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.