Autopsy

An autopsy is an investigation of the cause or causes of death of a recently deceased individual by the examination of his or her cadaver. Its dissection is an essential part of a thoroughgoing autopsy. An autopsy can be performed to improve knowledge of the diagnosed cause of death. Equally, an autopsy can be performed to solve a medical mystery, when the cause of death defies diagnosis, or to solve a criminal mystery, when there is suspicion of foul play.

The extent to which autopsies are used in the Land of Mists to help solve crimes is unclear. In Paridon there is a long tradition of doing so, with a morgue and coroner's office abutting a City Guard Headquarters. In Darkon an autopsy performed on Professor Daniel Fyrehaaven of the University of Il Aluk implicated his wife Julia in his murder. The decision to perform the autopsy seemed to have been taken by the biology and medicine departments of the university however.