How Advanced Is Medical Knowledge & Tech in Eorzea?

[Bright-Flower]

I definitely agree an interesting thing to consider is the impact of the calamities on Hydaelyn as a whole and their effects on technology. Compared to many previous calamities, Eorzea seems to have recovered remarkably well from the Seventh Umbral Calamity when you consider how much knowledge and tech was lost in previous ones just from civilizations like Alag, the Mhachi, and the Amdapori alone. Of course, the traces exist, but there are few left who can comprehend them.

Yeah, those prior eras unfortunately didn't have Louisoux (I'm sure I misspelled that) to stop their calamities before the worst of it happened. I'm sure those five years were rough and all but the current era really got off easy compared to prior civilization leveling calamities.

[Jonnycbad]

Magic like Raise/Ascend/Resurrection/Verraise/Phoenix Down do not bring people back to life. When you are "killed" in combat, you are not actually dead, but rather simply knocked unconscious by the injury and are moments away from dying. The spells resuscitate you and restore a enough health for you to continue fighting. If you are knocked unconscious outside of a raid and you let the time go to 0, your blessing of light as a WoL instinctively and subconsciously has you return to the last attuned aetheryte "homepoint".

The status when you "die" reads:

Knocked Out: Knocked Out (K.O.) is the state in which a character has no HP remaining.

[MrThinker]

I think besides the whole Lousoix preventing the worst part, you have to remember that it is not directly the Eorzean people's fault the calamity happened, and so did not see the need to completely and utterly fall into a state of anarchy. IIRC, after the 3rd, 4th and 6th calamities, people distanced themselves from the philosophies of their old societies because they blamed those tenets for what happened.

[MrThinker]

(On my phone so can't edit my prior post apparently)

After the 3rd calamity, priests and clergy were ostracized. After the 4th calamity, people actively went about destroying all of the technology they could find, and men of learning were either exiled or executed. After the 6th calamity, magic was pretty much taboo, and mages were persistently persecuted until fairly recently.

[Kacho_Nacho]

(On my phone so can't edit my prior post apparently)

After the 3rd calamity, priests and clergy were ostracized. After the 4th calamity, people actively went about destroying all of the technology they could find, and men of learning were either exiled or executed. After the 6th calamity, magic was pretty much taboo, and mages were persistently persecuted until fairly recently.

Yes, there was a lot of turmoil and the general populace took their anger out on the individuals who brought about the calamity. The recurring refrain is civilization rebuilds itself then pride brings about another calamity.

It will be interesting to see how this is handled in ShadowBringer.

It seems to me there has to be many groups besides the Scions seeking to regain knowledge which was lost during the Umbral Ages. Perhaps, we shall see more instances how that regained knowledge is used or abused.

We have already encountered a tragic situation with Edda and the misuse of white magic. Not all magi-medical knowledge is good.

[Wyssahtyn]

We have already encountered a tragic situation with Edda and the misuse of white magic. Not all magi-medical knowledge is good.

Edda was just a conjurer and was likely misled by voidsent into believing she could resurrect her dead fiance.

[Fenral]

I believe there were interviews back in the 1.0 era to the effect that they were aiming for a 1700s tech-level (or was it 17th century?). Problem is, a lot of the feats of engineering just casually on display in Gridania and Limsa actually put the mean tech-level closer to the mid-to-late 19th century, even if you leave out the obvious fantasy tech like airships. Ul'dah and Ishgard are clearly past their industrial revolutions, and one FATE ("Orobon Part Two: The Spawning") even casually mentions a moving picture show, which would be in line with the latter end of that estimate.



Every time I contemplate this issue, I can't help but feel like it's just the medical tech that's really behind the rest. Even if you allow for a little wiggle-room in tech-tree progression, Eorzea should at least be on the verge of some major medical breakthroughs. but it often seems like most explicitly stated medical knowledge is anachronistically old.

[Sounsyy]

With all this mix of technology, how advanced is the knowledge and technology of current Eorzea? Specifically, compared to a doctor on Earth, how does your average conjurer or Eorzean physician size up?

What do you think? I'd love to read your thoughts.

Late to the party, and there have been a few really great responses in the thread already, but I have a few dedicated posts to the topic that you might find helpful:

Magical & Non-magical Healing Lore - As others have said, Eorzea rests in a strange quasi-Humours Theory era approaching more modern scientific alchemical breakthroughs in the area of medicine. Magic can be a boon to healing (but is not the end-all be all), but only if you have magic available to you in your area. Non-magical herbal healing is most prevalent across Eorzea for this reason.

Technological Advancement in Modern Eorzea - While the post primarily focuses on airships and airship technology, the progression of this technology seemingly runs concurrently with the overall technological advancement of Eorzea, up to the invention of Magitek and the eventual makings of an industrial revolution when it finally comes to Eorzea. The post does skip over clockwork tech (the standard tech used in most places across Eorzea), however, so I'll make mention that, while the Garlond Ironworks has introduced magitek technology to the city-states of Eorzea, its use and prevalence is restricted by the scarcity of materials and ceruleum in Eorzea. Therefor most places in Eorzea, especially smaller hamlets, exist in a low-tech, pre-Magitek clockwork era of technology.

(Finally, I saw a brief tangent into the consequences of the Calamity of Water on Eorzea's lack of scientific/arcane progression, so I thought I'd link this post as it goes a bit more into this period.)

Hope this helps, OP!

[LineageRazor]

Since my original post in this thread about illnesses being rare, I did think of one interesting counterexample that weakens my theory.

In the Stormblood White Mage storyline, the mother of the prodigal Padjal at the center of the storyline is suffering from some kind of wasting disease. As it turns out, she was also host to a particularly vile Voidsent, which may or may not have been causing the disease - but whether it was or not, no one really seemed to think of her disease as anything UNUSUAL. The vibe was more, tragic, but all-too common.

I think they did mention that she'd be better off under the care of the Conjurers of Gridania (something she refused, as she rightly assumed the Padjal would take her daughter away), but I don't think it was ever stated that they would for certain be able to cure her.

Anyway, just something else to chew on.