Harvesters of body snakes
I waited for the harvesters to appear. Árnír stayed with Rhosyn to calm the poor girl. He was furious, but desparate too. We only wanted to ease her pain and prayed, the harvester would not be a Thrós.
Description
Harvesters are the wandering doctors, venturing through the Sávenian land. They are a bliss for farmers of blue lotus and water wheat, but in the same time are very feared and induce repulsive disgust. Their bad reputations becomes apparent when one sees them at work. A person can be lucky and encounter the diligent Ðarîn or feel immense pain by the hands of Thrós. Either way, the body snakes (Askari - Body snakes) eating its way to the feet will be gone.
Pain or relief - two types
A person can encounter one of two types of harvesters: Ðarîn or Thrós. This comes from the method one can extract the worm. The process can be slow and painless, but takes a couple of weeks. Another way is to use the Viper Oil to rot away the skin covering the worm. It inflicts tremendous pain to the host and very often causes one to lose their consciousness. That way the extracted worm is kept alive.Ðarîn
Also known as the Diligent. They focus on removing the worm and do their best to relief the pain. Many use the Acóníthia Infusion and other types of pain relievers and anaesthetics. The removal of worm starts by gently grabbing the head and wrapping it around a wooden rod. Then slowly, inch by inch the worm is pulled out from the body.
Many of Ðarîn come from the Sávenian land, but even so their position in society is very, very low.
Thrós
Called the Aškarian Vipers. The ones that are detested and hated by all among Sáveni. People ask for their help only in life or death situations, as the methods these harvesters use are based on rotting away the skin beneath the worm appears. Typically the Viper Oil is applied on the place, preferably before the emergence.
It is not uncommon to spit them in the face, but very often fearful from vengence, this duty and responsibility is shifted to friends and distant family, who will not appear during the extraction.
Doctors and merchants
Many legends have built up upon the exact use of harvested body snakes. The commonfolk speculate, they are used for ritual magic by the Maumivu. In reality, they are considered a valued Aškarian delicacy and fetch very high prices.
I know where the inspiration for this comes. I like that you pointed to the fact that despite more appreciated in the moment of need, the Darin services are not appreciated enough to grant them a comfortable life above the lowest ranks of society. It is something that sadly recurs through human history.
Alas :/ The human society is a complex creature. I wanted to think of the healing as something worth of praise, but the ones that inflict the pain are rarely seen as the good, despite their intentions.