Sir Luka Petrikov

Petrikov with Madame Dijana Vedric outside their school, 105 AE.

**Sir Luka Petrikov** was doctor of Northern Modern Medicine and the creator of the discipline of Psychic Divination. He is most known for his role in treating Lady Margo Wilem and in founding the Petrikov Sanitarium for the Rehabilitation of the Insane and Malformed. Petrikov was born in Barland.

## Biography

Petrikov was born in 142 AE to middle class parents in Akdur, Barland. He decided early on to attend the Medical Institute of Saint Vladimir the Redeemer in Akdur. He obtained his doctorate in 118 AE, before beginning his personal research work. Petrikov was interested in the mind, specifically why some seemed to suffer from invisible entirely mental illnesses. He traveled around Barland cataloguing and categorizing the invalids and mentally unsound of the country. His plans were to create a book detailing the ailments and later a second series on cures and treatments. During this time he became involved with several noble or upper middle class families, assisting them in finding better ways to take care of their affected relatives.

Crown Princess Aryanja Wilem heard of Petrikov's work and invited him to be the personal tutor to her daughter Margo Wilem. The toddler had been born stunted from an unknown disorder, one Petrikov would later call Margo Syndrome. Petrikov accepted the offer, knowing the pay would help him publish his books easier. He joined Margo's wet nurse Madame Dijana Vedric in caring for the young girl in 113 AE. The two were able to significantly raise the young royal's quality of life through physical and psychic therapies. When Margo had finally caught up to her peers in general ability, Petrikov was rewarded with a knighthood and a gift of land in the north of Fleur, near the border to Skjol and Korevna.

Petrikov decided to found an institution on the new land he was gifted, calling the future association the Petrikov Sanitarium for the Rehabilitation of the Insane and Malformed. He began construction immediately, hiring a famous Barlandic builder called Ivan Vitalivich to create the sprawling complex. He invited his past colleague Dijana to join him at the institution, which she gladly accepted, moving her family onto the grounds in 108 AE. Together they planned the curriculum and practices that the sanitarium would institute in its early years. In 107 AE, the sanitarium opened to the public, immediately being inundated with requests to take on patients.

### As head of the Petrikov Sanitarium for the Rehabilitation of the Insane and Malformed.

Petrikov acted as head physician and director of the sanitarium. He performed many personal experiments and research, but did not intervene directly in daily affairs after the training of new physicians had been completed in 100 AE. Petrikov believed in order, routine, and diligence. He ran the sanitarium with great success, making much money and many scientific breakthroughs while running it.

In 101 AE he returned to Skjol to begin work again with Margo, then fourteen. The girl had recently been removed from her school for homosexual behaviors, which her mother wanted Petrikov to cure via his new technique: Psychic Divination. Petrikov accepted, returning to treat the teenager with therapy consisting of the description of random forms, choosing of images from sets, the association of feelings with symbology, and the use of tonics and exercises to sanitize the mind. The treatment was later described by Margo in her old age as being quite successful in ending her suicidal and self destructive tendencies. Petrikov returned to his duties with the knowledge that his new discipline was successful.

Petrikov published several works during this time, such as the revised edition of *Guide to the Malformations of Body and Spirit as Dictated by God in Heaven: The Physical and Spiritual Ailments of the Human Animal* and *The Modern Physician's Handbook* to much success. He ended up publishing several leaflet magazines as well, such as *Petrikov's Manual of Psychic Diagnostics.* He toured the north giving lectures and training exercises on how to deal with those suffering from psychic wounds. He never married.

Petrikov died in 64 AE at the age of seventy-eight in his estate house on the grounds of the sanitarium.

## Appearance

Luka was average if a little short for a man. In his youth he had well kept black hair, though he was mostly bald by thirty-seven. His eyes were green, his skin pale, and his features round. He usually wore doctor's scrubs or traditional garb for Barland.

## Relationships

Many rumors floated that Petrikov was involved with Madame Dijana Vedric in a sexual relationship, especially a specific rumor that he was the father of her youngest daughter Marfa and the cause of the dissolving of the Madame's marriage. When finally asked, Petrikov laughed and said, "If I even considered laying a hand on that woman she'd send me to Ishtorah's temple faster than you could say 'eunuch'". As far as anyone knows, the two's supposed sexual encounters were purely fictional.

Petrikov himself never married, though he was engaged to a woman while in medical school. He called the engagement off after deciding to dedicate his life to science instead of family.