faderiftooc | LYRIUM EXPERIMENTS

Hey there! For anyone involved in lyrium experiment hijinks, below is a summary of the general semantic details of the study and what will ultimately be discovered.

WHAT: A study on lyrium and its effects on Rifters and native shard bearers.

HOW: A catch-all mingle log is posted HERE, and covers a somewhat nebulous time across fantasy!October and fantasy!November. I encourage you to house any lyrium study or lyrium study adjacent threads here, that way I don't have to track down a bunch of disparate log and invoice links when I eventually write a report.

This log space doesn't HAVE to be just for the survey activities themselves. If your characters have an argument in the hallway about it, or take this opportunity to secretly touch some raw lyrium off the clock, it can go here as well. The report I eventually write will be strictly about the survey results, most of which is in an ooc form already below.

WHO: Anyone who signed up for the study (or expressed interest at an earlier date) + the nerds running the survey + various subject matter consultants + various medical personnel + honestly if you want to back date your sign up and show up, then go for it.

WHEN: Now, until the end of actual!November. I'll file a report in early December for the sake of having the fantasy paperwork on record for Fade Rift generations to come.

WHAT THEY'LL LEARN: The experiment will be divided into three stages. The study will primarily be overseen by Wysteria and Viktor, although certain Research Division participants (such as Wysteria herself) may play dual roles of both Scientist and Subject. Probably not a conflict of interest at all.

One of Riftwatch's healers (probably Derrica, but if you have someone working in the clinic who wants to say they're on lyrium watchdog duty then feel free to pile in) will be on hand during all stages of the study. The study's base of operations will be the old Felandaris Project office.

That said, this summary covers ONLY the official above the board aspects of the experiment. If your characters choose to go off book and do something naughty with dangerous magical substances, then more power to you. However, if you have questions regarding things that fall outside the boundaries of the below results, I don't have answers - please reach out to the mods with an info request.

STAGE ONE
The aim of this stage is to determine whether there are any similarities to how different groups respond to ingesting refined lyrium.
All participants will receive a relatively thorough explanation of lyrium, both refined and raw, its common uses, common side effects, and warned to be on the lookout for symptoms of addiction. Refined Lyrium is a potentially addictive substance that temporarily imbues the user with a sense of confidence, power, and increased adrenaline. These warnings may be slightly blasé in delivery, but are nonetheless thorough.
All participants will be required to sign their name to a waiver. Participants may withdraw from the study at will (though the implication is that Wysteria will be Very Disappointed).
This trial will be repeated a few times a week for two weeks to ensure all records are accurate and that any unexpected variables are captured.
All participants will be given a modest dose of refined lyrium to drink, and their reactions will be observed and recorded.
Native non-mages without anchor shards: Enjoy your brief fantasy!amphetamine high.
Native mages without anchor shards: No subjects, however mages dosing themselves with refined lyrium to temporarily increase their arcane abilities is well documented.
Native non-mages with anchor shards: Temporarily increased anchor power and activity. May trigger brief, uncontrolled anchor effects (but for ooc reasons not powerful or reliable enough to count as a temp anchor upgrade). Enjoy your brief fantasy!amphetamine high.
Native mages with anchor shards: Temporarily increased arcane abilities, similar to what a native mage without an anchor would experience.
Rifters without anchor shards or mage-adjacent magical abilities: Unknown. No subjects of the study fit this profile.
Rifters without anchor shards with mage-adjacent magical abilities (Wysteria, that's you!): Temporarily increased arcane abilities, similar to what a native mage without an anchor would experience.
Rifters with anchors and no mage-adjacent abilities: Temporarily increased anchor power and activity. May trigger brief, uncontrolled anchor effects (but for ooc reasons not powerful or reliable enough to count as a temp anchor upgrade).
Rifters with anchors and mage-adjacent abilities: Temporarily increased arcane abilities, similar to what a native mage without an anchor would experience.

