Poisons in Concord refer to alchemical creations made by alchemists that are intended to harm, hinder or even kill those affected by them. Difficult to craft and largely unknown to The Concord, they are deceptive and dangerous.
What Poisons Are
Much like potions, poisons are mixtures created by alchemists in Esterra using the herbs that grow there naturally, altered and mixed through a variety of means. While poisons themselves aren’t considered to be magical, the methods of making them vary from person to person and may include magic, whatever works best for your character’s roleplay.
During play poisons are physically represented through a prop (called a phys-rep) and an item card attached to the phys-rep. This item card details the poison’s name and a short description. The item card MUST remain attached to the phys-rep and cards that are not attached will be assumed to be spent.
Crafting a Poison
Poisons are made by gathering the required herbs and giving them to the Exchange Storyteller, who will provide the apothecary with the appropriate item card. The apothecary is required to have a physical representation of the poison,but should appear fitting. You can only craft poisons that your character knows how to craft through the Venumarte skill.
The process of crafting poisons is not without danger. It often involves dangerous reagents being treated through unorthodox manners, arcane elements, and foul mixtures. While the human body is durable, it does need some time to overcome the toxicity of this process, lest it succumb to a wide variety of toxic wounds. For more details on this system consult the Apothecary page.
Using a Poison
Using a poison has a similar process to delivering a curse.
Firstly, you will need to locate a Concord Storyteller; ideally one of the central storytelling team (Archivists) but in a pinch a council storyteller will do (Academy Headmaster, Commandant, Augry, etc) although they may have additional time pressures on them. If you believe you will only have a small window of opportunity to deliver the poison, please find a Storyteller well in advance so that we have enough time to monitor the circumstance.
Next, you will give the poison card to the monitoring Storyteller (at this point called ‘The Monitor’). You can keep your phys-rep. You will also need to inform the monitor of your intended target so that they can monitor your actions.
At this point the monitor will begin a ten-minute countdown. During this ten-minute period you must interact with your target for a minimum of thirty seconds. During this time you must be within arm’s reach of them (although there is no requirement to touch them) and interact with them directly. This represents your character finding a chance to deliver the dose of poison to that character through wafting a fume, exposing to an oil or some similar method. Players should NOT roleplay adding of poisons to food or drink (please see Notes below for additional information).
If you are successful in delivering the poison to your target, the monitor will provide your target with a traumatic wound card for the poison at the appropriate time. If you are not successful in delivering the poison to your target, your body will absorb it and the wound card will be delivered to you. If you wish to change your target after the poison has been prepared you may do so, simply inform The Monitor. This will not reset the timer.
The poisons of Southern Esterra are powerful, reaching the body through heavy clothes and other protections. But they are also short lived outside of a protective environment. Fragile and easily diluted, the poison arriving on the body is simply the only method to apply it. This requires a very particular kind of poisoner to deliver them effectively.
Curing Poisons
Each poison has a corresponding antidote. The only way to treat a poison is to consume the antidote. If your character learns to craft a poison they also learn how to craft the corresponding antidote.
List of Poisons
Below follows a list of poisons and antidotes known to The Concord:
Poisons
None
Antidotes
None
Notes
Trigger Warning: Reference to Sexual Assault and Drugging
Poisons are a divisive concept. Unfortunately there are shitty people in our world even now that use drugs to damage people's inhibitions for terrible ends. But poisons are a fantasy staple, common throughout the genre and particularly appropriate for the political machinations of a game like Concord.
With these twin thoughts in mind, The Concord team workshopped the concept of poisons for some time. We wanted to produce a method of delivery that functions within the game, but does not involve any amount of food or drink tampering. We hope that this delivery provides all the drama and intrigue, but less of the triggering nature. We understand that we cannot entirely remove it from this circumstance.
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As The Concord does not have access to any poison recipes currently, the ‘Venumarte’ skill is not available.
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The Concord team is investigating the concept of ‘Blade Oils’, essentially damaging effects delivered by applying an alchemical creation to a weapon. But one thing at a time. For now, delivering a poison through a weapon is not required and does seem like a foolish way to go about it.