WIP in-game Physic textbook outline

[Wolfie]

This is an outline for the Physic textbook I am working on. My sources for the philosophical stuff at the beginning come from medieval works for the most part, though some of it is obviously tailored for TI's world through some of the work I have done previously. The medical things are predominantly things that I or others have done in-game supplemented with standard practice first aid stuff I learned in the Scouts as kid. The ruling scientific principle is what can be observed with the naked eye. The advancement of Vandagan lens technology will not have an impact on medicine for 25-50 years, I would wager. Comments are appreciated and welcome.

1.Introduction

2.Nature and its divisions
a.Creation
i.Remiel’s Maker (deity as creator)
ii.Bagnora’s Eternal yet Mutable World (world as non-created yet subject to alteration, administered by LoS and occupied by humans)
b.The principal division of soul and matter
i. The essential ties of soul and deity
ii. The essential conflict between deity and elemental matter
c.The elements as manifest in Nature
d.The elements as manifest in Man

3.Humours
a.Explanation of the four principles and their ties to the elements
b.Fifth, generative humour (white humor, chylus) which is the humor that gives birth to all others, derived from interaction of stomach acid with food.

4.Determination of humours
a. Ruling humours based on country of origin/parents
b. Diet
c. Environment
d. Birth season

5.Procedures for the manipulation of humours
a. Birthday, region and dietary chart to predict disposition
b. Purging via bleeding / cupping / leeches
c. Purging via vomiting / ipecac
d. Administration of heat and cold
e. Administration of dryness and vapors
f. Supplemental food and drink

6.Herbalism / folk remedy outline from Safir’s player

7.The process of life, injury, healing and death
a.Philosophy states that the balance of the chthonic and celestial elements within the body allows it to function. Injury to this vessel is a corruption of its purpose and it is able to heal itself through the influence of the soul based off of its virtue. The mending of flesh and return to a whole balance enables the soul to continue to be carried within the corporeal realm.
b.When the body is injured severely enough or is worn away, the ties of the soul are weakened and slip away. When this occurs, the celestial elements supported by the spirit are no longer present to buoy up the chthonic, and therefore the body begins to break down into mud and water.

8.Models of the body
a. Rodolphe’s Man of the Circular Heart (250 SC)
i. First establishment of major arteries in neck, chest, arms and legs was accomplished in 250 in Lithmore’s university but major finds were discouraged after a round of dissections were discovered by the Church. The heart is described as a spherical organ that acts as a reservoir for the fluids within a man.
b. Edmond’s Wounded Man (280 SC)
i. A more accurate view of the circulatory system that both establishes the existence of the thoracic cavity, the various organs within without describing their function. Catalogs the possible wounds on every part of the body via illustration of weapon injuries. The brain is described as a cooling system for the blood within the heart, explaining the numerous tiny vessels over the otherwise innocuous grey mass. Edmond’s appears in about 280 after Vavard officially joins the Kingdom. Surgical advancements follow.
c. Alhazen’s Mortal Devices (350 SC)
i. A detailed anatomical study based off of several dissections of ex-communicated criminals. It is composed of drawings that show the muscle groups, major arteries and bones as Edmond’s but also shows a rough estimate of the lymphatic and nervous systems. While the lymph nodes are marked off as another humoural process, Alhazen also posits that the nerves are linked to the act of locomotion as they are tied to every muscle in the body through the spinal cord and into the previously unessential brain. His first hint of its importance lies in the nerve linkage directly to the brain from the eyeball during the removal of a damaged eye. (based upon Galen the physician)

9. Seasons of Life – model of the life cycle of man based off of natural observation over a year
a. Child of Spring
b. Youth of Summer
c. Adult of Autumn
d. Elder of Winter

10. The physician’s tools
a. Common
i. Leeches
ii. Salves
1. Numbing salve
iii. Poultices
iv. Knife
1. Fine blade
2. Short blade
3. Cleaver
v. Thread
vi. Bandages
1. Preference for linen
vii. Splints and castings

b. Advanced
i. Rib setters (Hound’s Jaw)
ii. Arrow spoons
iii. Forceps
iv. Bone saw
v. Bone drill

