Got Any Brilliance? (April 20, 2017)

[Bandit LOAF]

In honor of April 20th, here's a quick rundown on some of the recreational drugs of the Wing Commander universe! Blaze up some Arakh Leaves or swallow an Elysium capsule and let's get started...





Brilliance

Brilliance is probably the Wing Commander universe's signature drugs. Introduced in Privateer as a commodity available only at pirate bases, Brilliance is frequently namechecked as 'the' narcotic of the 29th century. Unit cost averages about 200 credits each. Most famously, Privateer features three missions in which the player is asked to run Brilliance from Oakham pirate base for Tayla; if you refuse, the game is over and you can never earn the Steltek gun. As hard as it is to imagine today, this upset a number of fans in 1993 who were not happy to be made to play a 'drug smuggler!' To address the feedback, Origin left a second set of Brilliance runs in Righteous Fire as optional missions.





Ultimate

Ultimate is Brilliance's much harder cousin (and likely named after Wing Commander's famous sister series of CRPGs.) Like Brilliance, Ultimate is available only at pirate bases... but at a much higher cost, averaging around 1,000 credits per unit. It does not appear in any of the scripted missions. Militia and Confederation patrols that scan Ultimate aboard your ship will attack on sight.

Tobacco





Welcome back to one of the oldest Wing Commander message board topics: smoking in WC is illegal?! The answer is yes, tobacco is considered contraband in Privateer and Confederation Broadswords will happily sink your Orion for transporting it... but it's also claerly smoked in cigar form in mixed company by Hunter in both the original Wing Commander and various novels. Perhaps a case where only transporting it is considered a felony?





Warp Steroids

The premiere drug of the Tri-System, Warp Steroids are all over Privateer 2: The Darkening. Warp Steroids (or "WaStes") are taken by humans hoping to improve their physique... with the unfortunate potential downside that overuse can shrink or collapse body parts. The Tri-System seems to be much more lax about drug use: versions of Warp Steroids are manufactured and advertised by large companies (including PumpUp! and Bulge-U-Like) and are not considered black market goods even they are repeatedly referenced as being typical 'party' drugs (used by rock stars and the like.) Perhaps anyone who wants a real trip in the Tri-System needs only to visit Karatikus... (Note that there are illegal drugs in the Tri-System; you are occasionally called upon to destroy pirate shipments of narcotics in booth missions.)

Elysium

Another product of the Tri-System, Elysium was invented and produced by a company called Stapleton Brothers. The drug returns the user to the cognitive state of a seven-year-old, providing a sense of innocent joy for several hours. It is distributed in capsule form, taken two at a time. In the Tri-System of 2790, Elysium was sold on the open market with an MSRP of 35 credits per capsule. Elysium also made its way to the Terran Confederation, where it was available illegally (as of 2701.)

Happy Death

Happy Death originates in Action Stations in an offhand remark by Senator Jamison More about how addiction is an epidemic that needs to be addressed in the pre-war Confederation.

Arakh Leaves

The Kilrathi enjoy a good trip, too! Arakh, introduced in the novel Freedom Flight, is said to be "like catnip" for the Kilrathi. Arakh leaves give a calming effect and are either chewed or infused in a drink. Kilrathi society does not outlaw the leaves--Ralgha even chews them on the bridge of his Fralthi--but it does seem to judge those who over-imbide and become intoxicated from them.

Kilnip

It's not clear exactly what Kilnip is, but the name certainly suggests it's intended for the Kilrathi! It's one of several illegal narcotics listed in the 'Life at Port Broughton' article in Star Soldier, the Wing Commander Arena manual (also mentioned are many of the above: Brilliance, Ultimate, Elysium, Warp Steroids and Happy Death.)

Sorry, Hunter!​

--
Original update published on April 20, 2017

 

[Wedge009]

I don't understand Americans' obsession with 20th April...

Anyway, I was one of those uncomfortable with drug-running, but Privateer was clearly a linear story game so it had to be done. Hey, at least Tayla gives you a smuggling hold (which somehow magically transfers to another ship if you change them, from what I recall). I also remember out-running Militia and Confeds (like when smuggling Lynch's cousin) even if it meant negotiating asteroid fields, rather than be forced to kill them, and my reputation along with it.

