Loffia

"Dad, it's the king's soldiers, they're coming this way! What if they find the gold I stole?"
"Don't be scared, boy. There are only three things you never want to have on you: the Black Teachings, the gods' artifacts, and loffia.

— father and son during the prohibition era

Loffia, also known as Te'olarena (Xivi: !,ijy), Lightning Weed or Lolly Fiala (among other names), is an annual flowering plant bearing psychoactive fruit, indigenous to the Noffet Marshes. Human and divine interventions have produced numerous different strains for various uses, ranging from industrial to medical to religious. Though, the plant's popularity has grown significantly over the years, being trafficked by Noffet's crime families as a highly-prized recreational drug.
Daemiyon - the god of thought - presumably created it during the Endless Immortal War to control human minds and turn them against each other.

Properties

Loffia is a plant species of the Naffilis genus, a short-day flowering plant with three sexes (male, female and hermaphrodite). The male pollenizes the female and hermaphrodite, after which it expires. The latter two produce scores of seeds as a result. It has an average growth cycle of five months during Noffet's warm season.

Loffia plants produce a substance called daemilomotanol (DML). The Endovavanoi system in humans absorbs the DML chemicals, causing mental, physical, and sometimes reality-altering effects. There is much yet unknown about this major system and its functionality.
Leva'azanoid (LZD) is the second most potent chemical. It provides no apparent psychoactive effects but can sometimes reduce high anxiety levels. It most often makes up a minuscule percentage of the chemical equation of the plant. Higher quantities may prove lethal to humans.

Cultivation

Loffia plants require long hours of sunlight and high humidity levels, making the Noffet Marshes the optimal location for cultivation. Some strains have been primarily bred to endure the climate of the Albian grasslands, but they produce little yield and of unsatisfactory quality in comparison.
As the female plants produce the most yield for drug-type loffia, feminized seeds are always in high demand among farmers.

Growth Stages

Growth stages of Electric Moon strain by rikia

Loffia seedlings have to be grown in a hot and humid place, deprived of all sunlight. This stage is crucial for the survival of the plant. The wetlands are full of areas of dense flora, which provide this natural shade. Farmers opt to accommodate the seedlings in a dark room.
A loffia plant requires over 15 hours of light per day to develop correctly in its vegetative stage. Any less would halt the plant's mass growth and trigger the transition into its final flowering stage.
The plant achieves its divine appearance with the flowers' blossoming, correlated with the specific strain type and the DML:LZD ratio and percentage.

Nutrients

Any loffia farmer would do well to imitate the environment of Noffet's wilderness. That includes giving the proper nutrients that naturally come from other plants and the swamps' enriched soil.

Diseases & Pests

Loffia serves as very nutritious food for animals, and it draws many predators. Farmers are advised to take necessary precautions, i.e., releasing moon mantises in the gardens to prey on the pests.

Fealty

Surviving as a farmer in Noffet involves more than simply producing high-quality yield. Every crime family has its territory, and each farmer needs a permit to grow. This process of subjecting oneself to a family's boss is called Fealty.

Shroud - Lamia Connection

Many independent farmers attempt to grow loffia illegally in hopes of evading taxation. When their loffia plants on their hidden farms blossom and exhibit divine appearances, they are fed with shroud. Since shroud protects from the gods' influence, it masks the bright transformation of the flowering. It is sold by a few powerful lamias who import it from Gallana Amon.

Uses

Loffia has long been used in many ways, placing it as the second most traded plant in the Albian Kingdom.

Industrial

Above all, loffia has dominated the fiber industry in Album since the third century. Its fiber's strength alongside the plant's plentiful and quick yield has overwhelmed the competition.
A Non-Exhaustive List of Industrial Products:
Paper, clothing, construction material, textiles, beverages (i.e., milk), oil (for lamps or paints), levitation gear, pet food, etc.

Medical

As a medicine, it usually comes in the form of dry fruit explicitly cured for ingestion or ointment for direct skin application.
Loffia fruit are said to reduce ailments like nausea, insomnia, chronic pain and lower the chances of Mavet's Vines and Essa's Touch.
However, the use of Loffia plants as medicine is not officially permitted within the kingdom's borders. Therefore, knowledge of the positive effects of the drug is limited at best.

Religious

The use of Loffia as a reality-altering drug has been documented in a small number of ruins across the land. Some claim that the use of specific strains provides a bridge to the higher plains of the gods. Other records allude to its use in burial rights and shamanic ceremonies.

Recreational

Despite its partial illegality and potential death punishment, loffia is among the most-used recreational drugs across Album, falling behind brown sugar and alcohol. The preferred method of using the drug is by smoking it or by turning it into wax and rubbing the body's central points.

Desirable effects of loffia may include:
spiritual alleviation, profound thoughts, and short-term foresight.
Adverse effects may include:
short and long-term memory loss and quite a large appetite.
* Although an overdose is highly unlikely, drugs of a questionable source may contain dangerous levels of LZD.
** Withdrawal from a loffia-related addiction may accompany light symptoms of mood-swings and involuntary short-distance teleportation.

