The Æsculapian Order
(a.k.a. vitakinetics, docs or rexs)

As a vitakinetic, you heal body and mind. You men and even regenerate damaged tissue, or soothe psychological trauma, all by focusing your will on the subject. While your powers could be used to harm instead of heal, such actions run entirely contrary to what we ask of you.

Your aptitude sees primary use in fieldwork. You engage in research and containment missions of subjects with genetic anomalies. You assist in the eradication of Aberrants themselves. You enter into front line combat and tend to your team members' wounds with both your training and psi powers.

RECRUITING

The Æsculapians recruit carefully. Their great advantage is that they see the public more frequently than any other order. Every Æsculapain clinic has the equipment for latency testing and Æ perform noetic testing on almost every patient they treat as a matter of course. A possible latent is then told of her status and undergoes full latency testing (including the physical and psychological battery of exams) if she so desires.

Once confirmed as a latent, the individual is usually invited to join the order. Zweidler prefers educated sorts but any relatively bright and stale latent is accepted. When the order finds a psychologically unstable latent with high noetic potential, it offers free psychological treatment in hopes of recruiting him after he's cured. This further broadens the recruitment base, although some researchers suspect that such noetically - derived treatment may be partially or wholly negated by going through the Prometheus Effect.

The Æsclapians recently began offering the same psychological services to other orders, in return for various favors. The less paranoid orders like the Legions and ISRA have gladly taken advantage of this. ORgotek and the Ministry have sent a few "test subjects" but are waiting to see how they turn out. There are no hidden motives to this service - though the head of Special Projects, August Delemont, wishes Zweilder would take more advantage of the potential for infiltration this offers.

TRAINING

Æsclapian training is as varied as the medical instruction upon which it is based. All rexs go through the same initial training period, during which they adjust to their new abilities and learn to control their sometimes overwhelming awareness. From that point on, training techniques and processes diverge to fit the individual psion.

As much as Zweilder would like to recruit only scientists and physicians, latency doesn't restrict itself in that manner. He can insist that all his rexs receive a minimum of medical training, though. Not only does this suit Zweidler';s sense of the appropriate, it helps the new rex understand the abilities that she's gained.

To Zweidler's regret, the Port - au - Prince clinic proved long ago that its holistic healing techniques were just as effective in training new rexs as Zweidler's preferred methods were. Therefore, while medical training is part of every doc's life, it might be based on acupuncture in one case and on traditional Western diagnostic techniques in another. While Zweidler does insist on a certain minimum level of Western medical training, he suspects that vitakinetics who wind up in Port - au - Prince tend to let this portion of their training atrophy while they focus on holistic medicine.

After a rex's initial stay in Montressor Clinic, where Zweidler's staff teaches basic noetic techniques and fundamental Æsclapian ethics, she is assigned to one of the many multi - person clinics in the Æsclapian network. These range from the tiny five person clinics of the frontier to the super clinics like Basel itself.

Along with continuing medical training, internships may include instruction in just about anything the Æsclapians need (bureaucracy, security, psychology, etc.). While Zweidler regards science as the pinnacle of human achievement, the rest of the order understands that one needs a support staff to make research possible. After a year or two of internship, an Æsclapian graduates to full fledged status. She may continue with the clinic or move on to new challenges.

DAILY LIFE

The stereotypical Æsclapian spends much of her time in medical clinics. Spending day after day with patients frustrates some docs intensely but most find ways to deal with the psychological stress. Vitakinetics who take other paths reason that their work will prove more valuable in the long run than the fight against illness and injury.

Research and field work comprise the most common non - clinic endeavors that Æsclapians undertake. Proxy Zweidler actively encourages research as an investment in the future. Æsclapian researchers work on their own projects and assist with outside endeavors, often leading their services to private, corporate or government projects that show a worthy goal (or that will benefit the order). Research isn't for everyone, though. The Æsclapians are just as heavily involved in the field, most notably with Legions strike teams or Æon Trinity exploration teams.

A few docs work as personal physicians to the powerful. Through not prestigious work, it can be important; these vitakinetics are involved with public relations as much as they are in providing physical care. The rexs can work wonders in increasing tolerance of the order in specific and of psions in general. It's hard for a politician to condemn psions as evil if he has a Æsclapian caring for him.

There is also a place for vitakinesis back in Æsclapian security. a significant portion of Æsclapian security is made up of neutrals, of course, but the psion staffed Black Company is a most useful component. Vitakinesis is very useful on security duty, after all; you never know when you'll need to talk someone down or analyze someone's emotional state before letting him into an Æsclapian facility.

LEAVING THE ORDER

Proxy Zweidler doesn't prohibit psions from leaving the order - indeed, in some cases he's happy to see them go. After all, Basel adherents who go into private practice or sign on with other groups will likely continue following Zweidler's preferred paradigm. Conversely, Zweidler is happy to ignore those who pursue Port - au - Prince holistic philosophy - if these rexs leave the order entirely, all the better.

Still, a valuable Æsclapian who announces a desire to leave usually receives inducements to stay - special perks, a raise, a visit from one of the department heads. Indeed, if Zweidler catches work that a particular favorite might leave the order, that rex may find herself the target of the proxy's personal pleas to stay. Zweidler is not charming by traditional standards but the unconscious force of his noetic abilities hard to resist.

Plus, given the decentralized nature of the Æsclapian Order, they may be other barriers to departure. For instance, the Black Company, the order's elite psion security force, goes to great lengths to keep a member from moving on. In the bureaucratic monster that the order's become, it all depends on who you know and what you do.

Most docs leaving the Æsclapians wind up with one or the other orders or with Æon. The Legions are a particularly common destination. Those rexs who go into private, profit making practice often suffer from discrimination on the part of their former colleagues. Most Æsclapians feel that such money hungry individuals cheapen noetic science and damage the public image of psions everywhere.