Thunderblood Berries

Summary

A wind-aspected variant of the more common coffea plant, the thunderblood bush is stoutly sized and about half the height of a human. Most bushes have between five-to-eight branches from a central stem, and from them its sun-yellow leaves grow in long, wispy strands. The berries themselves are brightly blue, with an almost metalic reflection that makes them very eye catching. When the berries are cracked open, they ooze a gold-red fluid, and possess a similarly colored fleshy interior.   The thunderblood bush's berries are a notorious stimulant in their native lands, and serve as both cautionary tale as much as performance enhancer. Unlike more mundane coffea plants, the berries of thunderblood bushes are supercharged by their wind-aspected nature. The caffeine stimulation, as a result, is much stronger and hence the titular name, for it feels and sounds like thunder in one's blood.   The principle issue with the thunderblood berries is in their natural form they're already very dangerous to people. The stimulant property can energize a body into overdrive, giving unbelievable bursts of energy, mania, and hyperactivity. Assuming the heart doesn't tear itself apart, or their veins explode, they'll inevitably crash horribly later. While the berries provide some energy themselves, it is more akin toward hyper-utilization of the body's own natural reserves. Sometimes so much energy is expended that the consumer simply dies of exhaustion afterward anyway.   Using such berries has, throughout time, been a contentious matter and something most people are weary of. The benefits being what they are, the often lethal after effects has ever left them in a very specific niche. Those with powerful constitutions or the ability to manage such dangerous wind-aspected boosting are normally those most suited to use thunderblood berries. Over time, however, other uses would be found.   'Decaffeinating' is not strictly possible, unlike other coffea plants and their seeds. Blending the berry with other agents to temper its wild behavior is more the norm. In such a way, the power of the berry is regulated to release more steadily and over a longer time period. While the heightened state is still physically demanding, it is not the all-or-nothing self-destruction of its wild form.   Over time, as herbalists tinkered with different thunderblood lineages, they tweaked it toward more specific, specialist use cases. The most notorious of these may be the Sa-kemet Tribes during the time of their Great Khanum. Tribe warriors would, in battles of great fate and danger, take special thunderblood concotions to invigorate themselves. Their fury and swift speeds tore through enemy groups, and even if they took fatal damage in the process, usually routed the opposing side. Historians argue it as one of the unsung advantages that let the Tribes sweep through their enemies as well as they did.   In a similar vein, thunderblood concotions have saved the lives of messengers, couriers, and other such people out in the wildernesses. When confronted by unexpected predators, or even Relentless Herds and Packs, the overdrive afforded them the chance to get to safety. The possible applications weren't lost on the more merchantile-minded, either. Some derivative strains of thunderblood berries have resulted in 'energizing drinks' in order to get more out of their workers. Unlike less-powerful and regular caffeine products, these thunderblood derivatives were often quickly banned or tightly restricted due to the damage they did.   Pretty much only those of a wind-aspected nature, like the onpa, or magically-trained and capable persons, such as mages or cultivators, could effectively handle thunderblood berries in full force. Unlike those who experience physical overdrive, the stimulation and cohesion of wind-mana in the berries simply became more fuel for such persons. While nowhere near in potential to something like crysium, those concerned with wind mana can find a relatively easy pick up in thunderblood berries.   As such, laws, regulation, and treatment of such berries is a fairly contentious matter. Thunderblood berries are an often cited example of a potentially useful fruit that is mired in all sorts of complex social and cultural problems. Depending on where and who, it can bounce between carefully restricted to rigorously banned, and some regard it as an evil thing while in the same breath coveting its potential.