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[Fen]

Eating hearts? A bit too cannibalistic for my tastes... (animals, maybe; humanoids... not me.) The only time I've really ever taken the head off of anything was a dragon I had to slay in adventure mode. I kept spawning as a dwarf in a human city, going to the lord of the local fortress and asking for a mission... He kept giving me that dragon. Time and time again - and, as you'd expect, time and time again I died. I finally killed it, with a swordsdwarf/marksdwarf cross, and was careful to cut off its head. Then I brought it back to the lord and threw it at his feet... I was new to adventuring, I expected riches and wealth or something. "May he rot forever in the underworld" or some such phrase was all I got... I was a bit frustrated, honestly... I picked the head back up and mauled the lord to death with it. Gave him his precious dragon.

I felt better after that, actually.

It's only cannibalism if you're the same species! Also, it's your enemies, so eating sentients doesn't matter; the word "enemy" makes every horrible thing ever perfectly A-OK.

[Gizogin]

I prefer the phrase "For Science" as my justification for unspeakable acts.

Anyway, it's probably about time you lot had your physicals.  That's something doctors do, right?  Give people physicals?

[Splint]

Yes. But without inserting pointy metal things bigger than a needle in them. And usually those needs are restricted to the arm.

[Archereon]

Ah, I see eet is time for me to get to work...(being the doctor)

TIME FOR YOUR...EXAMINATION!!!!

(Read that in the Medic's voice.)

[Oliolli]

Ah, I see eet is time for me to get to work...(being the doctor)

TIME FOR YOUR...EXAMINATION!!!!

(Read that in the Medic's voice.)

Zhis next operation will be... excruciating!

[wierd]

How typical that neither of you knows about anesthetic.

Here's a nice homebrew one:

Coarsely refined scopalamine from bella donna plant puree. (Created through repeated alcohol extraction and slow crystallization.)

+

Raw opium.

Result: mixed narcotic agent that induces twilight sleep. (It has nothing to do with vampires.) Patient is still technically awake, but in a deep hypnogogic state, and quite numb from the opium. You could cut them wide open, and they wouldn't feel a thing... until later.

Only a few teensy problems: low thereputic index, (dangerous dose and useful anesthetic dose are very near each other) and very addictive.

It is similar to 19th century anesthetics, like lodinum. (Opiate mixed with alcohol spirit)

Another alternative is chloroform. (Methane trichloride).  Created by subjecting methane to anerobic environment of chlorine gas, and high temperatures.  Produces hydrochloric acid, and various chloromethanes, including chloroform.  These can be seperated fairly well with controlled heating and distillation.  A glass retort and alembic should suffice, if you can control the heat source sufficiently.

Only problem with chloroform, is that all the other psychopaths in the fortress would want to spray it out nozzels durring sieges to knock-out/kill goblin invaders/elves, however, due to the way it reacts with atmospheric oxygen in the presence of ultraviolet light from the sun, it changes into phosgene, a deadly neurotoxin that gained infamy as an illegal munition under the geneva convention after world war 1.

Personally, I would refuse to produce more than a few liters of it a year, and only for surgical prep. The danger of releasing it inside the fortress uncontrolled, or worse, the release of phosgene, are just too high. You don't screw around with chloroform.

[KodKod]

This concept of not producing deadly neurotoxin is alien to me.

[wierd]

Highly volatile liquid chloroform on a rag, placed over the mouth can definately knock a person out for hours, as per spy movies from the 60s.

However, unskilled administration will suppress the central nervous system to lethal levels. Spraying it as amist out a nozzel is practically garanteed to kill the people exposed.

Phosgene is a gas, that smells faintly of hippy...er....... "cut grass".  It is deadly in very low concentrations, and pools in subterene environs. This means the fortress is a death trap if you are screwing around with it, and done have access to powerful, and immediate external ventillation.

That's why dwarves shouldn't play with phosgene.

[Archereon]

^ There's also...*cough* some huge problems with using raw opium as your anesthetic.

