Herbs of Empire

General The World
#1

I know some of this is find out IC, but apart from Realmsroot, the five main herbs and Graveblossom, are there any other herbs in game?
A simple yes or no is fine as well!
Reason 1: I’m IC, master of a clearing house and OC want to make a book of all the herbs and send people researching out etc for giving them game
2: OC - want to make jars etc of random herbs and give them other names as well as the ones stated above **
3: IC - find out if the apothecary game (apart from a few new recipes that pop up every now and then) has any room for research/development etc?
Thanks all in advance!

**edit -also, forgot to ask - what do people use to physrep their herbs most - is there a common IRL plant/prop used by herbalists due to colourings/scents etc for each of the ‘big 5’ ?

#2

From what I’ve gathered, all culinary herbs and spices exist in game…which given camp cooking might be a way of small coin

My herb physreps for my apothecary kit are are;

  • Green tea with blue cornflowers in it for cerulean mazzarine
  • Dried rose petals and dried sasparilla root for roseweld
  • Dried chrysanthemum and some sasparilla root for bladeroot
  • Dried mint and (something else, can’t recall off top of head) for true vervain
  • Dried sasparilla root in coconut oil for marrowort

All kept in little plastic jars with the rest of my physicking kit…

I aimed for body safe and could be made into (kinda gross tasting) tisaines out of combat

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#3

Thank you Squeek_D - might I ask where you get these things from? [ie is there a good place / cheap place]

#4

For mint, green tea, and tea with cornflowers (fancier Earl Grey frequently contains them) in it, Tesco’s/supermarket of choice cheap bags will give you easiest source.

If you want fancier/higher quality, local natural food shops will often have loose things like dried marigold, chrysanthemum, rose petals, dried hibiscus (which I had planned on using for my roseweld), etc…

Haven’t seen sasparilla root in the UK, it was a gift from my parents who live States side, but I would imagine liquorice root would be a good similar woody but body safe thing to use

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#5

Thank you loads [especially for quick replies as well - will be shopping around tomorrow!]

#6

From doing a very quick bit of reading, I think liquorice will be better than sarsaparilla [cheaper too and less likely to aggravate some people possibly? - note I am NOT a doctor!]

#7

The general suggestion with most herb physreps is not to actually dose anyone with them! The allergies on the field are wide and varied, and it’s difficult to have a complex conversation about this while trying to apply a herb in battle.
On the battlefield I use little muslin twists with tea bag contents in them. Looks the part, food safe originally (before being dumped in my gear bag anyway) and cheap to replace if your patient goes off with them / they get dropped in the mud / covered in fake blood.

If you’re using them as phys reps for trade or apothecary skills then great you’ve got time to talk about it, but it may just be easier to put stuff in sealed bottles or jars and then you don’t have to worry!

As far as non magical herbs feel free to go wild. The Empire is big enough that what your village / Hold / Hall calls something could be entirely different to what it’s known as in the next territory. Beautiful dictionaries of local herbal remedies are lovely things to create and use as props.
There’s a note just above the rules bit on this page about other herbs: https://www.profounddecisions.co.uk/empire-wiki/Herb

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#8

Thank you!

#9

Generally speaking PD have said they’re not doing a game based on researching new technologies, so I’d assume not.

There are occasionally opportunities to get new tech, but these are usually via the wind of war/ winds of fortune etc.

So it’s feasible that one season an eternal might offer us a new potion recipe that it knows and we don’t (as long as we do it an expensive or political difficult favour) but there’s no mechanisms for player characters to research new herbs/recipes.

Iirc this is because PD’s last system was very heavily based on discovering the tech tree, and they want to do a different game.

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#10

There’s also bitterweed as a setting-specific herb used for contraception, but like groveblossom its growth and use are below the abstraction layer.

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#11

With regards to 3), there are bodies such as the hospital or the apothecaries guild that study the new potions that come into the game from plot capture or trade with the realms, but there’s no active development of new potions. There’s no development “tech tree”, as it were.

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#12

There’s vinum, the herb that liao is refined from.

Liao is made from vinum . Vinum is a white sap that was discovered by the Navarr to form a chewable confection that aids with deep, restful and dreamless sleep; and was often used to treat nightmares and night terrors. Refining vium to produce liao is a costly and time-consuming process. In the Empire, the civil service purchases large amounts of vinum, and processes it to create liao which is then provided to everyone who ministers to a congregation personal resource. Thanks to centuries of experience and improvement the civil service are able to produce liao quite efficiently for a fraction of the cost that any individual could make it.

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#13

ooooh - didn’t know of that one - thanks!