With a flurry of cold air, the door was flung open. The man, wearing the red tunic of the warrior, stood unsteadily in the doorway but a moment before crumpling to the floor of the Inn. A gasp flew round the room, silence weighing heavy in the air before a soft babble of voices ensued and a man dressed in a tunic of green arose and hurried to the side of the warrior. "Help here! Get this man to a place where I can treat him."

Quickly the Lady of the Inn motioned to two silent kajiri who carefully lifted the fallen one. Leading the way, she opened the door of an unused room and followed the group inside, standing back ready to assist in any way she could. Swiftly the Healer cut away and peeled back the bloody tunic from the ashen man's body, revealing a deep gash on his shoulder. "Well, he's lucky. There are no muscles cut and he's not lost overmuch blood. Here lad, take this pouch and make of the contents a strong tea."

The boy took the pouch and hurried away, returning in a few ehn with a large mug.

Taking the mug, the Healer motioned to the woman to help hold the warrior upright while he fed him the tea. The warrior sputtered and choked, but drank the evil broth, then settled back again as color returned to his cheeks.

It is an interesting world John Norman drew in his novels. A world of savagery and unforgiving codes, of the most primitive weapons coupled with the most advanced science and medicine. Stabilization serums coupled with low gravity meant the average Gorean may live for hundreds of years... assuming he isn't hacked to death in battle or devoured by a sleen.

The caste of healers is one of the five high castes, wearing the color green to identify them. You will also see them variously referred to as Greenrobes and Physicians. Certainly, at least in the books, the healing arts were afforded a great deal of importance in Gorean life. As their counterparts on Earth, Gorean Healers spend years of study to perfect their craft.

WAYVYRN'S CODE

1. (*) Walk with Honour always. We are the most technologically advanced Caste on Gor, and a High Caste as well... this Honour means resonsibility.

Regarding War


2. (*) In times of War, a Physician is non-combatant. If the Warriors are the swords and shields defending the Homestone, we are the blacksmiths that keep the blade sharp and bucklar strong. If this non-combatant status is disregarded in times of war, the Caste will declare the transgressor Anethema.


3. When a Freeperson is declared Anethema, he is forbidden care from any who wear the Green. In times of war, his bones will not be mended... in times of peace his diseases will not be treated.


4. A Physician will not initiate combat. To do so shames the Caste and invites violation of our status. Transgressors will lose their Practices.

Regarding Practice

5. A Physician's right to perform his art is called the Practice. A Physician may only begin his Practice once his training is complete. Unlike a Warrior who can take battlescars or a Scribe who can re-write a scroll, a Physician who fails in his duties can kill his patient.


6. (*) A Freewoman of the Caste is permitted have a Practice. However, for reasons relating to the propagation of the Caste, a Freewoman is not allowed a Full Practice until she has borne two children. Upon the beginning of her training, a Freewoman has locked on her left wrist two bracelets. For each child the woman bears, a bracelet is removed.

   A notable exception to the generalization that woman of a Caste normally do not engage in Caste work is the Caste of Physicians, whose women are commonly trained, as are the boys, in the practice of medicine. Even the Physicians however, normally do not admit their women to full practice until they have borne two children.... The women of the Physicians, at the age of fifteen, in many cities, wear two bracelets on her left wrist. When has one child one bracelet is removed; when she has a second child the second bracelet is removed. She may then, if she desires, enter into the full practice of her craft. Book 14, Fighting Slave: pg 210 [b]


Regarding Responsibility

7. A Physician's responsibilities are as follows in descending order of priority:
1. The General Health of Gor
2. The General Health of one's proximity
3. One's Homestone
4. The Health of an individual

If your Homestone is Port Cos, and you are in Ar, your responsibility is to the general health of Ar, War or no War. Physicians within an army are considered in proximity of their army, not the city it holds under siege.

8. One of the responsibilities of a Physician is that of advice. Any Freeperson (or slave with proper permission) may come to a Physician and seek his advice. They can expect reasonable secrecy and discretion: the Physician's Confidence. He may discuss matters of Physician's Confidence with other Physicians and only other Physicians. He must have the consent of the one asking of his advice before discussing it with anyone not of the Green. Matters of Physician's Confidence cannot be used for selfish gain.


9. Sometimes a patient will need to be kept in the care of a Physician for some extended period of time. A Physician connot enslave a Freeperson in his care, nor can he allow the patient to be enslaved.


10. If it is in the interest of greater health, a Physician can enact Euthanasia. An example is in the case of a fatal epidemic or plague; the killing of a violent mass-murderer is not: that is the province of Warriors.

JORY'S CODE

• To Maintain the health of ones Ubar, and/or House.



• To Maintain the health of ones Home Stone and its residence first and foremost.



• To keep all things between a patient and physician private, unless stated otherwise by the patient.



• To respect the rights of all patients within the boundary lines of the Physicians Caste Codes and Guidelines.



• To respect the rights of all other physicians and/or healers within the boundary lines of the Physicians Caste Codes and Guidelines.