11. Areas of practice

a. Abberations (undead)
i. Definition
ii. Eradication

b. Arrow wound
i. Hunting arrowheads (broadheads)
ii. Warheads (armor piercing)
iii. Employment of arrow spoons (fat as lubrication)

c. Amputation
i. Fingers / toes
ii. Limbs
iii. Nose, ears, etc. (common dueling injuries)
iv. Eye gouges

d. Animal bites
i. Warm-blooded
ii. Envenomed
iii. Abberative / human

e. Bowels
i. Largely controlled by diet, the diseases of the stomach may be limited by ensuring that meals are prepared away from the dead, the ill or refuse. Clean, fresh food is, in essence, uncontaminated by detritus that would otherwise befoul the body. Raw, red-blooded meats should be avoided and purified by fire to mellow their sanguine properties.
ii. Injuries deep enough to puncture the thoracic cavity run the risk of opening the organs, mixing fluids amidst their natural paths and transformations. Mixing the sour, burning fluids of the stomach with the chylus and other humours often results in a slow, painful death.

f. Bruises (blunt trauma)
i. Light bruising
ii. Heavy bruising
iii. Escalation to crushing injuries

g. Burns
i. Fire
ii. Sunburn

h. Cold
i. Multiple symptom ailment

i. Cough
i.Excess of phlegm
ii. Avoid milk and water
iii. Alcohol and “drying” herbs / expectorants
iv. Honey

j. Corpserot
i. Dangers of the deceased
ii. Signs
iii. Topical treatments for boils
iv. The Hillman’s Leaf

k. Dislocations
i. Resetting joints and resulting muscle injury

l. Fainting
i. Causes
ii. Remedies

m. Fever
i. Imbalanced humors brought on by infection, injury or weather.

n. Flesh wounds (cuts, abrasions, scratches, etc.)
i. Surface wounds such as abrasions require minimal attention save for cleaning. Abrasions are usually received from rough surfaces dragged across the skin and therefore may be quite dirty.
ii. Cuts with a clean blade are often the easiest to mend without scarring as the flesh is usually cleanly split. Blood will naturally stitch such wounds together in concert with string unless the rend muscle or find major arteries.
iii. Animal scratches are a mixture of cuts, punctures, blunt trauma and abrasions. They are usually far from neat, resulting in a need for thorough cleaning.

o. Fractures
i. Broken or fractured bones usually result from heavy blows or falls.
ii. Localized swelling, extreme pain. Fractures are small cracks in the bone while breaks are completely through. Fractures may result in two or more bone sections resulting in free-floating bone which can damage flesh and veins.
iii. Marrow from within the bone, in more complex injuries, can mix with the blood and induce fever and death.
iv. Skull injuries are a special case. A fractured skull may result in instant death, termination of speech,an excessive desire to sleep, rampant unseen bleeding or other complications. Removal of the fragments is necessary as they can be knife-like within the brain, but due to the delicate and vascular nature of the brain, fatalities are common during procedures.

p. Frostbite
i. Exposure to extreme cold can result in necrosis of extremities including fingers, toes, nose and ears.
ii. Gently warm the limb without rubbing the flesh as it has the consistency of wax paper and will slough away, causing further injury.
iii. Necrotic flesh should be removed or corruption will spread, induce a fever and kill the patient. See Amputations.

q. Hair / nails
i. Sharp scissors and cleanliness

r. Headaches
i. Headaches represent another imbalance in humours, which could result from changes in the season, diet, stress on the body, etc.
ii. Severe headaches may be a result of excess fluid in the brain, either phlegm or blood from injury pooling within the skull. Resolution of these may require trepanning.

s. Heatstroke
i. In the same realm as a fever or frostbite, an excess of sun causes the chthonic humours in the body to be depleted to the point that the subject no longer sweats and suffers from hallucinatory chills as it craves the cold it is deprived of. As with frostbite, application of the opposing elemental treatment should be taken slowly. A wet cloth should be applied to the major arteries at the neck, chest, arms and legs as to cool the blood while simultaneously administering water. Too much water given at this stage will only confuse the body more, causing it to purge itself.

