Psychic Surgeries

Psychic Surgeries are a controversial element of Northern Modern Medicine practiced by a few doctors in the North. It is considered a pseudoscience by the mainstream NMM practitioners, but is still sometimes performed in their schools for further testing of its efficacy.

History
The idea of physical objects containing certain healing powers has its origins in both Northern and Southern schools of thought. The ancient Palmyran believed that certain stones contained powerful auras that could change behavior as early as 2000 A.E. To this day, traditional Kuddian Medicine utilizes healing crystals in their treatments of ailments. In the North, sacred relics are often attributed great healing powers due to the Holy Blood of the martyrs and saints who once used them. For this reason, relics of the body such as bones, blood, or hair are considered more potent for the treatment of disease.

Psychic surgery began as a response to the invasive procedures being performed in schools of Northern Modern Medicine beginning around the mid-90s A.E. The first to outline the hypothetical surgery was a Doctor Vasharni Burastutal, the son of Ihjargan immigrants from southern Fleur who had been taught under Sir Luka Petrikov directly at the Petrikov Sanitarium for the Rehabilitation of the Insane and Malformed. After viewing several failed trepanations and lobotomies, Vasharni combined knowledge he had learned from his parents on the importance of crystal healing with his formal training to produce the paper On the Creation of Lesions Through Crystal Treatments. This work would become the foundation of thought on psychic surgeries, though it would remain mostly ignored until the early 30s AE.

In 37 A.E., Emmerit Luvovich reread Burastutal's paper and decided to attempt what the former had only theorized. Importing several crystals of specific cut from Kudd, he performed the first psychic surgery on patient M in 35 at the Petrikov Sanitarium. He found success, able to stop the psychotic tendencies of the young patient M through the manipulation of the crystals on his shaved scalp. He described this as creating sham lesions within the energy channels of the brain. His lectures on the subject became quite popular. However, by the late 20s, the non-replicateable nature of his surgeries were becoming apparent and excitement over the procedures died down in favor of the traditional surgical methods. Still, the subject was taught on a request basis at the Sanitarium into the Current Era.

By the late 80s C.E., psychic surgery had regained a small following who swore by its effectiveness. The Lord and Lady of Oligarden claimed that psychic surgery performed by Mikael Svetvirden cured their son's developmental delays. Currently, the practice is relatively rare, still controversial within NMM, and its effectiveness uncertain.

Description
While no standardized practice exists for a psychic surgery typically it is performed as such. The surgeon prepares by shaving the patients head, which is usually rubbed with some form of oil to be lubricated for the crystals. Lights are then dimmed as low as possible, only bright enough for the surgery to be performed. Some surgeons insist that loud sounds be made during the procedure, specifically the humming of a turning wheel or a tea kettle whistling. Then, the crystals are placed on various portions of the skull, pushed at various pressures and held for different lengths of times. This can go on for minutes or hours. When the surgeon deems it over, the procedure ends. Some insist on the importance of drawing certain signs on the scalp.