Depending on their origin fae either age significatnly slower than humans, or sometimes not at all.
one of the number 1 rules for encountering fae is to not eat their food. Lore suggests that doing so will prevent humans from being able to escape the fae realm. But if a human eats or drinks fae delicacies while outside of the fairy domain, they may find that the food and drink of their own mortal world never satiates the same way again. The Gargoyle initiates members by having them drink the tonic and swallow the seed, but what if rather than these things catalyzing some esoteric process, the simple act of ingestion is enough? What if after a single sip of the Tonic you find that anything else, water, wine, whatever, no longer quenches your thirts? That alone may lead you to join the Castle, but coupled with the seed's nullification of food's desireablitity it makes one very susceptible to influence. Now you may be asking, "Frog, what about you? Didn't you drink the tonic and eat the seed?" and yes, I did. While I enjoy a cola and french fries as much as the next guy, I do recall a period of time following the dissolution of my membership wherein I was routinely unsatisfied, sometimes even made naseous, by food and drink. Perhaps not driven to the point of total madness, but could the spell ware off? Could the length of my exposure corralate to the intesnity of my experience? Some lore might suggest no, but we couldn't possibly know everything for certain about faeries, and I'm sure they prefer it that way.
Surely a whole sentence is not necessary for this information, but since we're already here, "The Gargoyle" is likely not the real name of the Castle's leader. And I would also confidentally assume that "Avery Etidorpha Wormwood" is not their real name either. Obvously there are nefarious (and benign) incentives to conceal one's real name, but for Fae it is crucial to one's autonomy. There is much power in a name to a faerie. Knowing someone's name gives you power over them. Members of the Castle never call the Gargoyle anything other than "Gargoyle" or an affectioinate "Goyle", but "Goyle" definitely knows each of their names. Further analysis of the alias "Avery Etidorpha Wormwood" will reveal "Avery" to mean "wisdom of the elves", an interesting coincidence, but far from the most damning. "Etidorpha" is of immense note. It is Aphrodite backwards, but likely actually a reference to a novel called "Etidorpha", released in the late 19th century. The book is a "Hollow Earth" adventure story. Across Scandinavian, Germanic and Celtic myths of the fae there exist entities who dwell in subterranean systems. Entire undergound faerie kingdoms may be bustling beneath our feet. That brings us to "Wormwood", a name rife with symbolism. Here I'd like to address one very popular use for the herb wormwood, also known as Artemisia Absinthium- did you catch that? ABSINTHium. The drink we now know as "Absinthe" is a toothless dachshunds compared to the concoction that earned it the nickname the "Green Fairy".
The Gargoyle had very extensive knowledge of botanicals and their uses. Fae are nature spirits, keenly attuned to the earth and it's seasons. Which brings up an interesting, ancillary query; Seelie or Unseelie? Scottish Faeries call into either of the "courts", the blessed seelie and the unblessed unseelie. Personally, I feel the Gargoyle was Seelie, as I think they could've wrought far more desctruction on humans instead of coercing a few to make soap out in the foothills.