Lace

Lace is a powerful stimulant that can exert a profound effect on mind and body. It increases the heart rate and seems to pulse a surge of energy through the body, sometimes sending those under its influence into a hyperactive state. Still more noticeably, lace increases alertness, self-confidence, and sociability, producing both garrulousness and grandiosity, and the state of euphoria it grants can make the user feel nearly invincible.

Lace is chiefly a drug of the upper classes, and therefore its use is generally tolerated and studiously overlooked, despite its technical illegality and the official disapproval of the Azadi faith. Young students are especially taken with it, as they feel it greatly enhances their social life and they tend to enjoy the feeling of importance and power it gives them. Expensive and not easy to obtain, nevertheless youth of means typically have both the money and connections to acquire sufficient lace to keep themselves and their companions adequately supplied.

Lace is made from the pith of the butterfly cane, which grows in dense swamps chiefly in Rahoum and Irzal along the River Ennescu. Turning the pith into the feathery-light powder of lace is an intensive process which only increases the expense of the final product. Lace is most typically consumed by adding it to coffee, which strengthens the stimulating effect. When the power is lightly stirred into the coffee and left to settle, it spreads out on the surface of the liquid in a partially crystallized pattern like lacework, from which the name derived. "Lacing" coffee is a pastime in itself before even consuming the drug, as this is a matter of technique which can form the basis for competition to see who can produce the most sophisticated pattern. Such competitions become ever more elaborate and ever less coherent with each cup drunk.