Anatomy Lesson

On the Four Humours of Man and the Hidden Currents of the Flesh

As Set Forth by Haruspex Galan-Thur, Surgeon of the Black Sand Courts, Vein Sage, and Last Apprentice of the Gilded Leech

To understand man, one must first understand balance—not in the stars, nor in the tilting of seasons, but in the secret flows within our meat and marrow. I speak not in riddles, but in the ancient science of humours, those divine essences that stir beneath the skin, shaping will, war, wit, and wonder.

I am Galan-Thur, now old and soft-handed, but once physician to warriors, mystics, and aberrations alike. I have pierced the hearts of giants and tasted the bile of demons. I have kept the company of philosophers, poisoners, and pale things from the far gulfs of the Weirdscape. And in my years, I have learned that health is not a matter of mere survival, but of dominion over the elements that roil within.

There are four humours, as established by the ancient bonescribes of Uru-Ka and perfected in the tomb-vaults of Nymros. Each is sacred. Each holds dominion over body and soul. The foolish speak of them in terms of temperament, of cheer and melancholy. But this is a peasant’s understanding. The humours are powers, living and volatile, and when honed or corrupted, they yield abilities beyond the reach of unbalanced men.

Let me speak of them plainly, as one who has witnessed the truth beneath the skin.

The Sanguine Humour: Blood of the Fox

Of all the humours, Sanguine is the most active, the most restless. It courses hot and red through the veins, imparting not just life, but alertness, swiftness, and an edge of cunning sharper than obsidian. It is found in highest concentration in the arterial rivers, where blood flows closest to the surface, and in the optic nerves, where vision is made keen by its presence.

A Sanguine-dominant man is swift of foot, precise of hand, and sly of tongue. His senses drink the world deeply, he can see the glint of a knife in darkness, hear the breath of a stalking beast, smell the fear on a traitor’s skin. His reflexes are near-divine. In my youth, I tended to a duelist who claimed he could cut arrows from the air. I dissected him upon his death (from venereal rot, not violence), and found a lattice of crimson filaments entwined about his cerebrum, like the roots of a sacred fig. These, I believe, are the neural blooms nourished by a Sanguine overflow.

But beware the excess. Too much Sanguine, and one becomes frenzied—not with rage, but with stimulation. The senses, once allies, become tyrants. One patient of mine, a thief, could not abide the whisper of silk nor the gleam of sunlight; he went mad, gouging his own eyes with a fishbone. Balance must be maintained through bleeding, leeching, or the ingestion of dampening agents such as green poppy or powdered dhelmer-tongue.

In artifice, Sanguine is stirred by mercury, quicksilver of the earth’s heart, and by the distilled scent of the Red Orchid. In anatomy, it nests in the spine's root plexus, coiling like a serpent waiting to strike.

The Choleric Humour: Yellow Bile, Gift of Giants

Known in learned circles as the humour of strength, Yellow Bile, Choler, is heat made flesh, a thick, golden secretion that hardens muscle and steels the will. Found abundantly in the liver and adrenal knobs (which some call the Fire Glands), it fuels feats of endurance and brute power. In battle, it is the roar in the throat, the iron in the fist, the fire in the gut.

Choleric-dominant warriors are massive, bullish, their sinews thick as dock ropes. Their mucosa may bear a golden hue, and their eyes may glow faintly in dusklight. I have cut into the flesh of these men and found that their marrow oozes golden ichor, slow-moving and warm. It is this ichor that resists fatigue, that heals wounds with unnatural haste, and that permits them to shrug off pain as one swats flies.

Too much Yellow Bile, however, leads to madness of another kind, a berserker’s fury, a fire-veined hatred that blinds the eye and stills reason. Cholerics must be kept cool with moonstone compresses and rituals of ice. In times of plague, I have seen men rot from within as their bile curdled, their own strength consuming them in a fevered spiral.

Alchemically, Choler is awakened by brimstone, dragonbone ash, and the powdered teeth of cave apes. It dwells in the sinew-pools of the back, just beneath the scapular vaults, where the muscles cross like a god’s harness.

The Phlegmatic Humour: Milk of the Mind

Phlegmat is not merely mucus, as simple apothecaries claim. It is the cold, white humour, sluggish, yes, but potent in ways the eye cannot see. It clouds the flesh, but sharpens the mind. Those strong in Phlegmat are dreamers, seers, and speakers-without-mouths. They possess psionic abilities, an invisible art born of study and obsession.

