In Pomperaque, several years had passed since Manguino's marriage to Eckma and although they had indeed produced children of normal looks and awareness, they never lived passed a couple of months.
Since the marriage, Manguino hardly ever involved his mind with the affairs of Halls, or of Phoride.
During the rains, very large glass tubs of water were collected then taken to Manguino's bed chamber and poured into a huge glass pool, and there the ArchBishop indulged in violent sex relations with Eckma, to the point of drawing blood from one another.
In the few years after their marriage, the physician Polis had discovered that Manguino suffered from a venereal cancer and there was a fear of death, but Manguino told Polis to search for the answer in Brook's machines.
"My cure lies somewhere within those gadgets, Polis! If you value your own life, find it!"
Manguino threatened him.
Polis spent entire days going through the mechanism in his search for the answer and then he found something. It was a formula to retard aging. He wondered if it would cure his master and thus took it to him.
Lacking trust, Manguino ordered the injection to be given to Polis first and then to Eckma.
The aged Polis's hair took on its once younger hue of auburn and Eckma lost her open sores and rheumatic nose, as well as gaining hair on her head while losing it on her body.
Seeing that Eckma now looked like a normal, yet still fat woman, and even somewhat appealing, he had several shots given to him every day until Polis devised a capsulate form of taking the drug.