Medicine

Are there any common remedies that is known by the general populace for common illnesses/injuries? If so, are they to be discovered IRP or are they listed somewhere on the wiki? I can't seem to find much on medicine or the available herbs in general and playing a physician is difficult if I don't already have that knowledge since she is supposed to. I do know how the healing system works and vague treatment options but I'd like to know more about any herbs or concoctions, please!

I can tell you at least about the general things that should be in your first aid kit, for now:

• a slender scalpel: this is basically a small knife, useful for anything that a small knife would be useful for, and when we have surgeries it will be used for that
• a linen bandage: if you bind someone's body part, any treated wounds on that part have their length of treatment prolonged
• a curved suturing needle: wield this and have the sinew on hand for STITCHing bleeding wounds
• a sinew length: sinew can be used in stitching wounds
• a small glass jar with a honeycomb etching: this is a jar of honey that can be used for treating any wounds and preventing infections with some good efficacy
• a hollow glass tube: this object is used for SUCTIONing blood or fluids from someone. You can suction blood to be thematic and roleplay helping people out with their arthritis or what have you, but you can also use this to get fluids from the lungs of someone experiencing secondary drowning.
• a small rod with a loop: this is uh... a squimmitch. It probably has a better name somehow. But it's helpful, if you have it on hand, when EXTRICATE-ing a piece of ammo lodged in a patient
• a dark-stained glass phial: smelling salts you can use to REVIVE an unconscious person
• a wooden splint: this is used to SPLINT body parts with broken bones.
• a small glass bottle: this is a bottle of poppy milk, a very potent painkiller and sleep aid (warning: can be addictive, it's basically the same as opium)
• a gently-spiked stalk of aloe: this is a generic curative that can be used to treat wounds and prevent infections
• a steel  flask: this holds willow bark tea, which is a good painkiller and can help cure fever (fever's not coded in yet, but it's on the list for soon)
   

There are some other common items used for treatment of wounds: alcohol, saltwater, moss -- and a belt or cloth of most types can be used to tie a tourniquet.

Ah, thank you so much for this!! I was extremely puzzled on what was what! ^^ I'm glad to know I have an opiate, that'd be helpful in the current situation.

• a small rod with a loop: this is uh... a squimmitch. It probably has a better name somehow. But it's helpful, if you have it on hand, when EXTRICATE-ing a piece of ammo lodged in a patient

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spoon_of_Diocles

Probably needs a different name in-Universe, but it sounds like that, somewhat, whatever its actual historical existence/reality. 

Since herbal remedies, forageable plants, and horticulture are still in a fairly early stage systems-wise, there aren't a huge number of different remedies you can actually make in-game yet. Given that, I also haven't fleshed out a good list of Avaria-specific herbs and remedies yet, though it's in the works. That said, if you're wanting to just sound like a reasonably knowledgeable healer you can definitely draw from real-life remedies that would have been common in pre-modern times. It's possible to find some pretty good information just searching around on the web.

I've used this a fair bit in the past: A Modern Herbal -- It's a book from the 1930s, but many of the remedies themselves are ones that have been in use for ages, and which I've also seen in herbals from the 1600s. It's also centered on England, but many of these plants are widely cultivated and it's not hard to find out which could also grow in our setting (Mediterranean, Middle Eastern, North African, and even Indian/south Asian).

Simpler references like this are also great to use and easy to find: Seven Traditional Arab World Remedies

Basically most things that have grown or been cultivated in our setting historically are fair game!

Re: THE SQUIMMITCH: This instrument actually came from an illustration in an Arabic medical manual that I found reproduced in a book or article somewhere (sadly I don't remember where anymore, as this was a few years ago now). From what I recall it was simply listed as an instrument for removing arrows, but no actual name was given for it. And so.... it is obviously just a squimmitch. 

I'm very excited to see the herbs and remedies expanded upon later on!! I love medicine and am very passionate about it!

As a herbalist, I think it would be kind of interesting to have a dictionary of some sorts. Also, just for curiosity sake with ginger be available in our setting? Such as for stomach ailments and alike? Just curious. or even for cooking, thanks and Vance.

A dictionary would be uber helpful! But, I'll gladly go along with the herbalism resources provided! c:

We have decided that for real, lore wise and for ever, the squimmitch will be known as...

SQUIMMITCH.

(This is its Avarian name.)

Also, if people do research into thematic curatives and roleplay about them, we can add the things you're roleplaying about! Like... ginger. That's part of the fun of this phase, that you get to build with us, in a way. 

Guessss what! I collected some more resources for herbalism!

• Natural Remedies of Arabia
• Medicinal & Aromatic Plants of Arabia/Iran
• Use of Herbal Medicine in Arab Countries
• Handbook of Medicinal Herbs
• Greco-Arab & Islamic Herbal Medicine
• Guide to Medicinal Plants in North Africa
• Medicinal & Aromatic Plants From Sudan
• Egyptian Herbal Monograph
• The Lost Book of Herbal Remedies