Kelyk

Kelyk [KELL-ick]Not a TSACast podcast #5 - Derived from the pronunciation of saemankelyk as pronounced by Steven Erikson at 11:50 was an inky-black beverage whose scent was pungent and bittersweet.Toll the Hounds, Chapter 10, US TPB p.337 It was produced in Bastion (and in other nearby ex-Pannion Domin communities) and was increasingly popular among the human population of Tiste Andii-controlled Black CoralToll the Hounds, Chapter 2, US TPB p.66Toll the Hounds, Chapter 6, US TPB p.179 as well as of cities as far north as Darujhistan.Toll the Hounds, Chapter 3, US TPB p.76
The plants cultivated to produce kelyk were man-height, purplish, and broad-leafed with skull-sized rootballs. Their centre stalks produced pale green flowers that attracted clouds of insects. Harvested plants were hung upside on drying racks before being sent to Bastion for final processing and distribution.Toll the Hounds, Chapter 4, US SFBC p.124-126
The production of kelyk was said to be responsible for renewed prosperity in towns and settlements ravaged by the rise of the Pannion Domin, including Heath, Kel Tor, Morsko, Outlook, and Sarn.Toll the Hounds, Chapter 4, US SFBC p.126Toll the Hounds, Chapter 6, US SFBC p.225-226
==In Toll the Hounds==
Kelyk's use quickly spread among the humans of Black Coral, outselling even ale and wine. Its addicting nature invited abuse, turning drinkers into stumbling glaze-eyed, open-mouthed zombies whose lips and tongues were stained black.Toll the Hounds, Chapter 6, US SFBC p.218Toll the Hounds, Chapter 4, US SFBC p.126 Even those who drank in moderation experienced sneezing fits that stained the city's walls, pavestones, and cobbles with an alarmingly dark discharge.
Gruntle led a disastrous caravan to Bastion to acquire kelyk for the merchant, Sirik. Only four trader-wagons survived the return trip after raiders attacked them on the Dwelling Plain.Toll the Hounds, Chapter 3, US SFBC p.90-91
Nimander Golit and his group of Tiste Andii came upon a kelyk farming operation at Morsko. The plants were fed by a black substance oozing from rows of scarecrows, who Nimander believed to have once been living people, posted in the fields.Toll the Hounds, Chapter 4, US SFBC p.124 The Dying God later claimed the scarecrows were all failed attempts to create a body for itself.Toll the Hounds, Chapter 12, US SFBC p.492
Kelyk (as its name suggested) was a diluted form of Saemankelyk.Toll the Hounds, Chapter 6, US TPB p.185
==In The God is Not Willing==
Kelyk continued to be manufactured some ten years after the events of Toll the Hounds, but its production methods were no longer associated with the Dying God. Monkrat brought the drink with him to Silver Lake where he offered Spindle a cup of the thick, dark liquid. Knowing what it was, Spindle turned up his nose, but Monkrat chided him, saying, "This version's pretty much neutered. Not even harvested from leaking bodies anymore." Monkrat found it a touch bitter, but pleasant in its own way.The God is Not Willing, Chapter 11, US HC p.188
Stillwater compared blood spilling out of a corpse to kelyk, suggesting the drink's use had spread beyond central Genabackis.The God is Not Willing, Chapter 15, US HC p.260
==Notes and references==
Category:Drink
Category:Flora