I'd completely forgotten that Tobacco was considered contraband, though... (I only remembered the other two drugs and slaves) maybe it's only supposed to be sold through regulated channels? Anything could be considered contraband if it's a restricted good, even if it's not what might normally be considered contraband (eg running food supplies).

 

[Quarto]

I'm sure if you know any smokers, @Wedge009, you'll be able to get a more than reasonable explanation on how tobacco can be contraband in Australia today - which certainly makes it unsurprising that it may be contraband in Wing Commander. Basically, tobacco is one of those things that governments impose extremely high import and sales taxes on - it's a good cash-cow, because everyone agrees that smoking is bad for you, so no one can really complain about smoking becoming more expensive... yet at the same time, because so many people do smoke, high taxes generate high incomes for the government. Australia has taken this to the utter extreme, and actually continues to raise taxes to the point where the actual cost of the product is now less than the taxes you pay on it. Living in Australia, I'd hate to be a smoker .

Now, here's the thing: because these taxes vary from country to country, the smuggling of tobacco products is really big business in many places around the world. People buy them legally in a country where they are cheap, and then try to smuggle them into a country where they are expensive in order to illegally sell them for a lower price than legal products are sold for. I'm sure the same thing can be happening in the WC universe - Hunter's (presumably legal) cigar-smoking habit may be so expensive, that some people smuggle tobacco products to avoid Confed (or local) taxes.

In fact, the same thing can apply to almost any product. And apart from the tax issues, there's also the question of counterfeit products - cheap copies of expensive branded products. Had the creators of Privateer wanted to dive even deeper into the economic stuff, they could well have had us buying jeans at pirate bases. Imagine the debates the community would have had then - are jeans really illegal? Is it because they're so old, that they're stolen from a museum?

 

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Arakh Leaves

The Kilrathi enjoy a good trip, too! Arakh, introduced in the novel Freedom Flight, is said to be "like catnip" for the Kilrathi. Arakh leaves give a calming effect and are either chewed or infused in a drink. Kilrathi society does not outlaw the leaves--Ralgha even chews them on the bridge of his Fralthi--but it does seem to judge those who over-imbide and become intoxicated from them.

Kilnip

It's not clear exactly what Kilnip is, but the name certainly suggests it's intended for the Kilrathi! It's one of several illegal narcotics listed in the 'Life at Port Broughton' article in Star Soldier, the Wing Commander Arena manual (also mentioned are many of the above: Brilliance, Ultimate, Elysium, Warp Steroids and Happy Death.)

These two descriptions, while not conclusively so, could suggest that Kilnip is just a rude human nickname for Arakh.

I don't understand Americans' obsession with 20th April...

As for all the 420 nonsense, I don't get pot culture at all but for reference http://time.com/4739364/marijuana-420-day-inventors/ . Mostly I think it's not far off when people call it 'counter-culture'. People think it's cool and that they are being anti-establishment rebels or something.

I have cousins that would pretty much smoke it all day, everyday and have since given it up. I've seen the bad side of it, but I won't deny that, like most other narcotics there are legitimate medical applications that really need to be researched more, which is where the legal framework has prevented proper understanding of what exactly the effects are or why it can help people with chronic pain or terminal illness. (Opium, Cocaine, Meth all have derivations available as prescription meds for specific conditions). For medical applications, it would seem smoking is also probably the worst delivery method. Anecdotally, I've heard from people using it for certain conditions that they prefer oils and edibles as it negates many of the negative effects. Some feel that they also can benefit in this way from the pain killing, anti nausea aspects while avoiding the impairment.

 

[Wedge009]

I know a few smokers and they know it's bad (smoking, that is, not the taxes). I wouldn't consider it contraband in the sense that it's completely illegal, but obviously the tax is there to dampen demand (and make money for the government as you say). It's obviously not so much of a dampener that people give up on it completely - I'm sure it'll be (unintentional) passive smoking that kills me some day. And I'm sure there are other things in Aus where taxes make up more than the cost of the actual product.

As for '420', don't mind me, I'm just bemused at the English-speaking Internet where if it's something American - or maybe Canadian or Mexican - then it's bound to be 'well-known'. Anything else, doubtful. I know of the reference, but for me 20th April is just my father's birthday as well as that of a number of friends (and yes, I've read that it's also infamous for being Hitler's birthday too).

I can believe that Kilnip and Arakh could be the same thing.