Capable of bringing down great warriors, powerful nobles, and influential priests, a skilled poisoner is one of the most feared killers in all the lands. It’s never certain what meal, what drink, what knife in the dark holds some vile oil that kills. Naturally, people at risk of being poisoned take steps to ensure their safety, employing food tasters, court wizards to sense poison, and priests to pray for them as they die. To ensure results, many assassins use compound poisons on their victims, so that if their victim survives one type of poison, he must still contend with the other six or so ravaging his system. For example, a famous treatise on poisoning from Araby lists a recipe for a compound whose core is a rat stung to death by a scorpion, which is then steeped in powdered lead and excrement at the bottom of a refuse pile, before being ground down to powder and sprinkled in wine or on a meal.[2a]
There are three different classes of poisons - toxins, deliriants, and animal venoms. These are very distinct categories and work in different ways. Within each class there are several types of poison.[1a]
- Toxins: These are usually derived from vegetable or fungal components. There are a number of sub-categories, each generally affecting only a particular group of creatures. Their effect is to disable or kill.
- Deliriants: These are also usually vegetable- or fungal-based; they produce hallucinations and, in some cases, insanity.
- Animal Venoms: These are derived, as might be expected, from venomous animals. Their effect is to disable or kill.[1a]
Known Poisons
- Belladonna
- Black Lotus Poison
- Bottled Love
- Childbless
- Chokeweed Extract
- Crimson Shade
- Cyanide
- Dark Venom
- Dwarf Bile
- Green Scorpion Venom
- Heartkill
- Henbell
- Mad Cap Mushrooms
- Mandrake Root
- Manticore Spoor
- Prince's Crown
- Rabid Dog Saliva
- Ruby Sulphur Extract
- Sagekill
- Sigmar's Blood
- Spider Spittle
- Thung
- Traitor's Hap
- Viper's Kiss