Magic without a magic

[sturdycoldsteel]

Steel wakes up. This is not where she went to sleep. She has a peek at the stream -

- And lets out a surprised yelp at the nonsensical cacophony.

"What in the blue hells is this place?" No answer is immediately apparent, so she climbs to the top of the ravine, carefully avoiding the various inexplicable things in the area. The snake-goat hybrid was particularly grotesque.

The top of the ravine has a road. She tries to fly, but can't. Again, very strange. This is a pretty nice road, physically, but magically it's completely undeveloped. She walks towards the city, peeking at the stream once in a while only to see fog, and seeking an explanation.

Comments

[namesthesky]

"The nicest? Probably the place by the pond at the edge of town. I think it's called Chef's Knife."

[sturdycoldsteel]

"I should clarify - the place with the best food, not the place with the fanciest decor."

[namesthesky]

"I have never personally tasted the food at any fancy restaurants. My guess would be the same, but you might have to ask someone else for firsthand accounts."

[sturdycoldsteel]

"Ah, yes, forgot about that. Thanks anyway. Maybe I'll skip it entirely. At any rate..." She glances around to see that the shop is currently empty, "Are any tattoo-removal-seekers waiting?"

[namesthesky]

"One will be back any minute. Another is around the corner rather than loitering in here, I'll get her." She goes and gets someone.

[sturdycoldsteel]

She unbinds the someone's tattoo, asks them not to spread it around too much, and repeats when the other guy comes back.

And she tells Aya, "I do things without thinking them through sometimes. It would be nice to have a check of sorts, so I know I'm not doing something wrong while thinking it's right. So." She describes the risks and benefits of morphine, if Aya didn't know them already from the notes. "Do you think it's unethical to deliberately inflate the price of potentially dangerous and addictive medicine so that it doesn't get used unnecessarily?"

[namesthesky]

"Unnecessarily meaning recreationally, or to stave off withdrawal symptoms after prolonged need for genuine pain relief?"

[sturdycoldsteel]

"I wanted to make the price high for a month or two and slowly lower it closer to what it actually costs to produce. This is meant to discourage people from using it recreationally. Drug abuse was a significant problem in some parts of the world from my memories. Withdrawal could be managed by steadily decreasing the dose."

[namesthesky]

"Is this basically just... cosmetically different alcoholism, or should I be imagining worse effects?"

[sturdycoldsteel]

"Definitely worse short-term effects, somewhat worse long-term effects. And it's a lot easier to accidentally kill yourself by taking too much morphine or other drugs than by drinking too much alcohol. Morphine is the first thing I've made personally that could be easily abused this way."

[namesthesky]

"Approximately what fraction of people who are originally given morphine in a responsibly controlled manner will become addicted?"

[sturdycoldsteel]

"If you take it once, there's maybe a one-fifth chance you will get a mild and short-term addiction that disappears in a week and has no lasting negative effects. If you take it for a month, it's almost certain you'll be at least mildly addicted. And this is physical addiction I'm talking about, this is on top of just wanting to keep going because it feels good. You literally can't think straight without morphine if you're in severe, unmanaged withdrawal. It's not nearly as addictive as some other stuff I could mix up if I felt like unethically making a lot of money."

[namesthesky]

"Well, don't make things that serve no other purpose, but - say there are five hundred people who need morphine varying amounts in a given year, which is a number I just made up. Assuming everyone is either apprised of the risk ahead of time, or in so much pain that someone else has to decide for them, the choice is pretty straightforwardly between giving a hundred people an in-most-cases-temporary problem that sounds much less unpleasant than receiving surgery while merely blind drunk - itself not a risk-free painkiller - or torturing five hundred people who would have preferred the risk. I... think this is fairly straightforwardly in favor of making morphine as available as you would with any other drug, and just peppering it with warnings and maybe not giving out too much at a time to anyone who isn't themselves dispensing it."

[sturdycoldsteel]

"I've seen morphine withdrawal. The first day is are alright, but the second and third can be competitive with surgery depending on the person, given that it lasts longer..."

"Alright, I'll pepper it with warnings and sell it at the usual rate for ingredients-plus-time... Which would make it about half a seo per pill. I'll need to go give that surgeon I sold 50 to a refund and an apology."

[namesthesky]

"Or you could mark it up when selling to surgeons in quantity so they lock it up and don't overdo it and if they skimp on the warnings you'll still be a more appealing source," shrugs Aya. "Although that won't last if any of them come by here."

[sturdycoldsteel]

"Yeah, that won't work long-term. What if I warn anyone I sell to in bulk that if they use them irresponsibly I'll either stop selling to them or start upcharging? And that I'll make sure any blame falls on them, since they were warned pretty thoroughly. And send someone around once in a while to surreptitiously check."

[namesthesky]

"You're planning to hire more people soon?"

[sturdycoldsteel]

"If my medicine keeps getting more popular I'll need more help eventually. Might as well start looking early. I'll want to pay them hourly, not weekly like you. Do you think I can get someone attentive and trustworthy enough to run a storefront for a fifth of a seo per hour?"

[namesthesky]

"There will be a lot of Aelare-blessed slaves abruptly looking for work very soon. I'll see if I can grab a bright one."

[sturdycoldsteel]

"Good idea. I'll be back in less than an hour, I'm just going to go refund that surgeon some of his cash."

She goes to his shop and waits if he's busy.

[alicornucopia]

He's giving a lady a C-section. As soon as the cord's cut he gives her morphine and starts sewing her up.

[sturdycoldsteel]

When he's done and the lady and baby are seen to, "I'll see if I can come up with something that's safe for pregnant people. In the meantime, I've come to give you some of your money back. I just found a much cheaper way to make benzene, which is the most expensive intermediate ingredient in morphine. It's still safe, it's the exact same stuff just made in a different way. But it wouldn't be very fair to charge you so much for buying it a little too early. From now on, the cost will be half a seo per pill - and here's 45 seo, just as if you'd bought them all at that rate."

[alicornucopia]

"Grand, thanks," says the surgeon, accepting his refund with a smile.

[sturdycoldsteel]

"Just as a warning, I plan to sell these at my own shop. I understand you have to upmark it some, but keep in mind that it might come back to bite you if you upcharge too ridiculously. Is it popular, though? How many have you used so far?"

[alicornucopia]

"Most people want 'em. If they want too many I remind 'em they were made by a weird embroidered person and then they don't want too many anymore. Fellow with the gash yesterday wanted more but I talked him down to the soothers and he hasn't been back to complain about how much less they work."