Narcotics Guide
Table of Contents
MATURE MATERIAL WARNING: This page contains information regarding drug use. Reader discretion is advised!
PLEASE NOTE: This guide is purely intended for purposes relative to roleplaying -- 'Souls does not condone the use of drugs in real life situations and offers no opinion regarding these substances where it is relative to the real world. This guide is merely intended to offer players an idea of what is and is not possible in the 'Souls universe as far as narcotic substances go. In absolutely no way should you rely on these statements as factual; while it has been researched for realism, the contributors to this guide are in no way doctors and their advice and words should never be taken as such. Thank you!
General
Overdose is possible with your characters, and while it can make an interesting plot device, you may not want want to kill your character off, either! Canines may be as sensitive or more sensitive to certain substances than humans. Take care not to describe your character as imbibing huge amounts of alcohol or taking many, many drugs all at once -- for these situations, it's realistic that your character would suffer some severe ill effects.
Alcohol
Depending on the type of alcohol, bottling method, storage method, and so forth, many types of human alcohol would still be consumable by Luperci. Many types of alcohol grow better with age, although sometimes the fermentation process can go awry (especially without maintenance), so characters should take care to test small amounts of liquor to ensure it hasn't turned to vinegar (or worse).
Making alcohol can be a complicated process -- most Luperci-made liquor would be similar to moonshine alcohol and rather crudely made. Moonshine alcohol can be extremely dangerous if improperly made. For example, using an old oil drum without first sanitizing the barrel and insuring the oil has all burned away could potentially poison a brew of moonshine, among other things that can go wrong with the process.
Canines in general are more susceptible to alcohol poisoning, and thus Luperci would be rather sensitive to alcohol. Binge drinking (consuming five or more drinks of alcohol) is likely to kill a Luperci. Remember that stomach pumps and other medical technology is not available to Luperci; it is possible a binge drinking episode might kill a Luperci.
Tobacco
Tobacco was rather common in the time of humanity, and it's likely to be left growing wild in many places throughout the world. Most tobacco products leftover from the time of humans would be stale to the point of uselessness -- cigarettes and cigars would likely fall apart. Vaccuum-packed, sealed packages of loose tobacco (e.g., for cigarette rolling machines or hand-rolled cigarettes) may still be useable, depending on the conditions of their storage. It's plausible for Luperci to know how to cultivate, grow, and dry tobacco.
Possible Substances
Natural things, derived from plants and simply made (e.g., drying mushrooms for consumption versus chemically synthesizing LSD), are much more possible in 'Souls. Note that natural does not equate safe -- natural substances can be just as dangerous as chemicals and man-made substances.
Examples include marijuana, mushrooms, mescaline (peyote and san pedro cactus), khat, opium, doda, khat, ergine (morning glory seeds), salvinorin (salvia divinorim sage), Myristicin (nutmeg), caffeine (coffee, tea, etc). When researching a potential substance, make sure it is either native to the area or you have a realistic way of how your character obtained it -- for example, the cacti sources of mescaline only grow in Central America.
Substances that may not seem like drugs to us may have drug-like effects on characters -- for example, sugar, tea, or coffee bean products for use as stimulants. It's likely Luperci would be rather sensitive to these substances, as they're not used to them in their regular diet.
Note that in most cases, these substances do require some kind of processing -- for example, opium must be extracted from Papaver somniferum, the opium poppy plant. While it does grow wild in Nova Scotia and many other places, characters should have prior knowledge of these processes or find a trader -- it's generally not advisable or realistic to simply pluck something from the ground and experience effects from it.
Impossible Substances
Things made in a laboratory and chemically synthesized are generally not possible to Luperci. Even the most advanced Luperci in the 'Soulsverse would lack the technology to synthesize these drugs, and the human remnants of them will have degraded to uselessness at this point. Simpler forms (e.g., coca leaf tea in lieu of cocaine) are absolutely acceptable. Usually, there is a milder, natural alternative to these drugs that can be used in substitution. Examples include cocaine, methamphetamine, heroin, LSD, and ecstasy.
Most prescription medications have degraded to the point of uselessness, or their chemical composition has otherwise changed due to time and age -- characters who go around eating the strange little pills leftover in human bottles may find themselves with some extremely undesirable side effects, up to and including death!