#embrium

Embriums are flowers from the orchid family. Its therapeutic qualities were actually discovered because of the embrium’s exceptional beauty.

The beloved daughter of Lord Ignace Poulenc of Orlais fell victim to a terrible sickness of the lungs, which her healers were unable to cure. Thinking the girl would soon perish, her parents surrounded her bed with brightly colored flowers, hoping that they would bring some warmth and cheer in her last days. Oddly enough, the girl began to recover from the illness, and grew stronger each day. Her parents were baffled, but overjoyed. The healers eventually learned that the fragrance of one of the flowers eased the child’s breathing. The flower was an embrium, and later became known as the Salubrious Embrium.

The other variant that has certain magical properties is known as Dark Embrium.

Inquisitor tavern smooches

Canonically, embrium, but the delivery method is unclear.

In the codex, the scent of the flowers is said to ease breathing—at least, if you have an entire closed room full of flowers. I can see a hospital or specialized clinic having such a thing, but it seems a bit inefficient, especially since the flowers are probably seasonal.

Making an infusion and breathing the steam would be my next guess—probably combined with drinking the infusion—but steam itself can be a trigger, plus it could be really dangerous for small children or someone who's greying out, so it's not really optimal. Still, this is probably the most likely way anybody does it, and it would be effective for other respiratory problems. Another way might be embrium resin that is melted and evaporated, similar to a meth pipe, but that has similar issues (and we don't know if the plant can even be made into a resin).

A purely air-pressure inhaler for a concentrated cold liquid infusion might be doable by the middle of the Dragon Age, but without a pressurized propellant (and I'm going to say that since the steam engine has barely been invented, they haven't figured out pressurized propellants yet), I'm pretty sure that in order for the patient to operate that themself and have it actually work, the air piston has to be the size of a large beach ball, the inhaler nozzle has to almost touch the uvula, and it would have to be pedal- or lever-operated. If they can make the embrium into a powder that doesn't clump and that still does anything, an air-pressure inhaler, or one where the user simply breathes in, is much more workable (in fact, such devices are still used in our world today). The only problem with that is if any fillers or anti-clumping agents (or the embrium powder itself) are not water-soluble, that is a huge risk for lung cancer. (Also, if powered by inhalation alone, the user might not be able to inhale deeply enough during an attack.)

Any suggestions? I'm not a medical professional, I just have a healer OC.