So what exactly are Lazarus pits? I think Iβve heard a description of their chemical makeup once but my overall understanding of how they function seems closer to something arcane or mystical
But given their apparent miraculous healing properties Iβm surprised countries arenβt mining them as much as possible to utilize the material.
Most often associated with the infamous League of Assassins and their leader, infamous semi immortal ecoterrorist Ras Al Ghul and his clan. Lazarus Pits are mysterious pools of thick, bright green and glowing liquid with the seemingly miraculous ability to raise the dead. Or at least rejuvenate and revivify those who are close to death's door. Though at the cost that the time spent in the pit healing one's maladies is directly linked to a period of violent insanity that follows AND that the pools become less effective each time the same individual uses the same pit. It is the functional ingredient that has kept Al Ghul and his kin vital and active over lifespans that measure somewhere in the centuries.
They seem most often to congregate at intersections along the Earth's leylines in placing lacking prolonged human construction, most often in the world's highest and harshest mountain ranges. The most well attributed pools existing in lonely mountain caves in the Alps and the Himalayas although none of that is conclusively proven and may just be a pattern of where those using the pools like to set up shop rather than ironclad evidence of a natural factor of their occurance.
As for what they ARE...that's a tough one
(An artists rendition of one of Al Ghul's pits)
The actual materials of the Lazarus Pits have never been scientifically studied, though not for lack of trying. As you can imagine the ability to return vitality to the mortally injured or lethally sick has been one of the great goals of human endeavor basically since human beings became self aware enough to recognize death ahead of time. The fact is that the pits are rare and well monopolized by Al Ghul and a few scant other semi-immortals who have had lifetimes to make sure they are secreted away and under guard. We're only aware of them as more than whispers and myth in the modern day because Ras Al Ghul and men like him have been dragged into the light by their conflicts with Batman and other heroes.
The scientific hypothesis, one of many at least, posits that the Lazarus Pits are most likely an alien material (dubbed, tentatively, as Dionesium) that were brought to Earth in the distant past by a heavy meteor shower. The main proponent of this theory, pop historian Scott Snyder also theorizes that this Dionesium might have been that material contained within the meteorite that granted immortality to Vandal Savage. Though how believable you find that is going to depend on what you think of Snyder's work and lord knows that I've been critical in the past.
This Dionesium would be the functional chemical within the pits able to return some energy to damaged cells or biological systems. While the temporary insanity after the fact could be explained as a side effect, like the loss of mental cohesion that comes from a strong cold medicine. And the fact that the Pits become less effective the more often a single person uses a single Pit is exactly the way most other medications or chemicals work. The body builds up an immunity to its effects as the user's personal biochemistry becomes used to its presence.
As for the magical theories, I'm going to hand that off to Gwen, my magical consultant
Gwen: The fact that the Pits seem to collect along Earth's leylines and in isolated, natural spaces far from regular human habitation is in line with the general behavior of wild magic. The returning of a human body from death or near death, unlike you would expect of magic, is MUCH harder than it sounds. Healing magic is a very deep bank of knowledge and people can, have and will dedicate CENTURIES just to be able to use it effectively. There is no over the counter potion that will cure your case of the deaths, if there was more wizards would be using it.
The scuttlebutt *I* have heard is that the Lazarus Pits are upward drippings from the Underworld, whatever evil aligned afterlife you would associate that with. A demonic essence of some hellish realm able to leak through our world and therefore pervert and reverse the age and decay that are so integral to nature's grand design. It would explain how the pits are able to overcome the power requirements of returning someone to life from near death if their power was literally infernal, the insanity caused by the aftereffects of the bath matches up with what we know sometimes happens when you make the VERY poor choice of re-delivering a soul to its body from Places Beyond, and the fact that the pits stop working for people over time is EXACTLY how the forces of darkness like to play these things.
String free immortality is NOT a deal that Those Below are willing to give, basically ever. What they will do most often is offer a pretense of vitality that is either fleeting or comes with some terrible price attached. It's how they collect from you. By making you dependent on the pits for immortality and then slowly making it work less and less they are setting someone up to get desperate, coincidentally RIGHT as an agent for the Darker Powers shows up at your doorstep with a deal you might be interested in. (/Gwen)
Until we get a scientific (and sorcerous) research team to do a deep dive on one of the god forsaken things there's no perfectly logical diagram I can show you of what a Lazarus Pit IS or what it isn't. and so long as Ras Al Ghul and his League of Assassins continue to be some of the most wanted men and women on the planet by normal law enforcement and superheroes alike that doesn't seem to be in the cards.
(Gwen's notes for Those Beyond: Yes its weird that so many comic book writers in your world are historians or social scientists on ours. Yes there's probably some kind of cosmic synchronicity there. No I can't explain it. Also, Sid isn't some kind of ultra utilitarian scientific literalist. He's an atheist but the only reason he always passes off the magic to me is because I have an education in it, not because he doesn't believe in magic)
