The Conclave

The Ordos Majoris - Hobby, Painting and Modelling => The Dark Millennium => Topic started by: JoelMcKickass on June 21, 2010, 01:35:14 AM

Title: Drugs and Narcotics
Post by: JoelMcKickass on June 21, 2010, 01:35:14 AM
I was just wondering which ones there where, and what their real life equivalent would be. I don't mean combat stims, but the stuff that's commonly mentioned, and what they do. Also, to get somewhere were we can list all of them, even create some own "brand names", even for the alcohol.

Off the top of my head i know Obscura (seems to be tobacco, like cigarettes), and Amasec (brandy? Scotch?)

I know there were a couple more mentioned, i just can't remember them.

So, does anyone know any more?
Title: Re: Drugs and Narcotics
Post by: MarcoSkoll on June 21, 2010, 02:18:15 AM
From my memory of 40k substances, and my admittedly somewhat limited knowledge of drugs...

Quote from: JoelMcKickass on June 21, 2010, 01:35:14 AMOff the top of my head i know Obscura (seems to be tobacco, like cigarettes)
Obscura is a little stronger than that. It's described as a banned narcotic (although it does seem that GW are using a looser definition of the term narcotic) - basically, it's an equivalent to Opium or Heroin.

Lho-sticks... clearly intended to be an equivalent to cigarettes, given that "Officea Medicea have warned that they may cause lung disease".

Grinweed - roughly equivalent to (strong) Cannabis.

Sniff-Musk - similar to Cocaine.

Penshel Seeds - very mild and old fashioned, mostly out of use. Possibly a weaker opiate.

Amasec is distilled wine - so basically, brandy. (So wine is clearly present as a concept).

Other forms of alcohol include Sacra and Rotgut.
Title: Re: Drugs and Narcotics
Post by: JoelMcKickass on June 21, 2010, 02:42:14 AM
Ah, my mistake, i remember reading something about obscura being banned, but was pretty certain at the time that someone else had used it as another name for Lho-sticks, which confused me.

That'd mean that wine is still wine, but what about Scara and Rotgut? Any idea what they are?
Title: Re: Drugs and Narcotics
Post by: DapperAnarchist on June 21, 2010, 04:24:25 PM
Rotgut is presumably some sort of whiskey analogue. There's a moonshine type thing from Necromunda, Snake something or other... DH mentions some drugs, like Gyn, which is a drink made from Engine Coolant... Obscura is definitely the Heroin equivalent. Sacra sounds like it might be some kind of wine, somehow... Sacred Wine is probably the reference I'm thinking of.

Hallucinogenics are available on the black market, as DH mentions them being very popular on a planet with no colours, where everything is grey.
Title: Re: Drugs and Narcotics
Post by: Ynek on June 21, 2010, 04:37:24 PM
In the "farseer" book, there's mention of a drug called 'golconda', which is usually mixed with food or drink, and then ingested. It appears to be a strong depressant which dulls the mind. The main character, Janus Darke, uses it to silence the voices in his head (as he is a latent psyker, but he doesn't know that...)

So, maybe this is another of the opiate-analogues?
Title: Re: Drugs and Narcotics
Post by: Shannow on June 21, 2010, 04:45:38 PM
Joiliq is a spirit that is drunk in the Necropolis novel as far as I remember
Title: Re: Drugs and Narcotics
Post by: MarcoSkoll on June 21, 2010, 05:16:03 PM
I'd agree with DapperAnarchist on rotgut - probably an analogue for low quality whisky (as that's often what it refers to in our world). That said, it might just be a generic term for any poor quality liquor - particularly if there's a high likelihood of it coming back up.

I'd also guess Sacra was a fortified wine - although I wouldn't necessarily bet on it being high quality.

Wildsnake is the drink from Necromunda - apparently brewed from snakes. Expensive though, and most can't afford and have to drink the alternative, appropriately called "Second Best". As the Necromunda LRB puts it "It's better not to think about (what goes into) it. Conveniently, it is almost impossible to think about anything after drinking a bottle of Second Best..."

~~~~~

That said, you can also just make up things. Just take a list of rather unpleasant sounding ingredients and say someone has made a drink out of them.
Title: Re: Drugs and Narcotics
Post by: DapperAnarchist on June 22, 2010, 07:36:41 AM
Sacra does sound a bit like Sack. That's Elizabethan strong wine, right?

Given how horrible the 41st Millenium can be... Jenkum starts to seem like a good idea. I mean, people eat drugs made from fungal growths on dead psykers, just to get a quick burst of psychic power. And, seriously, brewed from snakes...
Title: Re: Drugs and Narcotics
Post by: MarcoSkoll on June 22, 2010, 04:01:52 PM
That's pretty much what Sack is... mentioned in one of Shakespeare's plays, I believe, although I'm no literature buff, so I couldn't tell you which one.

QuoteGiven how horrible the 41st Millennium can be...
It seems like there's an opportunity for something along the same lines as your "Name generator Aliens" thread, except with people putting together unpleasant sounding chemical cocktails instead.
Title: Re: Drugs and Narcotics
Post by: Macabre on June 22, 2010, 07:54:19 PM
Way back in 2nd Ed, you used to have things like Mordian Schnapps, Valhallan Vodka, Catachan Bourbon, Cadian Claret and Necromundan Moonshine...
Title: Re: Drugs and Narcotics
Post by: DapperAnarchist on June 22, 2010, 09:10:56 PM
Oh, I've got to give one of my characters a taste for something like this... What sort of horror drink could you produce on a mining world? Something like Mars as it is now.

I know Sack from the Elizabethan bits in Sandman, like in the issue where Hob Gadling is introduced...

Actually, I will start a "Horror Drinks" type thread...
Title: Re: Drugs and Narcotics
Post by: phil-o-mat on June 23, 2010, 07:27:48 AM
just remembered it...the drug organan that exists on cirian V. it is described in the first of the campaign books from gw.
Title: Re: Drugs and Narcotics
Post by: Inquisitor Sargoth on June 23, 2010, 09:52:22 AM
I would imagine Spook has a small, but very significant (due to its effects), folllowing as a recreational rather than just a battle-stimm. Either way, there's a drug the Imperium really must be trying to crack down on...
Title: Re: Drugs and Narcotics
Post by: O_o on June 29, 2010, 05:02:28 AM
Quote from: DapperAnarchist on June 22, 2010, 09:10:56 PM
Oh, I've got to give one of my characters a taste for something like this... What sort of horror drink could you produce on a mining world? Something like Mars as it is now.

Quote

years ago my Dad worked in a Tire factory with heavy hydraulic machine ( Tire Presses) 

there was a man there who would walk around  with a can of ginger ale
he was actually drinking the hydraulic fluid from the machine (  he would  bleed it from the  feed line )
he would be drunk by lunch as the fluid was a low grade grain alcohol ( but  still high content)

so think twice before asking such a question as to what would be drank on a mining world or forge world like Mars 

note: some hardcore alcoholics will also drink such things as aftershave and house hold cleaners and other non beverage alcohols