Overview of Xianzhou's Materia Medica

The Unorthodox Collection ... ... The Comprehensive Handbook of Exotic Knowledge On a literal level, "Exotic Knowledge" could be construed to mean "knowledge from outworlders." However, at the height of the Alchemy Commission, the Alliance was almost completely dependent on the progress of medical science. Therefore, the "Exotic Knowledge" in The Comprehensive Handbook of Exotic Knowledge specifically refers to "medical science from outworlders." This book is also the first work in the history of the Alliance that systematically presented the medical science of foreign civilizations. The Comprehensive Handbook of Exotic Knowledge occupies an important place in the history of the Xianzhou civilization's contact with the outside world. It could even be said that the book had profoundly influenced the direction of the Xianzhou civilization's development, shaping the Alliance into what it is today. The author of this book is unknown. It is thought to be a collective work from the Alchemy Commission staff of the Xianzhou Yuque and Yaoqing. According to The Chronicles of the Yuque, the editing of this book was a part of the "Exotic Knowledge Revival Movement" spearheaded by Dieyu, the Cauldron Master of Yuque's Alchemy Commission at the time. It is commonly thought that Dieyu also directly led the editing of The Comprehensive Handbook of Exotic Knowledge. When published, The Comprehensive Handbook of Exotic Knowledge was split into three volumes according to civilization clusters, with four chapters in each volume. The first volume was "The IPC Volume," the second was "The Guild Volume," and the third was "The Abomination Volume." The third volume encountered significant push back toward publication. Even though Dieyu overcame public scrutiny, the third volume was only made available seventy years after the first two had been published. Time proved that "The Abomination Volume" provided a very positive contribution to the development of Xianzhou's medical sciences. After all, both the IPC and the Guild are civilizations dominated by short-life species, and the residents within their domains have drastically different anatomies and physiology to long-life species. Though the Alliance could learn from their scientific thought processes and medical technologies, there was only so much to gain from them. Meanwhile, the topic of investigation for "The Abomination Volume" are the Denizens of Abundance, long-life species just like the Xianzhou residents. Wingweavers and borisin have always had their own unique medical science systems, but the Xianzhou natives habitually looked down upon these abominations' technical achievements in the millennia prior. Now, we are well aware of the kind of danger that lurks in our arrogance and spite toward enemies. However, for the Xianzhou natives of the time, publishing a work such as "The Abomination Volume" that humbly learned from our enemies was practically tantamount to treason. Thankfully, Dieyu was able to withstand pressure and could rid the entire Alliance of the shackles of arrogance and spite, thus obtaining more useful knowledge. Grand Encyclopedia of Xianzhou — Chapter on Medical Sciences This book was authored by Izumitamagawa bint Amatullah from the IPC, who was an expert on the study of Xianzhou, a natural scientist, and a writer. In the year 7032, 23-year-old Izumitamagawa arrived at the Xianzhou Zhuming as a trade specialist, and resided there as a visitor for the rest of her life. She realized that the cosmos' knowledge of the Xianzhou Alliance at the time was mostly based on incomplete stories or unfounded rumors. Therefore, she resolved to author an epic work that would comprehensively present the Xianzhou civilization to foreigners. That was how, forty years later, the Grand Encyclopedia of Xianzhou was born. The Chapter on Medical Sciences features prominently in this epic work, taking up almost one-third of the pages. In the Chapter on Medical Sciences, Izumitamagawa used the IPC's medical system to classify all the medical and pharmacological works that could be found in the entire Xianzhou Alliance, as well as recounting their histories and explaining their principles. While the Chapter on Medical Sciences is only an amateur piece of work when compared against professional pharmacopoeias and medical textbooks, this publication still managed to achieve Izumitamagawa's original goal of letting every traveler understand Xianzhou's medical sciences. ... ...