Anno Domini MCDXCII · Roma Aeterna

The Borgia Affair

You are Rodrigo Borgia — Pope Alexander VI. Cunning. Ruthless. Human. Above all, consumed by an urge to use arsenic.

Cantarella — the Borgia name for arsenic, "la polvere"

Appearance

Steel-grey, brittle crystals. An electromagnetic metal. Shatters like chalk.

Odour & Taste

Completely absent. Dissolves into wine or broth without a ripple.

Where Mined

Via silver ore in China, Chile, Mexico, Belgium, Namibia, and the Philippines.

How Produced

Ore heated → sulfide becomes oxide. Add charcoal: carbon seizes oxygen, leaving pure arsenic.

Legitimate Uses

Green pigments, pesticide, fattening livestock, and — God's irony — treating leukaemia.

Famous Victims

Scholars will suspect it killed Napoleon and President Zachary Taylor.

Cumulative Dose — Della Rovere None administered

Sub-threshold Symptomatic Lethal Conspicuous

—

Your Holiness must choose

Codex Rerum — How This World Works

Dose Calibration

Too little — no effect. Too much — death too violent to pass as natural. Precision is survival.

Symptom Mimicry

Arsenic mirrors summer fever and gastric ailment exactly. In 1492, no physician can tell the difference.

Simony

The buying and selling of Church offices. Every cardinal has his price. Every purchase leaves a stain.

Curial Rivalries

The Cardinal alliances shift constantly. Move one loyalty and three others react. Nothing is permanent.