Gleam

Gleam is a common substance found in worlds affected by the light of a Dead Star. When an organism dies within the light, their body begins to rapidly deteriorate into a light red dust. It produces its own, light shimmering effect that casts a noticeable glow even beneath the cover of twilight. This dust is called Gleam.

Red Gold

On its own, gleam carries rudimentary effects compared to the common drugs that further refine its properties. It produces a euphoric sensation in those that consume it; a stimulant. As with all products that involve gleam, it can also raise the lifespan of those imbibing it. Gleam's beneficial effects have lead to it being in high demand, leading to it being referred to as 'Red Gold'.
Repeated ingestion of gleam builds up a tolerance to the euphoric effects, however, built-up tolerance also creates developments within the mind that allow the harnessing of psionic powers -- and an ever growing craving of gleam to sustain it.

The Spice Wars

An ongoing event on Earth is the ever-turbulent Spice Wars; a series of conflicts carried out between the many walled-off city states around the world with the sole purpose of settling established borders. Ever since the sun became a dead star, Earth's climate was left drastically altered to the point where most of the planet was borderline uninhabitable by human life. This scenario eventually changed when humanity invented Skyglobes; a marvel of technology that surrounds a large area beneath an artificial sky that cancels out the effects of the red light
Humanity was briefly broken into the stone age and subsequently lead towards the great Geothermal Revolution, but shortly after Skyglobes were invented to allow metropolises to rebuild above ground, dispute was left over the newly forming borders above land.
Gleam is still seen as an invaluable asset despite being associated with the Dead Star, and as a result, many forming city states made sure to stake out specific claims of land where wildlife was common for the sole sake of harvesting it. Unfortunately, senseless slaughtering, combined with detrimental effects of the Dead Star, have lead to many of these borders clashing with one another.
Thus the Spice Wars began; an era where countless city states attempt to establish holdings within Redlit lands, only to find conflicting interests ending with sweat, blood, and more gleam from the bodies they send out. Third parties -- such as mercenaries, also have a great interest in acquiring the Gleam. Metropolitan areas are thus, while still rife with crime, generally considered 'sacred grounds' that are separate from the actual war outside.
The mercenaries and frontiersmen that are brave enough to head out for the sole sake of acquiring gleam or fighting for territory within redlit lands are colloquially known as Spice Traders.

Item type

Drug / Narcotic / Medicine