Paragraph layout

[ololololo]

I don't think page initials can be used as examples when talking about the styling of paragraphs

My examples do not apply to this, by any means. The practice of initials for VMS is not foreign.
As for paragraph marking, the situation is somewhat different, but it is related to the gallows. After a quick scan of Herbal A and Herbal B, I noticed that the letter p often appears at the beginning of the first paragraph, while the letter t appears at the beginning of the second paragraph. However, I do not believe this to be a consistent pattern.
The letter p often appears at the beginning of paragraphs in balneology, with some exceptions such as f77v, where the letter t is used instead. 
In fact, it makes sense to use them as markers because of their size. Maybe the author enjoyed making these loops