Doctor
Value: 0
Visions • Swans • Blades • Water
Meanings: Wisdom, health, dependence upon others, disease
Doctors help, but it’s a help we’d rather not need. No one wants to see a doctor. We only see them if something’s gone frighteningly wrong. They have knowledge—perhaps secret knowledge—and an insight few can match. But these are secrets about disease and death. Can one delve so deeply into such topics and not come out affected?
The Doctor is the nemesis of the Visions family. This enigmatic, genderless figure is a harbinger of illness and plague, but they the possibility of succor or even remedy from the disease they foretell. There is an inherent contradiction to the Doctor, then. They are the hero that we really do not want.
Divination: Although sinister in appearance and position in its family, the Doctor card can mean good health and a wisdom in dealing with the challenges that life can bring. However, there’s always an undercurrent of dependence with the turn of this card. It’s not the wisdom of the person in question, but the wisdom of someone else. The presage of well-being comes from the intervention of some outside force. Worse, however, sometimes the Doctor suggests not health but illness.
Game Narrative: Someone falls ill. A plague threatens. A powerful NPC relies upon another for their survival. An NPC consults wise advisors. People search for a remedy to some widespread affliction.
Joy: The PC recovers from illness or injury. Someone knowledgeable provides aid to the PC.
Despair: The PC falls victim to disease. An injury the PC suffers won’t seem to heal.
But doctors are supposed to heal. What is it that you’re doing?