Namely people stealing it to get high. Then half the fortress is addicted to opium, and refuses to do anything leading to the gobbos getting inside and killing everyone.

[Gizogin]

Wierd, your knowledge of chemistry as it pertains to poisons and such is a little bit frightening.  I look forward to working closely with you on medical !!SCIENCE!! in the days to come.

[Talvieno]

Wierd, your knowledge of chemistry as it pertains to poisons and such is a little bit frightening.  I look forward to working closely with you on medical !!SCIENCE!! in the days to come.

Frightening, yes, but I doubt he'd let you work closely with him... lol    He seems the type that would prefer to work alone.

And by "work alone", I mean, "come and visit every now and then."


Think of Wierd as someone coming to trade at the depot. I think that's most likely how things would go.

Wierd - assuming you were a trader, what would you take in return for your aspirin, soap and anesthetics?

[Splint]

Hope you like skinning goblins and keeping them alive. Such a !!SCIENTIST!! would enjoy a skinless test subject.

[Archereon]

^ Sorry, but my current fascination is how exactly the Mighty and Terrible giant sponge can become enraged despite it lacking any sort of nervous system.

[Splint]

Clearly thier cells form not just an organism, but also a hivemind that manages to be consious. What they lack in motor skills and a true nervous system they make  up for with being able to use thier collective force of will to roll away from aggressors and become filled with a hatred the likes of which Armok himself has never seen.

[wierd]

Scary knowledge of poisons?

The good news is that I also have knowledge of antidotes.

Eg, poisoning by nerve gas is usually done with administration of atropine, found in bella donna as well, but higher atropine and lower scopolamnine can be found in datura. (Aka, jimsonweed, moon flower) the jimson weed is comonly abused as a psychoactive due to its tropane alkaloids.

If given the choice between death and wild, psychotic, and terrifying hallucenations of having insects under the skin and having the devil come to dinner, I would choose the latter.

As with all medications, the lowest possibly effective dose is what you apply.

As I pointed out, I had a rather disturbed childhood. My dad was a medical corpsman in the korean war. He's never been right upstairs for as long as I can remember. Still, nothing quite like getting military issue improvised munitions manuals, and battlefield surgical training (living on a farm, injured animals are a harsh reality. I've sewn up plenty of gaping body cavity wounds, just not on people. I hate it. I could never be a doctor) as a consequence of a disturbed but loving dad trying to prepare his kids for the world.

I know about 7 different ways to create IEDs, how to hotwire a vehicle, the finer parts of poisons and antidotes, field surgical techniques to stop bleeding, repair mutilated arteries, and control infection, some scary dangerous pyrochemistry, and bizzarrely semi-useful things like how to tie thatched rooves, pitfire ceramic earthenware, make rope, start fires, identify edible plants and how to cook them, and all that jazz.

I think I could probably do a youtube "survivorman" knockoff fairly well.

All in all, I really don't resent my childhood.  While over the top, scary, and completely detatched from civilized social mores, dad's stark view of "the real world" has left me very hardened against political rhetoric, psychological shock, and has pretty much destroyed any culturally programmed "learned helplessness" in my psyche. 

By all accounts, I could well be described as being quite mad, I suppose. I've certainly never been accused of being "normal".  I don't consider myself dangerous, as I have neither the desire, inclination, or motivation to employ the vast reserves of that "education". It's nice to know, in a twisted, paranoid, and horrible way.  If I *needed* it, it's there, waiting.  But I hope to never ever open the doors on that sordid little pantry door, if you understand me.

Having been in nitty gritty circumstances, I know I can work under pressure of imminent fatality (having experienced), and the conditioning I got allows me to just act, rather than freeze up with terror. That alone is worth the psychological eccentricities.

Personally though, I would rather of had kodkod's vinter's education.


What would I take in trade for aspirin, soap, and medications?

Hmm... metal trade goods of a utilitarian nature. Kives, cleavers, axes, that sort of thing. Tanned leather and spun yarngoods are good choices too.  Depending on availability, I would probaly buy seeds as well.