Adorned Medicine

[Yanamar]

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[SIZE="4"][tface=callig]Adorned Medicine
On the Marvels of Modern Medicine[/size][/tface]
[tface=fell]Wylinn Leuber, Adorned of He Who Endures

[SIZE="3"][INDENT]In life there is a tender balance of things, our bodies and all things are made of the four things from which we came; fire, water, earth and air. And through a delicate give and take we must preserve this balance for the sake of our good health.
These four things are called 'humors', the elements of our temperament and our very well-being. Should we find ourselves in excess or in a deficit of any of these things we made find ourselves in various mental and physical states.[/INDENT][/SIZE]

The Four Humors are the metabolic agents of the Four Elements in the human body.
The right balance and purity of them is essential to maintaining health. The Four Humors and the elements they serve are as follows:
     BLOOD - AIR
     PHLEGM - WATER
     YELLOW BILE - FIRE
     BLACK BILE - EARTH
     All four of these humors, or vital fluids, are present in the bloodstream in varying quantities:
     Blood, or the Sanguine humor, is the red, hemoglobin-rich portion.
     Phlegm, or the Phlegmatic humor, is present as the clear plasma portion.
     Yellow Bile, or the Choleric humor, is present as a slight residue or bilirubin, imparting a slight yellowish tint.
     Black Bile, or the Melancholic humor, is present as a brownish grey sediment with platelets and clotting factors.


 
[SIZE="4"]Choleric, which is to be full of excess aggression or passion. Too much yellow bile, or fire, in the liver. Yellow Bile provokes, excites and emboldens the passions.  Being inflammatory, irritating and caustic, it provokes anger, irritability, boldness, ambition, envy, jealousy and courage.
The Choleric humor is Hot and Dry.  It is produced by the liver and stored in the gall bladder.  Bile has a hot, caustic nature and a Digestive virtue, or force, which gives it a strong affinity with the other digestive secretions of the middle GI tract.  Fire and bile digest and consume, metabolize and transform.  Digestively, bile powers digestion; digests, assimilates and excretes fats and cholesterol; and acts as a natural laxative to stimulate intestinal peristalsis and defecation.  It also colors the stool brown.  Systemically, Choleric residues in the bloodstream thin the blood, enabling it to penetrate through the finest capillaries; empowers the inflammatory response; and opens up the lungs and respiratory passages as a surfactant.  

Sanguine is a pleasure-oriented state of being. This temperament arises from a congestion of blood in the heart,  Blood promotes a feeling of joy, mirth, optimism, enthusiasm, affection and wellbeing.
Blood is Hot and Wet, or Warm and Moist.  It is the very essence of vitality and health, nutrition and growth.  Blood is perfect nourishment perfectly digested.  Its receptacle or home is in the arteries and blood vessels.  Blood carries the Vital Force and Innate Heat,which power cellular metabolism.  The essence of blood is exchange and contact, as it is the basic nutritional and metabolic currency of the organism.  Blood has an Attractivevirtue, or force, since all cells, organs and tissues have an absolute need for it, and are therefore attracted to it.

Melancholic, sometimes though to be a morose or introverted state. From this we are given the word 'melancholy'. This is a state influenced by black bile, which makes one pensive, despondent and withdrawn.  It encourages prudence, caution, realism, pragmatism and pessimism and is derived in the spleen.
Black Bile is Cold and Dry. Healthy black bile is a normal sediment of blood, or the Sanguine humor. Black Bile has a Retentive virtue or force, and a cooling, drying, astringing, precipitating, condensing, coagulating, solidifying effect on metabolism necessary for building the bones, teeth, and all dense, solid structural connective tissues of the body.  Digestively, Black Bile awakens the stomach and appetite, solidifies the stool, and enables the digestive organs to hold on to their contents long enough to process them properly.  Systemically, Melancholic residues in the bloodstream thicken the blood, enabling it to clot; this is vitally important in wound granulation, scar tissue formation, and all structural repair of the body.  Black Bile also governs mineral metabolism and bone formation.

