In the Lunar Heartlands, it is the Lodrilli peasantry and workers that drink heavily. And often. The Yelmites put too much importance on self-control and purity, and drunkenness is seen as a “lower class” thing. Popular beverages include maize beer, barley beer, and fermented rice drinks.
Of course the upper classes drink too, but public drunkenness is considered shameful or embarrassing. And Moonson’s notorious indulgences are transgressive and expensive – there is more likely to be hazia and vats of wine at his court than pots of cheap maize beer!
Which also ties into the Lunar ruling class view that the barbarians are basically Lodrilli peasants.
Hazia=Hashish? Hashish+peyote. Lets you discorporate your spirit from your body.
So if we imagine in Raibanth or Alkoth, the city folk drink their rice, maize, or barley drinks, but frown on drinking to excess outside of a few religious events (like some of the Lunar festivals).There’s a part of me that thinks these Lunar festivals sometimes resemble the Red Hour from Return of the Archons (Star Trek).
Whereas for poor Lodril, I imagine he is often depicted by the Yelmites like this:
Traditional maize beer:
and at only 1-3% abv, you need to drink a lot to get falling down drunk!
Another popular drink in the Lunar Heartlands is a wine or beer made out of rice, barley, or maize, similar to Ara of Bhutan:
When thinking about the Lunar Heartlands, remember – it is a flat, well-watered plain with grasslands and marshes. It gets hot in the summer and cold in the winter. Think Eastern Washington or Hungary or the Ukrainian steppes. It is a great distance from any ocean and the Rockwoods block rain from the west. The climate changes when you get further west or south (because of the mountains), but the Heartlands themselves are the bottom of the bowl.
And it is worth mentioning again, places like Karasal and First Blessed have pretty tough weather. Elz Ast gets tons of snow blown off the White Sea – think Buffalo, New York in winter! Not much to do there in winter except drink hot maize and rice beer!
It was worse before the Kalikos Expeditions. Grandfather says back then, ice demons could walk across the White Sea to kill us at night.
Are there certain cults that tend toward teetotalism? Off-hand: Dayzatar, Ourania, Danfive Xaron, Thanatar, Crimson Bat, and sometimes Humakt.