What do Merfolk do to get drunk in their pubs in place of drinking wine and ale?

[Scalenex]

My friend suggested they inject themselves with fish toxins from poisonous fish with poison intended for paralyzing much smaller creatures than Merfolk so for them it's a slight buzz.

That's clever, but for me it just seems a dirty.

Is there a more family-friendly way for Merfolk or other aquatic creatures to get drunk?

[brian 333]

Eat said toxic fish.

Hang out at volcanic vents.

There are layers of very still dense waters, often very salty, very cold, and heavy in minerals, called cold sinks. They are located on the abyssal plains where strange creatures thrive. Eating clams from cold sinks or drinking the water might do it.

Seaweed might be fermented in fish skin bags and the liquid drank or passed through the gills.

Anemone cooked in a hot smoker may be addictive.

[Yanagi]

My friend suggested they inject themselves with fish toxins from poisonous fish with poison intended for paralyzing much smaller creatures than Merfolk so for them it's a slight buzz.

That's clever, but for me it just seems a dirty.

Is there a more family-friendly way for Merfolk or other aquatic creatures to get drunk?

Jello shots. Take alcohol. Thicken with carageenans until it's a gel. Distribute in some kind of packaging to the equivalent of bars and consume.

Or, you know, just have zoned regions for drinking that are either at the surface or within an artificial structure that's empty of water.

[Scalenex]

Eat said toxic fish.

Hang out at volcanic vents.

There are layers of very still dense waters, often very salty, very cold, and heavy in minerals, called cold sinks. They are located on the abyssal plains where strange creatures thrive. Eating clams from cold sinks or drinking the water might do it.

Seaweed might be fermented in fish skin bags and the liquid drank or passed through the gills.

Anemone cooked in a hot smoker may be addictive.

All fine ideas. I like your eating toxic fish. Maybe to separate it from food, they chew a gum like processed version of toxic fish.

Jello shots. Take alcohol. Thicken with carageenans until it's a gel. Distribute in some kind of packaging to the equivalent of bars and consume.

Or, you know, just have zoned regions for drinking that are either at the surface or within an artificial structure that's empty of water.

Jello shots not only answers my recreational drinking questions, but it also answers my "potion" question. I thought of maybe potion cookies but that would a lot less convenient to eat in a hurry.

I figured magical pockets of air would be pretty rare underwater and they would mostly be reserved for forging metal items, but I suppose rich aquatic creatures could use these spaces to get drunk.

[Lacco]

Oxygen! Bubbles! BubblesBubblesBubblesBubbles...my bubbles!

Basically: for merfolk, oxygen could produce similar states as slight poison for us. Inhaling instead of drinking.

Mixed with fragrances to produce different "taste".

[Metastachydium]

it also answers my "potion" question. I thought of maybe potion cookies but that would a lot less convenient to eat in a hurry.

(3.5e has a number of alternative takes on that, most notably the "potion tile", a little flat piece of something brittle that one can break with one hand to unleash the effect.)

[sktarq]

the more official answer: they would probably be like potions an be thicker than normal and contained in bladders that can be squeezed into the mouth.



But for recreational drinking, I'd say toxic bivalves. There are just too many parallels to drinking in our own world for me to pass up.

There is already the normal phrase of having a "bad clam" leading one to become ill, and that shellfish can be toxic under the right circumstances. So the merfolk just make sure they become just the right level of just the right kind of toxic.

You have them cracking the things open, (able to invoke lots of bottle/can imagery with the opening of the shells, piles of used shells etc)

Oyster shooters turn to drinking shots (with many of the same rituals involved)

Trays of shots.

Both can cause a visceral disgusting reaction as soon as you take them. Similar (what the hell did I just put into my GI tract look on the face)

Both can cause vomiting and you to feel like hell the next day.


So yeah....that is what I'd use personally...I also may make them not just a booze correlate..perhaps have fun with the chemistry and make them a cross between booze and a mild hallucinogen (mushrooms).
And now they all can seem as rowdy as sailors.

[strangebloke]

There's no reason you can't just drink liquids normally as a merfolk. As long as its denser than the water, it will still settle in a cup or bowl just like a beverage does in a cup in air. There are actually underwater rivers and lakes of various dense fluids because of this.

