And before anyone makes a cheeky “what do you need this for 🤨” comment, I’m a writer. I’m not going to murder anyone I promise, I just want to write a scene where one guy gets poisoned.
I need something that doesn’t require modern technology to extract/produce, and would make sense to be avaible in a place with a temperate to mediterranean climate. The slower, the better. Does a plant or something like that exist or do I need to make one up?
Update: I looked into death cap mushrooms and they might be just what I’m looking for! Long reaction time, and being dried doesn’t make them less toxic! (the scene takes place in midwinter so no fresh ones would be avaible) If anyone has more info on them, please do share.
In almost every case in fictional writing it’s better to make up a poison then use a real one. That way you don’t have someone picking it apart later. Also you can give it whatever properties you want/need. Now excuse me while I continue to work on my immunity to iocane powder.
That or just do the classic ones of arsenic or cyanide and just roll with it.
They’re gonna pick it apart anyway. A reader criticized the historical accuracy of a fantasy novel my sister wrote.
I’ve never seen anyone even think twice about the Tears of Lys or The Strangler. And after Milk of the Poppy, it’s established that we may expect some similarity to reality in this world.
Was milk of the poppy not obviously literally opium (unrefined morphine)?
I knew a guy I was working summers with in college. Said he did not like roger rabbit because it was unrealistic.
I do like Roger Rabbit because it’s unrealistic.
Technically, these are not new things, but things that you didn’t know before.
H-how does one even criticise something like that? Like, “you got this and that wrong about the world you made up”?
Not even that, (in a medieval-fantsy setting) one criticized the use of archer for defense, another wanted for her to write the exact years the events happened… Another one asked why one nation had an italian-sounding name, while the bordering countries had foreign-like names, and different languages! (hello, ever been to Europe?) @[email protected] (is this how I mention someone?)
that is indeed how you mention someone. Yeah being pedantic for the sale of it isn’t something I understand. Unless it impacts my ability to enjoy the story I couldn’t care less.
I have read some novels where their history straight up breaks if you think about it for too long. Not saying this happened in this case but I read a fantasy novel that had a history that implied that people existed in the wrong times. Like this person was said to have died in X year yet someone met someone who was born in X+100 years.
Yeah, best just to ignore pedantry, it’s a mental illness.
Mental illnesses are very clearly defined, for example in the ICD-10 puplished by the WHO. Pedantry is defnetly not listed in there.
And yes, this was an attempt of humour.
defnetly
That’s a new one.
And the commonly accepted authority on the definition of mental illnesses is the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders. The current edition is referred to as DSM-5.
The ICD-10 is used in Europe and the DSM-5 in America. In that sense we are both correct.
Who’s to say pedantry is useless? I’m learning new things!
Bravo. Well done.
Depending on your setting and desired outcome for the poisoner, uraninite (aka pitchblende) might be an option. It has historical uses in glass making and pottery glazing, which could provide justification for why someone would have it.
It contains Uranium, which is radioactive, but I don’t believe will bioaccumulate, but can build up on surfaces, tools, and clothing providing a source of long-term radiation exposure. In addition, it contains lead, which does bioaccumulate, providing a source of gradual long term poisoning as well as radium which also bioaccumulates and is radioactive, providing an additional source of longterm radiation exposure.
There was a theory a while back that Napoleon died from arsenic poisoning due to the damp Mediterranean climate causing the decay of a green wallpaper using an arsenic based dye. It didn’t end up being entirely true but he may have been slowly poised by environmental arsenic throughout his life. Here is an article about it.
Arsenic is a naturally occurring element in the Earth’s crust as metallic crystals or combined with other elements. Being a heavy metal, arsenic bioaccumulates. That is, it builds up in the body over time, so slow poisoning is possible.
I recommend an American diet: ultra-processed foods, excess sodium, saturated fat, refined grains, calories from solid fats and added sugars, and avoid vegetables like the plague! The target will be dead within 50 years…
Apple seeds contain cyanide, simply crushing them will release the poison and it can be added to something else, although it’s not very slow.
There’s also the Destroying Angel/Death Cap mushroom, whose symptoms can take up to a day to even start, by which point the toxins have been incorporated and destruction of liver and kidney tissue is irreversible. They also contain toxins that can cause severe DNA damage, making it so your body can no longer repair itself after exposure, and you slowly die cell by cell.
Dimethylmercury.
Two drops will kill you in a few months and nothing can be done. It penetrates clothing, regular latex gloves, and skin very easily and unnoticed.
Pretty terrifying stuff. Not sure you’d be able to figure out availability or production in your plot, but as far as poisons go you’d be set for time between dose and death.
Lead, mercury, and other (mostly heavy) metals. Look up mad hatters. Also phosphorus and match girls
Alcohol. Sometimes it takes 30 or 40 years to be effective. Not very good for murder, but wildly popular for suicide.
Yeah OP needs to define what “slow” means to them. You could say that a one-week delayed effect is slow. Or you could say that it’s only slow if it takes months of exposure.
how slow acting? As in months, or as in time to get the fuck outta dodge?
Ricin will kill you in a couple of days, was first extracted in 1888, and the plant grows in the mediterranean.
Like takes at least a day or more for the poisoned character to notice.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amanita_phalloides
you also get points for historical accuracy, as it was used as far back as ancient rome
also, how low tech is low tech? Litvinenko was dying for three weeks after polonium poisoning, and radium will have similar effects, first extracted 1898
Low tech in this case would be similar to antiquity. I think I’ll look into the amanita phalloides thing!
Alcohol is a very effective slow acting poison.
As a writter you should get enough details wrong that someone trying to follow your recipie fails. Ideally they are also caught.
That’d require someone to actually read my stuff.
See people? I told you that everyone on lemmy is one person! But noooo!
Here’s the proof. I can’t even buy readers. This has to be me.
Am not sure if helpful, or if this would be somewhere you could visit for reference.
The Alnwick Victorian poison garden is fascinating and perhaps even has ideas for you.
https://www.alnwickgarden.com/the-garden/poison-garden/
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alnwick_Garden
Hope this helps. Am hoping to get to visit one day.
Apple seeds contain cyanide, and are easy to get in quantity without raising suspicion. How long does it take? No idea.
Heavy metals in artists’ oil paints.
You can always dig into true crime, see what methods are used to kill husbands.
Check out ChubbyEmu on YouTube. He’s a pharmacist who presents strange and interesting medical stories (with dramatic re-enactments) involving unusual chemical exposures that damage and sometimes kill people. Examples: soda, coconut water from a bad coconut, a fermented soup, ivermectin ordered online, lab chemicals stolen by a student and given to a disliked roommate, and so on. Maybe something there will inspire you. ChubbyEmu does a good job of breaking down complex medical into an easily digestible format.
Doing research like this is really interesting, but also makes me think if I’m on a list now.
I’m a writer
“A writer” 😉
hey guys, i am looking to write an obituary for my ex husband…
I knew it. Come on.
Theoretically speaking… Do you need an alibi as well? Just for the book of course.
I’m partial to “I was writing my book, alone, at home, with no witnesses.”
Rookie mistake honestly, should’ve asked for your friend who’s writer
