It ain't over till it's over and it ain't over yet

ok so in my mind palace brain canon thing alchemists in the lost cities have what is essentially an alchemist society. This is a network for trading materials, reading sources, new information, hard to find elements etc. and is directly connected to the drug trade because guess who makes the drugs? (If you guessed alchemists then ur right)

Some alchemists reject the practice, claiming it’s unethical since consuming straight up star stone is like… really rough on your system. Like it’s essentially a chemical compound and can cause chemical dependency so some argue that it’s kind of a form of malpractice and they don’t like that

anyway it’s done by crushing star stones into a very fine powder, before dissolving that powder with a solvent and hyper concentrating the mixture before dehydrating that solution to form very very very teeny tiny crystals like think pop rocks

some do opt to leave it as a liquid to take as like a quick bedtime thing, but because it's harder to safely dose it isn't typically sold.

anyway, typically traded in bottles containing 100-200 crystals (also referred to as units, pixies, grains, crumbs, and sparks) the average dose is 1-5 under the tongue and you let that dissolve. Obviously if you’re batshit crazy you’d take more. More than 13 in an hour is considered a fatal dose.

the most common drug known simply as “Marina” is made from aqua or lapis star stones because it’s a common misconception that these star stones in specific have restorative properties (they don’t) there are obviously others assorted by the color of star stones used (Rose, Verde, Jaunest, Lavender, Topaz, you get the idea)

You can typically get any drug by asking to "see Marina" if you're in the right area. You can also ask for "Marina's cousin, [name]" if it's a specific variant you want. why i am directing tumblr on how to acquire fictional drugs i do not know

anyway almost the entire network is based in what you could consider the underside of Mysterium, like there's SOME outreach to other cities obviously but if you want the stuff the way you want it you need to physically go to Mysterium

like i mentioned before, the only accepted payment is other star stones. if ur new they might take lusters or offer you a sample of it for free, but you have to pay with star stones so that they can make more since star stones are hard to get your hands on if it's not in like. . family jewelry.

anyway I have another hc that cassius used a lot of giselas old hair pins to buy drugs but that is another story

Anyway the drug itself is described as having a sharp, almost sweet flavor with kind of the effect of wasabi where it just punches you in the nose and eyes if you take too much at a time. the stuff also emits a faint glow. like very faint you can't rlly see it unless ur in a dark room and even then it's not like a light source or anything

dosing in a large group is known as "getting drowned" and if you OD ur pals will alert a local physician by saying you "went overboard" (in the literally and metaphorical sense) elves probably have an equivalent to narcan but od's are typically handled by simply flushing it out of your system usually by making u puke it all up

the stuff is flamable and can IN THEORY be rolled into little cigarettes of a sort. this is considered the "up-end" way of using it because it's the only way most nobles will use it (aside from bribing alchemists for the liquid stuff)

The creation, trade, and usage of sparkly meth is technically banned and illegal but it's one of those hushy things where behind the scenes basically everyone uses it.

wowza ok i am totally drained i did not realize how much i had developed this random ass thought