Ingrid Apothecary Herbologist-tribute to Danklaw 1

First of all, I’d like to clarify that I haven’t been able to read all of Danklaw’s work—it’s still on my to-do list—but I have read the chapter about the character named Ingrid. It is extremely interesting, and I strongly recommend it. It is highly educational, since it is historical, very different from my own work, which is highly contrived, fantastical, and somewhat implausible. Here you can find more information about the chapter in Danklaw’s work: https://pixai.art/artwork/1924007772213695613?utm_source=copy_web In this series of images that I’ve made as a tribute, I wanted to represent how I humbly imagine this character would be within my fantasy story. Absolutely all credit for these images and everything I will write regarding this character goes to Danklaw. That said, I’ll begin with the fiction. Health has always been a concern for humanity, as well as for other intelligent, conscious species. But this concern has always been tied to knowledge and wisdom. It is through the accumulation of knowledge—born of tradition and lived experience over countless eons—that progress in this field has been made. This is where pedagogy and teaching come into play: the ability to share with future generations what is considered precious and worth preserving. One of the many traditions deeply rooted in the small kingdom of Celeas has been knowledge about the properties of plants and natural and magical elements. Although the true masters of Herbology have always been the Elven kingdoms, the knowledge generated by human hands is by no means negligible—especially in this kingdom. So much so that Celeas has long been considered one of the most advanced places on the planet in this field, with the teaching and research of Herbology sponsored by the very institutions of the realm. Ingrid belongs to one of the main noble families that has cultivated this field of knowledge with great excellence for generations. Her future in service to the crown as a professor in this field was quite promising. But everything changed when the fierce Empire of Versius attacked the kingdom of Celeas and defeated it at the Battle of Quisarias. In that way, this bloodthirsty empire seized control of the realm. Far from respecting Celeas’s traditions in this field, the conquerors saw them as a rival to their own dark healing arts—far more costly, intricate, and above all, more perverse. They tried to erase and uproot the tradition from its very foundations. The Celerian nobility was forced to make a decision: either adopt those dark arts as their own, or preserve their beautiful tradition by whatever means possible.