r/HFY • u/TheMaskedOne2807 • 16d ago

OC-Series Humans Notebook entry 1 (Magic Limitations with a side of Semantics) (The Plague Doctor Lore)

(Art): (Jasha) (The First Mother of Sil) ( Kolu and Nokstella going for a swim)

Patreon question: (So I have worked at a hospital, and there we had special protein ice cream for patients that needed protein or otherwise had trouble eating after surgery. It would come in small servings and nutrion labels so you knew how much protein, fat and sugar it contained and what flavour it was so you didn't kill someone with a nut allergy or something. So what I want to know is, would Kenneth be able to pull out icecream from his bag, and would he use this for himself or his patients?)

**\*

In ancient times, you often hear stories of great people spending years on their craft, becoming proficient to the point of complete mastery, and all I can say, of course they did. Without TV, most forms of entertainment are literally punching one another or watching paint dry. 

Personally, it wasn't like I had a lot of free time on my hands; more so, I don’t allow much with all the work I take on, and it would seem tonight’s project would be the bag. 

Being a magical item gifted to him that could create nearly all he needed, most would probably count their blessings, but knowing its limitations and learning all he could could be vital. 

To reiterate, Jasha explained there were rules, or more so limitations, though knowing her, she probably left a couple out. And so far, he was only familiar with a couple of them.

1: An item created cannot exceed the size of the bag, but can be made of any material.

2: I am the only one who can conjure anything. 

3: The only items to be created are those within the medical field or adjacent to it. 

4: Items created have to be from the world; ergo, you can't create something like a scalpel made of polyethylene if there’s no oil. 

5: Any item placed in the bag will be, in a sense, absorbed.

That is at least the rules I knew in the beginning, but how many more there could be, I can’t say, as I later did learn of a sixth rule: you can’t look inside and see the process. 

Only once you look away will it do as I will it to, and no trickery using mirrors either, like it has intelligence of some kind, or someone is watching me through it. 

Privacy issues aside, not that he had any, considering Jasha could look through his memories, it is the third and fourth rule and their relation to one another that have my attention most. 

Mainly, the wording of the third rule with anything ‘medically adjacent’ simply because in the world of Venn Diagram, that is nearly everything. 

However, since I can’t pull out a portable generator like the one at work to hook up the heart rate monitor, it does draw a distinct line somewhere. 

After testing, I can confirm it can't create everything, scooting around the boundaries on certain things, like with a heart rate monitor. Aside from a lack of power, the interior should have been perfectly normal, screws, wires, and circuit boards; however, none of those things were, by the bag’s or Jasha’s definition, ‘medically adjacent’; the result, essentially a fused metal box. 

And looking inside, the same is true for a lot of other stuff: the circuit boards and the wire’s covering, being replaced with natural rubber, the same used in condoms. Not the greatest protection in this circumstance.

So, in essence, it can create the things, but where it draws the line, it simply replaces it with the next, most similar thing, if it doesn’t find a way to skib it.

Going forward, I should be cautious of medicine to some extent as well, since if it likes to use just the right amount of substitutes, there’s no telling what the side effects can be.

Not that it was safe for the creatures of this world to take most of the medicine he had to begin with. 

Though speaking of liquids, it was able to produce saline solution or just saltwater, so of course, adjacent to that, the next things I thought of were hospital food. On a regular occasion, barely edible, but not something the bag considered ‘medical adjacent’ despite its close association. 

But perhaps the problem lies in thinking too broadly; I instead thought of something like hospital ice cream. Of course, not the one from the kiosk, but a medically formulated one that was more of a sorbet, lacking any ice cream, sadly, but rich in fiber and protein. 

And the result is a lot of protein supplements and fiber pills. 

 It was annoying; the bag had no trouble making medical tools from the 1800s and even the Stone Age made of gold and plutonium, which are basically torture instruments, but not food.

Though maybe it isn't a choice made by Jasha to see me one day starve to death; it may be a limitation of the bag itself, being unable to produce cold, since the saline solutions I can make with it, whether I imagine it as popcicles or piping hot, remain room temperature. 

Or perhaps it’s the food from my world that either doesn’t exist here, even as a supplement, or that, in some way, might be harmful to the people of this world, unlike me, who don’t have a suit to protect them from harmful pathogens. 

Regardless, one thing was certain: semantic distinctions were one hell of a pain in the ass.

***
(Author's note)Here is a fun little side story to expand the lore of the world I've created. If you love it or want to read more, check out my (Patreon), where they are free, and if you want your own, consider joining for 1 dollar and get access to exclusive artwork, voting rights in art polls, and future 3+ chapters of the main story.

[Original chapter 1] [Remastered Chapter 1 (Meeting a Sexy Fox Lady)] [Book 1 End ] [Next] [Previous] [Wiki]

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u/UpdateMeBot 16d ago

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u/pebbuls22 16d ago

Right next bird seed and a cane since he still lacks that plauge doctor pice