Of course, you can also ferment foods and get drunk that way. Fermenting would require specialized equipment to do underwater, but it'd be in keeping with alcholic foods being a delicacy.

Then too, I don't know what you consider "family friendly" but if you got the toxin route you could simply have them inhaling toxic vapors for fun. Others have said it already but ordering canned poison air at a bar is going to be something memorable and funny.

[Mechalich]

There's no reason you can't just drink liquids normally as a merfolk. As long as its denser than the water, it will still settle in a cup or bowl just like a beverage does in a cup in air. There are actually underwater rivers and lakes of various dense fluids because of this.

Alcohol, however, is less dense than water, and also quite soluble, so liquid alcohol will disperse into the medium and then percolate to the surface and evaporate.

In any case merfolk, and really any fully aquatic sapient, are unlikely to recognize 'drinking' as a distinct activity rather than a sort of ambient metabolic process necessary for the maintenance of homeostasis. Bony fish that live in saltwater must drink constantly to replenish water lost osmotically across their gills - merfolk are usually pictured with gills and probably utilized this method (unless they are like sharks and maintain a significantly higher internal salt content and osmotically absorb (significantly less) water that they then urinate out. Air breathing merfolk, if you have those (there are very strong reasons to go this route actually, it simplifies a lot of things), they would function similar to marine mammals. These animals drink very little, acquiring most of the water they need from their food. Whales drink small amounts of seawater at most (probably a lot of it incidentally, swallowed with food) and excrete urine that is significantly more saline than seawater in order to maintain osmotic balance.

[brian 333]

I forgot to mention oozes and slimes.

Lots of aquatic creatures generate slimy byproducts for various reasons, and harvesting slime to impregnate with your preferred inebriant might be fairly easy.

Oozes are actually colony creatures that can be divided, grown, divided again, grown again, and repeat. Bars under the sea might have jars of them that they harvest one shot at a time then set outside to feed and sun them so they can grow to fill up the jars again.

[strangebloke]

Alcohol, however, is less dense than water, and also quite soluble, so liquid alcohol will disperse into the medium and then percolate to the surface and evaporate.

Liquid will tend to become un-alcoholic over time, but that's why you got to get it off tap quick and slug it down!

In any case merfolk, and really any fully aquatic sapient, are unlikely to recognize 'drinking' as a distinct activity rather than a sort of ambient metabolic process necessary for the maintenance of homeostasis. Bony fish that live in saltwater must drink constantly to replenish water lost osmotically across their gills - merfolk are usually pictured with gills and probably utilized this method (unless they are like sharks and maintain a significantly higher internal salt content and osmotically absorb (significantly less) water that they then urinate out. Air breathing merfolk, if you have those (there are very strong reasons to go this route actually, it simplifies a lot of things), they would function similar to marine mammals. These animals drink very little, acquiring most of the water they need from their food. Whales drink small amounts of seawater at most (probably a lot of it incidentally, swallowed with food) and excrete urine that is significantly more saline than seawater in order to maintain osmotic balance.

Merfolk have tongues and can taste, I don't think its unreasonable that they would take to consuming beverages even if there's no biological reason for it. Though if you want to make it fun, they could probably get the same intoxication from spilling it over their gills.

Just pick up a cup full of numbing toxin and splash it over the gills.

[Scalenex]

Lots of good ideas here. Since I'm planning to create several different undersea nations and tribes, I can give different groups a different preferred method of taking in recreational toxins and a different attitude on what is or is not appropriate.

My main nation is a loose analogy to the Rome that I have nicknamed Water Rome.

I am still not 100% on whether Water Rome has beaten Water Carthage and Water Greece yet. Maybe they will be in their Pax Romana stage or maybe the decline. I have yet to decide. I'm working on a Water Scythia and a Water China. In this metaphor, Water China is a very powerful but geographically removed sea kingdom that is hard to travel to.

I'm viewing the underwater sapient mortal races being essentially 20% Merfolk, 20% Crab People (Astalakians), 20% squid people (Ojiongo), and 20% shark people (Karakhai) and the last 20% is split between ten races with very small populations.

Astalakians are tough and prodigious builders but they are the slowest swimmers. Karakhai are strong and fast warriors. Ojiongo are mentally acute and have magical aptitude and Merfolk are kind of the Mario of the see with no major strengths or weaknesses.

