Piercing

The piercing system allows characters to pierce each other with sharp needles, allowing the insertion of certain types of jewelry. Piercings show up in character descriptions in the same line as tattoos.

Possible piercing locations are: right eyebrow, left eyebrow, both eyebrows, nose, right nostril, left nostril, lip, left ear, right ear, both ears.

The art of piercing others relies on the First Aid skill.

Piercing Supplies

A piercing needle is required to actually pierce another character. Repeated piercings with the same needle will cause the needle to dull and a whet stone of some type is needed to sharpen it. In addition, it should be sterilized between uses via a fire spell, Heal (1101), or by pouring strong alcohol on it.

In addition, a piece of piercing jewelry must be used at the same time as a piercing needle because the process involves inserting the jewelry at the same time as creating the pierced hole. Depending on how a piece of jewelry is made, it might be able to be worn in multiple piercing locations. If so, it can be switched between those locations via FLIP. A piece of piercing jewelry must be set to be worn in the appropriate location prior to using the piercing needle.

After a new piercing has been made, the pierced character must go through a period of aftercare to properly heal the piercing wound. For non-empaths, this can be done by POURing either a tincture of acantha (or acantha in any similar liquid form) or some type of strong alcohol onto the worn piercing jewelry in order to clean it. Using a liquid herb will cost ten mana, using alcohol will cause a considerable stun. Empaths can simply cast Heal (1101) on the piercing jewelry to clean it.

Someone who regularly offers piercings may consider a Piercing Kit, which can store piercing jewelry, healing potions, sterilizing (strong) alcohol, as well as piercing needles. It is also capable of cleaning and sharpening piercing needles in between use when properly stocked.

How to Pierce

Piercing is done by holding a piercing needle in one hand, a piece of piercing jewelry in the other hand, and using the PIERCE command. This requires confirmation and consent by the character being pierced to complete. The piercer and their subject must be in the same group.

A location for the piercing must be specified, and the jewelry should be ready to use for that location prior to piercing. If the jewelry is capable of supporting multiple locations, they can be changed via FLIP.

Piercer:

PIERCE {character} STYLE {location}

Subject:

PIERCE AGREE {character} STYLE {location}

Piercing Locations

   NOSE             She has a ring in the middle of her nose.
   RIGHTNOSE        She has a ring in her right nostril.
   LEFTNOSE         She has a ring in her left nostril.
   LIP              She has a ring in her lip.
   LEFTEAR          She has a ring in the upper ridge of her left ear.
   RIGHTEAR         She has a ring in the upper ridge of her right ear.
   BOTHEARS         She has dual rings set along the slender tips of her pointed ears.
   LEFTBROW         She has a ring in her left eyebrow.
   RIGHTBROW        She has a ring in her right eyebrow.
   BOTHBROWS        She has dual rings in both her eyebrows.

Piercing Needle Care

Piercing needles are sharp and sterile off-the-shelf, but should be sharpened and cleaned after each use.

Sharpening

Repeated piercings with the same piercing needle will cause the needle to dull and a whet stone of some type is required to sharpen it again. Any stone, even a smooth stone, can serve as a whet stone for a piercing needle. Diamonds can also be used in place of a whet stone. The Piercing Kit also has a built in whet stone for sharpening needles between use.

A fully sharpened needle looks like this:

The needle's tip appears sharper than a razor, and it gleams brightly.

Cleaning

In addition, repeatedly using the same needle without cleaning it can introduce early infections into the person being pierced. Cleaning a piercing needle can be done via a fire spell (such as Fire Spirit (111)), Heal (1101), or pouring alcohol on it. The Piercing Kit can sterilize needles between use when stocked with alcohol.

>pour rum on my needle
You pour some of your mint on the rum onto the tip of your needle and twirl it around a bit, making sure the entire sharpened point gets coated.
Roundtime: 10 secs.

>PREP 111
You utter a light chant and raise your hands, beckoning the lesser spirits to aid you with the Fire Spirit spell...
Your spell is ready.

>cast my needle
You gesture at a long black steel needle.
You send forth a carefully-controlled trail of flame onto the needle's tip, and its sharpened point begins to glow a blazing red.
>look needle
You see nothing unusual.
The needle's tip appears sharper than a razor, and it gleams brightly.
The needle's tip looks to be glowing red hot at the moment.

After cleaning with a fire spell, one must wait a few minutes for the needle to cool down before using it on another person. If one does not wait, the following will occur:

You lean over toward Person's right eyebrow and line up your black steel needle at a precise point. Clenching X's skin tightly, you drive the needle into Person swiftly, puncturing his skin in one clean movement.