STAGE TWO
The purpose of this study is to observe the effects of larger, more concentrated doses of lyrium.
After a detox period, all participants will receive another thorough explanation of lyrium in case they forgot it the first time.
All participants will be required to sign their name to a waiver again.
This trial will be repeated a few times a week for two weeks to ensure all records are accurate and that any unexpected variables are captured.
All participants will be injected with a modest dose of lyrium. The effects will be observed and recorded.
Initially, the results will be similar to the first study. When the dosage is increased, in addition to experiencing all of the similar effects as in Stage One, participants may also experience:
Native non-mages without anchor shards: Enjoy your extended fantasy!amphetamine high. Post-high crash likely.
Native mages without anchor shards: No subjects, however the effects of mages overdosing on lyrium are on record and include: conscious dreams in the Fade such as those experienced during the Harrowing, periods of dizziness, and hearing voices.
Native non-mages with anchor shards: Enjoy your extended fantasy!amphetamine high. Post-high crash likely.
Native mages with anchor shards: Conscious dreams in the Fade such as those experienced during the Harrowing, periods of dizziness, and hearing voices.
Rifters without anchor shards or magical-adjacent magical abilities: Unknown. No subjects of the study fit this profile.
Rifters without anchor shards with mage-adjacent magical abilities: Conscious dreams in the Fade such as those experienced during the Harrowing, periods of dizziness, and hearing voices.
All Rifters with anchors: Similar to a native mage, Rifters with anchors may experience conscious dreams in the Fade such as those experienced by mages during their Harrowing, periods of dizziness, and hearing voices. Rifters will also experience additional short-term effects that muddle their reality. This includes very brief flashes of the memories belonging to nearby people, or of things taking place in their home world that are from beyond the point at which they came to Thedas or beyond their own experience of the world (i.e., conversations they weren't present for, events they didn't witness firsthand). These will be disconnected flashes rather than full coherent scenes, like disjointed scraps of old memories. They are all but indistinguishable from a character's own memories; it will require considerable thought and effort to establish with confidence that they are not actually remembered. These effects will be temporary.

STAGE THREE
The purpose of this study is to observe how Rifters with anchors respond to exposure to raw lyrium.
Due to the results of the previous stages of the experiment, only Rifters with anchors will be asked to continue to Stage Three of the study.
After a detox period, all participants will receive another thorough explanation of lyrium in case they forgot it the first two times. Further emphasis on the historical uses of raw lyrium in enchanting, and a brief overview of lyrium's ability to regenerate Rifter flesh will be provided.
All participants will be required to sign their name to a waiver again.
This trial will be done at least three times before the end of fantasy!November to ensure all variables are recorded appropriately.
Half the participants will be asked to make contact with raw lyrium against their bare skin for a short duration.
Half the participants will be given a small cut on their arm, and raw lyrium will be applied to the cut.
Good news, no one will die!
General Effects: Initial exposure can cause some nausea, blistering of the skin, and mild dementia of the sort suffered by rifters who overdose. Repeated exposure will lessen those effects, but can lead to deafness and memory loss, both mild and temporary (though dwarven sources suggest indicate that over many years of daily exposure these symptoms often become permanent in raw lyrium miners).

However, unlike dwarves, rifters will also experience physical mutations. These will be non-lethal but otherwise unpredictable, taking the form of things like growing horns, webs between digits, nubs of new limbs, and similar. They won't last—a couple weeks without lyrium exposure will see these crumble and fall off.

The Effects of Raw Lyrium on Open Wounds: Direct exposure of raw lyrium to open cuts will increase the speed and severity of both the side effects and these mutations, though this will all still be non-lethal (note: it's unknown whether the same can be said for prolonged exposure to open wounds or more invasive direct exposure). It seems the regenerative effects of lyrium on hosts still in possession of their anchors are random and unpredictable. They may close, but they'll likely get a weird orifice or a horned growth instead of a healed cut. Fun! Like other mutations, these will crumble and fall off after a period of time without lyrium exposure.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Got 'em? Ask 'em. I'll do my best to answer.

Want to put a memory up for grabs? Feel free to share with one another directly, but if there's something you want to just put up for grabs then you're welcome to post it here for someone(s) to claim.

This isn't strictly limited to Rifters dosed with lyrium - anyone in the vicinity of those individuals might have their memories on display to them.

LYRIUM EXPERIMENTS - OOC INFO

QUESTIONS?

MEMORY SHARE/BLEED