In keeping with Majestrix Kyia's belief in allowing people to live their own lives, she has legalized a number of activities and items that are not permitted in other regions outside of the Empire of Metamor.
One of these is the use of various drugs.
Disclaimer: This is not a representation of the beliefs held by any of the authors of the Metamor City stories, but this is about drugs as a part of the world setting. If you want an individual author's take on drug laws… go ask them.
Background and Regulation
In the Empire, recreational drugs are defined as any substance that is inhaled, ingested, or otherwise absorbed into the body that alters the person's perceptions or psychology in a way that can potentially threaten the person's ability to function properly in civilized society. This includes both mundane biochemical drugs and magical or alchemical substances.
The Bureau for Regulation of Controlled Substances and the Bureau of Magic Regulation keep track of the sales of mundane and magical drugs, respectively, dividing them into different restriction classes and setting limits on the quantities that can be sold to each user within a given time span. The BRCS is part of the Ministry of Health and the BMR is in the Ministry of Justice, but both are generally given wide operational latitude by their superiors and tend to behave as distinct law enforcement agencies within the Imperial government. Often there is some friction and competition between the agencies when a new drug hits the streets, until it can be determined whether or not the drug is magical in nature.
Imperial Regulation
Drug regulation falls into a number of levels of enforcement:
Class A1: Prohibited
Drugs are only banned outright for recreational use if they are considered highly physically addictive and/or have destructive physiological effects at typical usage doses. Cocaine, heroin, Rain, and other powerful and destructive drugs fall into this category. The Narcotics sections of the MCPD detective squads are primarily concerned with interdicting these drugs.
Class A2: Restricted
These are drugs with recreational applications that are highly addictive and/or have destructive physiological effects, but also have legitimate practical uses (such as military or medical applications). Class A2 drugs are illegal for private use but may be used under the supervision of appropriate authorities.
Class B: Ambient Effects - Private Use Only
Drugs that have harmful effects on those surrounding the user are banned from public places, including restaurants and office buildings. The private citizen may use these drugs in his or her private residence, or in the private residence of an individual who gives consent to their use. These include drugs that are burned (tobacco, cannabis, etc.) and alchemical substances that produce magical or psionic effects upon those surrounding the user (such as drugs that allow the individual to read or influence the minds of others).
Class C: Regulated
These substances may be enjoyed in certain types of public spaces. Businesses may allow (or prohibit) their use on their premises and stores, restaurants, clubs and parlors may sell them, if properly licensed. Individuals who use enough drugs at a given sitting to significantly impair their perceptions or judgment are legally required to refrain from operation of swoops, skimmers, and heavy equipment, and use of these drugs is prohibited while operating these devices. Alcohol, smokeless cannabis, and various non-addictive or minimally-addictive psychotropic drugs fall into this category. (Smokeless tobacco is also traditionally classified here, though there are some within the BRCS that are fighting hard to have it moved to a higher classification because of its carcinogenic properties and highly addictive nature.)
Class D: Unregulated.
Caffeine and other mild stimulants that do not significantly impair perception and judgment are not regulated by law.
Loop Holes
Note: there are some loop-holes to the regulations. For example, private clubs may have Class B drugs available for purchase and use while the purchaser is on premise. Such clubs are required to post notices about the availability and use of such drugs on the premise. For example:
PRIVATE PROPERTY — CLASS B SUBSTANCES IN USE
The owner of this establishment hereby gives notice
of consent to the use of Class B controlled substances
on the premises. Any person entering herein is understood
as having given tacit consent to the use of these substances
in his/her presence, and indemnifies the proprietor and his/her
fellow patrons of any responsibility for the associated risks of
exposure.City of Metamor Civil Code, Title XI, Ch. 13, Sec. 27(b)1
Drug Index
Brimstone
Class: A2
Base: Alchemical
Mana-Affecting, Mind-Affecting
Brimstone enhances a user's ability to channel mana, which makes it popular among sorcerers and other mages who regularly use large amounts of mana in their spells. It reduces the mage's ability to control the finer details of spell-working, though, so it is most useful in large-scale destructive evocations and other forms of brute-force magic. Brimstone is highly addictive and can cause burnout in frequent users — a long-term reduction in the mage's ability to use magic. Only military mages may use it legally, and then only in very specific circumstances. It is highly prized on the Street, where it can sell for 200 marks per dose or more.
