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]

"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."

[sturdycoldsteel]

"Yeah, it's not a good idea to use them forever. If you're hooked and keep taking it, it just makes them work less and makes it the withdrawal when you eventually stop worse. At any rate, have a nice day, and you have my address for when you run out."

Back to her store. Time for more transmutation lessons with Aya whenever there's no customers!

[namesthesky]

Hooray!

[sturdycoldsteel]

And a few practical demonstrations. She mixes salt and some sort of acid in a sealed jar, and uses magic to capture the yellow gas that comes out. This is chlorine, which is part of salt, and is poisonous on its own but safe when combined with the right things, such as sodium, the other part of salt.

While ingredient-shopping the next morning, Steel listens for rumors about slaves.

[alicornucopia]

Well, there's a bawling brothel madam crying on the front step of her establishment.

[sturdycoldsteel]

Steel can't suppress a vicious little smirk. Hopefully nobody sees, or they just think she has a vendetta against brothels if they do.

And she starts wondering how long she can keep trying to remove any heel tattoo she sees before someone connects the dots.

(Would contraceptives be popular? Probably. Too bad she doesn't know how to make them.)

Ingredients shopping. Medicine-mixing. Research and lessons.

[namesthesky]

Aya, in her spare time and while walking to and from the boarding house to cook and bring Steel food, finds and presents an ex-brothel-asset along with two other candidates for work in the shop. She's already given them preliminary tests of memory to see if they'll be able to handle the work.

[sturdycoldsteel]

Steel asks each of them a series of questions about hypothetical customers, presents them with a couple of moral dilemmas (would you push one person into a magic to stop a runaway wagon full of five people from falling in), and asks why they want to work here, to get an idea of each one's personality.

[alicornucopia]

By and large they want to work here because if they do she will pay them. They are divided on the wagon question but are mostly capable of repeating what Aya briefed them about with regards to customer hypotheticals.

[sturdycoldsteel]

"Okay. I will hire all three of you for now, but only for a couple of hours a day. After a week, I'll decide which of you to hire permanently. Maybe none, maybe one, maybe all three. You'll be keeping shop mostly, but there will be some cleaning and carrying stock around. Pay is one fifth of a seo per hour. Sound good?"

[alicornucopia]

None of them have such stellar alternative prospects that they have the luxury of turning her down.