Ojiongo should be ruling the seas because they are smarter than everyone else and only slightly weaker and they have a magical edge, but while they agree that their kind should rule, they cannot agree on who the king or queen should be and end up fighting each other more than the other races.

A standard Water Roman court would have a Merfolk empress and/or Senate with Crab people artisans, shark people guards, and squid people skulking in the dark corners trying to be the advisors that are the power behind the throne to the Merfolk figure heads netted in Machiavellian intrigues.

Really early on in Water Rome's history when they were just a small nation of Merfolk, they soundly defeated a nation of Astalakians/Crab people and then their king was like, "If you are merciful in victory, we can like build you weapons and fortifications." This was the first major alliance across species lines and it catapulted Water Rome into greater and greater power.

I like the idea of fermented clam shooters being a tradition Astalakians had that Roman Merfolk picked up from them.

I'm thinking the flavored bubble thing could be more of an Ojiongo/squid people thing. Manipulating elemental forces for a buzz seems like something they would enjoy.

Jello-like alcohol shots could be a development from Merfolk or Astalakians that have taken to trading with land folk.

Simply eating toxic fish is probably the go to recreational substance for shark people. A lot of them are nomadic and don't have time to manufacture much so this lets them have their spirits without a lot of prep work.

[LibraryOgre]

I lean toward fumes from toxic vents, myself. I like the idea of Jell-O shots, but I'm running into the conceptual problem of how to separate the alcohol and mix the gelatin while underwater.

[Melayl]

I lean toward fumes from toxic vents, myself. I like the idea of Jell-O shots, but I'm running into the conceptual problem of how to separate the alcohol and mix the gelatin while underwater.

Trade goods from surface folk? Or mixed in one of the (rare?) air pockets available?

[Yakk]

I like the idea of slimes. But not directly. You grow the slimes and you harvest their goop.

Very biological, like fermentation. The product you feed the slimes determines the flavour of the harvested goop.

This also is an export opportunity for merfolk. They can sell the goop to land dwellers.

[SpoonR]

I lean toward fumes from toxic vents, myself. I like the idea of Jell-O shots, but I'm running into the conceptual problem of how to separate the alcohol and mix the gelatin while underwater.

Mother of vinegar, aka slime biofilm. In this case separating vinegar & air.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pO-L9mo06CQ

Heinlein had his Venusian merpeople use bladders with some sort of elastic squirt bottle seal. I think modern capsule production can use dropping one density of liquid into another liquid of different density, and something something makes the outer capsule layer enfold and solidify.

Although for some reason, maybe the alien-ness, I like the idea of swimming “shot fish”. Have a cage of psychoactive fish. Reach in, grab one, eat live.

[Scalenex]

I like the idea of slimes. But not directly. You grow the slimes and you harvest their goop.

Very biological, like fermentation. The product you feed the slimes determines the flavour of the harvested goop.

This also is an export opportunity for merfolk. They can sell the goop to land dwellers.

There are lots of good ideas in this thread, but this might be my favorite idea.

It's of course not pleasant to think of what the goop that comes from slime represents but honey is basically bee vomit and honey is delicious.]

Or something gross like what ants do.

[Bohandas]

*hallucinogenic stinging urchins
*fermented meat
*coral reefer

[Grim Portent]

Licking creatures with toxic secretions would seem sensible. Like the fish version of licking toads.

Family friendliness is up for debate, but it doesn't seem any more strange to me than beer or tobacco.

[Bohandas]

Licking creatures with toxic secretions would seem sensible. Like the fish version of licking toads.

And since toads are amphibious it could very well just be toads

[Dexam]

I forgot to mention oozes and slimes.

Lots of aquatic creatures generate slimy byproducts for various reasons, and harvesting slime to impregnate with your preferred inebriant might be fairly easy.

Oozes are actually colony creatures that can be divided, grown, divided again, grown again, and repeat. Bars under the sea might have jars of them that they harvest one shot at a time then set outside to feed and sun them so they can grow to fill up the jars again.

Ah, so these are boozes.


... I'll show myself out.

[Eldan]

Anyone brought up the idea of just fermenting fruit and eating those?

Wrap a fruit in something, leave it near the surface in the sun, should ferment at some point.

[Spore]

Licking sea slugs. With generous nods towards Bioshock.