Healing

Healing, also known as Medical Magic, is a school of magic in the Nameless World which, true to its name, involves healing and restoration of a living organism. It operates with the concept that a body's natural healing is guided and directed towards quicker results. It can include the use of charms.

Professional healers are bound by Healer Oaths, which are magically-binding and harm the user if they abuse their position; some faithless healers are even hunted down and killed. Many Healer Oaths keep healers from creating any sort of "debt" between them and their patients. Healers are also expected to not become involved in local politics, or take the local law into their own hands.

Use
Most healing is done with a fee, due to the fact that even the simplest healing spell requires a great amount of energy for the user, and hence can wear them down quickly. Because of this, most healers are also trained in non-magical methods. This can include potions which are used for a variety of purposes, including anesthetics. Some healers are likewise skilled in surgery.

Standard healing spells are crude so that they can be used by those with little magic experience. Though very useful, sometimes the damage done to the body can be too far for even the most powerful of healing spells, and some effects, such as mental injuries, are unable to be healed by magic.

Advanced healers may use some level of transfiguration intermixed with their healing.

Healing is often prevented by a specific curse cast upon the individual.

Training
Students are encouraged never to try to heal themselves unless no one is within shouting distance. The danger lies in the fact that attempting to cast a spell in pain would ruin concentration and may result in an undesired result, causing further damage. Some students use numbing spells on themselves instead, in order to ease the pain until a higher level healer can arrive. Even after a healing spell is used, students are told to go to the infirmary afterward for a checkup.

Students desiring to become professional healers are warned that healing is "not a very clean art," and "blood, guts, and gore" will be a common sight for the healer. They are likewise encouraged to focus their studies on alchemy. Those who wish to become Healers take a Healer Oath in their fifth year, which are forever bound on them even if they flunk out.

A homunculus is often employed by healing tutors, though there are strict laws enacted by the White Council concerning the design and creation of homunculi. Healing tutors also warn students that training with a homunculus gives the student limitations not found in training with a living creature.

At most magical places of learning, potential healers are trained at the school's infirmary. Healing tutors are infamous, due to the seriousness of their work, for snapping at their students for the slightest mistake. At Whitehall, Torquemada is initially the Head of Healing when Emily arrives, later replaced by Lady Barb. At Mountaintop, Healing is taught by Mistress Granite.

Books
Literary works touching on healing include An Introduction to Healing.