Medicine in Velitrium
Though the Priests of Mitra and the Healing Druids care for many of their followers, and almost all of the really serious medical issues, there just aren’t enough of them to go around. Many small villages and towns rely on the local Healer for their medical needs.
Healers
Healers are generally trained by other healers, there is no formal school or program, though several Mitraen Monasteries do teach the art to their non spell casting monks.
The following skills are required of a Healer
Diagnosis (Mental/Hard) Skill = IQ
Herbalist (Mental/Hard) Skill = IQ (see below)
Physician (Mental/Hard) Skill = IQ
Since many Herbalists will maintain their own Herb Gardens, Agronomy is a valued skill but is not required.
Herbalist Mental/Hard) Defaults to Naturalist -6 or Alchemist -4 (Page 150 CI)
An Herbalist in Velitrium has a thorough knowledge of local plants, their medicinal properties, as well as some non-medicinal ones, and their preparation and application. He or she is also skilled at locating and identifying these plants in the wild.
The skill is used both to locate herbs and to prepare them (if needed) according to known formulas and techniques. The following rules and notes are used to determine search results and preparations.
Preperations
Raw: The part is chewed or eaten in it’s natural state. This one requires no roll. Drying the herb for future use, if possible, does require a roll.
Dried: Dried for 4d+1 days. It is burnt as incense, often done when used for children, or smoked in a pipe.
Extract: The herbs is cooked with water for a predetermined period of time. Excess water is then boiled away and the concentrated syrup is saved. This is the most concentrated form of remedy. It’s main advantage is the small size of the dose which makes it easy to administer. However it tends to exaggerate any nasty side effects and flavors.
Ointment/Salve/mud: The herb is crushed, and heated in spirits or water. This is then mixed with lard, butter, fat, grease or mud. The ointment must ferment for 2 days before reaching full potency.
Tea: The herbs must be at least partially dried (minimum 1d6 days) and then boiled in water. There is no skill in making tea. The Herbalist skill is used to determine how much of the ingredient is needed and also to store or preserve the tea against future use.
Powdered: The herb must be thoroughly dried (4d-1 days) and then crushed to powder. This powder may be eaten straight, or mixed with food or wine. If the powder is taken dry, it must be washed down with some type of drink.
Poultice: The herbs are prepared as for an ointment, but are smeared on a hot, damp cloth. This cloth is then applied directly to skin. The whole process takes about 1 hour. A poultice must remain on the affected area for at least three days. It must be dampened regularly, every 6 hours, to keep the contents working.
Pulped/Juiced: Used for some fruits, maybe allowed to ferment like a wine.
Known Herbal Remedies and Concoctions:
Below is a list of the common herbs, fruits, mushrooms etc. that are found and used in Velitrium. Not everything here is beneficial! The listed price is for the raw herb. The price in ( ) is the completed preparation.
Andorra’s Hand
Description: A water flower with a palm shaped leaf and wide pink blooms
Found: Still water in shallows not more then 3′ deep.
Uses: Stems, ointment
Effect: Boiled down to a gummy consistency, it is combined with lard and applied to burns or abraded skin (not open wounds.) The ointment soothes the injury, healing 1 point at first application and, with daily applications, will double the natural healing rate for the injury. Applying it to open wounds will cause a stinging and actually result in one day of regular healing being lost.
Price: $10 per pound ($25 per dose, enough to cover one limb)
Bodis
Description: A low growing, thorny plant that produces a dark red berry in the fall.
Found: Edges of woods, slightly shaded areas.
Uses: Berries, extract
Effect: In low doses it is a mild pain reliever. In large doses it can be poisonous. Roll Vs HT or fall into a coma for 2d days. If in a coma for more than 3 days roll Vs HT at -1 for each day. Any failure means death. Used properly Bodis can render the imbiber unconscious and senseless for surgical procedures and allow him or her to wake normally in 4d hours from taking the dose.
Price: $5 per pound ($50 per dose)
Chalis Root (Snake Root)
Description: A carrot like tuber with tiny white flowers
Found: Sunny meadows
Uses: Root, poultice
Effect: Used on insect bites, snake bites and insinuative poisons. Draws the venom out and reduces the effects of the poison by half (if applied within 1 minute per point of HT of the victim)
Price: $50/$150 per poultice (usable once)
Druid Grass (Healing Grass)
Description: A dark green, broad leafed grass that does not grow well in direct sunlight or deep shade.
Found: Though uncommon, in can be found throughout the Valley in areas with the right conditions, it is cultivated in the Druid Groves for use by the Faithful.
Uses: Leaves, Tea, raw, dried
Effect: Tea made from the grass will cure 1d+1 hits from wounds once per day. The tea must be made from grass picked within the hour. Anyone can make the tea. Once made the tea can be bottled and preserved, this requires a Skill roll or Alchemy roll.
Chewing freshly picked grass and spitting out the blades while swallowing the juice will heal 1d hits once per day. This does not require any skill roll.
The grass can be dried and smoked for 1d-1 healing once per day. This requires either a Skill roll or a Naturalist or Agronomy roll.
