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Amelia Dryer was a witch who ran a baby farm for unwanted infants. She ultimately became responsible for the murders of many infants, and was executed for her crimes. She continued her activities by attacking and killing unborn children as a vengeful spirit, leading to a spike of miscarriages around the world. This ranged in upwards of 40% of pregnancies failing.

Magic runes have been developed which mother's can wear to repel apparitions and protect their child. Unfortunately, these are impractical for a single individual to constantly use. Recognizing a market, private businesses have established maternity centers within cities. These centers are surrounded by large runes which are meant to prevent ghosts like Dryer from entering, protecting the dwellers on the inside. Mothers-to-be can spend their 9 month period here in safety, ensured that their child will be safe until it is born.

The private facilities offers room and board, as well as other services that its occupants would need for their stay. Of course, Keeping them open costs money, and the costs must be passed on to the individual. This can get very expensive, as the person would be spending almost an entire year as a tenant. In addition to this, these facilities only have so much capacity, and space would be limited for citizens. People coming in from the countryside to board here would also be a problem, traveling from their homes to find residency in these protected buildings, adding to the population of the city and straining resources further.

These companies need to somehow manage these issues to prevent the system from falling apart. How can it do this?

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  • $\begingroup$ Are these centers run as fully private businesses, or state is expected to subsidize them? $\endgroup$
    – Alexander
    Commented Jun 24, 2020 at 22:40
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    $\begingroup$ Take the fight to the ghosts. If you can rune 'em, you can probably trap 'em and exorcise 'em. Probably cheaper, too: My small city would require about 7500 rooms in this women's-concentration-camp...just for the imprisoned/unemployed/impoverished (oh, sorry, "protected") women...plus space for their families. That's several whole neighborhoods. $\endgroup$
    – user535733
    Commented Jun 24, 2020 at 23:51
  • $\begingroup$ I suspect the rich would be served, and the poor would need to make up for it in volume of pregnancies. Long-term, reduced population would likely lead to improving standards of living and greater rights as demand for diminishing labor supplies forced employers to negotiate, like after the bubonic plague. $\endgroup$
    – DWKraus
    Commented Jun 25, 2020 at 0:59
  • $\begingroup$ I think the more dangerous period is the period between the start of the pregnancy and getting into a warded place. It does NOT show immediately and even if the curse is delayed by a day or two, that still makes it that an unprotected child is like a supernova attracting the witch while the woman herself is oblivious. I say scale the whole thing up. You know how medieval cities had walls and battlements and ditches...etc? Do that. Protect the entire city with those spells. Just like Attack on Titan or Warhammer 40K...etc. $\endgroup$
    – Seallussus
    Commented Jun 25, 2020 at 4:26
  • $\begingroup$ "State needs to somehow manage these issues": oh no it doesn't. States do not manage health care, anywhere in the world. What states do is contract health care services with health care service providers. For example, in Romania a very very nice room in a rural privately run hotel, all inclusive, is something like 50 euros/day, likely less; for 12 months, this is about 18,000 euros. Times our birth rate, it comes at about 4 billiion per year. The state will build this into the health care budget and adjust the health contribution tax accordingly. $\endgroup$
    – AlexP
    Commented Jun 25, 2020 at 8:43

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Set them up as businesses.

Hire the women to work as seamstresses, bakers, etc. Any job that lets a woman stay inside the wards at all time will support the center. Women will, in fact, ensure that their daughters learn occupations that will let them work inside a center.

Edit: also to work as servants for the women who are wealthy enough to pay for their stays.

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  • $\begingroup$ This is a lot like how orphanages in England were run. Boys were trained to go into the navy, while women were trained to be house servants; jobs that served the needs of the state. $\endgroup$
    – DWKraus
    Commented Jun 25, 2020 at 0:56
  • $\begingroup$ I don't know about other places, but in Europe we have paid maternity leave... Women are not expected to work during the last months of pregnancy. $\endgroup$
    – AlexP
    Commented Jun 25, 2020 at 8:45
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Some societal rethinking and a big dose of public works efforts might help here.

