Medicianal drink mead from the leaves of the silverleaf plant that can prevent the drinker from getting the Shifter's Curse.
Origins
The Shifter's Curse is passed when a person is bitten by a shifter who is infected with the
Changeplague, the sufferer is forced to change into a hybrid animal form during the full moon and has a chance to lose themselves in a beastial rage for the duration of the change. A single instance of the Shifter's Curse could decimate families or entire villages and was feared throughout Therrmordia. Healers, priests, and wizards all tried to find a cure without success.
While a complete cure was never discovered, eventually a treatment that prevented initial manifestation of the Shifter's Curse was found in Snassarian. The silverleaf plant was a medium sized plant with small leaves found in lightly forested areas of Snassarian's temperate regions, named because its leaves had a mottled green and silver coloring. The plant was poisonous, but because of Shifter's intolerance to silver, extracts of the plant were tested as a counter to Shifter's Curse. While it might seem difficult to find volunteers to take poison on the off chance it curse a condition, most people with the Shifter's Curse would be ostracized at best and killed at worst, so victims were frequently willing to try whatever. While the silverleaf extracts had no effect on people who had already experienced a change, healers were able to administer a large dose to an man the morning after he was bitten. To their shock and joy, he did not transform during the full moon that night. The knowledge of silverleaf tea spread throughout Snassarian and beyond. Silverleaf began to be cultivated and dried silverleaf leaves were exported around Therrmordia. The substance is now common enough that any alchemist or herbalist in a community of town sized or larger should have access to some leaves, though the knowledge of proper brewing and dosing is a different matter.
Uses
The most famous use of silverleaf tea is to prevent someone who has been bitten by a shifter from manifesting the Shifter's Curse. The tea must be administered before the next full moon. Since most shifter attacks happen during the three days of the full moon, there is normally a very small window when the tea is effective. Once a person had undergone his first change, the tea will not prevent further changes. The usual approach is to administer a large but non fatal dose of silverleaf tea, sickening the drinker but avoiding both death and the Shifter's Curse. Some healers try for a minimum effective dose to prevent as much harm as possible, while others skirt the line of a fatal dose to maximize the chance of the tea being effective. Silverleaf tea has been demonstrated to be effective at preventing the Shifter's Curse if taken prior to a Shifter bite, but most people who are expecting a violent encounter with a Shifter are loath to deliberately sicken themselves beforehand.
A secondary use of silverleaf tea is as a basic poison. Because of its medicinal properties it is relatively common and can be acquired without a lot of questions.
A third use of silverleaf tea is almost the opposite of its primary use. The silver aspect of the plant counteracts the initial manifestation of the Shifter's Curse because the Shifter's intolerance of silver prevents the curse from gaining a foothold. Once the Shifter's Curse has taken root in an individual, the plant's silver aspect acts much like the moon, pulling the individual closer to their animalistic side. Shifters and shapecursed who drink silverleaf tea have an easier time changing their form, but it is more likely they will lose themselves in the beastial rage when they change.
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