The Noble Guild of Doctors

Which is worse, the disease or the doctor? Only one will rob you afore your corpse is cold.

— Advice offered by an old hand in Ironquarter.

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The Noble Guild of Doctors oversees the healing and medical care of the city. All licensed medical practitioners are answerable to the Guild and to the Council of Health, from the highest-ranking royal physician to the lowest-ranking doctor's apprentice.
Magical healing is not technically considered to be the domain of the Guild, although it has been fighting to take control of magical healing for more than a century. As such, magical healers are not beholden to Guild or Council rules, although they have their own Council to answer to. However this is largely a moot point, as magical healers and alchemical preparations are expensive and difficult to come across, making them inaccessible to most people.
Quack doctors and street healers are occasionally prosecuted for practising medicine without a license, but generally the Guild only prosecutes unlicensed doctors to scare the general populace and discourage experimenting with homemade remedies, keeping people reliant on Guild services. Nevertheless, many of the lower classes still practise their own home remedies, especially those passed down through the generations or borrowed from country cousins. Newer immigrants often also bring their own remedies to the city, and the Guild no longer has such as stranglehold on the medical profession as it pretends.

Structure

Within the guild doctors are recognised by their experience and skill. Doctors are also divided into their specialities, with some ranking higher than others. (E.g. a plague doctor is lower-ranking than a skilled surgeon.)

Guild Heirarchy

In descending order:

1. Royal Physician
2. Physician to a Noble House
3. Specialist Physician
4. Specialist Surgeon
5. Anaesthetist
6. Academic / Researcher
7. Skilled herbalist / Alchemist
8. General Practitioner (Doctor)
9. Midwife
10. Pharmacist / Chemist
11. Barber-surgeons and dentists
12. Apprentice

All doctors in the guild are beholden to the Council of Health, and can lose guild membership for malpractice. A guild license is required to sell medicine or medical services, but many poorer communities are glad to turn a blind eye in return for cheaper healing.

Culture

Despite the rumours, the vast majority of doctors in the Guild are actually very honest (at least, as honest as anyone in the city) and genuinely want the best for their patients. In particular, surgeons and skilled herbalists are very trustworthy and skilled if one has the money to afford their services. Midwives are well-respected, and even general practitioners can usually be trusted. In fact, the poor reputation of doctors in general is largely the fault of barber-surgeons, and other cheap physicians who barely have a license. These doctors are known for often doing more harm than good to their patients, and are rightly looked down upon by all other doctors. Unfortunately for the Guild, these are the only doctors most of the poorer classes will ever be able to afford access to, and thus the rumours persist.

Women in Medicine

The Guild of Doctors is unusual in the city for its high proportion of female members. Women are particularly common as midwives, herbalists, chemists or academics, but it is not unknown for any other role to be filled by a woman as well. Female doctors are generally trusted equally to their male counterparts- which is to say, very little- and are occasionally considered to be slightly more trustworthy, especially by fellow women. (This, of course, is nonsense, as many victims of female barber-surgeons will attest.)

Some say that wimmin bring a gent'ler touch to doct'rin, but I say: they never met me ol' gran!

— Isaac Eade, grandson of Lettie "The Maniac" Eade

History

During the time when the city was stricken with plague, the Guild grew in power as people became desperate for the promise of healing. It has maintained control in the city, albeit to a lesser degree, by ostensibly working hard to prevent any future outbreaks, and thus commanding the respect and gratitude - or perhaps the fear - of the people.

The Symbol of the Crow

The crow symbol and the half-mask that many doctors wear as their uniform is also a relic of history. The plague-doctors' crow-shaped masks became such a symbol of their profession and pride that they have persisted to the present day. The crow motif leads some of the lower classes to remark darkly about carrion-eaters and corpse-robbers.
For many in the Guild, the crow is a symbol of pride and achievement. Others are embarrassed by it, or uncomfortable with the implication of plague and contagion. The crow symbol is mandatory as a symbol of the profession, but many choose only to wear an official badge rather than a gaudy mask, or even the ridiculous crow-feather mantle that some doctors favour.

Type

Guild, Professional

Alternative Names

The Crows, The Guild of Scavengers, The Sawbones' Guild

Rumours

• Doctors steal from weak or recently-deceased patients. Keep an eye on your loved ones!
• Doctors steal unclaimed corpses and use them for research.
• There's a barber-surgeon operating out of Weavers' Walk who's even worse than the rest of them- all his neighbours complain about the smell.