Poisons in Carrouban
Note: Many of the poisons listed here have modifiers to Holdout (to hide them on the poisoner’s person before administration) and Sleight of Hand (to administer them unobserved while others are watching). The difficulty of transporting and administering the poison may give investigators some clue about which suspect might have been capable of the poisoning.
For those looking to use poison on their weapons, the following can be put on blades: Curare and Manchineel are typically used. Viper venom and Golden Dart Frog Toxin are also used, but require near-immediate access to the creatures.
Note - while Cantharides is a contact agent, it is a powder and thus not possible to apply to a blade effectively enough to use as a poison.
| Substance | Where it comes from |
|---|---|
| Arsenic (arsenic trioxide) | Arsenic Trioxide is a stable mineral compound widely traded in Conquistan and routinely shipped overseas for medical, industrial, and pest-control purposes. It has presence in Carrouban wherever Conquistan settlement or administration exists. |
| Mercury (quicksilver) - see Calomel | Mercury is shipped from Conquistan sources to colonial regions for medical and industrial use. Despite handling risks, it transports well and is physically present in colonial supply networks. |
| Antimony (compounds) | Antimony compounds are common early modern medicinal substances and are transported with apothecary goods. Their chemical stability brings presence in Carrouban through trade. |
| Lead Poisoning | Lead is ubiquitous in colonial material culture, appearing in pipes, cookware, pigments, and additives. |
| Cantharides (Conquistan fly) | Cantharides consist of dried beetles that store and transport easily. They are widely used in Conquistan medicine and can be shipped to Carrouban without degradation. |
| Cassava (manioc) | Cassava is indigenous to Carrouban and is widely cultivated. Its cyanogenic toxicity is intrinsic to the plant and managed through Azcelani processing knowledge, though it is not possible to extract or administer cyanide as a portable poison with TL4 techniques (until 1786 by Carl Wilhelm Scheele). Improperly prepared cassava doesn't resemble correctly processed root in any capacity - because processing it for safe consumption makes it into a paste. |
| Manchineel | Manchineel is a native Carrouban coastal tree whose fruit, sap, smoke, and wood are toxic. It is widely recognized as dangerous. |
| Curare (Indigenous preparations) | Curare refers to Azcelani plant-based preparations native to Carrouban. It exists within Azcelani trade and knowledge networks that extend into the Carrouban sphere. |
| Marine / fish toxins | Certain reef fish and marine organisms caused poisoning due to local ecological conditions. These toxins are part of the natural environment and known through Azcelani experience. |
| Lime Powder / quicklime | Lime is produced locally in Carrouban from abundant limestone and used in construction and agriculture. Its caustic properties are well known. |
| Carbon monoxide | Carbon monoxide is produced unintentionally through incomplete combustion of charcoal and fires. While not chemically understood, it is physically present wherever enclosed burning occurrs. |
| Ground glass (material) | Glass and Mutite objects are present through Conquistan and Azcelani trade. |
| Ricin (castor beans) | Castor bean plants are present and naturalized in the Carrouban. While Ricin is not isolated, the toxic seeds themselves are reliably present. |
| Viper venom | While venom rapidly loses potency outside the living animal and cannot not be preserved with current Azcelani techniques, if used immediately following extraction it can be dangerous. |
| Golden Dart Frog Toxin | It is only found in very small areas of South Carrouban, and doesn't see use outside of this - transporting live frogs across long distances would almost certainly kill them, removing them from their diet causes toxin loss, the toxin very rapidly degrades outside the living creature, and heat and humidity further degrade usability. |
I don't see (poison) listed! Is it available?
The following are not present in Carrouban - whether due to difficulty transporting it from Conquistan, insufficient technological progress, or otherwise:
- Belladonna (Atropa belladonna): Belladonna plant material degrades with heat, humidity, and time, all of which dominate long voyages and Carrouban storage. While theoretically transportable, the probability of it arriving potent and identifiable is too low to be present in Carrouban.
- Henbane: Henbane suffers from the same degradation issues as belladonna (above) and is not a high-value trade good.
- Hemlock (dried): Hemlock is highly perishable and dangerous to handle, offering no advantage over mineral poisons. The likelihood of intact, usable material surviving a voyage is negligible.
- Deathcap mushroom: Mushrooms spoil rapidly, are difficult to identify once dried, and pose extreme risk to handlers.
- Monkshood / aconite: Aconite roots and preparations degrade quickly and are dangerous to transport. Combined with climate incompatibility, this makes reliable import effectively impossible.
- Cyanide (isolated compounds): Hydrogen cyanide and cyanide salts require post-18th-century chemical isolation and stabilization. They do not exist as transportable substances.
- Tetrodotoxin/fugu toxin: Tetrodotoxin was not isolated pre-modern and is associated with Indo-Pacific species. There is no ecological or technological pathway for presence.
- Lacquer sap: The lacquer tree is East Asian only, and raw sap was not transported as a material. No American equivalent exists.
- Isolated strychnine: While the plant source existed in Asia, extraction of strychnine requires later chemical methods. The isolated toxin did not exist pre-1720.
- Barbiturates: Entirely synthetic, 19th-century compounds with no pre-modern analogue.
- Nerve gases / mustard gas / tear gas: These are products of industrial chemistry and modern warfare and have no pre-1720 existence.
- Botulin toxin (environmental): Clostridium botulinum bacteria existed globally and can develop in improperly stored food. The toxin is not isolated or manufactured but can occur naturally.