[sigpig]

There's been a thought tickling the back of my mind for some reason. It's concerning the health of people, mostly soldiers, in Wu.
From the number of camp followers, prostitution, and general Iron Age health, one would think that armies would fall victim to the common diseases of cholera, STIs, dysentry, influenza, etc - not to mention trenchfoot, frostbite, and the like. Do these diseases simply not exist in Wu, does Poliel only deal in large-scale plagues, does Soliel keep her sister in check, are the Denul adepts treat these things as a matter of course?
Just some things to think about while waiting for the next book(s)...

[ContrarianMalazanReader]

I've been wondering the same thing myself, though I do recall several instances of characters checking for any minor cuts in their bodies out of concern that said minor wound might become infected.

[Abyss]

There are minor refs throughout the series to basic health and hygiene practices, non-adept medics, local midwives/witchdoctors/healers etc. It's there, it's just not a big part of the worldbuilding.

[LinearPhilosopher]

I think STIs may have had passing references.

That being said unless you are writing a fantasy series revolving around medical practices I don't think you're going to get more than passing references as it's not the focus of the book.

Also if your army has denul healers, maybe they can easily take care of basic infections or common conditions like dysentery.

This post has been edited by LinearPhilosopher: 01 March 2024 - 10:13 PM

[Tsundoku]

LinearPhilosopher, on 01 March 2024 - 10:12 PM, said:

I think STIs may have had passing references.

That being said unless you are writing a fantasy series revolving around medical practices I don't think you're going to get more than passing references as it's not the focus of the book.

Also if your army has denul healers, maybe they can easily take care of basic infections or common conditions like dysentery.

I just keep thinking of D&D with "lay on hands" ...

[LinearPhilosopher]

Hey there big paladin man, care to lay on some hands?

[Azath Vitr (D'ivers]

LinearPhilosopher, on 28 March 2024 - 01:06 PM, said:

Hey there big paladin man, care to lay on some hands?

Quote

I dig my fingers in, expecting more than just the skin

[Audio possibly NSFW: ]

Nothing Matters - 10 seconds in

This post has been edited by Azath Vitr (D'ivers: 28 March 2024 - 02:47 PM

[the broken]

My bet would be that the commanders have dedicated healers for that, for the ranks it depends if their squad mage has time. If you ask Mallet nicely when you're camped sometime he might help, but if there's a big battle and he has 3,000 injuries to deal with you're on your own.

[Gorefest]

Plus magic in the Malazan universe isn't free, it always comes at a price.