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No worries, do it when you can, no need to apologise <3

Windy - my post is up! Can someone please take away all these medieval reference books, because soon my posts in HoH will be crammed with medieval references Since most births in the past happened at home, I based the Birthing room on the Byzantine porphyry chamber. Anna Komnene described the room located in the Bucoleon Palace in The Alexiad, so I used her description as the basis and decorated it. The tapestry of The Lady and the Unicorn is real, it's located in the Musée de Cluny in Paris. I really like it, so I decided to include it here, but honestly I have no idea if it would be an appropriate piece for the birthing chamber but since we can't get porphyry outside the palace we get this

You are a star! <3 And decorate it how you want, sounds beautiful <3

I thought about Liriel giving birth at home, but then was like where the heck do we post that, so just had her come here, much easier lol. And given it's twins, likely better!

You could have always traumatised the entire Marketplace but since we do have the Houses of Healing, why not use them for this happy occasion :-)

Oh, and since everything regarding childbirth was women's domain, no men allowed :D , if you want to bring in your NPC Naela so she could observe it would be fine. Lot of women will be in and out of the room, bringing warm water, clean towels etc. Besides, midwifery skills were usually learnt as a craft, by observing other experienced midwives, since most of them were illiterate.

Maybe it's just me, but I'm getting a funny feeling that recently many a visitor to Gondor as ended up visiting the Houses of Healing not that I mind though, opportunities for extra and interesting research and fun RP are always amazing!

Heh, a good reason for me to finally start posting properly again, suppose.

Winddancer wrote: ↑Tue Dec 08, 2020 6:38 pm "And how do you know it is twins?? Are you saying i am going to have to give birth to two? Do they come out at the same time?? I don't think I can push two out at the same time!! I could barely push the last one out he was so big! Are you sure he isn't just a big un??"

Oh my! I am in awe how Liriel can rapid-fire so many questions in such a short time span! Considering she's in labour, this is a feat! This is going to be one interesting reply to write.

It was between contractions and Liriel is a known blabber mouth! In any normal circumstance she always talks, a lot!

@Nessa Saelind sorry for jumping forward a bit there, but I have never given birth and there is only so much screaming one wants to read about :P Unless it is torture..

Haven't read it yet @Winddancer but if it's any consolation I haven't given birth either and I have no idea what I'm doing, but I do know these things take a while if I go by the words mothers say when they disapprove something their children did

One almighty stride closer to freeing up your healing hands some more, @Pele Alarion. Unalmis is a perfect whirlwind of excuse to have he and his father leave soon, before he embarrasses anyone any further. I do believe this little episode has seemed to have run it's course. Thanks for accommodating me.

And anyone who wishes to have noted a random young man's head peeking in upon their treatment room, or to have chased him through the houses of healing by receptionists/the like as he searched for his father, do feel free. I promise he's not really here to cause any trouble. He's just come to help walk the invalid back down all of those seven circles.

I was supposed to have my Lady Isys come to ask the healers checkup on the bones she fractured, after the Rangers' mission, but since that adventure effectively hasn't finished yet, nor moved in months, I'll hang on and save her visit to the House of Healing for a later date. It appears that you all have your hands very much full for a good nice moment here !

@Ercassie I really loved your post! Especially how you managed to capture the father-son relationship in those paragraphs before the end is just so wonderfully brilliant! Personally, I'd love to see Addhor coming to his checkup accompanied by Unlamis, but it's up to you and Pele :-)

And it does sound kind of weird to say this, but feel free to drop by the Houses any time. I like writing posts for HoH, the research is always so interesting. :-)

@Nessa Saelind I feel like potatoes would possibly work... But I've honest to goodness cured blood poisoning with garlic so I highly doubt your Balkan remedies will shock me. We use garlic for everything lol

@Fuin Elda - potatoes are a tried and tested method that works for bringing down fever! That and rubbing rakija or other high % alcohol all over the patient to bring the fewer down. I hated that one when I was a child because the plum brandy (šljivovica) we had stank to high heaven. Worked though. Stil stank

@Nessa Saelind I know the alcohol trick never had it done but I know of it. I love it doing more packing atm just about out of boxes. Then I'll get to responding can't wait to see the Balkan methods am sure there will be plenty of overlap with Ukrainian methods

Well, we're all part of the big happy Slav Squad family represent.

