The Compassionate Hands society
– ( registered imperial charitable
organization)
A multidisciplinary
professional organization founded during the late Reconquista period by a Holy
Courtesan, a Psychic Healer, and subsequently endorsed by the then Agent of
Holy Exterre and a high ranking member of the Empress cult.
Membership is by application
and is not common; applicants must be a
member of one of the “compassionate professions” – a healer, geneticist,
maternal, courtesan, doctor, or the like Prospective members must demonstrate a life
long and intense commitment to the furtherance of their fellow life forms and that
of the imperium. Many applicants are invited to apply after the
society or it’s members hear of an especially valiant or noble act of healing
or charity; members in good standing can recommend people for invitation.
Devout clerics of gods of
healing and especially those of a nurturing aspect may find themselves receiving
an invitation should they reach level 2 or higher in imperial space.
DCC characters who help stop a plague
or viral infection or some other medical achievement of that scale may find
themselves receiving an invitation to apply.
Membership in this society does not recognize character class – a Field
Scientist is as much a potential member of this organization as a Psi Healer,
Cleric, or anyone else. Membership is
more about “achievements & intentions” – if you are the White Healing
Wizard, no one will care that you serve Thrice!Angry!Click!Click The-Scion-of-Our-Destruction
when the guns come out so long as you take care of people and do good works the
rest of the time.
The organization is well
funded, insulated from much of imperial authority, and very powerful, albeit
indirectly. On occasion, even now, it
has included even imperial criminals and those opposed to imperial rule – provided
they are first responsible for their fellow sentients. Non-citizen members can
functionally act as citizens while acting as members of this organization, and
sometimes especially gifted healers will, if poor, find themselves recommended into
their ranks under the aegis of “sponsoring compassionate and instructional
travel”
It is not unknown for the Society
to assemble crisis teams, composed of dedicated volunteers, to travel to especially
troubled worlds – an adventuring band could include several members and the security
detail that keeps them alive in hostile DMZs, plague zones, areas overrun with
the Un-dead and the like.
