Warmweed

Our captors began to forcefeed each of us some of that damndable herb, moving down the line to ensure that we chewed the black smoked leaves long enough to gurauntee its effects would take hold. A sudden euphoria overtook me, as I felt my very being become pleasantly warm to my very core. But what truly haunts me is that for the first time in my life I was wholly spared the horrible whistling of the Unsidhe across the wind.

— Account of a Cieran captive of Clan Foghladh

Basic Information

Ecology and Habitats

Warmweed is known to grow near sources of heat in otherwise extraordinarily cold locales, such as the geologically active regions of the The Krel Freeholds under control of Clan Foghladh.

Biological Cycle

Warmweed is a highly seasonal plant, its growth rate and potency waxing in the summer and waning during the winter. Due to this, many seeking to harvest the plant will attempt to dry it for future use. Smoking the plant after drying it has been known to prolong its potency, and is a frequent practice of Clan Foghladh.

Additional Information

Domestication

Due it its specific growing conditions, Warmweed is difficult to properly cultivate or domesticate, however the sudden spike in growth rate experienced during the summer ensures that a years supply can be gathered provided it's properly treated and stored.

Uses, Products & Exploitation

A powerful and highly addictive narcotic, Warmweed is prized for its medicinal uses, extraordinary high, its protective influence against The Siren's Song. Upon chewing or smoking the herb, the user's body temperature increases sharply, allowing them to feel warm and comfortable in even the most freezing of climates as they enter a state of euphoria and derive increased pleasure from sound and physical touch. Users may also see themselves become more pliable to suggestion, and all and all begin to see a noticeable drop in critical thinking and decision making skills. Notably, those under the effects of Warmweed are completely immune to the effects of Thralldom and the Siren's Song, until the high wears off. Attempts to rehabilitate Thralls of the Song with Warmweed have produced inconclusive results.
Clan Foghladh and their descendant clans are notorious for their usage of Warmweed on prisoners in an attempt to make them more pliant and ease them in to their new lifestyle of subservience. This has the additional benefit of preventing the often distressed and depressed prisoners from falling to Thralldom as they return to the Clan's holding.