MasterHealer Simver

Colors: Purple and white.
Emblem: Purple caduceus on white background.

Main Crafthall Location: Big Lagoon Hold.

On SouCon, the HealerCraft is based in the Unified Crafthall and is under the direct auspice of the Craft Wizard. To become an Apprentice, Journeyman or Master please read through NEWS CRAFT JOINING. Characters may also request a posting to any open Hold or Weyr.

The HealerCraft, the oldest Craft on Pern, contains many healing disciplines, including diagnostics, pediatrics, geriatrics, obstetrics, urology, pharmacy, dentistry, surgery, and respiratory ailments. Some Masters that specialize in these disciplines remain at the Halls to teach, where as others find posts where they are needed. For instance each Weyr has at least one urologist and surgeon and each Hold has at least one geriatric and obstetric specialized Master. Those who do not specialize become general practitioners of the Craft and are sent to remote holds.

The HealerCraft does not have the technology to sustain life, nor help prolong life in those humans with defective genes. The human race as a whole has been bred clean of most genetic defects although some genes have still mutated over the Turns. The average Pernese lives into the eighth decade with most of their ailments a result of their environment. In the case of a seriously ill patient the posted Masterhealer generally brings in a specialist. Occasionally a dragon and its rider may be asked to play emergency ambulance is there is acute need.

If a Healer comes upon anything new or unusual they will pass their news back to the Hall through the Journeying Harpers or by informing the Lord Holder who sees that word is sent back. In medical emergencies and epidemics the Healer Hall first studies the problem, then publishes or distributes the means for curing or controlling it. In the case of Nemar's disease, which decimated the population in Turn 191, the Healers first treated the symptoms empirically and then finally discovered a cure.

Apprentices learn basic skills in the Hall and are then sent out to other Halls, Holds and Weyrs as Journeymen to study with Masters who specialize in particular SubCrafts where they fulfill the role of nurse. Healers rely primarily on on-the-job training and are forever "in training", returning to the Healer Hall for frequent refresher courses. Midwifery is a specialty that all are instructed in, for it is needed in every Hall, Hold and Weyr.

As a rule Healers control most ailments with the help of maintenance dosages of cordials and home remedies, for instance a wine cup of distilled hyssop helps with respiratory problems such as croup, whereas Alfalfa tea is good for the stomach. Healer Hall's archives are full of herbal and homeopathic remedies, many of which are mixed with jade mortar and pestles. Anyone suffering from depression is encouraged to seek out the help of Healers specialized in this SubCraft. Following in the footsteps of the Ancient psychologists and psychiatrists they seek to soothe troubled minds.

There is no social stigma attached to suicide on Pern, and in the case of a terminally ill patient the decision for euthanasia is in the hands of the Healer, the Master/Holder/Weyrwoman and the patient if he is conscious and in his right mind. In Weyrs, when a rider looses their dragon suicide is expected although never encouraged. Bodies are rarely buried in the ground, particularly after the Nemar's disease ravaged the planet. Instead cremations are common, as our burials at sea for the Fisherfolk.

During the last Interval the HealerCraft moved its Southern Hall to Big Lagoon to be closer to the Numbweed fields, and during this Interval they discovered several new remedies. The most successful breakthrough was made by complete accident with a bit of moldy bread, and named Fleminar after the Healer who discovered it. Surgical techniques, still considered an anathema amongst many, also improved with the survival rates increasing, although the risk was still great. Unfortunately, the mortality rate for multiple births did not alter, but survival from cesarean section improved significantly.

Subcrafts

MasterHealer Simver:

Simver was born at the Fort Healer Hall itself, his mother a newlywed Journeywoman there. His father was the son of a cotholder on her usual Journey route who had fallen in love and followed her to the Hall. His persistence paid off; Simver was the first of five children born to the couple in a long and happy marriage. That the boy would follow in his mother's footsteps became apparent quite early. He wasn't even five turns of age by the time he could correctly identify every medicinal herb known to the Healercraft, and even knew how to prepare them. By now his mother had been assigned to teaching duties at the Hall itself, and Simver happily spent all of his free time in a quiet corner of the classroom absorbing the knowledge she dispensed to her students. His Apprenticeship at the age of thirteen was more a formality than necessity. At first he had plans to specialize in Herbology, but plans are meant to be changed -- his youngest brother's death when Simver was fifteen switched his focus to Pediatrics rather abruptly. Only the need to learn the new specialty kept him from advancing to the rank of Journeyman in the usual time, but by the age of twenty, he had walked the tables. By that time, he was eager to get out into the world, Healing and adventuring. There's not much that is more adventurous than the Southern Continent, and in fact, that's where he was sent, taking over a route for a retiring older Healer. Again, he followed in his mother's footsteps -- it was a young lady, daughter of a Cotholder on his route, that caught his eye, and the pair were wedded in short order. The next fifteen turns were blissful -- the couple started a large family, and Simver made Master rank by the age of thirty. He was being groomed for Craftsecond when the devastating disease struck Pern. Simver lost his wife in the first wave of the epidemic, and by the time it was over, had only two of his middle children left. Despite the tragedy, he rose to the occasion when he was chosen as the new Healer Craftmaster. Rather young for the post, he was nevertheless the best candidate left alive.

Simver has always been a rather cheerful fellow, and that hasn't changed even over the tragedy of recent turns. He may be a bit more studious and thoughtful, but a haggard smile appears often enough to reassure his Healers and friends. He is almost always accompanied by the firelizard, Molar, that he Impressed when he first came to the Southern Continent, the smaller-than-average brown his constant companion since he lost most of his family.

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