It may seen odd, but maybe establish a Women's or young families quarter in the city. Make it several city blocks and build high. Young women who might become pregnant stay in that quarter. Young Men use the services of local matchmakers in order to meet the young women located in the quarter. In the quarter, build places where the women can learn a trade that works within your established societal rules. Failure to comply with the rules of the Quarter can result in a young woman being expelled and not able to return. She is on her own at that point.

Now for something specific about the public works. When building the quarter, establish the street layout and buildings in a way that makes up the protective rune itself! That squigle shaped building over there is both a part of the rune and also the training facility. The loop street around the quarter is the encircling part of the rune. From the air, the entire quarter will appear to be the rune itself. This gives a permanent and renewable format for the protective spells. Daily traffic plodding along the streets gives the whole thing energy. If there is more than one Rune required, maybe locate the houses of ill repute inside those. It's up to you. The point is that the entire citizenry will benefit. Road maintenance, since this will also help maintain the rune itself, will be more important. If you can pull this off, the Quarter will be large enough that Overcrowding will be less of an issue. You can even increase magical research in to Contraceptive arts, so the young women who are away will be at less risk, and will only need to return to the quarter when ready to have children.

You also might want to look at what point the unborn child becomes a beacon and target for vengeful spirits, and how much damage the spirit does to the woman as well. If the baby becomes detectable after the first trimester, she may be able to make it to the Quarter in time. If not, will the expectant mother be rendered infertile by the miscarriage?

I noticed a bunch of other good stuff in the comments. Have fun!

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The first big question is why are the runes impractical for a single person to use?

Regardless, this is about the mass facilities, and not in impracticalities of a single-person protection.

The Maternity Arms

Think of this place as an apartment building that just happens to have birthing facilities and related care in the building. Perhaps there is even a fertility clinic on site to assist in the baby making. A side business to counteract the higher miscarriage rate due to malevolent forces maybe?

Anyone can apply for tenancy, but the condition is that they have to either be pregnant (knowingly or not), or they are moving there with the express purpose of having children. Maybe they need the fertility treatments present to conceive.

Tenancies are short -- 11 months for common tenants I'm thinking -- leaving the 12th month for ensuring that the apartments are in prime shape for the next pregnant tenet creating a full year cycle. This leaves some post-delivery time to adapt and bond before having to leave.

Given the known short time of the rental, tenants can plan around that. If they own a home, offer it up as a short-term rental for the year they will not be there. If they had an apartment before, they can search for a new one knowing that they have a move-in date impending.

What they charge for rent and services will vary due to amenities, state funds given to them for their services, and location. Like most real estate really.

It isn't perfect, but many other details depend on state support and how long this has been a thing.

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  • $\begingroup$ Having a large number of people who are in the same building for an extended period may be isolating. [Citation: Lockdowns] The ability to connect with others and form relationships may have longer-term implications. It's also worth considering what happens if a ward is damaged - is this area partitioned into fail-safe segments that prospective mothers can be evacuated into? $\endgroup$
    – Anon
    Commented May 4, 2021 at 3:08
  • $\begingroup$ It is true. The same could be said for any such building like this, be it an apartment, hospital, or even a hotel. My vision was more of an organized short to mid-term rental accommodation with specialized facilities and amenities as they cater to a specific clientele of people. I would expect families and visitors and for this to otherwise act as an apartment building unless there is the problem of spirits being able to hitch a ride through the wards. $\endgroup$
    – Haylen
    Commented May 4, 2021 at 23:16
  • $\begingroup$ (To be clear: I agree, and this is the precise answer I'd intended to post if it wasn't here already. Very well done.) What I was trying to suggest is that for long-term accommodation, you might draw inspiration from cruise ships and spacecraft - indoor (or otherwise warded) parks, and other large spaces and facilities. The difference being similar to "warded building" versus "warded suburb". $\endgroup$
    – Anon
    Commented May 6, 2021 at 4:52

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