Of Flesh and Ice

[p]Greetings, sailors ⚓👋[/p][p][/p][p]In this devlog, we invite you to step once more upon the frozen decks of HMS Chione, where we shall recount the manner in which sickness and the ship’s infirmary shape the fate of our rescue expedition 🧭[/p][p][/p][p]Life aboard a vessel dispatched upon so hazardous an enterprise is perilous even in the best of seasons; yet when the ship becomes imprisoned in the merciless ice during the long polar night, and hope itself seems to withdraw from the hearts of the men, peril takes on a crueler form still ⚠️[/p][p][/p][p][/p][p]In such dire circumstances, ailments and injuries become constant companions - grim visitors with whom you, as captain of HMS Chione⚓, must contend.[/p][p][/p][p]We have previously spoken of the crew’s well - being, for in Terror: Endless Night the preservation of a sailor’s health stands among the foremost duties of command. Should a man’s strength decline to nothing, he perishes, leaving behind only the faint memory of his service among those who yet endure⏳[/p][p][/p][p]Yet misfortune seldom travels alone. A sailor may be stricken by specific maladies, scurvy foremost among them, its onset tied to the waning of his vitality. Others arise from the nature of his labour; those who tend the furnace may suffer grievous burns. Still others might be consequences of justice meted ou, should a man transgress, the lash may be employed, and with it the cruel wounds it inflicts 🩸[/p][p][/p][p][/p][p]When sickness or injury 🤒 befalls a member of the company, he is marked with a “disease perk,” and in the ship’s Book of Afflictions one may peruse the dire effects associated with each misfortune. A broken limb, for instance, renders a man unfit for the heavy labours of the ship—such as the brutal work of cutting through the pack ice—yet he may still serve on watch or assist in the galley. But beware: untreated injuries fester. Should a wound be neglected, infection may take hold and, in time, demand the horror of amputation 🪚[/p][p][/p][p]As for the healing - HMS Chione ⚓ bears within her hull a modest hospital, overseen by the chief doctor. There, afflicted sailors may be conveyed, and after a span of days find their strength renewed. Some maladies require precious medicines, the ship’s stores of which are meagre indeed; others may be soothed more swiftly should the doctor employ such rare remedies. Yet the cots are few, and so the burden falls to you, Captain, to determine who shall be granted treatment, and when. You may choose to expend your medicine generously—or to hold it in reserve. Perhaps you may even abandon the sick to their fate, driving them to toil in bleak conditions until death claims them as surely as the ice 🧊[/p][p][/p][p][/p][p]Thus the systems of health, sickness, and hospital are bound together like the rigging of the ship - each tug upon one thread echoing through the rest. Should you tend faithfully to the welfare of your men, maladies will remain few. But neglect their health, and suffering shall multiply: hands will grow too feeble to keep the vessel in order, or death shall stalk the decks, sowing disloyalty 🗡️ and madness 🌀 among those who remain.[/p][p][/p][p]We trust this system shall present you with many trials and decisions as weighty as the ice that hems you in ❄️[/p]