A Phlegmatic individual can be warmly attentive to sluggish and lazy. As the name suggests, this is most heavily caused by excesses and build ups of phlegm. The source-location of this body-element can vary. Phlegm induces passivity, lethargy, subjectivity, devotion, emotionalism, sensitivity and sentimentality.
The Phlegmatic humor is Cold and Wet.  It includes not just phlegm, but all the other clear fluids of the body:  mucus, saliva, plasma, lymph, and serous and interstitial fluids.  Together, these fluids cool, moisten, nourish, lubricate, protect, and purify the organism.  The Plegmatic humor has an Expulsive virtue, or force, which flushes out impurities, transports vital nutrients, and helps eliminate wastes.  The home of the Phlegmatic humor is in the veins and lymphatics.  The Phlegmatic humor nourishes the body on a deep and fundamental level. [/SIZE]

[SIZE="3"]The Four Humors tend to have negative effects on the mind and emotions only when they're excessive or aggravated.  Otherwise, they can also strengthen positive aspects of character.
Therefore, none of these things alone necessitate medical intervention. However, when they begin to infringe upon the well-being of the soul or their interactions with themselves or others certain procedures and fixatives may be proscribed in order to aid in the balancing of the humors.[/SIZE]

The Crying God blesses us with such understandings so that we made find ourselves freed of our suffering.
Seek the Adorned if you experience any of these symptoms in excess or against your natural self so that you may be blessed with balance of being and your ailments may be eased.

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To follow:
The study of Miasmas, poultices, and treatments of various illnesses.[/tface]

[Yanamar]

Miasmas, Bad Air

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[SIZE="5"]Miasmas,
the dangers of Bad Air[/SIZE][/tface]

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[INDENT]The Miasmatic theory holds that many diseases that plague us today can be found within noxious forms of 'bad air' that we may come in contact with in our daily lives. Miasmas are poisonous emanations, from putrefying carcasses, rotting vegetation or molds, and invisible dust particles inside dwellings. They are believed to enter the body and cause certain diseases. The appearance of transmission for many (though of course, not all) illnesses is an illusion of living in similar environmental conditions where these vapors, which are most notable for their foul scent, congregate and are ingested. This ingestion can be through any orifice, but is most often taken in through the mouth, which leads into the lungs and stomach.[/INDENT]

This free floating bad air settles into the unused spaces, dark or moist places and into depths. Miasmas settle around river beds, and slow moving or stagnant waters, in trenches, alleyways, earthen sub-level buildings, and in the under-bellies of ships. It does not simply settle in the air, but also contaminates the water, and is perpetuated by poor hygiene. Any sheltered area will also be a haven for the foul vapors, as it is the morning breeze, particularly that on the ocean or countryside, which disperses the contaminated air. However, this same breeze is also likely to bring in miasmas, so early morning fog should be approached with caution.

In order to uphold the spiritual strength of the body in all living bodies and conditions, the following changes have been shown to decrease and disperse miasmas;

Closed drainage and sewage systems helps contain bad airs to the systems and keeps them from contaminating our air and water.
Garbage collection systems which removes foul smelling air and the places from which rats and maggots spawn.
Public baths and housing aids in containing miasmas by allowing for ease of cleaning in one area designed for minimal foul air retention.
Centralized fires containing smoking-weeds to introduce cleansing smokes to the air
Lighting of dark and damp places that a fire is inappropriate in.
Prayer and divine intervention to aid the spiritual strengthening of people against the foul forces.
Keeping bundles of sweet and otherwise fragrant herbs in your pockets and by your nose, as illuminated above kept within a physician's mask, will help protect you from gathered contaminants.

While the presence of the Mists is concerning, the lack of foul smell sets me somewhat contented that these vapors differ from miasmas. However, I would still urge caution when you are a traveler through the mist proper. Carry with you always sweet or otherwise fragrant supply of herbs. Should you need a supply, the proper herbs and plants from which to draw are currently being explored.
Further study is also needed on the roots that are chewed to ward off the Withering, as this may reveal more on the nature of this diseased curse.

