupil often occurs in dimly lit, romantic circumstances and is,

therefore, associated with the boudoir or other location of tryst. In

various places and times in history women have used certain substances to

dilate their eyes in order to artificially induce look of "bedroom eyes" in

the various senses of the term. One sees this kind of thing in old

cartoons like Betty Boop (which was hugely influential on modern comic and

animation, particularly the Japanese varieties) in which the eyes of the

good characters tend to be freakishly oversized. Characters with small or

even normally proportioned eyes are generally classified as villains or

untrustworthy.



Sometimes this beauty technique resulted in damage to the eyesight of the

women who employed it, unfortunately, not unlike the lead based makeup

often applied for beauty purposes that could take off a layer of two of

skin as well as poison the person wearing it. Vanity is a cruel mistress....



Gary

[RaspK_FOG]

All of the above is entirely true; also, don't forget that dilation of the iris is associated not only with excitement, but also with surprise. Finally, the Italian name of deadly nightshade, belladonna, means "beautiful lady".