Gaelen was a High Elf physician renowned in the Old World as perhaps the greatest expert on herbs and their use in medicine.[1a]
Not far from the border of present-day Tilea in the ancient city of Tinea millennia ago, Myrmidia, the goddess of war and strategy, discovered ancient texts penned by the High Elf scholar Gaelen. She was intrigued by the complexity of the anatomical drawings found within, so passed them on to the cult of her divine mother, Verena, the goddess of law and knowledge.[3a] The Cult of Verena still houses the original writings of the High Elven physician in the Great Library in Altdorf.[2a]
Gaelen's Anatomy[]
The beginnings of medicine in the Empire and indeed the Old World are generally attributed to the works of the High Elf Gaelen. In the years following the foundation of Sigmar's Empire, scholars and scribes transcribed many great Elven works in order to build the first great library of Altdorf. The most comprehensive guide to herbs and their healing properties of that time is today known as the Book of Gaelen due to its most commonly cited source.[1a]
Of course, all the originals have been lost, and who knows how those first translators -- and the countless since -- may have perverted the true Elven wisdom or excised the contributions of other great scholars. Yet the book remains authoritative, not least because of its Elven pedigree, and few are the physicians who do not keep a modern printing on their shelves, almost as if it were a badge of office.[1a]
Over 2,000 years later,Gaelen's Anatomy is a primary medical textbook of the Empire, celebrated by the Tinean Fellowship. Doktor Festus, a prominent Imperial physician based in Salzenmund, founded the fellowship. Ostensibly, it operates as a loose confederation of learned doctors, exchanging information on rare and infectious diseases, but it is so much more, for it is actually a Chaos Cult dedicated to the service of Nurgle.[3a]
Gaelenic Versus Mechanical Theory of the Body[]
Gaelen saw the physical body as sacred and inviolate, to be nurtured as a whole, never cut apart, while during the Tilean renaissance the school of thought known as the "Mechanicals" saw the body as nothing more than a giant machine made of many organic cogs; to throw open such a machine was as natural as examining the workings of a clock or millwheel, and to cut and amputate as natural as tightening a screw.[1a]
Of course, many physicians could see elements of truth in the positions held by both sides, and today there are very few that will never perform amputations or refuse to see the value in holistic theories. There remain some, however, for whom the question is one of morality and even religious faith, and every student of medicine inherits one or the other stance from their tutor or college. As a result, the Gaelenic/Mechanical split continues to characterise modern medicine in the Old World.[1a]
Trivia[]
Gaelen is inspired by the real world figure of Aelius Galenus (129 – ca. 201 A.D.), a Greek physician, surgeon, and philosopher in the Roman Empire, who was considered to be one of the most accomplished of all physicians of antiquity. Galen influenced the development of various biomedical disciplines, including anatomy, physiology, pathology, pharmacology, and neurology, as well as philosophy and logic.