[HOE] Sawbones: Bastions of Healing

[mosiondz@shaw.ca]

Sawbones

Sawbones are a loose society of healers dedicated to bringing help to where they are needed, salvaging lost medical equipment and passing on their knowledge to future generations.  The sawbones were originally founded by a group of military medics and doctors that survived the Last War.  They travelled from one survivor settlement to the next, helping those suffering from injuries to sickness and disease.  On the way they scavenged for whatever medical supplies they could find, trading their much-needed services for the means of continuing them.

The world was hard on the Sawbones, with many desperate survivors receiving healing one minute and attacking the healers for their supplies the next.  The Sawbones responded in kind by arming themselves against such attacks.  Over the years, Sawbones became identified by their trademark "scalpel gloves" they often utilize in melee.  Many Sawbones also started using their knowledge of drugs to give them an edge in combat - this resulted in the Sawbones becoming a force to be reckoned with, although it also produced many burnt-out drug addicts.  Still, the Sawbones were making a difference in the world, and attracted many followers wanting to learning the arts of healing and self-defence. 

Some of the original Sawbones settled in an adandoned medical lab near Portland.  There they set up a hospital called "Hospice Central" to treat serious medical conditions, manufacture medicine and equipment and to train new recruits in the ways of medicine and self-defence.  After a time spent at the training center, newly trained Sawbones are sent into the wastes as "field medics" to heal those in need.  Occasionally a Sawbones will set up a "field hospice" in or near a survivor settlement to treat an epidemic or train individuals in first aid, but for the most part they wander the wastes in searching out people in need of healing.

Sawbones usually help anyone in need of healing, but they are loathe to help those who do violence to others, such as Road Gangers, Black Hats, and servants of the Reckoners.  Sawbones will usually demand payment for services rendered in the form of salvaged medical equipment or trade items they can use for self-survival.  Some unscrupulous Sawbones attempt to make more of a profit instead of a subsistence, but if this is reported back to Hospice Central that Sawbones will be blackballed, unable to receive medical supplies at Hospice Central or field hospices.

Because of the reputation of healers that Sawbones carry with them, most wasters avoid attacking them unless they are desperate - after all, you never know when you life may hang by the edge of Sawbones scalpel.  Those who are known to attack Sawbones without cause are justifiably refused healing or supplies by other Sawbones.

Sawbones carry on a good relationship with the Librarians who they trade medical knowledge with and with the Templars who occasional aid the Sawbones in their work with their Healing Saint Blessing.  While the purple-robed Doomsayers have healers among them, too many Sawbones have treated people with radiation burns, radiation poisoning or harmful mutations to trust the rad-priests.
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Randy Mosiondz | mosiondz@shaw.ca | ICQ 2585758
http://members.shaw.ca/mosiondz