Medicine and Health

Medicine and Health in Saromatia

Saromatia's medical technology is advanced, compared to most of its other technologies. Nations over the sea usually have one of two legends about Saromatia - that it is a land of warrior Amazon women, or that it's a fairy realm where the deathly ill are cured and the mortally wounded healed. The rare trading ships occassionally bring the rarer-still foreigner, and usually they come seeking healing.

University Doctors

There is a university in the forest city of Vezias which teaches the medical arts. These trained physicians are often in high demand. They are often hired by the nobility, or set up a shop in a city or large town. Few service the countryside.

The major advantage that the Saromatian medical establishment has over the rest of the world is knowledge of diet, exercise, and hygiene. Most Saromatians wash thoroughly on a daily basis, even if a full-body bath is not available. Moderation is considered the key to a healthy diet. A doctor will often "prescribe" a certain diet to a sick person, to remedy a lack or allieviate some condition. Someone with a painful stomach will be prescribed milk, soft bread, and boiled turnips. A hacking cough and stuffed nose gets wet, aromatic things - broth, tea, oatmeal with lots of hot milk and syrup. And so on.

Surgery is still a risky business. They do not have a true antiseptic, but soap and hot water is used to good advantage. (Some doctors are trying vinegar, salt water, and kortai as other cleansing agents, since they keep food from spoiling. It's thought that they might also help against necrosis of the tissue). Doctor, patient, and instruments are all thoroughly cleaned before surgery. There is some help for anesthetic. One of the closely guarded secrets of the physician is a mixture of plants and additives that, when smoked, dulls pain and produces sleepiness. Amputations and "caesarian" births are probably the most common surgeries, and they are rare.

Pharmacology is well-established. Doctors generally tend to try to elevate it above its woods-and-garden roots, but most of the medicines prescribed by physicians were first used by rustic midwives and healers. Herbal cures are the most common, followed by animal cures (eating rooster testicles to cure male impotence, for instance, or cow liver to restore vigour). Inorganic supplements (powdered silver or gold, for instance) are prescribed most rarely of all.

Germ theory is a ways off, although disease vectors are recognized. Plagues or epidemics aren't considered punishment of the Goddess, since they obviously follow mundane traffic patterns. If the Goddess really wanted to punish, why would she only do so along the major trade routes? It seems obvious that infected people spread the disease. Other vectors - vermin travelling with the people, for instance - wouldn't be considered.

Unsurprisingly, Saromatia is far advanced in "women's medicine." Barrier and chemical contraceptive techniques are known. (Yarrow, a plant with aborcifacent qualities, can also appear to prevent pregnancy by functioning as a "morning after" plant). Most doctors will not perform abortions unless the mother's life is at risk - they are risky and theologically "iffy." (The clergy of the Spring Maiden, patron of birth and rebirth, frown on them in particular).

Most doctors in Saromatia are women, but there are a cadre of male doctors practicing. They often find good employment treating "men's problems," ranging from rashes to impotence. Many men are uncomfortable discussing such personal problems with a female physician, and prefer to see male doctors about them.

Rustic Healers

Not every provider of healing services has a medical degree. In some areas, doctors actively oppose the unlicensed midwives and healers who practice without university sanction. They say their concern is for the patients being seen by these "untutored" healers; the healers suspect the doctors are more worried about cuts in their profits.

Rustic healers will typically know nothing about surgery or the inner workings of the body, and will not have experience with some of the rare or uncommon things a doctor may study at school. Their remedies may also smack a little more of the magical - red plants would be favored to treat blood problems, for instance. All that aside, they typically have a great deal of practical experience with the most common maladies one is likely to encounter in a farming village. Bone-setting, midwifery, colds, gout, boils, cuts and bruises, minor infections, sores, and so on are things they will have seen again and again, on both woman and beast.

Priestesses and Magical Healers

Magical healing is mostly suited to trauma situations. Spells like "Restore Health" close wounds and set bones, but don't do much for that burning pain in the stomach you get after too much kortai and roasted peppers.

If a local lady is a priestess and is on good terms with her people, then it's likely that they'll send someone to her keep if a villager should be trampled by an ox or otherwise seriously injured. But most of the ailments of everyday life aren't things that you want to bother your liege about - or are embarrassed to.

Miracle Spells

Spells like Regeneration and Resurrection have necromantic prerequisites that many people are unwilling to obtain. (Necromancy comes from the Death Crone and has a dark, steep price to pay). Someone who knows Regeneration can cast it as they wish. Resurrection is another story. A careful person will not cast a Resurrection spell on a person who has been dead for more than a week. After that time, their soul is thought to be firmly in the Death Crone's lair. The soul could be returned to the body, but the mind may be scarred as a result.

No moral person would think of casting Resurrection after 40 days had passed since death. After that time, the Spring Maiden may have placed the soul in a new body. The mind is most probably gone, wiped clean for its new life.

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