Phlegmat gathers in the ventricles of the brain, in the coiled tracts of the gut (which mirror the twists of the skull), and in the pale ganglia that float near the heart’s shadow. It is cool and wet, best cultivated in solitude, under moonlight or during heavy fog. I once treated a prophetess who spoke to storms. Her lungs, when dissected, were filled not with air, but a fine mist that shimmered like pearl-sand. Such is the gift of Phlegmat.

Through this humour, one may move objects without hands, speak into another’s dreams, or pierce illusions. It is tied to the Serpent's Nerve, a hypothesized organ that coils from spine to pineal gland, said to glow in those who reach full Phlegmatic bloom.

Overindulgence in Phlegmat, however, breeds detachment. A patient who dream-walked too often lost track of his own body’s needs; he starved while his mind wandered planes unknown. To temper excess Phlegmat, the body must be heated with spiced wine, flame-dancing, and the consumption of Red Raptor broth.

It is stimulated by moonwater, ghost amber, and the ingestion of live snow-eels. Always keep Phlegmatics near warmth, for their thoughts can crystallize like glaciers, as strong and as implacable.

The Melancholic Humour: Black Bile, Touch of the Weird

Last and most dangerous is Black Bile, also called Melanchol. It is thick, cold, and dry, a dark syrup drawn from the spleen and deeper, from the worm-caverns of the self. It is the humour of mutation, of cosmic knowledge, and of the Weird.

A Melancholic is marked not by sadness, but by strangeness. His flesh may twist, an extra eye, a spiral nail, skin that glistens like chitin. But such changes are not necassarily deformities, they are signs of attunement. Black Bile opens the self to the outer spheres, to the low vibrations of the gods-below and the dreams of star-things. All sorcerers are Melancholics, their minds attuned to signals no man should rightly hear.

It is said that Black Bile originates in the Hollow Organ, a phantom structure said to drift near the kidneys in certain adepts. I have found cysts there in dead witches, sacs filled with ink and teeth. This, I believe, is the Bile gestating.

Too much Melanchol and madness blooms, reality loses its edge, and one may begin to bleed colors that do not exist. Yet to master it is to wield cosmic sorcery: teleportation, transmutation, communion with the Deep Choirs of the void.

It is catalyzed by voidglass, undersalt, and the smoke of dream-moss. Never administer Black Bile to the unprepared, lest their bodies erupt with impossible birthings.

Balance and Treatment

Though each humour grants its own dominion, no one should seek to live in singularity. The art of the physician is not to exalt one humour, but to bring them into accord. Master physiologists teach the Fourfold Test: Sight, Strength, Sound, and Self. Each must be tested in turn. Excess is trimmed. Weakness is fed.

A man too quick must be slowed. A man too strange must be grounded. Health is the river where the humours flow in harmony. But for those who walk the edge – assassins, warlords, sorcerers – the imbalanced state may be a weapon in itself.

This, then, is the truth of man: he is not a creature of flesh alone, but of secret rivers, each flowing with ancient power. I have seen men weep mercury, and women speak with stars. All this, and more, lies within.

Bleed carefully. Feed wisely. Listen to the blood, and it will whisper secrets older than the bones of the moon.

– Galan-Thur

***

Anatomy Lesson

Clinical Record of the Subject Known as Frank Farrell

Prepared by Virelios Quel, Scion-Medic of the House Saar’Jin, Third Tier of the Amber Asp, Master of Corpus Harmonium, and Licensed Diviner in Good Standing with the Uqmai Guild of Humourists.

Date of Examination: 17th Day of the Fourth Moon of the Vermilion Tide

Location: Bathhouse Laboratory, Coral Spire

Patient Name: Frank Farrell (self-reported)

Race: Human male of unknown origin, possible mutant or chimera

Origin: Unknown (claims foreign archipelago; likely false)

Age: Adult, age indeterminate

Condition Upon Arrival: Physically battered, psychologically fatigued

Reason for Examination: Injury assessment and ritual quarantine

History: Subject presents as male, humanoid, approximately 6’3” in height and weighing 230 pounds. Breath carries an ozone tang, not unlike the Rift-Swimmers of the Sulfur Sea. Voice is coarse, yet displays curiously practiced cadence, possibly a trained orator or chorus-bard.

