A vile document...
The battered leatherbound journals of Jonquiere de Gevaud (the famed Poisoner of Montcreux) are a harrowing read. This haphazard collection of log entries, diagrams, alchemical formulas, arcane theories, and letters-never-sent is equal parts medical notebook, pharmacological codex, magical tome, and diary of a serial killer.
Much of the content is esoteric in the extreme, and so specialized that even many versed in magic, alchemy, or medicine might find it challenging, obtuse, and blasphemous in equal measures. Throughout it all, the telltale signs of Gevaud’s madness and sadism bleed through the vellum in jarring ways.
Much of the content is esoteric in the extreme, and so specialized that even many versed in magic, alchemy, or medicine might find it challenging, obtuse, and blasphemous in equal measures. Throughout it all, the telltale signs of Gevaud’s madness and sadism bleed through the vellum in jarring ways.
The state of the journals bespeaks a brilliant, erratic, and deeply disturbed mind. Some sections are orderly and coherent, while others are torn and scrawled every which way, and stained with fluids best left unidentified. From page-to-page, courtly, obsequious epistles interweave with unhinged screeds that betray a violent mania seemingly at odds with the man’s mild exterior.
Included here are many notes on poisons and diseases Gevaud concocted and tested, recounted in stomach-turning detail. Alongside his alchemical notes are far too many unsettlingly lucid, clinical descriptions of graphic indignities he has wrought on living human bodies, supposedly in the pursuit of his science.
The worst parts are the illustrations.
Gevaud the Blight Doctor was a genius and an innovator of rare vision... but also an inhuman monster of staggering cruelty. Spending too much time in this man’s thoughts and deeds carries a price - it infects one with nightmarish visions and a feverish revulsion that claws at the mind and sickens the soul.
All in all, this tome stands as an obscene testament to a lifetime of fiendish deeds, with a body count that stretches across the continent. It is indeed very hard to think back to the moment of Gevaud's violent death after the taking of El Tiburon, and not bitterly regret the fact that his suffering was only all too brief.
However, in all of this horror, there are a couple of entries that draw your attention...
A journal entry from several months prior to his death...
I am happy to report that my research has progressed in my work for his lordship, and I expect a breakthrough soon. However, I must be clear with him that the particulars of his request will require a rather different solution than the one I once provided to his esteemed father long ago.The deterioration of the vocal cords was a known side-effect of that treatment at that time, which of course was considered acceptable by the late Count -- perhaps even desirable. However, based on what his lordship has reported of the condition of his "wards" in recent years, it appears that although their physical dependency upon the old formula remains, the mental and physical advantages once granted them by the drug have diminished over such long-term usage.I will beg his lordship’s pardon for this oversight. My expertise is now much-improved since last I was employed by his noble family, and I feel I should offer apologies for the earnest but unworthy results I was able to produce at that time.All of that said, my research has turned a corner. In spite of the unusual challenges involved in procuring it, this new and otherworldly substance shows tremendous promise for one with the skill to unlock it.As has been demonstrated this past year, dilutions of the substance ingested orally or absorbed nasally yield a palpable effect on the body and mind of subjects, but these results are nonetheless disappointing. The increased physical strength and endurance is attributable to the suppression of pain and also the stimulation of the metabolism, but these benefits are only short-term.
Additionally, while a subject's reaction speed may also become heightened, and both the fear and empathy responses are suppressed, a subject's overall mental acuity and psychological stability is reduced. They become highly erratic, impulse-driven, and uncontrollable. Prolonged usage of the concoction contributes to cumulative and permanent degradation of the mind, which almost certainly will lead to insanity and an early death.
This effect is most interesting to study of course, and may lead to other applications, but sadly these limitations are not conducive to his lordship's goals.
Using a more concentrated dose is also not recommended. Even in small quantities, the purer forms are nearly always fatal. Until recently, my conclusion was that Di Frezzi was simply an exceptional subject, which was both fascinating and unsatisfying. However, I have now isolated the flaw in my previous tests - the key lies not in the ratio of the compound itself, but with the state of mental and physical development of the subject.All prior testing had been undertaken with subjects who had already passed fully into adulthood. Due to his, shall we say, unique childhood, Di Frezzi was exposed to a pure form of the compound from a very early age, and yet he demonstrates none of the expected side-effects observed in other long-term subjects. He is now nearly fifty years of age, but I have noted no mental or physical degradation, even of the kind normally associated with senescence. On the contrary, this subject is exceedingly strong, and startlingly clear-headed even under adverse conditions. Although his physical dependency on the substance remains constant, his uptake of the positive effects of even the concentrated dose is both stable and frankly phenomenal.
I had wrongly hypothesized that this was a matter of tolerance, of building a resistance in small quantities over many years. This is not quite the case. Without the benefit of measured dosing prepared by an apothecary, Di Frezzi has always consumed the substance at a very high potency. I now believe that due to its Faerie origin, the so-called "wild magick" contained within this substance operates counter-intuitively. Hence, one cannot rely upon normal alchemical calculations and rules to extrapolate results. Instead one must form a new body of knowledge through rigorous experimentation and repetition.Fortunately, through my present circumstances here on El Tiburon, I have been blessed with many opportunities to test my new formulations on a variety of subjects who fall within the desired age categories. Though there have been setbacks, nonetheless this new direction has born fruit. The results have been undeniable.As part of my arrangement with the Captain, I have prepared a shipment of the new formulation to be conveyed to his lordship through the usual clandestine channels, along with instructions for testing. I have every confidence that the new dosing regimen with the refined concentrate will yield his desired outcome in younger candidates, provided the dosing begins sufficiently early, ideally to candidates no older than thirteen years of age.
Allowing for developmental variances in his subjects, he should realize a survival rate upward of sixty-seven percent, which should be acceptable, especially compared with the numbers seen on previous trials.
Gevaud mentions the figure he calls "his lordship" again, this time in what appears to be a letter composed but unsent. Likely Gevaud planned to send this message the next time he made landfall, but was unable to do so due to his violent and overdue demise...
Your lordship,I must thank you for the details provided in your previous correspondence, and the demonstration you provided on our last meeting. This esoteric foreign knowledge you have shared with me is of tremendous interest to me.
While my practice has isolated similar trigger points in the human body which can affect the organs responsible for regulating bodily humours, the notion of activating all of them in concert, not through pharmaceutical intervention but manually, through physical contact with such a small region of the body - this is something not recorded in any of the texts that I am familiar with.My initial hypothesis was that this technique required the manipulation of magical energies through an arcane formula to achieve such a powerful effect, but your training suggests a fundamentally different metaphysical system of principles, quite unlike those practiced in Duatha. Sadly, my testing following your notes remains inconclusive, since this technique rests upon the manipulation of mystic forces that I am unfamiliar with, and which are not well-studied by the great scientific magicians of the West.And more, to have mastered this technique in such a short time surely demonstrates your lordship’s profound talent. Should it suit your lordship, I would be most interested and eternally grateful if we might arrange for a series of tests when next we meet. I will speak to the Captain in order to reserve suitable subjects for testing, of course, as I would not dream of asking you to procure your own for my frivolous whims.On that note, the winter winds are already upon us, and I expect your business in Iagos has already passed. I fear by the time this letter reaches you, it will sadly be too late for us to meet at our usual place near the port of Gruzyiva.
This is most unfortunate, as the Tiburon's expedition this season has been long but very fruitful, and I know you would prefer having first pick of the stock before we proceed to the slave markets in Rastania. If this is the case, I shall attend you next year in the springtime, at the meeting place near the Delta.
GevaudI will be most curious to hear of how your own work has fared with the refined formulas I sent you last season.
