Medicine

The Akythans were the first to split the work of doctor from that of priests, developing not only codified and standard medicine based on observational sciences, but also a code of ethics swearing physicians to serve people and do no harm.

While superstition may run rampant in rural regions and among the poor an educated, the educated folk of the inner sea understand that disease are not the result of curses or similar malefices, but rather imbalances of the body or the effects of toxins.

Within the Inner Sea, hospitals are typically reserved for slaves and the poor who cannot afford a physician to visit them in their home.

Doctors
Doctors trained in the Akythan traditions are known as physikos and are the most well respected and renowned of all physicians. To become a physikos one must study for five years within an academy of medicine and then continue training for another five years serving as an apprentice to a practicing physikos.

All physikos are sworn to the Adepian oath, an oath to the god of medicine to cause no harm, heal all who require it even if they cannot afford the payments, and to take no side in wars, healing allies and enemies of one's nation alike.

Physikos must master the five arts of medicine; diagnosis, pharmacy, surgery, cleansing, and bodyworks. Upon completion of their studies, a master gives the new physikos a copper brooch of the serpent staff of Adepius, to be worn as a symbol of their status.

Treatment and Drugs
Physicians across the Inner Sea use primarily a variety of plants and minerals in their task, administered in a variety of ways such as brewed teas, applied onto injuries or outer symptoms, and even smoked.
 * Wine mixed with an extract of poppies is often given to dull the pain of surgical victims.
 * Those afflicted with illness should neither touch others nor bathe with them. If possible they are to do nothing but rest in seclusion.
 * In Physikos tradition, wounds are to first be washed with clear water, followed by strong alcohol before being sealed.
 * Physicians often prescribe changes to diet to alleviate certain ailments.
 * All things touched by a contagious person are to be either burnt or boiled in a mixture of alcohol for long periods of time to destroy miasmic forces.
 * Contraceptives are widely available and range from spermicide barriers to medicinal drugs meant to prevent contraception.