May your sufferings find comfort and end in He Who Endures.

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[Yanamar]

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[tface=callig][SIZE="5"]The State of Wellness[/SIZE][/tface]

I have compiled the direct needs of the people within Mistlocke proper and the nearby farms. Please read with the merciful eyes of the Crying God who weeps upon the sufferings of these men, women, and children.

Old Port Refugees-
[INDENT]There are men and women of every race finding refuge behind the walls of Mistlocke proper.
While they are all living idle, hungry, and dirty lives in their tents, which are not built to resist the winds and rains, it seems that those of non-human origin suffer worst for it.

Their conditions are most bleak, as many huddle without even an enclosure to grant them escape from the elements. Such conditions will lead to further illnesses that will spread to the rest of the village proper, therefore it is imperative that something be done to find them work and some form of residency.

In the short term, might I suggest daily blessings against the elements upon either the refugees person, or their meager shelters in order to ward against humor imbalances and create conditions safe-guarded against the contamination of miasmas, which would be deadly to us all.
I would further prescribe activity to them, as lack of exercise will lead to further deterioration.[/INDENT]

Mistlocke Citizens-
[INDENT]I would be hard pressed to call any of those within the Last Keep anything other than refugees as well, for they live in much the same sort of squalor and now share space with those of Old Port.

Their diet has no sense of balence, though I am glad to see the many vegetables. They make their living off of a common cauldron of brown stew, which is probably made of the bottom of the barrel vegetables and whatever meat they can find off-hand. I would not be surprised if they, on hard days, have been known to eat the very rats that spawn from their filth.
This common source of food means that if there is one containment in it, the entire group who would eat of it would find themselves ill. And I see this same cauldron bubbling day in and day out, which leads me to wonder how often it is scoured and the uneaten portions disposed of.

Many of these individuals lay and sleep away more of every day, whether out of hunger, pain, lack of hope, or weariness. This idleness, as with the Old Port refugees, will only cause further suffering for themselves and others.

The living arrangements are poor in terms of lighting and free ventilation of air. As it is, the filth, debris and dirt in the town, as well as the deep unmoving shadows and the like, are prime habitats for the bad air which causes disease. I propose a hard cleaning of the area, and lighting dark places at least twice daily with fire-burning lamps and torches.
Again, I propose the idleness of those living in the ruins of this town be set with things to do for their own betterment and the blessings of Ilmater used to provide succor for these people's ills. Therefore, I prescribe these tasks be taken up by the residents who are well enough, while I seek to heal and cure those who are not.

There is the elderly man, Gerald, who seems to be keeping up his rotting wife, which is a terrible health risk to all those who share space with him. I would hope to see him counseled and the remains removed.

Within the Market Hall there is a bent old woman by the name of Martine who sells broken bits of pottery, flowers far past their freshness and small dirty children's toys in order to scrape out an existence for herself and her fellows. She is appears hungry and sad, even when I approach her with a kind word. I propose setting her up with a stock of my curative tonics. The base cost of each tonic might be used to refresh her stock and any profits made from their sale to be used for the relief of these poor citizen's ailments.
In order to do this, I would require monetary donations for the initial creation of these tonics as I do not have the coin myself-- having taken a vow of poverty.[/INDENT]

Local Farms-
[INDENT]I can say little more on the state of the farms than has already been said, either by myself on the other residents, or by others.
However, the farms are in need of greater variety in order to provide proper nutrition to the peoples of Mistlocke.
I would suggest keeping a greater stock of grazing hens for meat, eggs, and for the consumption of miasma bringing insects. Herbal gardens for medicinal uses would also be of great boon to the town which suffers so greatly.
The farmers themselves suffer from a lack of security and safety from the local predators-- be they beast or man. This greatly harms us all.[/INDENT][/tface]