With the great Thoomish oral tradition, most major Thoomish heros live well
documented lives, with almost any detail being meticulously recorded through the
ages. Contrary to this, much of Piter Yadul's life has always been a great
mystery. One of the greatest Thoomish heros in recorded history, the details of
Yadul's life have been some of the most controversial subjects in Thoomish
culture. Even the Dwarven, Human, and Sylvan cultures have become intertwined in
the controversy.
The best estimate of Piter Yadul's birth date is in the year 172 BA. There are
virtually no records of Yadul's live before the year 152 BA. The records of his
hometown, his birthday, his schooling, and even his parents have been lost in
time. Much has been made of his schooling, most people believe that his healing
skills could only have come from The Academy, but no records indicate a student
of his age and name ever attending The Academy. Both the Dwarven and Sylvan
races insist that Yadul studied herbal lore with some of their great masters, but
there is no documented proof that Yadul ever left his native soil.
The first recorded bit of Yadul's life is in the year 152 BA. He signed on as a
3rd mate aboard the merchant ship "Tandor". The "Tandor" was an old ship
recently acquired from a bankrupt trading company, and as such was frequently
assigned the most risky runs. This meant plenty of operating time in the Far
Isles, which are still considered one of the most dangerous places to sail.
Yadul served under Captain Pachorn, whom mercantile records show to be a
competent, but not exceptional Captain. It seems likely he learned many of the
skills that would serve him later in his career under Pachorn's tutelage. Again,
not much is know of his career aboard the "Tandor", the only real records being
his promotion to 2nd mate in 147 BA, followed by his transfer to the merchant
ship "Pamool" in 146 BA.
Most scholars pretty much agree the "Pamool" was a pretty ugly ship by Thoomish
(or even Human) standards. In fact, the records of a few of the Human sailors
aboard frequently refer to the ship as the "Pack Mule" or even just the "Mule".
The "Pamool" was built to haul cargo, and in spite of her looks, she did it well.
According to the books, the "Pamool" was one of the most profitable ships of the
day, and a likely posting for a promising sailor. Captain Sven Thomasson was one
of the few Human Captains in the Thoomish trading fleets, and is sometimes
thought to have played the villain in the events that follow, but most of the
accusations against him were proven false centuries ago. In fact, to get that
far as a Human, his skill as a ship's Captain must have been exceptional indeed.
Yadul served a few uneventful years aboard the "Pamool", but his life was about
to change in the year 132 BA.
Records show that the "Pamool" was on routine delivery of medicinal herbs to the
Far Isle of Medos when a severe storm came out of nowhere. Struggling to keep
his ship safe, the Captain and 1st mate were at the helm when disaster struck. A
crewman lost his balance and bumped the capstan, jamming the main sail. Before
the rest of the crew could repair the capstan, the mast gave way. The remains of
the main sail were quickly cleared, but not before it took the Captain and mate
with it. The senior 2nd mate seeing the ship out of control made a dash for the
helm, but the sea swept him aside as it did the sail. Yadul knew that if he
could not make it to the wheel, the ship would soon be smashed to bits. Making a
run for the helm, nearly getting washed over twice, Yadul made it and righted the
ship. Maneuvering the ship with skill, the storm passed by, but his work was not
done.
The storm was devastating to the ship, not only had the lives of the three senior
officers been lost, but so had a third of the crew, including the ships doctor.
The few who remained were battered and bruised, many with serious injury. Yadul
proved his mettle here as well, setting broken bones and mending cuts as well as
any doctor. The crew started to recover but there were still many challenges to
be faced. Not only was the ship's rigging in pieces, the crew was lost as well.
Luckily Yadul remained calm, he remembered the currents this time of year were
northward, and set his crew about repairing the sails. We set sail west
knowing he would eventually reach land. Though long overdue, half starved, and
given up for lost, Yadul sailed into port nearly a month late. The ship and crew
returned home to a hero's welcome, and Yadul was immediately promoted to the rank
of Captain, and give the command of the "Padool".
Much of the time to follow was too well documented, making it hard to tell the
real stories from the fiction. Conflicting reports of dangerous missions, whole
series of books devoted to his battles against pirates that did not exist are
common in this period. The few seemingly reliable reports indicate he did have
many dangerous missions and did even meet a few pirates of his time, but even
these reports have little supporting information and are the subject of much
debate.
One of the most famous and most controversial exploits of Yadul's occurred during
the Yellow Pustulance of 117 BA. Thoomish records indicate that Yadul actually
cured the Pustulance, but none of the other races in Shan Deral agree with this.
The controversy revolves around the herb Trifola, which everyone agrees Yadul
discovered. At the hight of the pustulance, scholars at The Academy discovered
that several Thoomish villages in the Far Isles were barely affected by this
plague. Much debate was spent on whether isolation or environment was behind the
difference. Eventually a decision was made to break the quarantine and send a
ship to the Far Isles.
In 116 BA, Yadul was commissioned to travel to the Far Isles to see if a cure
might be found. With the exception of two crewmen that died to the plague, the
trip was uneventful. Reaching his destination, Yadul and his crew went to work,
found no evidence of the Pustulance, they began looking for anything making this
village different. Detailed examinations of sanitary conditions and meeting with
the village elders turned up nothing. It was one night at dinner when the
breakthrough occurred. An offhand remark by one of the crewmen, stating that the
local food tasted like the stuff used to clean the bottom of the boat, got Yadul
thinking. Not many people outside the area knew this, but the food of the Far
Isles tasted much different then the rest of the world. Bitter tasting and
leafy, the people of the Isles made due with what foodstuffs they had readily
available. While the locals thrived off the stuff, most visitors preferred to
import their foodstuffs. Eventually, Yadul discovered five different edible
plants that were unique to or rare outside of the Far Isles.
Loading his ship with as many of the plants as could be harvested, Yadul set sail
for the mainland confident he had found a cure. As soon as the ship was
unloaded, testing began on patients stricken with the Pustulance. It was
determined that only the Herb Trifola seemed to have any effect on the
Pustulance. Survival rates of the patients increased by 50%. Confident in his
results, he was sure with a little refinement Trifola would be the answer to the
plague. Unfortunately, no one agrees on what happened next. Thoomish records
say Trifola cured the plague, most everyone else says it slowed its spread but
was not a cure. Trifola is still used today to help fortify a body against
disease, it seems likely that it had the same effect on the Pustulance, not
really curing, but helping one fight against it.
It is known that Yadul did survive the Pustulance, but he retired and left public
life shortly thereafter. Again, records of Yadul's life after the Pustulance are
scarce, it seems he simply disappeared. All that remains are a few scattered
reports of his spending the remaining years of his life as a doctor in one small
village or another, but none of them are reliable. It seems Piter Yadul left
this world as he entered it, with little fanfare.