Out-of-Placers

Here we see two specialists of House Talleraine tending to a pond with an overgrowth of Bruisegrass, a fast-growing species of algae with psychoactive properties.

The presence of the stuff around the outskirts of the Val Salian mountain ranges is what brought the Great House to establish a base of operations there, and regulations state that any outbreaks of the stuff is to be immediately reported to them.

On its own, it is a noxious, harmful substance if allowed to spread to land and reach its reproductive phase, in which the colony dries out and crumbles, to then be carried along the wind to any nearby sources of standing water and repeat its cycle.

However, it is mostly harmless in the early stages of its life cycle, in which its signature vertical strands can be harvested, treated and processed into a powerful opiate, which is one of House Talleraine’s largest sources of profit. As such, they’ve developed advanced methods of controlling and farming the algae, and demand full collection rights for the cleanup/control services they offer the city-state of Val Salia.

This pond was discovered midway through its life cycle, and has begun to creep onto the ground surrounding it; and so while one agent rakes in a harvest, the other soaks the edges of the pond with oil in preparation to burn off the land-borne sections of the growth.

Once a trained House Prospector inspects the growth to assess the stage of its life cycle, the pond will be continually harvested and burnt back until it expends all of its protein and dies off naturally; or if the growth has passed its safe stage, the pond will be filled with oil and the surface set alight, incinerating the floating algae colony.

It is strictly forbidden to introduce any amounts of active Bruisegrass to most cities, because even a small bowl of mismanaged algae can spread to other sources of standing water, and require a long, concentrated effort to ensure its full extermination. More than once, an addict has attempted to grow his own stock within the city, with disastrous results.

The state of their bodies when displayed in the public square after the Great Houses are done with them have done wonders to discourage others from repeating their mistake.