Current Gaesatae?

[paullus]

The Gaesatae drugs thing was clearly inspired by the persistent (and not entirely baseless) theories that the Cu Chulainn saga and Viking Berserker traditions, sometimes linked to Indo-Aryan haoma warrior potion traditions, not to mention the well-based use of drink and augmented drink by many warriors throughout pre-modern history.

Ranika, who I do not know, seems to have been a widely-read amateur historian/linguist devoted mainly to the Irish Celtic world, and was much too prone toward attempting to extrapolate fantastical traditions from that context into the EB historical context, and willing to invent some period details to corroborate the extrapolation.

We're tried, in EB2, to stick to things on which we're sufficiently confident, either because there's a proof we can give, or at least strong conjecture and plausibility attendant all reconstructions. I think there's a possibility many warriors in the EB timeframe used strong drink, perhaps even some naturally occurring drugs, to steel themselves for battle. But we cannot attribute any such tradition particularly or especially to the gaesatae.