Miracle Baths
Will you find a miracle here?
In my seventies, my body began to ache. The Healers could only temporarily numb the pain, and one Healer suggested my wife and take a trip to the Baths. The journey took over a week, and it was extraordinarily uncomfortable, but the journey was well worth it. I am a man of great age, and I had never seen anything quite so magnificent before (with perhaps the exception of the Circus of Wonders). There were two huge baths and two smaller ones, surrounding a huge fountain. I was admitted to one of the big baths, and the warmth immediately helped my old bones. I stayed for a week, doing what the Baths' Healers prescribed. After the week, my body felt much better. If it is from the magic or simply from the warm water, I am unsure, but the journey back home was much easier than the journey there. It has been six months, and although I still ache, it has lessened considerably. --Journal entry from a man who visited the baths, c. 425 CE
The Miracle Baths ruins, located in Ilyrium, are the remnants of a once large bath complex. Abandoned in 782 CE, it is now a large tourist attraction. The Baths were mostly heated, except for a sole cold one for those that preferred it. At the center of the Baths was a magnificent fountain, although time has lost what, exactly, the fountain looked like.
Purpose / Function
The Baths were originally meant to aid in healing ailments that the Healers could not. Through international cooperation, the Council at the time hoped that the Baths would become a Mecca of sorts for witches around the world.
Alterations
Records indicate that when the Miracle Baths were first constructed, it was simply one large bath. Due to its popularity, by the 300s, the complex had widened to two large, Olympic-sized baths and two smaller baths surrounding a beautiful fountain.
Architecture
Like their human counterparts, the Baths have a distinctly Roman feel to them. The wall surrounding the Baths (no longer standing) was columned, and all of the decorations in and outside the Baths were Greek or Roman mythology-based.
History
The Baths were constructed in 123 CE by the presiding Council at the time. It was a copy of their human counterparts, but like with any time witches take something from humans, they claimed the Baths were completely unique. And certainly, in a way, they were. Witches were dispatched from every corner of the globe to cast healing spells of all kinds. The Council was hopeful that the worldwide cooperation would help heal those that Healers could not. After the Baths' inception, the success rate of its healing was difficult to tell (especially since Healer medicine was progressing so fast), but it certainly attracted witches from all over the world for a visit. By its 200th birthday, the Baths were famous for more than healing; witches claimed it brought luck, happiness, and wisdom. It became a pilgrimage for witches with any serious problem; it was said a good soak or two in the Miracle Baths would cure just about anything. A few centuries later, the prestige of the Baths had lessened; magic progressed greatly, and the results did not seem as impressive as they had before. For many, visiting the Baths was simply a stop on their vacation or magic tour. Eventually, the Miracle Baths were abandoned in 782 CE, due to a waterborne disease (which now has a cure). However, by the cure's inception, the Baths were already in ruins, and now money is only used for the upkeep of the ruins, rather than reopening it. However, the ruins are still a great tourist attraction.
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Author's Notes
Written for Summer Camp 2018's prompt: Describe a building that was once a grand place, but is now ruined.