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Originally posted by George Krashos

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Originally posted by Wooly Rupert

Huh. I knew some of the lore in that book was stuff Ed had shared before, here and in other places, but I literally did not realize until putting it all in one spot that the list of diseases, in the book, is almost word-for-word what he shared here.

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About a third if not more of "EG presents Elminster's etc" was lore that was first showcased here at Candlekeep.

-- George Krashos

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Originally posted by Wooly Rupert

Huh. I knew some of the lore in that book was stuff Ed had shared before, here and in other places, but I literally did not realize until putting it all in one spot that the list of diseases, in the book, is almost word-for-word what he shared here.

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Known Afflictions:
Fevers: blacklung fever, blacktongue, marsh fever, shaking fever
Diseases: darkrot, sallar (typhus), whitewasting (leprosy)
Plagues: featherlung, Spotted Plague, the Shaking Plague (Scardale)
Magical diseases: lycanthropy, mummy rot (flesh rot), green rot/scaly death (Talona)
heartstop (heart attack)
‘winterchill fever’ (pneumonia)
Also, we see examples in published Realmslore, but so far haven’t gained Realms names for: various wasting and rotting diseases, cankers, and the mental illnesses of paranoia, kleptomania, nymphomania, pyromania, and delusions (hallucinations).

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Hi, Wooly! In this reply, I have carefully avoided all real, real-world medicine. What follows is all pure fantasy, and applies to the Realms only . . .
Asthma has many local names in the Realms (“roren” is an old, widespread but now nigh-forgotten one, that’s still used in Rashemen, Aglarond, Impiltur, and the ?Great Dale), but is most often and most widely called “lackwind” these days.
The treatments are varied, from curative clerical spells to cantrips that oxygenate the blood without curing the condition, to local wisefolk remedies like inhaling the steam from a kettle (using clothing to hood the head so moisture can’t escape), to three or four herbal remedies that work (and dozens more that don’t). New remedies are discovered from time to time by herbalists, druids, alchemists, and priests (though monastery and temple “cures” tend to be closely-guarded secrets for as long as possible, rather than swiftly shared and spreading).

The effective remedies consist of:

1. Chewing the prickly, dark leaves and/or tiny yellow-white “flag” or “wisp” flower of a certain wild Heartlands and more northerly-growing weed (called “hammerwind” for its effects), that’s abundant but short and often overlooked (the darker-than-most-plants green leaves are the best way to spot it). They cause the lungs to pump rapidly, but the heart rate is also increased, skin goes bright red in the face, breast, and shoulders, and eyes sometimes bulge. The condition is alleviated for 1d2 days, but immediately after ingestion (and the first made rush of lung-pumping), the asthmatic may feel worn out and even weary-clumsy (“stumbling or fumbling exhaustion”).

2. Putting a single leaf of some little-known mountain flower on the tongue of the asthmatic. This works fast, but brings on euphoria (and for some, orgasm). The leaf must have been treated properly to be effective, and the plant and this “proper treatment” is apparently plentiful but little-known (except among some northern Harpers and dwarves, and the Witches of Rashemen). The leaves are small and almost perfectly triangular, and some say the plant is called “arritches,” while others refer to it as “storndown.”

3. The green, unripe “flower” (it actually looks very much like the harvested fruit of the hops plant) of the wild tortendril vine, crushed and brewed into a tea and drunk, gently and slowly alleviates asthma symptoms. It may take an hour or more for breathing to be comfortable, but if the tea is sipped (even cold and old), relief can last for days, even during exertion such as travel and moderate lifting and climbing.

4. “Auglauken” (pronounced “Aww-GLOCK-enn”) is the dried berry of a certain wild vine, that goes so brown and hard that some folk believe it is a nut. (Think: ovoid and smooth unpopped popcorn kernels.) This vine literally grows all over the known surface Realms that isn’t desert or frozen, but doesn’t produce berries all that often. Ingesting a raw, moist auglauken berry (enclosed in a slender pod often unnoticed among the side-tendrils and leaves of the vine) is as effective as hammerwind, but without some of the flushing/blushing and fierceness of the lung-pumping . . . and eating a dried one brings a gentle, lasting relief (stretching for most of the waking hours of a typical day). As a result, these berries are a staple of most healers’ and herbalists’ shops, and are not inexpensive (1 sp a berry in cities, 2 or 3 berries for 1 sp in rural areas where many folk know where and how they can be harvested). They travel and last well (often for years) if kept from the damp, or sundried within a day or two of every time they do get wet.

Hope this helps. As it happens, my wife is asthmatic, so I created this lore long, long ago.

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Fevers: Blacklung fever, blacktongue, marsh fever, shaking fever, windchill fever (pneumonia)
Diseases: Darkrot, “foamjaws” (rabies), “sallar” (typhus), “whitewasting” (leprosy)
Plagues: Featherlung, the spotted plague, the shaking plague (most recently in Scardale)
Magical Diseases: Lycanthropy, “mummy rot” (flesh rot), green rot/scaly death (courtesy of
the goddess of disease, Talona)
Heartstop (heart attack)

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