TheNexusProject/BloodStarLily
- Back to TheNexusProject.
- Back to Cinnabar.
Blood Star Lily
by Xarak
- "Look man, I'll sell you weed, qat, coke, but I'm not selling a kid Redstar. Yer too young for that shit."
- Nexus drug dealer to a young Dragon Blood.
A rare and beautiful flower that grows only in Nexus, the Blood Star Lily is much prized for its powerful psychoactive properties. The blooms are small, with five scarlet, diamond-shaped petals surrounding a central bud, which looks much like a large ruby (but isn't ). It is an aquatic plant which grows only on the surface of stagnant water, with pale grey, smooth leaves supporting the flowers. Attempts to farm it have uniformly failed, but it seems to grow very quickly when it grows at all - reports of a patch literally springing up overnight are common.
It's sometimes found in uncared-for garden ponds, but is also known to grow in drainpipes, cisterns, buckets, and even puddles in the street. Some people make a living searching Nexus, guided by the tell-tale pear-like odor of the flowers, and selling them to apocatheries, drug dens and restaurants. On an average day in Nexus, just ten petals will be harvested.
One petal is a standard dose. It is usually swallowed, but can be smoked for a more powerful trip. The effects last about two hours, or one if smoked. The user falls into a deep trance, during which they experience wondrous visions and strange sensations which most people find extremely pleasant, even sublime -- although they can also be horrific, depending upon the state of mind of the user.
Overdosing on this drug is not recommended. As well as many cases of permanent mental health problems resulting from taking one petal too many, it has been reported that some people have suffered physical changes, injuries, or even disappeared entirely....
Rumours
- Darque Chocolat sometimes has "chef's specials" which include a crushed petal of Blood Star. These are, needless to say, exorbitantly expensive.
- The flowers seem to grow rather more often than you'd expect around the Bastion mansion of Green Star Rising, a mortal artist of unusual talent.
Secret
- The Blood Star Lily is a Wyld prodigy, originally spawned in Firewander. Each flower produces millions of microscopic seeds, which, blown by the wind, are found everywhere in Nexus. However, they almost never germinate. They do so only if a creature of the Wyld passes nearby - Raksha, Fae-blooded, anyone who has had a Grace forged, or mutants.
- The visions seen by users of this drug are actually scenes from the Wyld, usually the Bordermarches, but if the user has taken a high dose, possibly deeper. Someone expert in Lore might be able to work this out, and possibly control their visions to gaze into an area of their choice. Overdose leads to a small amount of the Wyld leaking out into the user's body. This almost always causes madness, and can also lead to mutations. Extreme overdose could theoretically lead to something from the Wyld gaining access to Creation....
Comments
Not to nitpick, but this has no links or rumors at all. -Everyl
- Done! -- Xarak
