Abbas-Al-Morim
Sage
I'm not very knowledgeable on medical conditions. What I know is for the most part the result of googling my own symptoms when I'm sick. A side-effect of googling symptoms is temporarily becoming a hypochondriac. But I don't know anything about paralysis and that's what one of my characters is coping with.
I'll outline the situation and be as concise as possible. One of my characters is an elderly knight and a spy for his Emperor. Nominally, he's still a brother in a knightly order but he's been out of the fight for quite some time. One of his arms is almost completely useless and he carries it around in a sling. It's almost like dead weight.
My question is: what injury could a knight sustain to put him in that situation? So far, I've considered an arrow to the shoulder but that probably wouldn't paralyze him. It would hinder him in his use of the arm but it's not quite what I had in mind (though it's a plan b).
It's important to me that he sustains the injury in a combat situation. Debilitating poisons are a possibility too (especially if applied to arrows) or perhaps an infection could be the cause. I want the arm to be paralyzed though - not dead. If his arm were dead, the surgeons would have to remove it but if it's paralyzed they'd probably forgo a risky treatment like that because it's not life-threatening.
Does anyone have an idea? I try to aim for realism in my books, which is why I'd prefer to come up with a plausible solution.
EDIT: I've already done some wikipedia research but the problem is I don't know what kind of trauma would paralyze the arm - and the arm alone. I don't want him to be stuck in a wheelchair (which probably hasn't been invented in my world).
I'll outline the situation and be as concise as possible. One of my characters is an elderly knight and a spy for his Emperor. Nominally, he's still a brother in a knightly order but he's been out of the fight for quite some time. One of his arms is almost completely useless and he carries it around in a sling. It's almost like dead weight.
My question is: what injury could a knight sustain to put him in that situation? So far, I've considered an arrow to the shoulder but that probably wouldn't paralyze him. It would hinder him in his use of the arm but it's not quite what I had in mind (though it's a plan b).
It's important to me that he sustains the injury in a combat situation. Debilitating poisons are a possibility too (especially if applied to arrows) or perhaps an infection could be the cause. I want the arm to be paralyzed though - not dead. If his arm were dead, the surgeons would have to remove it but if it's paralyzed they'd probably forgo a risky treatment like that because it's not life-threatening.
Does anyone have an idea? I try to aim for realism in my books, which is why I'd prefer to come up with a plausible solution.
EDIT: I've already done some wikipedia research but the problem is I don't know what kind of trauma would paralyze the arm - and the arm alone. I don't want him to be stuck in a wheelchair (which probably hasn't been invented in my world).