Rho-Pill

The **Rho-Pill** (ArdeschI: Ro-Oencei; Gauvajut: Ru-Auzenz, Ro-Auchonz) was a chemical used during the Sixteenth Age. It resembles an oval tablet of golden oil or honey.

## History

The pill and its counterparts were invented during the Second Director's reign over Ardesch as an aphrodisiac, the Arrow PIlls (Alrec-glibee). Not only it enhanced the lust of its users, but it also altered their brains to be attracted towards certain genders.

One day, its inventor, Kaalusche Viralzien, escaped west to the Gauvajut Empire, seeking to see if his invention could "correct" the minds of his Ardeschi people after he was disappointed with the frequent orgies of his country. Although the Ardeschi authorities tried to stop him, he managed to escape them and reach the Gauvajut Empire, where the authorities modified his chemical and implemented it unto all of its subjects.

The Gauvajut government mostly used its Rho-Pill variant to eliminate lust, especially other forms of attraction, by altering the brains of its users with the pills. A single pill or any amount of pills in a single day was not enough to permanently alter the user's psychology, but only one pill a day for up to nine or sixteen days. The Gauvajut authorities altered the pill so it instead forces those who eat it to follow its archaic standards of love and Gauvajut family values.

Angered by the Gauvajut Empire's attempts to eliminate the existence of other relationships, the Ardeschi government ordered that any humans altered by the Gauvajuts' "cure" were to be killed or forcefully fed with the Loi-Pill to prevent the "cure" from reaching its peoples. The existence of that chemical became one of the reasons why Red Ardesch waged war against the Gauvajut Empire.

Threatened by Red Ardesch's militarism, some countries willing purchased copies of the Rho-Pill as part of their attempts to eliminate what they viewed as Red Ardesch's attempts to take over their countries. In turn, Red Ardesch's government attacked these countries, accusing them of "destroying their lovers" by using the Rho-Pill: on the other end, its antidote, the Loi-Pill was celebrated as "protecting love".

Even though the Rho-Pill and similar medicines nearly eliminated lust, some people can still be born with other forms of love in later ages.

## Variants

### Loi-Pill

The **Loi-Pill** was considered the opposite of the Rho-Pill, as it induces desires with people of the same gender to its users: in one way, it permanently turns its users to love the same gender. While the Ardeschis used this pill to induce themselves into a frenzy, it was also used to punish defeated enemies by forcing them into having such feelings, which also causes these same users to torture or kill themselves out of frustration or shame.

Loi-Pills looked blue, red, or reddish-pink, and they were not transparent. They also worked faster and stronger than Rho-Pills, with one pill per two or three days.

Some countries tortured people by forcing them to take *both* Loi and Rho-Pills at the same time. Within hours, the simultaneous forced desires cause their users to torture themselves out of frustration or anger.

Two variants of the Loi-Pill existed: Gaan, which was used between men; and Geen, which was used between women. Noticing how this pill is abused by their own government, a growing number of Ardeschis refuse to use the Loi-Pill out of sympathy for its victims, preferring free will instead of crazed desires.

### Anx-Pill

Instead of forcing its users towards the opposite or same gender, the **Anx-Pill** eliminates romance. While some countries use it as a form of punishment towards deviants, in other countries people take the Anx-Pill to demonstrate their self-reliance, their rejection of marriage or traditional families, or simply to concentrate on their crafts without being disturbed by such esires. People who used the Anx-Pills to alter themselves were derisively known as "monks" or "nuns".

Anx-Pills can be either black or yellow.

### Porphyr-Pill/Phor-Pill

**Phor-Pills** worked by causing their users to desire for both males and females.

Phor-Pills had a purple appearance, hence their name.

## Age of the Four Strains

After the establishment of the Second Republic of Ardesch, four people throughout Jerde created their own serums, derived from the Rho-Pill. They did this to mutate people into what they considered to be an "ideal" form of humanity:

