Absinthe

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Absinthe is a distilled herbal alcoholic beverage, originating in the East though having travelled elsewhere in Creation, The Guild making excellent profits carrying it to the courts of North, West, and South, while House Cynis and House Nellens dominate control of imports to the Blessed Isle.


Absinthe has a distinctive vibrant green colour and an anise flavor, and contains a mixture of herbs dominated by Wormwood and including Anise, Fennel, Hyssop, Mint, Coriander, and Lemon Balm. The fresh herbs are key to imparting the liquor’s green colour.


Absinthe is bottled with a very high alcohol content, and rarely consumed straight. It is typically mixed with water (ideally chilled), causing the drink to become milky green-white, and can have sugar added as well.


Absinthe’s effects on the mind are twofold: the first is the potent alcohol content, and the second is the hallucinogenic effect of the wormwood. The barbarian tribes of the far East speak of the hallucinations as ‘dancing with the Forest Fair Folk’, and many artists and poets claim it opens the imagination and fuels the creative process.


In RY763, House V'neef began lobbying for a ban on absinthe as an addictive plague on the common folk of the Isle, citing tales from the East where tribes who drank the herbal brew were touched more frequently by Wyld madness. These efforts were shelved, at least temporarily, following the Council of the Empty Throne.