Subject is in acute post-combat distress: blunt trauma to the torso and head, mild dehydration, subcutaneous bruising across the shoulders and neck, contusions to the jaw and wrists. Rapid healing observed even over the course of examination; clotting factors far exceed baseline human levels.

External Observations

Skin: Gray, with shades of plum and turquoise. Not pigmentation, true dermal coloration. Possibly drowned? Do not suspect undead.

Oculars: White irises on black conjunctiva, with photoreactive pupils. Eye musculature appears hypertrophied; possible adaptation for rapid environmental scanning.

Dentition: Humaniform, albeit slightly blunted. Enamel shows signs of acid exposure; may be dietary or chemical.

Hair: Black, thick. Standard human follicle pattern.

Dorsal Spine: Presence of faint ridging around the spine-eye (the third vertebral node, associated with dreams and possession). Agitation with salt of Ammon and fermented urine reveals a faint, dendritic patterning visible subdermally. Possible parasite vs mutation?

Umbilicus: Residual heat and inflammation. Palpable abdominal pulsatile mass, unusual double-beat rhythm, inconsistent with normal heart-plexus cadence. Possibly two overlapping heart-fields?

Humoral Balance

Choler (Might): 10

Excessive, above peak human tolerance. The choleric bile runs thick. Subject's musculature is unnaturally dense and layered with secondary flexor cords. May be augmented through martial rite, hybrid inheritance, or overconsumption of sorcerous herbs.

Sanguine (Cunning): 7

High, below peak human tolerance. Sanguine coloration is deep and dark, between Fire Brick and Maroon on the Freschian Scale. Suggests quick reflexes, keen eye movements, possibly advanced olfactory glands. Enhanced tactile or gustatory abilities unlikely at these levels. No precognition.

Phlegmat (Will): 10

Excessive, above peak human tolerance. The phlegmat reservoirs are highly concentrated, suggesting hypertrophy of glands sensitive to psionic fields. Estimate subject’s innate abilities are equal to a master mentalist of the 2nd rank, maybe low 3rd. Signs of prior psychic invasions?

Melanchol (Weird): 8

High, at peak human tolerance. Glyphs of unknown shape flicker faintly behind the eyes during dreamstate. Significant resonance detected around the spleen-knot and the meatus cordis. Given subject’s aberrant physiology (size, strength, psionics etc.), a commensurate increase in Melanchol is not only expected but, indeed, necessary. A true-form human is simply not capable of his feats. No signs of sorcery use or affinity yet. Subject on the cusp of severe divergence. While I feel comfortable classifying him as Human (deviant) presently, any increase in Melanchol (or exposure to sorcerous energies) may render him inhuman.

Diagnosis: Imbalance of multiple humours, near-dangerous levels.

Abilities Catalogued

Upon induced trance via amber-sap sedation, I was able to isolate five latent psionic abilities, although I suspect there are more. These appear to activate in states of heightened stress and terror. Unclear if subject is aware of these powers or their extent.

Wake of Terror

Proximity aura. Fear emitted like heat haze. Weak-willed foes may falter, hesitate, or flee. Effect tied to Phlegmat level.

Vision of Horror

Targeted hallucination extracted from enemy’s memory lattice. Requires eye contact.

Fear Eater

Converts local terror into metabolic fuel. Increases Might temporarily. Modified by subject’s level of fear. Leaves user with post-effect depletion.

Phobic Tether

Creates a cord of concentrated psionic energy between subject and target. Those caught in the path between suffer psychic damage.

Armored in Dread

Converts local terror into psychoplasmic armor. Psychoplasm is an unstable material, typically only safe for use by advanced mentalists.

Final Assessment

Patient exhibits the telltale signs of ongoing parasitosis vs symbiosis, with localized black veining around the spine-eye, broad irregularities in humoural spectrum, and independent thermal shifts in peripheral limbs. Etiology unclear at this time. Parasite/symbiote is either dormant or evasive.

I recall Master Simiao’s thoughts on symbiosis during a live vivisection of a Bronze Man during my academy days: “One has forgotten how to be human. The other is just beginning to remember.”

Further study required.

Prognosis

The man calling himself Frank Farrell is not native to Argos, nor to any of the fractured realms I have studied. His blood carries an alien taint, something that may be watching, waiting, perhaps even hungering. I cannot yet say if he is a vessel, a weapon, or a mistake.

