Noctic-Rabrev
Noctic-Rabrev is a rare and highly toxic thistle native to the wetlands surrounding Lake Morovia and the Strait of Haifa. Known for its potent entheogenic properties, the plant holds significant cultural and religious value, especially in the region's dark religious traditions. Its consumption can induce hallucinogenic experiences and a vampirism-like disease. Despite its dangers, the plant remains a sought-after element in ceremonial rituals and clandestine markets.
Ecology
Noctic-Rabrev flourishes in humid, marshy environments. The plant features tall, spiny stalks with vivid purple flowers and sharp leaves coated with a sticky, toxic secretion. Its natural habitat around Lake Morovia offers the ideal conditions for its growth, though its toxicity poses a threat to both local wildlife and humans.
Uses
The flowers of Noctic-Rabrev are prized for their use in producing a hallucinogenic alcoholic beverage. This drink is often consumed in religious rituals where it is believed to induce spiritual visions and trance states. The plant’s leaves, however, are far more dangerous, known for their ability to induce a condition resembling vampirism. In certain Alperkin and Haifan religious practices, consuming the leaves is thought to allow individuals to connect with dark deities or spirits, granting enhanced physical abilities and supernatural cravings.
The leaves of the Noctic-Rabrev are consumed in extreme abundance by the Alpazkigz people of the Alperkin region of northern Lake Morovia, who consume the leaves in order to contract Noctic Vampirism, a disease which plays a vital role in the worship of the region's vampiric Alps. Noctic-Rabrev leaves, which feature a very bitter, grassy, and sometimes slightly salty flavor, are consumed raw or dry, or as an ingredient in any number of every day meals. They are sometimes smoked in conjunction with other ingredients, though doing so is not advised, nor is it required for any religious practice. The consumption of raw Noctic-Rabrev is known to irritate the mouth and throat insofar as the plant's large number of tiny thorns cause scraping and tears, especially along the soft lining of the esophagus. The effects of this irritation are apparently offset by the consumption of fresh, warm milk, or blood, which both coat the throat in a manner regarded as being highly soothing.
An oil which can be extracted from the leaves of Noctic-Rabrev is used in certain ritual potions employed by the priests and priestesses of the Cult of Maskmakers.
Evidence compiled in the 41.50s PSSC by the New Zimian Secular Court suggests that the extensive consumption of Noctic-Rabrev may contribute to the development of an immunity to a range of infections and diseases, though it is also worth noting that Noctic-Vamprirism is a serious and deadly disease in its own right. In the 41.70s PSSC the New Zimian War League confirmed that on the basis of this evidence, it maintains a policy of prescribing limited quantities of Noctic-Rabrev to soldiers and sailors operating in tropical and semi-tropical environments around the world. Subsequent investigations revealed a significant rate of Noctic Vampirism among soldiers prescribed the herb in such locations, leading to the emergence of conspiracy theories that in the wetlands surrounding the ancient city of NewVillage, the War League maintains a shady Noctic Vampire "rehabilitation facility" for soldiers afflicted with the condition. The War League has not commented on these conspiracy theories.
In very rare circumstances, the use of Noctic-Rabrev may cause specific individuals to develop an unusual condition characterized by the tendency of the skin to perpetually and permanently absorb the odors of ones' immediate surroundings. Individuals who develop this condition due to their consumption of Noctic-Rabrev are commonly known as Skunk-Kin.
Legality
Although no laws have been approved by the Council of Courts, it is illegal in much of the Haifo-Pallisican Imperial Trade Union to cultivate the leaves of the Noctic-Rabrev. In some places, individuals found cultivating, or consuming the plant's leaves, may be subject to execution. This policy by the Bassarid government has resulted in the emergence, in recent years, of an illicit underground Noctic market along much of the Strait of Haifa, in particular in the region surrounding the cities of Jogi and Vaeringheim. The cultivation of Noctic flowers is heavily regulated.
Despite the effective illegality of Noctic-Rabrev in the Bassarids, it was widely speculated that the Bassarid Empress Díapaza Bréidle suffered from a severe Noctic-Rabrev addiction, and potentially even from Noctic Vampirism itself. These rumors were substantially re-enforced by her overt ties to the Maritime Guild of the Cult of Maskmakers, a Bassarid cult who practice a form of dark magic purportedly handed down to mankind by Tar, the supreme god of the Alperkin religion.