* Blonde Pill - By Mr. Ervaachae Rysaalos of eastern Ardesch. It transforms the drinker into a blonde, blue-eyed person obsessed with beauty and "the beautiful race", to the point that they will dislike other people for not being as "superior" as them.
	+ Its flaw is making the person too obsessed with perfection, that they might violently attack anything or anyone suspected of failure or ugliness, even other blond-ified people.
* Silver Pill - By Mrs. Adwanche Ragaeno of Tiluri. It makes the person more altruistic and less suspicious of strangers, but merciless against anyone suspected of "cruelty", "selfishness", or "discrimination".
	+ Its flaw is making the person more forceful and cruel simply to protect anyone considered "weak". Sometimes it can cause the person to sacrifice too much of themselves.
* Steel Pill - By Mr. Yifang Luo of Daizhou. It makes the person more obsessed with intelligence, skill, technology, and science.
	+ Its flaw is making the person less social, increasing the person's intelligence while damaging their mind.
* Red Pill - By Mrs. Rukita Engtadlo of Borunda. It makes the person more obsessed with war, fitness, athletics, masculinity (even if the drinker is female), and combat; and makes the person's body stronger and tougher at the cost of emotional stability. Some variants can turn the person's skin crimson or pink, and the eyes to turn green.
	+ Its flaw is making the person more violent and aggressive, whether to destroy anyone suspected of being "weak" or simply to pick a fight.
	+ This was the variant that survived into the Wannaenid Empire. It was used for its armies to become merciless against any enemies and "weaklings", leading to many common purges.

These four people became wanted men and women in their own countries, and to survive, they gathered hundreds of followers and produced their own clones to create their own empires. One by one, each of them was defeated.

## A-Hadd

Its counterpart in the Rinnarverse was the A-Hadd (Arabic: "F-aster"), a liquid medicine from Iraq that enhances intelligence but weakens sexual desire. Some variants used by some governments also limited creativity and dissent.

As it was used by the American Federation to keep its people in line (and worst of all, attack its local homosexuals), the United States attempted to block shipments of the A-Hadd chemical from reaching its conservative rival. After the two fleets clashed, any A-Hadd that spilled from the resulting wrecks poisoned and killed schools of fish. In spite of the US's attempts to stop the A-Hadd, it was used by intellectuals to concentrate on other projects by suppressing their sexual desires, and by Galactics to distance themselves away from Earth's history and sexual debauchery.

Aside from it being used to force non-heterosexuals to become straight, another reason why people condemn the A-Hadd was that it was used by various governments in Europe, Asia, and Africa to make their citizens more obedient and unquestioning to their leaders. This results in the destruction of democracy and other freedoms in many countries, growing authoritarianism, and the development (or devolution/degradation/disfigurement) of people into a more submissive lifestyle.

People affected by the A-Hadd are sometimes known as "sheeple", "robots", "zombies", "stooges", or "class traitors". At best, they had to be re-mutated by opposing governments to be more "individualistic", "nationalistic", or "revolutionary"; and at worst, they are killed off as "abominations".

In opposition to the A-Hadd serum is the Vanque serum, a liquid medicine from Cuba that is claimed to be the opposite of the A-Hadd; the name "Vanque" may be derived from the Chinese term "wan quan", meaning "complete". It mutates the drinker's brain to be more altruistic, hardworking, and less hostile towards strangers, in line with the creators' intentions to direct its drinkers to a more "social" mentality. Some variants make their users more aggressive and fanatical towards anyone considered an "enemy" of their authorities.

While the default variant is used in some socialist countries to keep their peoples in line and end racism and classism, other countries also banned the Vanque as they wanted their own peoples to obey their rulers willingly, or to enact social justice by their own will. They also banned the serum to avoid being torn apart by fanatical warmongers drugged by some Vanque variants.

Variants are used by some opposing governments to force more people to obey their beliefs, resulting in some less-lethal wars being described as "thoughtcrime paintball", when two or more different sides spray A-Hadd and other "thought bombs" to control each others' minds. People who were doused in both A-Hadd and conflicting thought bombs were driven to insanity from being forced to obey contrasting views.

As tensions escalated in the years leading to World War III, various armies across the world stopped using "thought bombs" and resorted to actual bombs and weaponry to destroy their opponents.

The Earth Union and its opponents used more subtle versions of the A-Hadd drink to keep their respective peoples in line, resulting in the mutation of humans into several races or subspecies.

## Trivia

* The Rho-Pill was inspired by religious homophobia and its motives. Its variants were influenced by recreational drugs.
* The A-Hadd and its variants were influenced by fights between Internet users and populist nationalism in Asia and Europe. Its effects in governments destroying civil freedoms may be influenced by a post criticising the author about how the world would react to a "cure for homosexuality", in which someone mentioned that governments will use that same "cure" to force all people to conform to their beliefs.