A pint of tea or 1 ounce of dried grass, sells for $100
Jhensari Bark
Description: The inner lining of the bark of a water loving tree found primarily along Lake Aldin and the Varsol River.
Found: Along the edges of any water body that does not regularly freeze.
Uses: Bark, tea
Effect: Fever reducer, mild analgesic.
Price: $5 ($10 per dose)
Johdal Leaves
Description: Large, waxy green leaves that grow on woody shrubs. The Jhodal bush remains green all year.
Found: Deep woods, heavy, constant shade.
Uses: Leaves, raw
Effect: Chewing even one leaf, and swallowing it, will result in almost immediately vomiting the entire stomach contents. Summer leaves are the most effective, winter leaves will require twice as much to achieve the same effect.
Price: $1 each leaf
Pallis Seeds
Description: A pale blue flower that blossoms on a ground cover vine. Harvested in late summer after it goes to seed.
Found: Open meadows, sunny areas.
Uses: Seeds, powder
Effect: Used for a sleep aid. In small doses will allow user to doze off even in a noisy or uncomfortable environment. A conscious effort will allow the individual to resist. In a large dose it will send the user into a deep sleep for 3d+3 hours. Roll Vs HT to resist.
Price: $5 ($25 per dose)
Necrat Root
Description: A small, sweet smelling red flower that grows to a height of about a foot.
Found: Curiously it is often found in graveyards and it is believed that only those harvested from a graveyard has potency.
Uses: Root, extract
Effects: Ingestive poison. This is a nasty one that causes intense pain and convulsions so severe as to be unable to communicate or act. These will continue for 2D hours and require a roll Vs HT every hour or suffer 1d damage. Roll Vs HT-4 or suffer full effect. A successful roll results in severe cramps, tremors and 1d damage. Cramps and tremors will last 1 hour.
Price: This is illegal to use so it is expensive to buy. $25 ($200 per dose)
Rhondoc
Description: Dark leafed woody shrub, found in dense woods and shady areas. Stays green all year but only summer harvesting is effective.
Found: Woodlands, summer
Uses: Green leaves, tincture
Effect: Foul tasting draught that will, if kept down (roll Vs HT+1) cure the effects of a hangover within minutes.
Price: $5 ($15 per dose)
Ghostbane
Description: Delicate, mint smelling, pale white flowers with silvery leaves.
Found: Sady areas, sometimes near cemetaries and mortuaries, summer time
Uses: Flower petals, dried powder
Effect: Deterrent to non corpereal spirits and specters. Such creatures find its presence repugnent. A pouch of petals will stay fresh for three months. Powdered it has Alchemical uses as well.
Price: $250 per bloom (Pouch/charm $2,000)
Kash
This is a mixture of spearmint, willow bark and walnut root. It is smoked in a pipe as a tobacco substitute. It has no medicinal properties but many herbalist make it for personal use or as a �cash crop� to sell when things are slow. It retails for about $2 per 8 ounces.
Tobacco
Though raised by Velitar farmers it is found wild and can be raised in home gardens. It has no medicinal value but herbalist often collect or raise it for personal use. It retails for $5 per 8 ounces.
Mali
This is a mushroom and it’s spores that grows at higher elevations. When eaten, or inhaled, Mali causes hallucinations. Mali is used extensively by Jhensari shamans as part of their religious rituals and, reportedly, by some Cults of the Dark Lore. It is highly addictive, hallucinogenic, illegal and a dose costs $50. (25 point disadvantage)
(A close relative of Mali is Das-Mali. This mushroom is virtually identical to regular Mali, only an expert can tell them apart (roll Vs Naturalist or Herbalist skill). Das- Mali is highly poisonous.)
Bagra
A plant that grows around certain oasis in the Desert of Nygg. It can be dried and smoked or distilled and laced into wine. It is mildly addictive and provides the user with a blissful and relaxing couple of hours. Relatively cheap, $10 for an ounce or $20 for a pint. Both quantities will produce about ten `highs.’ (This is a 15 point disadvantage.) Possession and sale is illegal.
Healer’s Traveling Bag
This is what a Healer will carry with him when visiting farmsteads etc
This will replace the Doctor�s Black Bag. It should be considered a shoulder slung satchel with a total of 2 cubic feet and a capacity of 20 pounds. The value is with contents $1850
The following Contents are in it: $ amount reflects total value
Bandages sufficent for 20 wounds
2 Tourniquets
1 arm and 1 leg splint
Surgical kit $400
3 Surgical knives, sm, md, lg
1 Arrowhead/pellet extractor
3 Cauterizing Irons sm, md, lg
3 lance/probes sm, md, lg
1 Bone Saw
Remedies
6 Doses of Andorra�s Hand Burn Ointment $150
4 Doses Bodis Extract Pain Reliever $200
2 Chalis Root (Snake Root) Poultices $300
6 Doses of Druid Grass Healing Tea $600
4 Doses Jhensari Bark Fever Reducer $60
12 Jhodal Leaves Vomit Induver $12
4 Doses Pallis Seed Powder, sleep inducer $25
4 Doses Rhondac Extract, hang over cure $60
1 pint strong whiskey
1 small Lanthern with candle
1 cup