Aoren learns about Calcination!
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This shining population center is considered the jewel of The Sylira Region. Home of the vast majority of Mizahar's population, Syliras is nestled in a quiet, sprawling valley on the shores of the Suvan Sea. [Lore]
by Aoren on November 9th, 2013, 7:21 am
12th of Fall, 513 AV
8th Bell
Eight was not what Aoren would have called a large number. It was actually not very large at all. It was a number that didn’t even require all of Aoren’s fingers to count up to. It was even. It was plain. In retrospect however, eight was beginning to seem like a very large number. Especially when it came to the number of processes involved in Philtering. He had come into the shop that morning just as he always had. He had said hello to his employer, Sahfri Blackleaf like normal and then she had sent him to the work room to continue his training as her apprentice.
Aoren was beginning to consider a career change was in order.
All of that aside he knew he wasn’t serious. He deeply enjoyed the work that he did. It was just beginning to seem a little daunting was all. Philtering was by no means a rapidly paced profession. It required an abundance of patience because most of the processes involved to create a suitable philter took a great deal of time. At the present time he was standing near the worktable tapping his fingers on the surface reading over the current process that he was tasked with learning on that particular day.
“Calcination. Hard solids are reduced to powered material through this process. It allows the philterer to purify solids and reduce them down to more workable forms without a loss of usefulness and beneficial properties. Some substances are crystallized through this process. The actual process involves heating the base substance without it contacting the heat’s fuel source. The temperature is not enough to melt the base substance but hot enough to cause various thermal-based changes in the base substance that brings out a purer end result. Calcination may also be performed by crushing or smashing minerals beforehand and then heating them to crystallization. The final product of this form of calcinations is known as calx.”
Aoren thumbed the page of the Philtering manuscript he was currently reading. During his employment at Stormhold Salves he had seen Sahfri Blackleaf use the process being described in the book on several occasions. He had never done it personally. That would change today. The whole point of him being her apprentice was to learn all that she had to teach him. He knew of only one medicinal remedy off the top of his head that he could use the Calcination process in without horribly mucking things up. Pushing away the book he walked over to the shelf where rested his employer’s multitude of volumes on herbal remedies, potions, and other products of philtering. Aoren reached up and took down the most basic volume available.
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Aoren - Of things long forgotten...
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- Posts: 1264
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by Aoren on November 9th, 2013, 7:22 am
He flipped through the pages perusing each thing that could be crafted by a Philterer with an equal sense of wonder. The sheer amount of things that philtering made possible was impressive to say the least. It bordered on magical. Indeed, magic could be infused in potions to create marvelous effects. Such capabilities were beyond Aoren’s skill though. Mistress Blackleaf did not often infuse magic into her creations. She possessed no magic that he knew of and the only person who regularly stood in to offer their services in that regard was the Healer of Soothing Waters. There were a plethora of recipes beyond Aoren’s skill but when he finally found one that suited his needs he trailed his finger down the page reading carefully.
“Myrian Salts. Myrian Salts are used in a variety of ointments, creams and salves to alleviate rashes, fungal infections, a multitude of parasites including lice and serves as a general catch-all cure for a variety of ailments. It is made from the dried leaves and stems of the following plant-life…” Aoren’s eyes trailed down the page as he read the necessary ingredients to the remedy. There were plants on the list that were exceptionally delicate and beyond his handling capabilities. Indeed the remedy seemed a little above what Aoren was capable of creating. Nonetheless he would get the ground work done. They were in need of this specific item on the shelves. He would at least start the materials through the necessary processes before handing things over to Mistress Blackleaf so that she could complete them.
Keeping the book close to his work station Aoren set about getting the necessary tools ready. He went over to one of the buckets of water that they kept in the work room dipping an empty beaker into it. He swirled the glass around eyeing the particles that floated in the water with a slight amount of annoyance. The water that he’d brought in with him this morning was deeply contaminated. It would have to be put through the proper filtrations to be purified. No matter, Aoren certainly possessed enough competency in the art of Philtering to do that. He set the water filled beaker on the work table next to the distillation coil then grabbed a properly sized retort.
The retort was a unique piece of glassware that sometimes made Aoren smirk in amusement when he saw it. It was oddly shaped but it worked wonderfully despite its simple yet elegant design. It was essentially an ordinary glass alembic with a single difference: it was molded and blown to have two sealable openings on both ends.
Affixing the retort to the opposite end of the distillation coil so that it could effectively collect the soon to be filtered fluid that would pass through it he placed an empty beaker just beneath it. Aoren took a hold of an ordinary alembic then poured the contaminated water into it watching it slosh about. He then set the alembic atop the holster on the philtering brazier that would heat the water so that it would evaporate and pass through the coil. Grabbing a bit of charcoal treated cheesecloth he affixed it to the opening of the alembic before attaching it to the distillation coil then lit the brazier opening its heat source up so that it rapidly heated the water within the alembic but not so much that it would crack the glass.
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Aoren - Of things long forgotten...