Nessa Saelind wrote: ↑Fri Dec 18, 2020 9:39 pm And it does sound kind of weird to say this, but feel free to drop by the Houses any time. I like writing posts for HoH, the research is always so interesting. :-)

Better bone up on your knowledge of bone/fractures then, my dear healers. But not until next year now. As for the boys checking back in, we shall just have to see what happens.

I think its safe to say that the healers would like to get days off for the holidays too And we have to leave some ideas for next year too.

Speaking of next year @Pele Alarion should we open a new HoH thread for next year? In the spirit of New Year, New Thread, or do we leave the thread as is? I'd love to hear your and @Winddancer and everyone else's thoughts and comments about it. :-) I think Winddy once asked about a healers' roster, small as we are maybe we should have one or something like it

@Nessa Saelind I suppose a new thread wouldn't hurt. The roster would be rather short, but well... might be useful. Would you want to open it or should I? Perhaps we could even start with some sort of inventory/staff meeting/tea time or whatever. :D

Sounds good to me!

Pele - No problem, I can open it sometime in the first week of January :-) Should we keep the same colours or go for darker versions? Ducky dug up an old Houses of Healing thread from the Wayback machine that had some nice and simple colour choices.

Pleeease use darker ones, also for those that have trouble with the gold and lighter colours. Should be enough dark colours to go around.

Great! Hmm. Blue is sort of nice to have, though those colours are good - though now we have a study and healer quarters and such to add. And... why in the world do I have Orlando Bloom icon there?!

Pele I think it's a glitch of sorts since Gondor had Troy icons for Halloween one year.

So the colors for the threads so far are:

Reception (red - #FF0000)
Treatment rooms (light blue - #0040FF)
Study (brown - #804040)
Recovery rooms (green - #008000)
Garden (violet - #BF40FF)
Healer quarters: apothecary, storage etc. (gold - #FFBF00)

I would suggest going black for Reception, going dark blue (#0000A0) or midnight blue (#151B54) for the Treatment room, for the Garden we could keep the same colour or use indigo (#4B0082) and use the grey (#666666) or some darker grey (#504A4B) for the healer's quarters

I've always wondered why Garden has never been green. Gold definitely is a pain for the eyes, so grey, especially darker, would be much better.

Well we can always make the switch. Green (#008000) for the garden and indigo (#4B0082) for the Rooms of recovery

That seems quite good, all in all. :)

Let's see what we have so far:

Reception (black)
Treatment rooms (dark blue - #0000A0)
Study (brown - #804040)
Recovery rooms (indigo - #4B0082)
Garden (green - #008000)
Healer quarters: apothecary, storage etc. (dark grey (the official name of the colour code is Gray Wolf ) - #504A4B)

I say, perfect, Nessa! Nothing to make sore eyes.

Excellent! I'll go through the HoH thread next week to make a list of healers, nurses etc. PCs and NPCs, so our short and sweet list can be up to date. I'll include my senior administrator NPC on the list because, at some point next year, I'd like to write about the "boring" non-healer things like how the Houses are run, finances, acquiring supplies so the healers can work, salaries and so on. It sounds boring, but I really like writing those a day in a life stores.

It seems to me that you are able to make anything boring into exciting stuff, @Nessa Saelind!

@Drifa so... what do you have in mind for Afird's pack? I left the matter open but forgot to ask you for details. :D

@Pele Alarion .. I think he has recovered it. Now he can head over to the Winter pub for more fun.

It's a Christmas miracle! Well, Boxing day miracle an injured elven "grandmother" got her bath and baby no. 2 is safely delivered! All in a day's writing.

BTW as I was doing baby-related research I stumbled on The Baby Historian. I haven't watched the videos, but the texts are really informative. A good recourse for future baby-related HoH posts.

I think I managed to complete our rather small healer roster/list/thing

List of the Houses of Healing staff

Master Healer: Pele Alarion
Healers: Nessa (de Argosy), Linaiwe (Pele's NPC)
Apprentice Healer: Naela (Windy's NPC)
Healer(s)/pharmacist(s) on sabbatical: Durien Arrandir and Finduilas
Nurse(s): Matilda (Nessa's NPC)
Administrative staff: Quintus de Scardena (senior administrator, Nessa's NPC)

@Pele Alarion @Winddancer have a look at the list and if anyone is missing or if I should add anything to it e.g. nurses or receptionist or other staff members that anyone can use...

When the new thread goes up I was thinking of having the list of the HoH staff in the post right after the introductory one along with how to become a Healer/Nurse/Pharmacist guidelines if that's ok? I know we talked about healer training in here before, should we keep things as they are now, simplify things, or go with the flow? Ideas, input, suggestions, comments wellcome! :-)

BTW before I forget Pele I loved your last HoH post!

I personally think that it should be possible to do/have both. As in if you want to train to be a healer then you can, but if you want to jump in and rp a healer then you can. I say this cause there is only 2 healers atm and it takes a long time to rp becoming a healer (not complaining!!). Just that if you want to jump in and help someone then you can. Only say this cause we want to encourage people to come and rp in Gondor. But as said, that is my take on it.

@Nessa Saelind

I have a couple of random NPCs I've used when needed:
- receptionist Miriel
- Delaramin (a teenager I sometimes have running around to fetch things, etc. Don't even know where to place him, a helper of sorts?)

Training - I suppose we don't need anything too complicated, what with only a couple of us and a load of various additional NPCs. Extra note: I'd rather people communicate ahead of time if they want to do any jumping in - would make it easier in case of trying to build some story, and then there's suddenly a healer nobody really knows.

That post was sort of fun to write, trying to keep it lighthearted and all.

@Pele Alarion, that post really was fun and lighthearted and awesome. I love that Pele the Master healer melds with Pele the Ranger when she has to keep order in the face of chaos ! Brilliant stuff !

NPF edit: I totally agree!

@Pele Alarion Good point, maybe to offset the training and not have people just randomly jumping in, what about being able to apply as a healer? That way you can keep tabs on who is a healer and add them to the roster as well.

@Winddancer Sounds like a wholesome idea, so that people can either be 'ready-made' healers or 'half-baked' ones in training if they prefer.

Edit: ooooh, nice pointses! *curtsies in thanks*

@Winddancer - that's a good idea, the Edoras infirmary works on a similar principle if I remembered correctly.

Since I'm a fan of both is good we could have both "programs" implemented. If someone would like to start from scratch they can apply as an apprentice and after a couple of tasks (we can agree on the arbitrary number of posts/tasks needed or be flexible), or they can apply for a healer. Whatever works them and the storyline. As long as they let us know here so we're not like "I have no memory of this." Gandalf meme

@Pele Alarion re your random NPCs I think we can add them to the list as various NPCs anyone can use if needed. I have a head nurse, Angelica, and Grace - a teen who helps with cleaning that I'll add to the list, so if anyone needs an NPC and don't have the time (or brain cells, or both ) to think up a character they can use them.

@Ercassie ah, lovely you popped in here! So I can bug you with a plot idea I had. Don't worry it's for next year Partly inspired by Pele's last post and partly by an idea* I've been toying with for a while now was wondering if Addhor might be available for hire to make some furniture or tools for the Houses?

*The premise is that Quintus de Scardena managed to get funds for the Houses from the Queen but under the conditions that when possible veterans were employed in its implementation. If this sounds like a proposal one would send to get EU funds it's not far off the mark

@Nessa Saelind, I do often poke in here but as *waves 'not a healer' placard* I don't usually feel qualified to participate on your discussions

As it happens, my main reason for bringing Addhor to the House of Healing in the first place was threefold 1. to harass @Pele Alarion , 2. to get @Winddancer's trainee some experience built up, and 3. to have my IC be inspired from his recent injury to try to begin constructing more comfortable/flexible/useful supports etc for veterans, as part of his marketplace work. I have been trying so hard to keep the ableism positive but realistic and represented, as in post-war Gondor it would certainly seem to be authentic that people would have had life-changing injuries. I haven't heard from anyone telling me I'm being rude, and I hope that if I do offend anyone, they will poke me so I can do better, or even close up that whole avenue if need be. But it isn't just Addhor. I believe @Galastel also has a veteran soldier character, who had lost an arm, etc. I even had a sub-plot of thought whereby my gondorian carpenter might seek out communicating with @Winddancer's carpenter in Rohan to learn more about wooden legs and the still managing to ride horses, and possibilities therein, as inspired by Taethowen's wonderful development thread. I work in a hospital in RL and have done a little bit of research so far on the subject. Honestly I'm not trying to start a 'trend' or anything, RP wise, but I just figured that people who use wooden legs in fiction/fantasy etc are not all pirates, and a realistic veteran IC should be able to have a Gondorian-style life as much as the next person.

