Jade Sap

A product of refined snakefolk's venom, Jade Sap is infamous across the world for both its incredible highs and addictive nature. Once consumed, the sap immediately causes one's skill to flush and pulse to race as they are elevated into an intense euphoric state of pleasure like they have never experienced before. While on their high they are on top of the world and carefree, at least until the crash comes leaving the consumer desperately wanting more. This desire for more allows the Jade Empire to vassalize entire nations through sheer reliance, along with cunning political maneuverings. The Jade Sap of today, however, is a far cry from its origin of use in traditional medicine. In the countryside, some can still find old snakefolk mixing up crude forms of Jade Sap to be used in pain-relieving balms. In traditional medicine, crude sap is used with pine bark to form a poultice for sore muscles.

The Grade of the Jade Sap depends on the refinement method and, more importantly, the source of the venom. The venom of noble snakefolk is commonly referred to as a 'clean' source, the resulting sap giving a strong and longer high. The addictiveness of the Jade Sap stems from the impurities within the venom. The 'cleaner' the source, the less addictive it is. Inversely, common snakefolk venom results in low-grade sap. This 'dirty' sap offers weaker and shorter highs with side effects such as sickness and headaches. As a result, high-grade sap can fetch a mythril's cost due to its rarity and relative safety of use, while low-grade sap is used to control the masses. In its liquid state, Jade sap is extremely viscous and is dosed out on wax paper.

The production of dirty Jade Sap is a cutthroat business in major port cities, with as many as a dozen competing organizations trying to fill the cargo holds of foreign ships. For easier transportation, Jade Sap is dried into an amber-like gemstone then crushed into a powder to be mixed with water. It is said Orcs will simply chew on it like candy. Outside of the typical sabotage and murder, a common tactic to deal with a competitor is to expose them publicly. The Jade Fang Empire's official stance is that they are 'at war' with the production and sales of the addictive drug. Unofficially, the Empire promotes and sometimes sets up operations itself to meet demand. Once an operation is exposed, the government is forced to step in and dismantle it to maintain face. This is normally regarded as a win-win for the Empire; they get to show their commitment to stopping the Jade Sap market while also removing incompetent fools who got themselves caught.