Cannabis
Class: B
Base: Biological
Mind-Affecting, Body-Affecting
Leaves and buds of the herb Cannabis sativa, known in our world as marijuana or pot. Joints are referred to as cabs.
Smokeless cannabis is a Class C drug.
Essence
Class: C
Base: Chemical
Mind-Affecting, Body-Affecting
Essence is an empathogen similar to 3,4-Methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA), but with a reduced risk of long-term brain damage in chronic users. It was developed as a safer alternative to MDMA and has largely replaced it in the recreational market. Users experience euphoria, a heightened sense of empathy, and an improved sense of touch, which makes it popular among lovers.
++Mentat
**Base: **Alchemical
Mind-Affecting; increases mental processing for both magic users and psis
See Psi Drugs for more details.
Rain
Class: A1
Base: Alchemical
Mind-Affecting
Rain is distributed as a clear, colorless liquid that the user drinks directly or mixes with another beverage. It floods the user's body with endorphins and adrenaline, creating a highly energetic state in which all of the senses are amplified and the user feels focused, confident and powerful.
It is is the latest leap of pharmocological and alchemical cooperation.
Equal parts complex chemical compound and magical weave, Rain goes beyond merely addictive. One dose leads to a life-and-death struggle to attain the next fix. Invariably this ends in the eventual death of the addict, though the body does not develop the typical 'tolerance' as it does to other narcotics (the same dose is just as effective the last time as it was upon the first).
On the streets it is called Rain because of its water-like clarity. The effects are heightened physical sensations, hyper awareness, and vastly increased reflex speed. Unfortunately the accompanying euphoria severely limits control over these physiological enhancements. Initial dosing is called the Storm, the rocketing high that imparts the euphoria and heighened physical senses. This typically lasts several hours or even days depending on the method of dosing.
As the Storm fades the addict then enters the Drought stage where the caloric requirements needed to maintain the Storm come crashing down. The Drought has no end, however. There is no lasting through withdrawl and emerging on the other side… the body continues to burn through its caloric stores, pushing the addict to eat ravenously, until there is no more to burn and the victim perishes. While one can be weaned from the highs of the Storm, they must ever after continue to use proscribed time-release quantities of legal Rain to hold off the lethallity of the Drought.
Overdosing on Rain, taking a quantity so vast that it saps the body beyond any ability to recover, is called the Riding the Tempest, or any of many such acronyms coined by addicts or the law enforcement invariably called out to deal with them. Anyone Storming to such a degree becomes a danger to anyone around them as the psychological affects of such overexaggerated physical senses often throws them into manic or paranoid rages.
Unscrupulous types use Rain to rope in slaves for their own use, addicting them to the drug and then holding them in a short leash with the promise of another Storm. The most common use is in prostitution, though rumors have indicated that entire private armies had been dosed with Rain to enhance them beyond physical norms.
Rain began showing up on the black market only a few years ago, and BMR is still baffled about where it came from. It has no known chemical or alchemical similarities to any other drug in common use. The Ministry of Justice believes that the appearance of Rain is a clue that a new player has entered the underworld of Metamor City, but who they might be and what their goals are is still unknown.
Rain goes for around 50 marks on the black market, but it is almost impossible to take casually, and users quickly find themselves with a very expensive new addiction.
Spellfire
Class: ?
Base: Magical?
Mana-Affecting
Spellfire, a black-market drug that enhances magical abilities, allowing the user to cast higher-level or more powerful spells than he normally could; drawbacks include an increased chance of wild magic surges (leading to spell backfire or unintended side effects) and a long-term loss of control of magical abilities.
Tobacco
Class: B
Base: Biological
Mind-Affecting
Cigarettes are usually referred to as cigs. Smokeless tobacco is currently Class C, though the BRCS would like both variants classified as A1 due to its highly addictive nature, carcinogenic effects, and lack of any redeeming medical properties.
Psionic Affecting Drugs
There is a separate page for Psionic Affecting Drugs.
Author's Notes
Sources:
