Lóssóbro

General introduction

A lóssóbro (pl.: lóssóbra) is a public bath house that is a common institution in almost every town, city or capital of all the states belonging to the Confederation of Tarrabaenia. The upkeep of these important institutions is financed in different ways, depending on the respective historical background of the state. In most states the upper classes build and support the lóssóbra, other states finance them from tax revenue. In all cases the lóssóbra are connected to the priesthood of Triccé and house a shrine dedicated to him.

History of the lóssóbro

The peoples of the Confederation of Tarrabaenia are all closely related and spread over the area they now occupy a long time ago and lost contact to each other and developped independantly from one another. Nonetheless they all have lóssóbra which are all connected to Triccé, indicating that the lóssóbro was a part of these peoples' culture before they split apart only to later reunite in the confederation we know today. As Triccé is the god of health, medicine and purification the connection of his priesthood to the institution is only natural. Lóssóbra have averted some major outbreaks of plagues over the course of the centuries, especially the Fercúl that came to the Confederation of Tarrabaenia from the east but never permeated deep into the inner or even western states.

Functions and organization of lóssóbra

Every lóssóbro has four integral parts: an area to take off and store clothes as well as to rinse of dirt from feet, hands, face and body, a larger water basin that can be but does not have to be heated, a shrine of Triccé and a treatment area with individual cells, each of which has a bath tub. Tarsinna, the seat of government of the Confederation of Tarrabaenia has the biggest lóssóbro, called Ocna's lóssóbro or lóssóbro Ocnás in the Tarsinnan dialect of Fálário. It has a large outdoor pool that can be used almost year round as it is warmed by the sun as well as an oven. To absorb as much heat from the sun as possible it is laid out with black slate, earning it the name starno plo, the black pool. It also has a steam bath, called núbiúbro and three indoor pools, one of which is even deep enough to swim in.
The visitors enter the lóssóbra, get undressed and clean and then first visit the shrine within the facility. After these initial steps they can spend the rest of their time there as they wish. The priests of Triccé tend to the shrine and take care of those who come to the treatment area. The maintenance otherwise is taken care of by citizens, slaves or workers employed by the respective city's or states government. This part of the staff varies from state to state. The priests of Triccé offer different health benefitting services ranging from magical healing techniques to prescriptions for medicine to counselling those with a burdened heart or mind. The treatment area is usually accessible from inside the lóssóbro as well as directly from outside so contagiously sick people don't spoil and sully the bathhouse. This safety measure is probably what helped to keep the Fercúl from spreading through the Confederation of Tarrabaenia.

Type

Bathhouse