Of some peculiarities of the method of brewing twyrin

Viscous twyrin, drunken twyrin, smoky twyrin, gray and green, black, bloody, brown and rusty twyrin… What a great amount of tears and blood were shed because of this drink, and how much is yet to be shed… Similar to the western absenter, but more complex, more ancient and deeper, it like no other drink gives an unrecognizable distortion of reality. It also has a similar history to the one of absenter. First it was the drink of beggars, some barely literate steppe inhabitants, who understood the howling of their bulls better than human speech. Gradually, it was discovered by the aesthetes and rich eccentric people, and there, it is being collected, tasted at prestigious saloons and pharmacies sell it in silver thimbles as an expensive poison.

People collected numerous recipes, compiled encyclopedias dedicated to the different methods of brewing twyrin and preparing herbs. Some enthusiasts even arranged expeditions to the Steppe to infiltrate the Order and learn the secret techniques of making the drink. The problem is that the twyrin made by herb gatherers is always going to be different from the one made according to a written recipe, no matter what kind of a drink is being brewed.

Every bottle of twyrin is unique. The ability to distort reality and the different details to the effects depend on every tiny grass that was used for brewing the drink. Some mystics think that the herb gatherers give a name to each twyre root they find in the Steppe. The gatherers memorize these places and walk round them at a certain time to pick the roots. Some are picked as soon as they are born, some at certain days. They wait for the proper crop for several years in some cases.

A lot not only depends on how the herbs are picked, but also on how they grow. “Twyre is pain of the Steppe” – so says the Order ('huung twyrat ag agyl'). They believe that the juice that runs in the depths is the juice of the ancient gods, buried underneath the layers of clay, sand and fertile soil, and that twyre is the herb that absorbs all the juice before any other can. The people of the Steppe also think that twyre imbibes the pain of its time – the inspiration, the expectation of forthcoming changes, fear, the smell of war and the spirit of the people. Different twyre takes in different things, for example the bloody twyre is the kindest and most compassionate, regardless of its name, the brown is the most awful, the black has a feeling of anguish about it, and the rusty has a special memory of archaic history.

It is these details that determine the features and abilities of every drink, and not the proportions in which the spirit should be added, the choice of water and the mixing brews.

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