Love it!

[Wolf Mittag]

Hello Greylocke,

thank you! Of course I'm particularly happy to see you value the historical authenticity so much, since, in my opinion, that's the main strength of this game.

Other projectile weapons: No; as far as I know, bows weren't used in that epoch, neither by the Teutons nor Romans (apart from some Mediterranian auxiliary units employed by the Romans, but I can't remember these units serving in Germania); throwing axes were, as far as I know, used only centuries later (esp. by the Franks tribe, which of course didn't yet exist at the time of the game's plot); though what I should have implemented are slingshots using stones and leaden projectiles (but I shirked the extra work of having to program the administration of ammo); so the spear remains the only projectile weapon available for now.

 

[space captain]

the specimen in question is the Amanita Muscaria or 'Fly Agaric'... also made popular in Super Mario Brothers

one of the more interesting facts about ingesting these mushrooms is that the the active compounds muscimol and ibotenic acid are not metabolized by the body...
so often the shaman would drink the potion, and then urinate into the mouths of his followers to pass on the magic brew - and its psychoactive effects

fly agarics are much different than the traditional psylocybin mushrooms in that they are classified as a deleriant instead of a psychedelic... they tend to cause many perceptual distortions and other nasty side effects like crippling nausea

most likely the traditional "berserker" potion formula included many other plants to temper and perfect the beneficial effects

 

[Wolf Mittag]

Hello Space Captain, thanks for this interesting information. This subject seems to be of interest to a lot of people , so I should perhaps add something about the practical aspects of using toadstool mushrooms:

Several books I have caution that eating about 10 mushrooms can lead to death. For use for intoxication purposes, the mushrooms would have to be eaten raw or dried (never cooked/heated). In experiments, eating 1-4 medium sized toadstool mushrooms apparantly lead to dazedness, sickness, nausea, and sleepiness; in some cases, also to euphoria and a feeling of weightlessness, and sometimes multicolored visions. However, the main feature seemed to be a state of dazedness, starting after 15-20 minutes, and lasting several hours. This was in some cases followed by a state of euphoria, excitement, confusion, with some people talking loudly and enthusiastically for several hours. Stronger doses (more than 5 mushrooms) caused a distinct poisoning, with muscular spasms, confusion, excitement and vivid hallucinations; this was followed by sleep with lots of dreams.
Other authors report of a more lively state of intoxication, with dancing, uncontrolled movements and spasms, and, interestingly, sometimes violence and raving madness; one cites anecdotal evidence of increased physical strength. The drug's effects seem to be different depending on one's personality. That would suggest that it might have the desired effect on a warrior. Autosuggestion should also play an important role in giving one's state of intoxication the desired direction.
Still, on the whole, the effects of this mushroom don't sound all that useful for Berserk purposes; that would strongly support your thesis of a mixture of substances of which toadstools would be merely one component.

Anyway, though it's widely assumed that Berserks induced or assisted their raving fury with drugs, as far as I know, there is no concrete historical evidence of this, neither for the Vikings, nor for the earlier Teutons. They may well have done without drugs. The rush of adrenaline one feels when confronted with the lethal danger of a combat situation should be intoxicating enough by itself. Besides, Teutonic armies used some natural methods to get 'high', such as rhythmically yelling battle-hymns and rhythmically clashing their swords against their shields. When done by several thousand fighters at once, this ought to create a powerful rhythmic noise, drowing out all thoughts and fears, giving a strong sense of unity, and probably inducing a state of trance as well. If some elite warriors additionally used autosuggestion as well as a particular sort of religious beliefs in order to imagine themselves being strong like bears and invincible, that may have been all they needed to successfully go berserk...