One of the twelve "living inks" called Seregmor crafted by a nameless sorcerer in ancient days beyond reckoning.
Properties
Aearthu's unique property is strength. It bestows those who consume it with immense strength and exceptional health. It behaves much like a parasite within the bloodstream. Because it attacks all other maladies, individuals who carry it cannot become ill.
It acts like blood in the way it interacts with the body of its host, and in fact turns the host's blood black in colour. Although ingesting it will provide temporary strength, the body can eventually flush it out naturally. However, using the Aearthu to make a permanent tattoo on the host's skin will give the host similarly permanent abilities.
History
The Aearthu was lost for milennia until, late in the Third Age, it was rediscovered in an ancient cave of treasures by the Haradic witch Kalidah. She kept it in her possession for some time until she perceived a use for it in the bribery of a young woman of Gondor: Lady Gwenithel of House Aearanel.
Lady Gwenithel eventually became headmistress of the Ivory Tower, a prestigious school for the girls of Dol Amroth, which acted in part as a decoy for a secretive order of all-female assassins known as the Mormerili. Gwenithel used the Aearthu to control the Mormerili by giving each member a tattoo of the ink.
Composition
The ink is composed primarily of the black blood of Orcs, though the blood must come from one of the six most ancient Orcish bloodlines. The other components include:
- The heartblood of a dragon.
- The tears of a Noldorin Elf.
- A rare herb, now extinct, that once grew along the coasts of Belfalas.
- The seed of a virile young man.
As with all Seregmor inks, the Aearthu's antidote consists of identical components brewed under precisely opposite conditions. As the Aearthu must be left to steep in sunlight for six months, its antidote must be left to steep in six months' worth of moonlight.
The antidote immediately neutralizes any of the Aearthu in the host's bloodstream, though even it cannot destroy the tattoos.
Other Information
- Very little is known about how the Aearthu interacts with male hosts, as all Mormerili are female. Only one man, a Lossoth named Panja, has ever been recorded as a host. His friend Ciri, in a desperate attempt to save his life, gave him some of her own inked blood after he had lost a great deal of his own. This gave Panja a mild boost in his natural strength, but the ink eventually passed naturally out of his system.
- The Aearthu is called "living" ink partially because of its uncanny ability to defend itself and its host against attack. It has proved so far impossible to remove the tattoos made of it, and it will actively seek out foreign substances within the host's body, and destroy them. This is why all the Mormerili who bear the tattoos are infertile.