So in short (after that rather long ramble), I would certainly be open to there being some sort of arrangement offered towards the Houses of Healing. The Healers of this city have saved Addhor's life twice now (though not necessary on this latest visit), so it would be very much in character as a way of 'giving back', so to speak.

If you want to link up with Æric, go for it! :D I would be happy to join in on that :D

The EU ekhm Houses of Healing will happily provide the funds for this joint venture. :D

Careful now! Ya'll are dangerously coming up with healthcare that actually works!

In all seriousness though, I often poke my head in and read the stories that don't involve my (formerly) alcoholic bastard and have been amazed at the stories being crafted here. They far exceed a lot of the historical fiction out there in terms of entertainment and information. As a group, I think you should all be proud of the works you've done.

Since it does seem to be picking up a bit, I'd love to throw my hat into the ring and act as a training guinea pig (both me and my characters(s) of course) for whatever you need.

David Bowie wrote: ↑Sun Dec 27, 2020 6:44 pm Careful now! Ya'll are dangerously coming up with healthcare that actually works!

Wait until we get to the positively socialist idea that the Crown should fund the Houses of Healing and that the healer's salaries should come from that fund!

Jokes aside, in the Middle Ages on the Adriatic coast doctors and hospitals were financed by the city communes. There's a lot of documents from the notaries in Dubrovnik that show contracts between doctors and the Republic of Ragusa (as Dubrovnik was known at the time), in which we can clearly see that the state employs a doctor for a certain amount of time and wages and other privileges are agreed upon, and the doctor is not allowed to charge the citizens of the commune for healing. There's a bunch of interesting contracts between doctors and patients too, before this order of not charging patients was enforced.

Side note aside Frost I think you'd be a good addition as a pharmacist/apothecary. You have a flair for experimenting (encouraged, but please don't blow up anything, the Queen won't give us the funds if we start blowing stuff up ) and I think it would suit you. :-)

Eril the Apthercarist, I like the sound of that! I would love to started on that! The turtle approach will really help me with that, give me lots of time to research and make stuff up wholesale.

Welcome aboard @The King in Yellow! I'll add you to the roster

Eril becoming an apothecary is awesome because 1) he will need to regularly take his heart medication (carefully measured doses of woolly foxglove (Digitalis lanata) [I think this species would be used, I'll need to check if Dioscorides used this or another species] and willow bark extract for thinning the blood, leeches optional :-) ) so it could be the first thing he could learn, despite not being the easiest thing in the world 2) it doesn't require a lot of physical exertion and 3) his son can be with him and they get to bond over herbs and medicine. :-) If you'd like you can make an NPC apothecaries who will train Eril or I can make someone or anyone else can join in! The more the merrier! :-)


Regarding the new thread I copied all the information from the OP of this one, just changed the colour scheme to the new one we agreed on (see below), and I'll have Houses of Healing II ready to open for Monday next year (That's like 5 days away, but it always funny to say).

Reception (black)
Treatment rooms (dark blue - #0000A0)
Study (brown - #804040)
Recovery rooms (indigo - #4B0082)
Garden (green - #008000)
Healer quarters: apothecary, administrative building, kitchen, storage etc. (dark grey - #504A4B)

If everyone is OK with this I was planning to replace the Healer training instructions we have now with this:

If you would like to join the staff of the Houses of Healing as a healer, apothecary, nurse etc., or start your apprenticeship in the Houses of Healing please post in the Reception and a member of staff will be with you shortly.

If you have any ideas, comments, questions or concerns please head over to the OOC thread and let us know.

Also, I was planning to have an opening post, and in the post right after that put the List of the Houses of Healing staff and a list of resources (books, articles, links etc.) some that I've posted about here, or that I have somewhere on the computer. So it's all in one place for easy access, and I can easily add new ones whenever anyone stumbles onto something interesting.

What do you all think? @Pele Alarion @Winddancer. And sorry for the disertation

Busy Nessa! Looks quite good. I might have some links saved somewhere on one computer or the other, so will check those out and see if they are still working. Hmm, I should follow your example and sort out Rangers a bit, but... maybe sleep first.

Sounds good to me! <3

Why not both Pele?

Windy

Awesomeness! I'll fiddle with the text, links and etc. so it can be ready by Monday. ^_^ I the meantime maybe I can actually catch up with everything and start writing or finish writing posts for people.