Bucket kelp is a mildly hallucinogenic sea plant endemic to the Sea of Typhoons, particularly the Bucket Kelp Forest (26.33). Humans who chew its leaves experience time more slowly. A chewer in a Jahur dive might wait for what seems like an hour for a friend to return from the privy. The drug’s ability to alter the chewer’s perception of time makes it popular among laborers who want to make the most of their short hours of rest as well as ascetics who use it as a meditation aid. Those who chew the kelp long enough have short-term synestesiac episodes that make sound waves tangible and often visible. For some reason, most chewers assert that accordion music makes the most beautiful sound patterns. Those hoping to score bucket kelp often follow the whine and groan of accordions and find a circle of enraptured chewers with kelp to spare.
Bucket kelp is outlawed in Jahur because its primary harvesters are octoids. Despite the ban, it is easy to smuggle in because of its popularity with dockworkers. Smugglers often store it in buckets fastened to bottom of ships, which gives the kelp its street name. In the last few months, unlucky chewers have bought bad batches that induce terrifying hallucinations. Many believe this is the work of the Viceroys, who have tried for years to cut consumption. Others blame a heretical cult of Iano called the Holy Fools.
Connection
- The Alleys of the Woman in Red are a popular hangout for bucket kelp chewers and heretics.
Hooks
- Bucket kelp is becoming quite chic in many of Shuttered’s salons. How does it get that far north?
- Does the kelp aid in spell casting or preparation?
- Who is really responsible for the poisoned batches of bucket kelp?
- Tell me more about the Holy Fools, the heretical cult of Iano.