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Drugs[]

Locus(t)[]

Locus(t) is derived from an Orphean microbial life form found within its frozen seas, colloquially referred to as Locusts, after the ancient Earth insect. The name is also connected to a technical locus: “the effective or perceived location of something abstract.” The drug is produced by crushing down harvested Locust colonies into a near-liquid paste that is then used to fill small capsule pills.

Locusts are one of many microbial life forms that live on the underside of the massive sheets of ice that cover Orpheus’ frozen oceans. They received their name because they do not feed off of nutrients within the water, but off of other microbial life forms. After feeding, Locust colonies spread quickly and form massive, plant-growth-like structures, searching for more food. In spring, if the ice is clear, Locust colonies can be spotted easily because they appear as massive, sickly yellow and brown masses glued to the underside of the ice.

Locus(t), the drug, instills increased  focus and “a tendency for the mind to wander back to significant information” in its user. What this means is not a conscious increase in ability to analyze or recollect, but a subconscious influence that increases the rate at which the mind naturally encounters and dwells on memories. Under the effects of Locus(t), the mind is better able to find and make connections in memory because background processes are faster and more focused.

General side effects include an in increased appetite, including craving certain foods, and overuse can result in difficulty absorbing nutrients correctly. Rare side effects include Alzheimer’s like symptoms, which can also result from overuse, and the very rare Recursive Memory Loop, where a very small number of users are unable to recollect anything but a specific set of memories that play over and over in their head.

Taxphile[]

An unusually specific drug, Taxphile was designed to specifically make the act of doing taxes more enjoyable and less difficult. Technically a partially psychic drug, one of the primary ingredients in Taxphile is a scrape of genetic material from a psychic individual or creature, especially those that reside on the planet Teuthem (often times, this genetic material is synthesized or grown from existing samples). Other ingredients include a very specific cocktail of other existing drugs and biomatter.

Taxphile’s effects include increased reasoning and logical analysis and deduction, including heightened mathematics, heightened dopamine levels, stress reduction and inhibition, and better short-term memory recollection.

Side effects include a craving to do taxes or complicated puzzles after having completed them, brief but intense addiction to random specific things, anxiety, and a brief but intense depression when coming off the drug. Rare side effects include mathematical hallucinations (seeing equations in the air) and permanent short-term memory damage in a very small subset of users.

Taxphile was developed as a joint venture between Eridanus and Lyra because of results from Lyra’s research into the psychic wildlife on Teuthem.

Charismus[]

Charismus is a subtly manipulative drug designed to make people around you more at ease, relaxed, and amicable. Technically a perfume rather than a drug, Charismus has been classified as such due to the sometimes addictive properties it can instill in those around the user rather than the user themselves. A mixture of Orphean fungal matter and Tiberian insect pheromones, Charismus is a difficult drug to produce and generally quite expensive, but also highly desirable.

Charismus is generally applied as a misted perfume that releases highly specific pheromones that make people around the user more relaxed and friendly. The drug also has the same effect on the user, sometimes to a greater degree if it is applied directly to exposed skin. The user may also experience a mild euphoria, heightened sentimentality and increased empathy. Essentially, social interaction becomes easier for those within a reasonably small radius around the user. Charismus also has the effect of reducing body odor and the production of sweat, and is occasionally used in cases of anxiety and nervousness because of its relaxing properties.

Some people react more strongly to the effects of Charismus than others. As a result, side effects include an increased desire to return to the company of someone who was using Charismus, egotistical behavior in the user, and lethargy if the relaxation aspect is received to strongly. Rare side effects include rashes that can begin to flake like bad sunburn if applied directly to the skin and temporary love-potion-like effects. Overuse can result in self-addiction, i.e. being unable to tear yourself away from your face in the mirror or from dwelling on how amazing you are to the point of losing all love for anyone but yourself. Overuse can also result in an itchy burn beneath the surface of the skin that is difficult to treat and recover from.

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