Perfume

Perfume was mixture of oil extracts designed to give off a pleasing scent. "Victory is the finest perfume, and I smell delightful."

- A warlock's motto

Properties
Perfume was stored in vials and bottles that were sometimes covered with sealing wax. These liquids normally had a rich, musky scent that was extracted from plant petals.

Applications
Some perfumes had magical qualities, and sprinkling perfume was required for casting the air variation of protection from the elements. Perfume was even used to repulse vampires.

Production
The value of perfumed varied depending on its quality and rarity, but usually sold for 1 to 6 gp for.

Perfume was produced in various settlements on Toril, as far back as the empire of Netheril. In Kara-Tur, jade perfume was produced and sold for 1 ch'ien. A specialist perfume shop, the House of Pride, existed within Waterdeep in the 14 century DR. In this city, a vial of perfume had a market value of approximately 1 gp, though the price varied from 1 cp to 30 gp. In other places, perfume could be sold for even more expensive prices, some up to 75 gp per vial.

"These perfumes are the world’s finest, ranging from simple scents that cover odors to fine scents that fire imagination and stir passion."

- Aurora's Whole Realms Catalogue

Aurora's Whole Realms Catalogue sold a variety of Westgate-made perfumes, and claimed they were the world's finest. They were named Jasmine Night, Flowers, Mountain Breeze, Mystra's Spell, Red Rose, Ocean Mist, Night Spice, Lliira's Joy, Breath of Spring, and finally, Sune's Fire.

Thay also imported or produced perfume. Such perfume was stored in crystal bottles that were designed to spritz the content onto the wearer.

History
In the late 14 century DR, a fad emerged among the wealthy and nobility of Sembia known as "tomb-scents." These were rare perfumes, for whom the knowledge of how to create was lost to time and thus were obtained from plundering the tombs of fallen realms, such as Netheril.

Notable Perfume Sellers

 * A Kiss Across the Table in Mosstone sold a wide variety of goods like perfumes, philters of love, and high-heel lace-up bright-red boots.
 * Jerome Diloontier, a skilled perfumer that worked in Waterdeep.
 * Nottle, a shifty and opportunistic rogue and peddler from the ruins of Myth Drannor carved various and often random items, including perfume.
 * Peraegh Omliskur, a seller of fragrances, facepaints, nailbrights, and fanciful silks from Cormyr who traded in the most cutting edge stock popular among young nobility, to the older generation of Cormyrean ladies' disdain.
 * Quintessa, a merchant of exotic perfumes.

Notable Perfumes

 * Bluestars, an expensive magical concoction that smelled of fresh before-storm winds.
 * Darkdew, a powerful aphrodisiac perfume.
 * Harlyr, a cheap rose-smelling perfume that stank of charred goldflow when applied to goblinoid skin.
 * Starella's aphrodisiac, a magical perfume that could charm those of the opposite sex if they were a similar race.
 * Silver spark, a luminescent, musky perfume-poison which would greatly hurt the imbiber, who may have been unable to resist its rich scent.
 * Felsul Flower Oil, a perfume formed from petals of the felsul tree, which made the wearer more charismatic.
 * Jasmine dust, an expensive perfume from Kara-Tur.
 * Perfume of bewitching, a wondrous perfume that made the wearer fascinating.
 * Frankincense, a sweet-smelling mundane perfume used by Bedine women.

Individuals

 * Anorrweyn Evensong of Myth Drannor wore a delicate scent of gardenias.
 * Elena, one of the victims of the Weeping War, wore jasmine perfume, as the scent emanated from the ghostly form after death.
 * Ulia Mannicci, the First Lady of Sumbria, wife of Price Cappa Mannicci, circa 1217 DR.

Intelligent Creatures & Races

 * Some cloud giants collected rare perfumes, stored within crystal vials with silver lids, in order to display their extravagance.
 * Some male dwarves of the Realms were known to perfume their beards, as did the females.
 * Among the many luxuries they strove for, noble djinn often sought to have the richest of perfumes.
 * In the land of Zakhara, great ghuls were fond of all forms of perfume and would use them to mask their unpleasant odor.

Religions

 * Cultists of living idols of elemental air were known to sacrifice exotic perfumes to them.

Appearances

 * Novels
 * The Council of Blades • Uneasy Alliances • Pool of Radiance: Ruins of Myth Drannor &bull; The Crimson Gold
 * Video Games
 * Descent to Undermountain • Planescape: Torment • Neverwinter Nights: Darkness over Daggerford