Shinhigh Home

The Shinhigh Home is a place for orphans and displaced women to go, where they can find food and shelter, and also to obtain skills to help them back on their feet. Each home is a self-contained unit, with rooms for sleeping, a large central dining area, workshops, and some outside space. There are small vegetable gardens, and on the whole the home could function by itself if it had to.

Each of the Shinhigh Homes holds roughly 200 residents, most women and children, although a few extra staff are also on hand. The residents are responsible for cooking, cleaning, and learning skills/producing things in the workshops, which are then sold to help keep the home going. Residents are taught values of duty, honesty, and charity, the three ideals that keep the home running.

Staffing each home are a headmistress, an officer of residents, an officer of vocations, and a variety of experts who serve as mentors in the various workshops. Each home contains a smith, brewer, tailor, carpenter, magic workshop, and a place where travelers can purchase the produced goods, at very reasonable prices.

Furnishings inside are very modest, focusing on practicality over flair. In the front of each home is a garden area, where vegetables and flowers are grown. There is an entry hall, with a statue of the founder, Marcus Shinhigh, helping a woman up off the ground, and underneath it the words "The Shinhigh Home--for those who need help standing tall."

Branching off to the left are the vocational areas, each connected by a single large hallway. Across from the entry doors are the offices of the headmistress and officers, as well as the main door to the dining hall. To the right are the dormitories for the children, as well as stairs leading up to the second floor dormitories, where the women and workers sleep.

Behind the dining hall is the kitchen, storerooms, and docks (where applicable). Kitchen duty rotates, with every member of the house helping at some time (this is also the same for things like cleaning duty and gardening duty). All of the construction in the home is very modest, simple wood and stone, although residents are encouraged to improve the condition of the home, by making additions or improvements.

Funding from the home comes mostly from Marcus Shinhigh, though government funds have also been put to use, and donations are gladly accepted. Once up and running, each home is able to support itself largely through sale of the goods it produces.

Living conditions inside the home are very close--there is not much private space, although each resident does have his or her own bunk, and small chest to keep any personal belongings. Residents are free to leave at any time, and encouraged to find a place in the world, using the skills learned during their time at the home. Admission to the home is open to single women (either unmarried or widowed) and children without a father. Children are welcome to stay until they're adults, and women are free to stay until they are married or choose to leave.

Rules of the home are: Boys and girls must sleep in separate quarters. Children under the human equivalent age of 5 may stay with their mothers. You are responsible for the cleanliness of your own space. You are expected to work in one of the areas to help support the home. No fighting. No stealing other's belongings. You are free to leave at any time, but to come back you have to re-apply. The officer's say is final.