A short treatise on Adipocere (aka corpse wax)

Adipocere (/ˈædɪpəˌsɪər, -poʊ-/[1][2]), also known as corpse wax, grave wax or mortuary wax, is a wax-like organic substance formed by the anaerobic bacterial hydrolysis of fat in tissue, such as body fat in corpses. In its formation, putrefaction is replaced by a permanent firm cast of fatty tissues, internal organs, and the face.

Yes, I'm bringing this up one more time. I realize most probably don't really care. That's fine. I can be the odd one out here. There are several things about the use of corpse wax.. mainly in alchemy that just doesn't sit well for me.

First the technical. Corpse wax.. is not water soluble. By this alone it really has no business as an ingredient in a consumable liquid.

Second, the lore. It's a real stretch to associate a product of death, that is within the game's magic associated closely with death.. as a component in beneficial potions. Specifically health and regeneration potions. If you look at it's use in magic.. the only life spells that have corpse wax are Banish Undead and Resurrection.. both of which have a death component to them.

The only exception in magic spells is summoning.

Thirdly, RP and Virtue. Would the Avatar of Virtue.. knowingly.. drink the product of human remains.. for his or her own benefit? (Or for ANY reason at all?) Every time you quaff a health or regeneration potion (setting aside the cannibalistic aspects) you're purposefully benefitting off the death of humans. As a role-player.. my characters would be appalled at the very idea. So I have to ask.. is that virtuous Avatar? You should be taking a virtue hit every time you down a health potion! I mean really...

Yet the game gives you a health potion at the very start without telling you what's supposedly in it. Is this to satisfy Richard wanting cannibalism in the game in some form?

Between the lore and the RP, corpse wax in beneficial potions feels very contrary to the spirit of Ultima.

For the record I have little issue with it as a death related spell component. In the spirit of Ultima you need 8 primary reagents and I'm happy to have SotA follow that model.. (yes I realize SotA technically has 9 but Ultima occasionally broke the 'rule of 8' with a 9th circle of magic too so I'm not inclined to nit-pick that point). Alchemy on the other hand has no such restriction.

I once asked if some current alchemical ingredients might be place holders. Would we get more ingredients. I don't want to lawyer Starr over it (much) but the answer he gave was yes. I'd dearly love to see that become a reality. How about ginseng? We can do that right?

Ok.. I've been wanted to offload that for ages! [/Rant]

 

Actually, I'd much prefer that every school of magic had at least 1 distinct reagent then they could have a few 'support' reagents that are common between the schools

IT would not only serve a lot of other purposes (encourage specialized use of magic schools) but it would also smooth out some of the issues you're pointing out. For instance, just move all the corpse wax to the death magic school, and come up with a life magic reagent.

 

I do rather like that concept a bit but the issues I'm shaking my fist at have to do with alchemy. Though if I were to expand on the idea of new ingredients I might like to see a wider variety of non-reagent ingredients. We have ingredients now that are unique to certain potions. Something arguably having properties beneficial to health to go in health and regen would be nice.

Besides, I also think corpse wax is over-used. The game practically throws it at you now.

I wish reagents followed the Ultima model more closely. Corpse wax's association with death does somewhat, but the rest of the reagents no longer do. By that I mean black pearls were required for spells involving motion.. teleports, ranged projectile spells like arrows and fireballs etc. Each reagent had one or two defining purpose that made a spell what it was, but that's really another discussion.

 

@Bowen Bloodgood

I'm still adding new items to my magic reagents list btw. Just added two last week... too bad the thread about that got locked for inactivity

 

Maybe it's thauma-soluble?

 

Ever hear of Metamucil? To me that is like corpse wax as a liquid. Metamucil gels up and makes it hard to swallow.

 

These types of details are an immense source of immersion for me. I hadn't thought about (or noticed) this particular detail about corpse wax in the past, so thank you for bringing it up. I believe the "inner consistency of the secondary world" is profoundly important*, even if most people don't consciously notice.

* See also: 'On Fairy Stories', an essay from J.R.R. Tolkien.

 

On the technical side, it's not inconceivable that certain additives, used to improve the miscibility of oily and aqueous substances, are included in an alchemist's general kit (like screws for a carpenter or buttons for a tailor) so aren't explicitly included in the recipe. Alternatively the preparation may include (for example) a distillation process which extracts the relevant essence from the corpse wax to incorporate in the potion, with the residue being discarded.

I have nothing to offer regarding the more mystical concerns though

 

Well I don't know how fatty waxes break down but story/game wise that level of detail is too much to expect in order to explain anything. From a game design standpoint it can serve as a placeholder ingredient as it's readily available.. but if that's the case it's time to do away with it. We're well into EP1 and new ingredients are just not that hard to implement. Just copy an existing harvestable, change the name and the assets, relevant recipes etc..