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- Posts: 1264
- Words: 1240868
- Joined roleplay: August 27th, 2012, 4:26 am
- Location: Endrykas
- Race: Human, Drykas
- Character sheet
- Storyteller secrets
- Plotnotes
- Medals: 8
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by Aoren on November 9th, 2013, 7:23 am
Philtering was a very fine art. It was all about the details. Without attention to the finite points involved in creating the products of philtering one could not possibly master it. That was a lesson that had become apparent to Aoren on day one. Being an inherently patient man he was well suited for the job. A fact that Mistress Blackleaf had reminded him of on several occasions. He stood back eyeing the brazier making certain that the flame did not burn too hot before going over to the recipe book to read over the necessary ingredients.
“One of the chief ingredients in the creation of Myrians Salts is the tropical lime that grows in the less dense and more sunlit areas of the jungles of Falyndar. The lime is a round green fruit that is distinguished by its bumpy exterior and small size being only approximately two inches in diameter. It grows on a thorny bush that is usually between five to ten inches tall. The bush can be recognized by its distinctively shaped “double” leaves.”
Aoren drew himself a mental picture of the fruit that the recipe called for. He’d seen ordinary limes before. This particular recipe seemed to call for a very specific type of lime. He hoped that he would be able to find it in the greenhouse. While he didn’t not doubt that there would be at least one plant in there that matched the description in the book his vast unfamiliarity with plant life made it difficult to pinpoint the necessary herbs sometimes.
“The second tropical plant used in the creation of Myrian Salts is Cilantro or more specifically the seeds of the Cilantro plant known as Coriander. The plant can be identified most definitively by the shape of its leaves which are variable in shape, broadly lobed at the base of the plant, and slender and feathery higher on the flowering stems. The flowers are borne in small umbels, white or very pale pink, asymmetrical, with the petals pointing away from the centre of the umbel longer than those pointing toward it. The products created using coriander have been known to fight infections and stave off various low-threat viruses.”
Little by little Aoren’s understanding of the innumerable amount of medicinal uses for plants was being expanded. There were simply so many of them! It astounded him sometimes the vast amount of plant life that existed that could benefit so many in so many ways. It was a wonder how all of them were categorized and identified. Then again, where there were plants and other life there was bound to be something that ate it. The effects of eating these things was something evidently well documented. He picked up the book carrying it with him into the warm greenhouse in which Mistress Blackleaf tended to the large amount of herbs needed to create her wares. He continued to read about the final ingredient needed to make the Myrian Salts.
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Aoren - Of things long forgotten...
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- Posts: 1264
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by Aoren on November 9th, 2013, 7:28 am
Once all of those ingredients were assembled Aoren set to work on making a base cream that could be augmented by the properties of the other three ingredients. He would be able to properly crystallize and turn the other ingredients into calx but suspending them into the cream so that it could be utilized as a proper remedy was a little beyond him. That would be something Mistress Blackleaf would have to do as adding powders to an emollient was a little more refined than just mixing it into the substance. There was a balance that needed to be maintained and at the moment Aoren did not know how to do that. He was certain he would get there one day but it would only be through patient practice and the continual study of Philtering as a trade skill.
He set about mixing the cream together. It had shocked him at first that things found in an every day larder had been part of the Philtering process but when he thought about it, it really wasn’t as shocking as he’d first thought. Philtering was an art that could be applied in ways pertaining to more than just medicine. A Philterer could use the craft in cooking, in magic, food preservation, and even in the development of agriculture. When he’d really put some thought into it he saw how those areas could all overlap in a practical application sense.
When the cream was finished he set the bowl down upon the surface of the worktable then grabbed the alembic formerly containing the contaminated water. He set it aside picking up a clean one in place of the other. The only thing left to do at this point was wait for the rinds of the limes and the lemongrass to finish drying out so that he could grind them into powders then subject them to the calcination process. So, Aoren did the only thing he could do while he waited. He read about subject greatly helpful in the pursuit of mastery in his craft. Going to the shelf with the assorted manuscripts related to philtering Aoren chose a more purely medical book opening up to one of the first few pages.
“Gross anatomy (also called topographical anatomy, regional anatomy, or anthropotomy) is the study of anatomical structures that can be seen by the naked eye. It is one of two parts of the scientific study of human anatomy the other part being the theoretical micro-anatomy. While the science and study of anatomy is limited largely to what researchers and physicians can see there are those who postulate there are aspects of the physical body that cannot be seen by the naked eye.” Aoren scratched his head. He was not a scientist. He was certainly not a physician. Such abstract concepts were a little over his head but he made an effort to press on in an attempt to understand what the book was talking about anyways.
“Human anatomy can be taught regionally or systemically; that is, respectively, studying anatomy by bodily regions such as the head and chest, or studying by specific systems, such as the circulatory or respiratory systems.” Aoren closed the book. That was enough on anatomy for one day. Already he could feel himself getting confused by terms and phrases that were way over his level of medical comprehension. He was interested in learning about medicine. He would need to know a lot more in order to progress as an apothecary but at the moment he didn’t have the amount of concentration needed to focus on learning entirely new methods of thinking. The science of medicine was a very heavy undertaking and it wasn’t one he was entirely ready to step up to just yet.
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Aoren - Of things long forgotten...
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- Posts: 1264
- Words: 1240868
- Joined roleplay: August 27th, 2012, 4:26 am
- Location: Endrykas
- Race: Human, Drykas
- Character sheet
- Storyteller secrets
- Plotnotes
- Medals: 8
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