Fantasy RPG Forum - Standing Trials

For her nineteenth birthtrial on the 1st Saun, Padraig had built her a workshop in the back garden and that was where she was getting everything ready for her final presentation of her Charter studies to Professor Carter. She had, for her Charter, worked on her own and without a supervisor. This had been against the recommendation of Professor Carter, not least because she had been offered supervision from a very prestigious doctor, but he did not specialise in what she wanted to do, so she had said no. She had worked with Doctor Til'na, visiting the Ice Caves together and, in fairness, finding out about the effects of sub-zero temperatures on flesh had been fundamental to her curing the Rot. So, it had been helpful and useful but she had needed to do the majority of her work by herself, without guidance.

Faith understood that this was not ideal, but equally she had been faced with a decision; did she do what was best for the study of medicine, or what was best for herself? If what she found was important, then it was better that she did less well or did not achieve her Charter, because what she found would help people. It was much easier to do something which no one actually needed, but which was well known. Faith wasn't interested in that sort of behaviour, not at all. She was studying so that she would be a better doctor, so that she could save lives. Therefore, she had completed her charter looking at two distinct, yet connected, topics. Surgery as a means of dealing with incurable illness and blood infusions.

So often, surgery was not an option for them in medicine when someone had a progressive disease. The risks to surgery were enormous and if the body was already weakened, it was usually not even considered. Moreso, surgery to remove growths and such would be too long and the patient would, inevitably, bleed out.

But not now. Now, she was sure, there was a way forward.

Yet, to the earnest young woman who did not recognise what leaps she had made, it felt like what she was presenting was a beginning, not an end product. This was probably why, she knew, it was a good idea to have a mentor during this process. Faith looked at the books and books of filled notes, the diagrams and boxes of blood samples which she had used and she sighed. It was tricky, she knew, to face the consequences of what she had chosen, but they were her consequences and her choices. Since she'd made them again, she reasoned she'd just have to get on with it and make the best out of what she'd done.

So, she began to pull it all together.

If she was going to present this to Professor Carter, she would have to make sure that she utilised all of her strengths as a student. Organisation, that was a definite strength and she needed to maximise it. So, she got the parchment and started to write.
The introduction would be fairly straightforward, Faith was clear. There would be issues, though. No one believed that what she was doing was possible, that what she had done was. That would be where she would need to be clear and, fundamentally, get them to suspend disbelief. It was fine, though, because they knew Tina, they knew that she had cured the Rot and her research on blood and blood types between races, ages and genders was across three institutions. Surely, Faith thought, that meant that they'd at least listen to her?

Next, she turned her attention to the main part of her presentation. This would be given out in the form of notes, diagrams and she knew that she knew her subject. The purpose of this would be to lead them through, identifying what it was that she had learned, what had led her there.
Identify her reasons. That was tricky, because some of that story was not hers to tell. The Tale of Treid's Armpit was personal to the two of them, her and Padraig and Faith didn't want to admit that Padraig had been carrying around a vial of Immortal blood when they were inside Treid's reforming body. So, for the purpose of this presentation Faith was keeping it fairly clear and simple. She had been in Oscillus at the Battle of the Tomb, where mortals and Immortals had battled together. There, she had noticed that blood reacted differently, when Immortal and moral blood had spilled and from there, she had explored and experimented further.

"I realised I was in love with your father there, you know," Faith's hand moved to the small and barely noticeable bump which was tiny in size and enormous in importance to her. It might sound a little strange, but she'd taken to talking to it when she was on her own; maybe it would help the baby get used to her voice, she thought, and then it might not cry as much or something. "It was a bit scary. A lot scary really. But it looked like he got hurt, and I thought I'd die with worrying. I realised then, right then, that I loved him. I'd loved him a long time by then, though," Faith frowned slightly, making small corrections and annotations to her notes as she did. "I think I'd loved him since I was as big as you are now. And all the lifetimes before, too." So, she'd keep that level of information out of it all, keeping it to what they needed to know.

In that moment, though, Faith decided something quite else. "I'll write it all down for you. When you're big, you can have it." But that was a job for another trial. Right now, she needed to pass her Charter.

The first part would be fairly straightforward but next she needed to present the findings on the blood typing.Or would she? Was it that or the rot, Faith wondered. Thinking about it, it was probably best to do it in chronological order. The rot had led her to the consideration of differences between races. She had found that the Rot had a greater prevalence among Sev'ryn and that, she believed, was because of the difference in their brains which allowed the familiar link. It was minuscule, that area of the brain, but it was where the Rot lived and was larger in Sev'ryn than anywhere else. It was important to her that she got this as right as she could and actually, on reflection, it made more sense that she talked about the Rot first.

Then, of course, there was the lecture where Famula had called for her and she had needed to leave. There, she had discussed the idea of putting blood back into a patient who was bleeding in surgery. It had started there and Faith had considered it time and time again. All of this had led to her realising that she needed to study blood. That, combined with the experience in Oscillus, meant that she had known what she needed to do. That was what she had to explain, she knew. That was where she had to focus. So, that was the next bit.
The three phases were fairly straightforward, Faith thought, other than the crazy Naerikk in Viden, seeing Tristan in Rynmere and all that associated drama. Still, the findings themselves were clear. She was able to work her way around, able to start seeing racial differences. More importantly, though, she started to see racial similarities. That had been the big thing, of course, and that was what took her to the next part of the presentation. Arguably, it was the most important part because it was where she had learned, where she had seen things which she was convinced would, one trial, change the world.

What was next was what she had actually learned and there were a lot of things. It was important, though, that she remembered that she had a time frame for this presentation. So she had to concentrate here, focus on this part. That was fine, she would be able to do that, she just needed to give herself the reminders here which would work.
That was the bottom line for her and, whilst Faith was starting to understand that there was some sort of categorisation of blood; a typology which meant that some blood could be compatible and other blood was not, really this was the beginning for her. That was he end part of her presentation, really. Identifying what she had found, but evidencing that it had left her with more questions than answers.

Yet, still.

If she could do this, then surgery would suddenly become a lot more useful, a lot more possible and a lot more successful. If she could do that, then she would be able to use this information, truly use it. She had to work out how to address the questions, but Faith hoped that this would be what her Licentiate would be.

Because this, she was quite sure, could change the world. The report which accompanied the presentation was written, it was thorough, comprehensive, academic and fully referenced. She just had to hope that she had done enough to pass and then, there was only one level of qualification left. She put it all together and looked down at it. Then, she put her hand on her stomach, where her child grew within her and she smiled. "We'll show them, little bud. We'll teach them that it's a great idea to educate slaves because they can change things, too, given the chance." Her voice was a whisper and her expression was wistful. "We'll show them."