Daffodil amulets

These amulets provide basic healthcare for anyone living in Tiel. Two daffodil earrings, each enchanted to provide one spell. One amulet releases a spell to cure small wounds; the other releases a spell to cure diseases.

The invention of the amulets

Drorsk Fineward by Décio Júnior

Drorsk Fineward was a forgemaster like his father was before him like his grandmother was before his father.
Drorsk had twins with his wife, Tarna, and they had a pretty good life. Until they discovered their kids had some sort of issue that was making them sick quite constantly. Thanks to Drorsk's divine powers, they managed to keep them alive, but the experience of having sickly kids did not leave Drorsk unchanged. He realised that if it wasn't for his powers, his kids would most likely be dead. Not even people living in cities could have guaranteed access to clerics whenever they would be needed.
This realisation changed the course of Drosk's life, and that of many other people.

Tarna, I want to stop working. I can't keep on going enchanting armour and weapons, knowing other parents like us are mourning their kids because they didn't have a cleric at hand. I think with our savings and your job, we could manage. Just until I find a solution. There must be a way to make sure every child in need is able to access proper healing, no matter where they are or who they are.

— Drorsk

A few years later, Drorsk had a prototype ready: easy to make earrings, that could be placed on babes soon after they were born. One earring would be enchanted to hold a remove disease spell, the other one, a cure light wounds spell. Should a kid become sick, their parents could activate the spell in the ring by speaking the words on the runes.

by Shiprock

But the rings themselves wouldn't suffice. Someone had to make them, and recharge them when the spells were used. Once he had tested the rings with neighbours and extended family members, he asked for a meeting of all runesmiths in the city. There, he proposed the creation of the Daffodil order, named for the shape he had created the earrings with (the favourite flower of the twins).
The discussion lasted for months, but eventually, it was clear that enough runesmiths saw the benefits and importance of what Drosk was proposing. And thus, the order was created. Runesmiths and forgemasters alike who were in favour of the measure joined the order en masse.

The spread of the amulets

Over the next centuries, the amulets spread throughout Gwoinarve, Drosk's country, and beyond. The order knew no borders, and if they had the capacity to help the next town village, they did, regardless of which country was it located on. And so they started spreading all over Tiel.

by Nikki

While the initial focus was on children, over time the amulets started to cover people of all ages. Amulets for those below their teenage years were free and so were the recharge of spells. The recharging of spells for older kids and adults was charged, in order to maintain the order.
During the Third Northern War the order took quite a hit, as many runesmiths were lost from Skofisbrug. But when 100 years later, the Federation of Tiel took place, the order's importance rose dramatically. The Daffodil order was put forward as one of the cohesive organizations whose values all the 12 regions of Tiel agreed on. And thus, the newly formed council agreed to partly take on the costs of the amulet production (those who the order itself had been paying). The payment system for young adults and adults was slightly modified and refined.

by Giovanni Battista Torriglia

The plague and the amulets

When the first severe symptoms of the new disease were felt, people in Tiel automatically went and tried to use their remove disease earring. When that didn't work, some confused people tried to use their light cure wounds earring. A lot of people asked for a favour and used someone else's earring. Others sent someone to enquire with the Daffodil order. A few stayed in uneasy bedrest, worrying about what kind of disease they had that the earring could not cure it.
The plague spread slow, and thus the alarm about the earrings not working did not spread immediately throughout the whole order. Some clerics did not think it worth it to use several sending spell to communicate it to their superiors and other branches, and thus they sent letters. Others worried since even if the disease wasn't spreading right now, this was the first disease to which the amulets did not work against. They used their spells to send spells through the variety of spells they had at their disposal. A few even decided to travel back to the closest Daffodil order base to report this occurrence.
Months after, with increasing rates of people being infected, and many dying of the plague, the daffodil order was in disarray. Everyone was doing everything they could to help, but nothing was enough. Not even the strongest spells from the strongest clerics on the order were enough to cure someone from the plague. Research, experimentation, the return to pre-amulet medicinal methods... they tried everything, and they failed at everything.

I do not know how the order will ever recover after this. People trusted us and we let them down.

— A defeated Rainol Sardam

Impact

Tiel's dominance of trade and political power over the other two continents was uncontestable prior to the plague. And one of the reasons for this was the improved well-being of its citizens, who not only saw a dramatic decrease in child mortality, but also a reduction in adult mortality and debilitating diseases.