Blithe

Overview

Blithe is described as a weed sequence-engineered to produce the calming chemical Allswell and has been designated one of The Eleven. Within maths, suspected specimens are uprooted and burned immediately and the encounter is entered in the Chronicle. Outside the walls, accounts portray use among slines.

Description and Use

No physical description has been given beyond references to a patch in a meadow identified as blithe. Its significance lies in its association with Allswell, a chemical that engenders the feeling that “everything is fine.” In mathic practice it has no permitted use: it is handled under burn-on-sight procedures; extramuros stories credit it as something slines consume.

Provenance/Ownership

The Dictionary explains that Allswell was isolated by theors and made into a pharmaceutical; later, a common weed was sequence-engineered to produce it as a byproduct of its metabolism, coming to be known as blithe. Blithe was subsequently made one of the Eleven. Relatedly, crops outside the walls are discussed in connection with The Allswell Sequence.

Notable Mentions

• Garden patrols have been described where avout searched for plants of the Eleven; a suspect patch resembling blithe was chopped out and burned on the spot, and the resulting grass fire was later recorded as accidental during an internal inquiry. The occurrence was entered in the Chronicle.
• Liturgical and story accounts (for example, those surrounding Saunt Bly) mention slines who ceased consuming blithe after being influenced by a teacher; details and reliability vary by source.

Status

Blithe remains proscribed within maths as part of the Eleven, with encounters handled by eradication and documentation. Its broader prevalence extramuros is implied by the Dictionary’s note that a weed producing Allswell became widespread.