Moon Grass

Moon grass is a plant species native to The Yellow One, one of the five moons of Eden. In fact, it’s the saturated amber coloring of this pervasive plant which gives The Yellow One its name.

Best known for its use as a recreational drug, the only place the species will grow is on the aforementioned moon. Only there, with The Yellow One’s heavier gravity, does moon grass ever take root. Everywhere else that Edenians have tried to plant it, the seeds have just floated away.

This has made quite a few birds happy, but quite a few drug dealers very sad.

Uses

Medicinal

Moon grass has been useful in the treatment of chronic pain, insomnia, and loss of appetite. Though there is a small risk of addiction, most patients have been blunt in their assessment that moon grass treatments are “dope.”

Recreational

The drug’s most significant use is in recreation, and Edenians of all stripes love this stuff—which is why, despite the difficulty inherent in harvesting it (see “Cultivation” below), the species is conservation dependent. If imports weren’t restricted as they are now, the Yellow One might be a barren moon at this point.

Spiritual

Due to its ability to induce relaxation and a state of euphoria in the user, moon grass has become a sacred substance in some Edenian religions. It is regularly used, for instance, in The Faith of the First Mother’s coming-of-age ceremony, “The First Touch,” to put nervous participants at ease.

Cultivation

The harvesting of moon grass is a laborious endeavor. Because of the high gravity necessary for the plant’s growth, cultivation can be a backbreaking affair—sometimes literally. And that is why the common wisdom—and the official approach of the state-sponsored harvesting companies—is to limit one’s exposure to the Yellow One’s gravity to no more than twenty minutes at a time. Yes, this necessitates large crews of crop-pickers who can swap back and forth from shuttlecraft orbiting the moon, but the alternative isn’t something even the most lawless or exploitative of Edenians can stomach.

Kíndallans, as shape-shifters, have a slightly easier time of it, but even their malleable bodies can’t stand the pressure for more than an hour—unless the kíndallan in question wants to eat half the grass they gather in the process in order to dull the pain.

Consumption

The drug is consumed in several different ways, including but not limited to: smoking, vaporizing, and ingestion as part of a food or drink. Smoking is by far the most popular method of consumption, either as a rolled cigarette or through a hookah—the preference of the Blue Caterpillar of Wonderland, among others.

History

The species was first discovered late in the First Age by Marie Joanna Hempel, an aging scientist who had been waiting nearly fifty years to ride the long-proposed and perpetually under-construction Tiry’s Tower. She was among the first to tour the Five Moons, and though she didn’t last long on the surface of The Yellow One—what with the backbending gravity and all—she did have just enough time to collect a sample of the grass she found there.

She promptly put that in her pipe and smoked it.

When Hempel returned to the surface of Eden and was asked for her opinion on the voyage, she spoke very highly of it. And though widespread cultivation of moon grass wouldn’t begin until the Wander Years, there are some who credit the very idea of singing a new reality into existence to a group of folks under the influence of this miraculous plant, this wondrous weed.