Riding the Aconite Express
Dec. 5th, 2018 06:24 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
unseenlibrarianIn the late 1920s, there was a major innovation that made life both easier and worse for therianthropes of all kinds- particularly those that had involuntary transformation as part of their condition. Sterling-Winthrop started public testing for WIN 23769: Aconite pills.
An exhaustive study over the previous decade had determined the minimum dosage and the species with the strongest effects required to revert a therianthrope to their baseline form, and created a universal palliative that could cancel involuntary transformations. Just one pill a day during the portion of the lunar cycle that the ‘thrope would transform during would completely suppress forced transformations. It was hailed as a fantastic success and used as political pressure to try and get restrictions lifted from The Changetowns, the walled ghettos most shapeshifters lived in.
Of course, there were side effects; someone regularly taking the Aconite pill suffered from ongoing numbness in the mouth; it was easy to tell a shifter on the pill as they’d drool nearly constantly and have trouble with their speech while on the pill. And of course it was deadly to normal humans and certain strains of fae, so it came with a lot of warning labels.
Naturally, it wasn’t long until someone figured out how to abuse it, but surprisingly, it wasn’t the over the counter form. At the same time as the pills had been developed, a liquid version, meant for sale to police and private individuals for use in tranquilizer guns for therianthrope defense. This version was mixed with a potent tranquilizer, which had a synergistic effect with the numbness caused by the aconite, resulting in a sort of lethargic high.
Naturally, this version was pulled quickly, since no one wanted shapeshifting junkies deliberately attacking police to get shot, but someone figured out how to make a street version of the drug, and soon “Riding the Aconite express” was a popular pastime in Changetowns.
An exhaustive study over the previous decade had determined the minimum dosage and the species with the strongest effects required to revert a therianthrope to their baseline form, and created a universal palliative that could cancel involuntary transformations. Just one pill a day during the portion of the lunar cycle that the ‘thrope would transform during would completely suppress forced transformations. It was hailed as a fantastic success and used as political pressure to try and get restrictions lifted from The Changetowns, the walled ghettos most shapeshifters lived in.
Of course, there were side effects; someone regularly taking the Aconite pill suffered from ongoing numbness in the mouth; it was easy to tell a shifter on the pill as they’d drool nearly constantly and have trouble with their speech while on the pill. And of course it was deadly to normal humans and certain strains of fae, so it came with a lot of warning labels.
Naturally, it wasn’t long until someone figured out how to abuse it, but surprisingly, it wasn’t the over the counter form. At the same time as the pills had been developed, a liquid version, meant for sale to police and private individuals for use in tranquilizer guns for therianthrope defense. This version was mixed with a potent tranquilizer, which had a synergistic effect with the numbness caused by the aconite, resulting in a sort of lethargic high.
Naturally, this version was pulled quickly, since no one wanted shapeshifting junkies deliberately attacking police to get shot, but someone figured out how to make a street version of the drug, and soon “Riding the Aconite express” was a popular pastime in Changetowns.
