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Stimulants, or "stims" as they are commonly known[1] is a blanket term used to describe a variety of substances taken by terrans, both for military[2] and recreational use.[3]
Overview
Stimulants consist of a powerful mix of synthetic adrenaline, endorphins, and a psychotropic aggression enhancer.[2] Stimulant colors include red[4] and green.[5] Stimpack manufacturers meticulously develop and test new batches to prevent issues arising from the formula.[6]
An individual on stims benefits from greatly increased speed,[2], reflexes,[2][7] aggression, morale[6] muscle density[8] the ability to deal with stress,[9] and overall combat effectiveness.[7] Tissue damage may result from usage however,[2] the skin becoming 'knobbly' at the site of infusion/injection.[9] Possible long term side-effects include, but are not limited to, insomnia, weight loss, mania/hypomania, seizures, paranoiac hallucinations, internal hemorrhaging, and cerebral deterioration.[10] An individual who has taken excessive stimulants is easily recognizable, courtesy of "pupilless" eyes,[9] although sometimes the eyes appear completely dark.[4] Stimulants are lethal in the long run.[6]
The Terran Confederacy declared that all of these side effects were nominal and well within Confederate safety margins and to this end, stimpacks were installed into CMC-400 and later-model CMC-660 combat suits for use by marines and firebats respectively. Even without the in-built devices, Confederate Marines still had access to these substances.[9] The Terran Dominion has continued this trend and sparked mass controversy as a result. Nonetheless, both Dominion commanders and Dominion Marines themselves stand by the use of stims as essential to their continued survival and effectiveness on the battlefield.[10] The Mar Sara Colonial Militia was a notable exception regarding the use of stimulants, due to too many of its soldiers becoming addicted to them.[9]
At least partially due to this addiction, stims see widespread use in terran civilian society.[3] It is possible for an individual to break this addiction, though requires a great deal of time and effort on the individual's part.[1]
Some mercenary hellions would outfit their rides with illegal stim emitters.[11]
Variants
Although the term "stims" is essentially a blanket term, there are a few other drugs with similar names that serve very different purposes. These include:
- Combat drugs (derived from the stimulant base)
- CryoStims
- Muscle stimulants
- Neurostims
References
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