But I believe he is dangerous.

My warning to PS shall be as follows: He is a storm brewing beneath an unsuspecting sky.

– V.

ADDENDUM (one hour post-exam): Assessment of subject required removal of his equipment, which included a pair of bracers, sandals, a warbelt, a helm, a cloak and various weapons. Shortly after my exam was completed, I was alerted by my assistant to a disturbance in the medical suite. On arrival, I found the subject’s equipment had been moved. The bracers (which appeared to be made of bone), sandals (leather) and warbelt (leather, fur, bone) had been relocated to the exam table, near the subject.

I failed to see why this warranted my attention, until the assistant notified me that neither he, nor any of the other attendants, had moved the subject’s gear. Of note, the subject’s helm (bronze, horsehair), cloak (linen) and weapons (wood, bone, bronze) remained in their original position. Will have assistant lashed for further elucidation. Will monitor closely.

Frank Farrell

Form: Vigilant

Might: 10

Cunning: 7

Will: 10

Weird: 8

ACTION ABILITIES

Fear Eater

Psychoplasm Cost: 5

Draw on the ambient psionic energy of the fearful, using it to fuel your power. Choose any number of target enemies within a 50-foot radius. For each target that is Frightened, gain +1 Might. For each target that is Terrified, gain +2 Might. This effect lasts for a number of minutes equal to 10 x your Might bonus.

When this effect ends, you are Fatigued for a number of minutes equal to 10 x your Might bonus. Once you target an enemy with Fear Eater, it can’t be the target of this ability again for 24 hours.

Vision of Horror

Psychoplasm Cost: 5

Craft a horrific illusion modeled on the deepest fears of your foes. Choose one target enemy within 50 feet whose eyes (or eye) you can see. Create an illusion of the target’s greatest fear at a point within range. The illusion must be a construct no larger than a 20-foot cube. It can incorporate sights and sounds, but no other sensory effects. The target is Terrified as long as this illusion is present. This effect lasts for a number of minutes equal to 2 x your Will.

The construct is intangible and physical interaction with it reveals it to be an illusion, ending its effects early.

Phobic Tether

Psychoplasm Cost: 10

Create a cord of concentrated psionic energy between you and a foe. Choose one target Frightened or Terrified enemy within 60 feet to make a Will save. On a failure, a tether of psionic energy stretches from you to the target and last for up to 5 minutes, or until line of sight is broken. The tether is visible only to those sensitive to psionics; to others, it manifests as a cold pulse or sense of doom when nearing its path. While active:

The target cannot move more than 60 feet away from you.

Anyone (friend or foe) who crosses the tether suffers Psychic Damage (major wound) and must pass a Will save or become Shaken for 1 minute.

You may end the tether early by detonating it, dealing Psychic Damage (major wound) in a 30-foot radius around the target.

If Wake of Terror is active when the tether is created, the initial connection deals damage to the tethered target as well.

Armored in Dread

Psychoplasm Cost: 15

Choose any number of target enemies within a 30-foot radius. For each target that is Frightened or Terrified gain 1 stack of Dreadmail (max of 5 or half your Will score, whichever is higher). Each stack absorbs the full damage of a single attack before shattering. Dreadmail lasts for 1 minute, or until all stacks are broken.

Special:

If Vision of Horror is active, gain 1 bonus stack of Dreadmail.

When a stack is broken by an enemy melee attack, that enemy must make a Will save or become Shaken for 1 round.

Dreadmail absorbs psychic, magical, or physical damage from enemies indiscriminately, but not environmental effects.

REACTION ABILITIES

Wake of Terror

Psychoplasm Cost: Passive

When you kill or incapacitate a creature, all enemies within line of sight must make a Will save or become Frightened of you for 10 minutes. An enemy Frightened in this way can repeat this save if you are no longer in its line of sight. An enemy that succeeds its Will save is immune to this effect for the next 24 hours.

SUPPORT ABILITIES

Vigilante Proficiencies

Psychoplasm Cost: Passive

Armor: Light Armor, Shields

Weapons: Firearms, Fists, Martial Weapons, Shield Fighting

MOVEMENT ABILITIES

Gallows Leap

Psychoplasm Cost: Passive

Increase your High Jump by 5 feet (standing) or 7 feet (running).

Increase your Long Jump by 20 feet (standing) or 25 feet (running).