History

Like all other historical records before the mortal age, dates are inconsistents and specific details for events are often unreliable. According to legends during EIW, the gods Daemiyon, Lomot, Leva, and Ma'azan devised a plan to turn the tide against the gaining humans. They each influenced a part of the human equilibrium in an attempt to off-balance them and win the war.
Daemiyon's choice was to corrupt loffia - the human's livelihood.
It is said that the other gods were so impressed by Deamiyon's genius that each of them touched the plant in turn, creating many divine strains with supernatural properties. Terrified by the horrors it unleashed, the humans had to take extreme measures to avoid the plant's perils.

Prohibition

Are you smoking loffia, or is Daemiyon smoking you?

— Albian phrase

Anti-Loffia Poster by rikia & Yurii

With the dawn of the mortal age, one of the first restrictions King Lotov II placed upon Album was the ban of loffia. Plants all over the land were uprooted and burned, farms were shut down, sellers and buyers were apprehended.
Loffia was given frightful names like Lightning Weed and Lolly Fiala in hopes of discouraging the population.
The prohibition era lasted for well over three hundred years. Even so, one province refused to give up the plant, monopolizing its production and distribution in the kingdom.
The people of Noffet's Marshes were intent on preserving the plant that originated from their wetlands. This eventually resulted in the Albain kingdom declaring civil war.

Album's first civil war

Once more, the gods have turned us against each other. Fear not, citizens of Noffet, salvation is at hand!

— King Lotov Albis IX - declaring war on Noffet

The War on Loffia was a set of bloody campaigns the kingdom had waged on the Noffet Marshes. Their official intention was to free the wetlands from Daemiyon's influence and liberate its people. However, some high-ranking generals profess to ulterior motives, namely the loffia production occupation by deposing Noffet's Moffia.
By utilizing the divine strains' effects, Noffet managed to gain an offensive advantage. This, in addition to the marshes' treacherous terrain, drove back the kingdom's army. In the end, the two sides settled on a truce. The Dae Treaty allowed Noffet to continue to grow the plant in exchange for placing some restrictions and twenty percent of the collective profits going directly to the throne.

Noffet's Moffia

Five prominent familial organizations control Noffet, each with its own territory. Together, they represent the supreme council that governs the surrounding area - the Moffia. Following the end of the civil war, Album's kings have always tried to avoid any further conflict with the families, leading to a sort of automation of Noffet.
Despite constant diplomatic efforts, peace treaties between the bosses often fall apart and lead to internal turf wars.

by rikia

Genetic Ancestor(s)

• Naffia

Scientific Name

Naffilis Loffilis

Lifespan

16-22 weeks (depending on the strain)

Average Height

Seedling: 30cm
Vegetative: 1m
Flowering: 3m

Average Weight

Seedling: 500 g
Vegetative: 3 kg
Flowering: 7 kg

Geographic Distribution

• Album
• Noffet Marshes

Related Ethnicities

• Albian

Album

Open full size

The Mortal Realm

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Popular Strains

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by rikia

'Electric Moon'

legal to grow, illegal to sell or buy

The only drug-type strain to be legalized throughout the kingdom with the Dae Treaty. Contains low amounts of DML and low electrical voltage.

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by rikia

'Love Forsaken'

illegal to grow, illegal to sell or buy

A delicate strain that requires attentive nurturing to produce yield. When ingested in its 'Love' phase can generate a state of mind of great joy. Its counter appearance of 'Forsaken' can cause immense grief and has led to suicide in a few cases.

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by rikia

'Gallawood Kush'

illegal to grow, illegal to sell or buy

A particular strain cultivated with high quantities of shroud from Gallana Amon. Induces lucid dreams and even Tenuma trances for adapted humans.

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by rikia

'Black Zombie'

legal to grow, legal to sell and buy

Some people believe the Black Zombie's strain gets you an audience with the goddess of decay herself. Those she deems worthy receive her influence, while those unworthy perish. In truth, the strain's buds contain lethal quantities of LZD and are treated as toxic waste. However, the plant's fibers are the strongest among the species and are sought after by many industries.

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by rikia

'Daemiyon's Revenge'

illegal to grow, sell, buy or own

The weapon the god of thought created to brainwash humans. Considered the most dangerous of the strains. Extremely illegal, any amount of possession is liable with the death penalty.

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by rikia

'Za'haph Gold'

illegal to grow, legal to sell and buy

Also called 'Money Tree', this strain's fruit produce special chemicals, changing the composition to a miniature golden head. The heads are used as a currency around Noffet. Growing 'Money Trees' is strictly forbidden.

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'Ma'azan's Lettuce'

Extinct

Used as one of the offensive strains by Noffet fighters during the civil war. The god of horizon's strain remains a mystery as to its specific effects. Testimonies from the battlefield claim it imbued its users with a blued aura. Their movements seemed to defy logic, walking through physical objects and stepping on air. The strain was eradicated as agreed upon with the Dae Treaty at the end of the war.