Person lets out a scream of agony as the red-hot tip of the needle pierces his flesh!  (Piercer's view)

You let out a scream of agony as the red-hot tip of the needle pierces your flesh!     (Person pierced view)

Moving fluidly, you slide the vaalin spike into the small puncture wound you've made.
Roundtime: 15 secs.

Piercing Aftercare

Regular cleaning of the piercing is very important. As mentioned above, non-empath piercing recipients will need tincture of acantha (or any similar liquid herb) or some sort of strong alcohol to clean off the piercing via POUR MY {ACANTHA/ALCOHOL} ON MY {PIERCING JEWELRY NOUN}. Using a liquid herb will cost ten mana, using alcohol will cause a considerable stun. Empaths should cast Heal (1101) at their piercing jewelry to cleanse it.

The cleanliness of the needle and the piercer's First Aid skill (and ??) determine the increased likelihood of an infection.

Cleaning of the piercing should be done until the wound is fully healed.

Places to find liquid acantha

• Sylvarraend - Sylvarraend Herbals - a tincture of acantha (acantha) - 750 silvers
• Ta'Illistim - Valina's Herbs and Tinctures - a tincture of acantha (acantha) - 750 silvers
• Ta'Vaalor - Saphrie's Herbs and Tinctures - a tincture of acantha (acantha) - 750 silvers
• Zul Logoth - Brother Barnstel's Herbals - grey mushroom potion - 500 silvers
• Pinefar - Pinefar Infirmary - acantha leaf tea - 200 silvers
• Teras Isle - The Healer's Tent - Olak's Ol'style ale - Flagon 400 silvers, Barrel 1200 silvers

>pour acantha on {piercing jewelry}
You pour your acantha on the {piercing jewelry}.
You weave a thread of healing essence around the wound in your {piercing location}, and feel it tingle briefly as the spell scours away any chance of infection.
Cast Roundtime 3 Seconds.You have 9 doses left.

Infections

Just like in real life, piercings can get infected. Unlike real life, piercings have a realistic chance of causing your death at low levels due to 10-per-round disease. Infected piercings should be treated with Undisease (113) and liquid acantha.

A tiny trickle of pus leaks out from your {piercing jewelry}.

You feel a faintly damp sensation from your {piercing jewelry} as a little trickle of blood leaks from the wound. 

Your {piercing jewelry} shifts slightly in the flesh of your ears, causing a faint itching sensation for a brief moment.

A tiny bump rises from the skin around your {piercing jewelry}.

Your {piercing jewelry} itches a bit more than normal.

Your {piercing jewelry} suddenly itches fiercely as a red rash breaks out on it!

The wound around your {piercing jewelry} pulses and throbs with minute waves of sharp pain, sparking a bit of pus to leak from it.

Your {piercing jewelry} feels quite tender, and the skin around it is a bit reddish.

The following indicates a disease has set in:

A thin coating of green crust suddenly coats your {piercing jewelry}. 

A few pus-filled boils suddenly spring up around your {piercing jewelry}. 

Your {piercing jewelry} throbs with a dull pain, and you notice that there's a veritable menagerie of green crustlings gathered around them. 

The skin around your {piercing jewelry} turns a sickly yellow with bits of splotched bruising. 

Healing

There are several messages for a fully healed piercing, depending on the method of treatment:

Removal

You remove a {piercing jewelry} from your {piercing location}.

You notice that the dull waves of pain you previously felt in your {piercing location} are no longer there. Perhaps the wound has healed completely.

Empath

You concentrate while murmuring the simple, mystical chant for Heal...
Your spell is ready.

>cast {piercing jewelry} 
You gesture at a pair of dainty silver rings set along the slender tips of her pointed ears.
The small piercing wounds in your ears which harbors the rings is already well-healed, so the spell does little more than give you a warm tingly feeling.

Liquid Acantha

>pour aca on {piercing jewelry} 
You pour your acantha on the {piercing jewelry}.
The small piercing wound in your {piercing location} which harbors the {piercing jewelry} is already well-healed, so the spell does little more than give you a warm tingly feeling.
You have 9 doses left.

Alcohol

>pour whis on my {piercing jewelry} 
The small piercing wound in your left ear which harbors the whiskey is already well-healed, so the liquid doesn't do much.

Additional Information

• Verb:PIERCE
• Piercing needle
• Flippable Piercing Jewelry
• Piercing Kit