t. Insect bites or stings
i. Removal of stinger through scrubbing.
ii. Application of cooling plaster to dry pus welts.

u. Ligature injuries (Tubori necklace)
i. A specialized form of injury that combines blunt force with abrasion. The wounds are characterized by repeating marks that match the braiding of whatever rope or line caused the injury. Most common in ‘accidental’ hangings, marine rigging failures or construction crews.

v. Plague
i. A malicious, vaporous disease that is characterized by growths beginning at the armpits, groin and neck before spreading outwards. The tumors, varying in size from egg to apple, weep profusely and bleed if opened. The angry wounds then begin to change and blacked as the flesh necrotizes. Acute fever takes the victim and vomiting blood is common.
ii. Death comes within two days to a week.
iii. Maintaining of distance is vital to control. Victims should be separated from the population as soon as possible lest the vapors of death be breathed by the healthy.
iv. As the plague is born of the air, the doctor’s face should be covered, preferably with a flower-filled mask to ward away the evil wind. Gloves are also highly recommended, as is a stick to aid in assessment of the victim’s body without physical contact.
v. Exceedingly rare cases have been reported of doctor’s draining the growths either resulting in speedier proliferation of the tumors across the skin or eventual recovery of the patient. Not recommended.

w. Poison
i. See Mundane Weapons and Tactics of the Desertmen

x. Pregnancy

y. Puncture wounds

z. Snake bites

aa. Teeth

bb. Verminous parasites (fleas and ticks)

[wimple]

Looks nifty.

Up in the first bit where you're talking about souls and elements and creation and things, you might want to throw something in about taint and magery.

[Wolfie]

I usually do. Haha. The natural philosophy bits will incorporate my usual stance on those subjects. I will also include some folklore bits about birth defects and magic. Maybe some other stuff if I can remember where my occult books are packed.

[Takta]

Do you have anything about infection as a concept, how it's understood/how to treat it? I usually RP it as a sickening/corruption of the humors caused by exposure of things that should be within the body to the outside air.

[Wolfie]

Yeah... I think I missed my headings for what should be considered the process that is injury / infection / healing. Healing, to Rasim and I, is tied heavily into the quality of the soul. As the soul is sublimated from the celestial elements, air and fire, it buoys up the chthonic elements of earth and water. Whenever the body is injured, the soul, as a resident of the body, exerts its purity upon the injury of its vessel to return it to its natural state as a sort of self-preservation mechanism. Think of it as water in a bucket fixing the bucket so it doesn't spill out everywhere. This is the natural process of healing and eventual death. When the soul leaves the corporeal body, the heavier elements of earth and water have nothing to balance them so the body degrades into muddy ichor.

Corruption is the key, catchall word that I always used. Infections from combat, for example, could have multiple 'vectors' as modern medicine understands it. The weapon, if wielded by a particularly malicious person, may unbalance the humours of another through inflicting injury. This 'injects' some of their malice into an otherwise healthy system. Likewise, if a knight or peace officer, were to strike down a malicious person, the inward corruption of the soul could manifest outward as an inability to heal well or simply pus manifesting their black soul into physical form. Up-to-date doctors may understand corruption of injured flesh in relationship to the environment. Getting cut on the Southside will most likely see you run a fever and a pus-filled wound. There may also be folklore about smiths forging steel while angry and working some of that unpleasantness into the metal.

The flow of the humours is as important as their quality, too. Corruption can come from 'blockages' manifest in things like swollen lymph nodes, cysts or foreign objects in the body. For example, if a man takes a spiked mace to the ribs, there is a good chance that some of the material of his clothing will get lodged in the wounds, soak up blood and create a blockage in the natural flow of humours. It is possible to live if the flesh folds around the foreign matter and contains it, but usually such a thing results in an inability to clot properly and/or festering.

Wonderful little twist for this sort of thing. If the wounded individual is relatively well known as being upright, then the infection is likely from an outside source like a bad environment, malicious witchcraft or bad alignment of moons. If they are scum, such things are likely manifestations of their corrupted innards. "Rotten, body and soul."