Arcem Medicinae

The Arcem Medicinae was a ancient structure which was founded as a religious shrine, but later became a hospital. It would house the frontline of medical research for the following centuries.

Notable Figures

Guermundus

Guermundus was a doctor and physician which was present at the founding of the Arcem Medicinae. He was the shining star of the hospital in its early days and he is credited with the first description of heartattacks and different kinds of lung cancers. He pioneered new forms of research and treatment. He wrote soem of the leading pieces of information on these subjects, which were used in the coming centuries.

Lucas De Saint-Pierre

Lucas de Saint-Pierre was a figure which was reguaraly found in and around the Arcem Medicinae. He was a scholar and researcher and one of the groundbreakers in the field of Learned Medicine. He was regurally around, because the Arcem Medicinae was the only hospital in the nation which allowed him to dissect the human body and its organs. His work on the spinal cord is still one of the leading works in that subject. He experimented on other animals and realized when the spinal cord was broken, that a animal would die. This lead him to belive that the spine is the basis of the sense of touch, cause of movmeent and the orgin of nerves. He made hunderds of anatomical drawings and sketches. This would lay the groundwork for the later rise of Chirurgs or Surgeons.

Purpose / Function

It was firstly built as Shrine to Romis Sain. Later it found a new purpose with the medical research of Guermundus. It fell in disuse and abandonment until the rise of Enlightenment. They gave the old facility new life.

Architecture

A lot is known about he original design of the old complex. The central chamber was one built for the former shrine. For a long time it was filled with religious symbolism, but these were removed in its conversion eand eventually dissapeared. From here they built wings which house different fields of medicine. These were built very openly as a connection to nautre as very important during the Guermundian time. After its abandonment it slowly eroded away and completely flattened by a arare earthquake.
Later a copy of this plan was the basis for the new renovation. They honored the Old Chamber as a symbol to one building standing the test of time. It passed through different eras of history and occupants. They tried to rebuilt the old wing in the new style of modern architcture. In this they showed a that they employed a new way of research, but heading for the same goals.

History

Founding

The Arcem Medicinae was firstly founded as a shrine to Romis Sain. They recieved the funding of the then Duke of Ruples. Here priests would use holy water, which had healing properties, form a nearby lake to heal its visitor. Later on they built waterways to bring this water closer to the shrine. It first rose to promince under the legendary doctor and physician Guermundus. He slowly gained more and more control over the shrine as it satrted to be converted into a hosptial of medicine. Here they converted from faith based medicine to learning based medicine. Now the hospital adopted its rpesent name and attracted hunders of scholars form all over the world. Hunderds of physician would be housed around here and even after Guermunuds dead it flourished. Yet its effect was for now limited to the local area.

Downfall

Hunderds of years would pass and the hospital slowly descended into disuse. Less and less physicians would join the organization and it would slowly collapse under the burden of the great upkeep of the property. At its lowest pointonly the central chamber remainded in use and the outer wings started to collapse under its own weight. Resurgence Then in its lowest point, there was a saving grace. A new idea of thought had started to influence the nations on Milea. The Enlightenment preached a new faithless way of medicine. New scholars entered the medical scene and wer enow looking for a place of practice. Through local oral traditions they heard of the famous Arcem Medicinae. They arrived to find the last reamins of Guermundian doctors still left and found hunders of scrolls documenting medical experiements.
These new enlightenment scholars handeld this new informstion with a respect and first learned all of the Guermundian traditions and documented them into fine detail. The old guard would soon give way to the new scholars. The first pioneers include notable names like: Boissonade, Bachelot and Jacquard.

Golden Age

Now the enlightenment was in full swing. Whereas before they used the old building, now they started making plans for a full restoration. They found old documents of the original designer and decided to switch course. They first decided to make a completely different design, but after this find they completely changed course. A famous architect travelled from the other side of the continent to work on the project. He decided to restore the original central chamber and constuct a modern version of the wings. He connected them with a ring which surrounded the old chamber.
These renovations were a gradiose success and gave way to amny more scholar, physician, doctors and surgeons joining the research on the medical frontier. One of them was Lucas De Saint-Pierre. His work would turn out to be stunishing in the future, but in the present he would be disregarded as a self obessed experimentatist.
Currently the Arcem Medicinae stand strong and still holds the position of the marvel of medicine in the world.

Alternative Names

The Palace of Death, The House of Medicine

Type

Hospital

Owning Organization

Ruples