Genesis 004
May. 13th, 2005 09:21 pm![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
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yrae
Title~ Deadly Snakes 101
Author~ Annarti
Disclaimer~ Still~ mine
Notes~ Genesis 004. Making up snake names is fun! =D Some of them are real tho. I love looking up "World's deadliest snakes" in Google and finding list upon list riddled with Aussie snakes XD;;
~ ~ ~
Yamin gazed up at the assortment of vials, bottles and jars high on the shelf above the herbs. There was a complicated system that organised the bottles, and a very precise way in which they were labelled, so that the healers could identify them at a glance. Some of the poisons contained within reacted badly to light, and so were held in clay jars painted black with coloured bands to label them. Lettering wouldn’t suffice—one letter wrongly read or written could very well be disastrous.
They were organised into four basic groups with no visible separation except to the healers. Snake venom filled most of the assorted vessels, with almost as many filled with the poison milked from various spiders, a smaller number from scorpions, and then a miscellaneous section holding venom from the poisonous spur on a male nira’s hind feet and other more obscure creatures.
The whole system was made so that only the healers could understand it. The general public never much liked the idea that healers used potentially deadly venom in order to heal them, and took it to be nothing more than a rumour, much like the thumbprint-sized middle red of the palace archery range targets. It was too ridiculous to be true, so they wouldn’t believe it.
Unlike the archers though, the healers did everything they could to uphold that illusion, even if it made it incredibly difficult to learn all the different venoms when they trained themselves.
The herbs had been so much easier. She could identify them by smell, colour, shape of leaves and flowers quite easily in comparison to the relatively nondescript venom bottles. They were all too similar, though at least some tried to look like the snake or spider whose venom it contained. The bottle for the blue cobra was made from dark blue glass and painted with a pair of white circles, imitating the markings on the snake’s hood. But since most snakes were generally just dull coppery brown, little difference could be made between the bottles if markings were all they went by.
Yamin sighed again as she stared at the poison jars, listing them off in her head. King brown snake, cured by five drops horned viper and one black-tipped copper-head. Red-bellied black snake, cured by six drops white-bellied black snake and five banded silver-back. Gold-tail, no known cure. Tiger snake…
She frowned at herself in frustration. She knew this one! Something with the taipan and… two others. She stared at the dark yellow glass bottle, racking her brain for the right combination. It was right on the edge of her mind. She knew she’d kick herself as soon as she looked in the poisons book, but the answer just wasn’t coming. She sighed heavily and added it to the growing list of antivenoms that still needed memorising.
Auin laid a reassuring hand on her shoulder. “You’ll remember them all well enough in time,” she said, “It will get easier once you start using them.”
Author~ Annarti
Disclaimer~ Still~ mine
Notes~ Genesis 004. Making up snake names is fun! =D Some of them are real tho. I love looking up "World's deadliest snakes" in Google and finding list upon list riddled with Aussie snakes XD;;
Yamin gazed up at the assortment of vials, bottles and jars high on the shelf above the herbs. There was a complicated system that organised the bottles, and a very precise way in which they were labelled, so that the healers could identify them at a glance. Some of the poisons contained within reacted badly to light, and so were held in clay jars painted black with coloured bands to label them. Lettering wouldn’t suffice—one letter wrongly read or written could very well be disastrous.
They were organised into four basic groups with no visible separation except to the healers. Snake venom filled most of the assorted vessels, with almost as many filled with the poison milked from various spiders, a smaller number from scorpions, and then a miscellaneous section holding venom from the poisonous spur on a male nira’s hind feet and other more obscure creatures.
The whole system was made so that only the healers could understand it. The general public never much liked the idea that healers used potentially deadly venom in order to heal them, and took it to be nothing more than a rumour, much like the thumbprint-sized middle red of the palace archery range targets. It was too ridiculous to be true, so they wouldn’t believe it.
Unlike the archers though, the healers did everything they could to uphold that illusion, even if it made it incredibly difficult to learn all the different venoms when they trained themselves.
The herbs had been so much easier. She could identify them by smell, colour, shape of leaves and flowers quite easily in comparison to the relatively nondescript venom bottles. They were all too similar, though at least some tried to look like the snake or spider whose venom it contained. The bottle for the blue cobra was made from dark blue glass and painted with a pair of white circles, imitating the markings on the snake’s hood. But since most snakes were generally just dull coppery brown, little difference could be made between the bottles if markings were all they went by.
Yamin sighed again as she stared at the poison jars, listing them off in her head. King brown snake, cured by five drops horned viper and one black-tipped copper-head. Red-bellied black snake, cured by six drops white-bellied black snake and five banded silver-back. Gold-tail, no known cure. Tiger snake…
She frowned at herself in frustration. She knew this one! Something with the taipan and… two others. She stared at the dark yellow glass bottle, racking her brain for the right combination. It was right on the edge of her mind. She knew she’d kick herself as soon as she looked in the poisons book, but the answer just wasn’t coming. She sighed heavily and added it to the growing list of antivenoms that still needed memorising.
Auin laid a reassuring hand on her shoulder. “You’ll remember them all well enough in time,” she said, “It will get easier once you start using them.”
no subject
Date: 2005-05-13 08:58 am (UTC)<3 For Yamin, just because she doesn't get enough of it =D (physically, w00t)
no subject
Date: 2005-05-13 10:44 am (UTC)Or something.
And she doesn't, does she? Poor girl <3 Just cos she can't wield a sword, or any other weapon, doesn't mean she didn't work hard to get where she is. She's a lovely girl *^^*
no subject
Date: 2005-05-13 11:23 am (UTC)And if you make a mistake, it makes for drama as everyone fights to correct it, if you work in healing. *nodnods*
no subject
Date: 2005-05-13 11:25 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-05-13 11:26 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-05-13 11:32 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-05-13 11:42 am (UTC)You won't be saying that a few days down the line when they don't inspire you and your muses fall asleep XD <3
no subject
Date: 2005-05-13 11:24 pm (UTC)