how "health" works

[Ebenweb]

where do i see the health of a character?
why is it bad when it goes down? do they contract illnesses?

 

[DPS]

where do i see the health of a character?
why is it bad when it goes down? do they contract illnesses?

"Health" and "fertility" are hidden traits that the player isn't supposed to see, but you can find them in the save file if you want.

And basically, yes, health determines how likely it is that a character gets a disease, and also how likely it is that they recover.