Humanity has always suspected that the mind is a powerful force for healing, but hard evidence has eluded those who have sought it. Almost 15 years ago, the proxies gave us proof enough for even the most hardened skeptic. We psions of the Æsculapain Order use the power of the mind to cure illnesses, to mend broken bones and to perform medical wonders that were previously believed the province of wizards saints, and miracle workers.

Yet despite our amazing skills, Æsculapians are about as far removed from metaphysical mumbo jumbo as one can get. In fact, docs I've worked with tend to view their own abilities and potential with a coldly scientific eye. Point out to a vitakinetic the similarity between her techniques and the medieval "laying of hands" and you're likely to get a half hour lecture about the perils of confusing religious quackery with the hard science of vitakinesis. Or you just might get a half hour rant about how you're exactly right.

Dr. Matthhier Zweidler, MD, fathered the Æsculapian Order. One of the world's finest neurosurgeons, Zweidler was the head of the Montressor Clinic, an elite private hospital located in a converted monastery outside of Basel, Switzerland.

After he transformed into one of the original eight proxies, Zweidler use both his clinic and a network of affiliated hospitals, former employees and contacts to lay the groundwork for what would become the Æsculapian Order. Within a few months, Zweidler began a quiet process of identification, recruitment and triggering of vitakinetic psions.

Thanks to Zweidler;'s carefully laid plans, when the proxies revealed themselves to the world,. docs were already up and running.. Those first generation vitakinetics disguised their powers for at least three years and were established physicians, known and accepted by the normal doctors and nurses who they worked with. The first docs built a reputation as selfless, fearless angels of mercy.

Today, vitakinetic clinics are located everywhere from Earth to the extrasolar colonies. The media is full of stories of heroic rexs who brave the dangers of catastrophes, epidemics and battlefields to treat the sick and injured. Indeed, as the order expands it absorbs, duplicates or simply makes obsolete many existing medical relief organizations. Even the venerable International Red Cross has been virtually subsumed by Æsculapians. It only makes sense, though; we are simply better equipped to handle emergencies. At least, that's what our press releases say.

Latents with the potential for the vitakinesis aptitude are relatively common, but Zweidler is particular about the people whom he allows to undergo the Prometheus Effect; simply registering latency isn't enough. Still, there have been quite a few docs over the years. I've heard the Æsculapian is the third largest order after the Legions and Orgotek. There may be as many as 10,000 vitakinetics running around.

"Seasoned with Basel" has become a slang among the docs' field ops for describing idiotic policies that come straight from the top.

The Basel operation is dominated y Dr. Zweidler and his peers from the pre proxy days, but field healers now come increasingly from non Western backgrounds.

Zweidler insists on strict documentation of all manifestations and uses of vitakinesis. The strongest adherents to the order's cult of scientific rationality are based in Basel. The clinic is the docs' administrative center, training facility and noetic research lab. The Montressor Clinic also maintains a massive organ bank, with satellite facilities at other major clinics. The banks' director, Roland Stoltzfus, claims that his people can rush an organ to anywhere in-system in less that 24 hours.

Much of the orders power is concentrated in Basel. That's why the clinic is guarded heavily by both psions and armed human agents. Ironically, these security forces seem to spend much of their time controlling the hordes of sick and infirm who drag themselves to Zweilder's doorstep in search of cures.

Beyond the order's hundreds of small clinics, posts and managed cared facilities, there are major Æsculapian in Olympus, Minnesota, Addis Ababa and Haiti. The Haitian city of Port - au - Prince is home to the "loyal opposition" to Zweidler's technocratic cadre. Shamen, faith healers, acupuncturists - docs with different ways of perceiving vitakinesis - congregate there, an ocean and a world view away from the order's often stifling administrators.

While Zweidler's deeply rational soul loathes these docs' spiritual views, he still recruits powerful latents on principle,k regardless of their beliefs. If Zweidler can't work with someone after the transformation, he simply ships her out. Zweidler is quite touchy about how closely his special talent mimics the effects of folklore and legend, and can't bear reminders of that "Stigma."

Æsculapian clinics follow one of the two established paradigms of Switzerland or Haiti, depending on where a clinic director did her internship. There's a friendly - and sometimes not so friendly - rivalry as to which group is "right." A doc can still move from one clinic to another with a minimum of culture shock, though.