Free Practitioners

Free Practitioners are trained medics and healers who either have not taken an oath with the Kikerion Cooperative or have broken their oath and been forced out. Although trained medical experts have always been under the general guidance and control of the Kikerion Cooperative since it was established after the founding of Shindus, the strict control that is currently exerted over them has not always been that way. In the wake of the Fall from Grace and the subsequent rise in power of the Cooperative, one of the general shifts in their approach was to highly restrict the availability of medicine and medical care that did not directly benefit them. 
They did this by requiring anyone who offers medical services pay to register a membership with them and offer a portion of all money they earned to the Cooperative. They also put a large number of restrictions on the kinds of services that can be offered. Some of these restrictions are meant to protect patients from potential malpractice, such as stopping physicians from performing experimental or risky procedures. However, many more are almost explicitly for the enrichment of the Cooperative, such as requiring minimum payments for certain procedures and prohibiting doctors from warning patients away from certain medicines like Decheng's Weed.
However, Free Practitioners are people that operate outside of those restrictions. One common variety of Free Practitioners work in small towns that are far away from the Cooperative's central locations. Although they are technically violating Shindusian law by practicing medicine, those instances are generally overlooked so long as the practitioners don't draw too much attention to themselves. If they do, the Cooperative will usually approach them and encourage them to sign the contract and the situation will be resolved peacefully. 
Another common example includes people who broke the rules surrounding their membership with the Cooperative and were banned from practicing medicine. If the violation that got their membership revoked was minor enough, they will usually be able to live undisturbed so long as they don't attempt to practice medicine any more, but if it was a particularly heinous offense, they may be hunted down or arrested on sight. Even those who are marked as wanted can generally find work though, particularly in poorer areas that are avoided by Cooperative influence and are generally in need of unofficial services. The presence of Free Practitioners is one of the things that makes the Old Barracks such a popular location.

Type

Medical