The Royal Bethlehem Hotel

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"The manager of the Hotel offers free rooms to guests of particular note or interest. He irritably denies the suggestion that he might be 'collecting' them."[1]

The Royal Bethlehem Hotel, formerly the hospital of the same name, is an elite hotel run by a very mysterious manager.

We're All Mad Here[edit | edit source]

The foyer

"The Royal Beth is ludicrously crowded! What on earth is the hotel's maximum occupancy? There must be hundreds of guests in every common area. They're pushing and shoving and saying "Pardon me!" with absolute venom in their voices."[2]

The Royal Beth, as it is often called, is located across the Stolen River from Ladybones Road.[3] Its manager likes to collect "guests of particular note" (and by that he means the mentally ill or nightmare-plagued), prowling the streets of London at night[4] and visiting bedrooms through mirrors.[5] If anyone starts showing symptoms of insanity, he will be by their side, ready to take them in when they finally snap. As long as they stay there, he harvests their most eerie dreams for his Garden.[6]

The Royal Beth is only the latest in a long succession of similar establishments that its Manager has been operating for millennia, across many Fallen Cities.[7] The Manager often recruits outcasts and the desperately poor as employees[8] (including nonhumans like Drownies and Rubbery Men),[9] who will accept the worst of wages simply to survive.[10] He exploits their vulnerability without hesitation, using their dependence as leverage to enforce obedience.[11] That said, presumably for personal reasons, the Manager treats his Clay employees remarkably well,[12] offering overtime pay and better conditions than his other staff.[13] He essentially lets the workers fend for themselves whenever an issue occurs, like a equipment malfunction[14][15] or guests placing nonsensical food orders.[16]

Historical Inspirations[edit | edit source]

On the Surface, the Royal Bethlehem Hotel was a psychiatric hospital called Bethlem Royal Hospital, informally known as Bedlam. The hospital was founded in 1277 as a charity center to support the Crusades; it is not known exactly when it began to treat mentally ill patients, but the first documentation comes from 1403, and it was fully converted by 1460. Sometime around 1600, Bedlam began admitting public visitors to raise funds, essentially using its patients as a spectacle and a tool for moral instruction; the hospital featured in a flurry of plays in the ensuing decades, popularizing the word "bedlam" (denoting chaos and confusion). There was only a modicum of medical treatment involved beginning in the 1630s, using methods that were already antiquated by the time they were introduced, and it should surprise nobody that the overall conditions cycled through different manifestations of "pitiful and abusive" until well into the 19th century. After a Quaker reformer's investigation and scathing report of living conditions at Bedlam in 1815, the facility was gradually reformed. It is still in operation today, but its sordid history has been immortalized in a variety of horror media, like the 1946 film Bedlam.

References[edit | edit source]

  1. ↑ Sidebar Snippets: What happens at the Royal Bethlehem Hotel?, Fallen London
  2. ↑ The Bloody Wallpaper, Fallen London
  3. ↑ If the game map is to be believed.
  4. ↑ Ask where you can locate the players, Fallen London "The Manager: often perambulates London at night, searching for those afflicted, to collect for his hotel."
  5. ↑ Follow the Merry Gentleman, Fallen London "The Merry Gentleman keeps going, out again through the other side of the mirror. You try to follow, but this time you lose him. You are alone, in the second-storey bedroom of an ordinary rooming house."
  6. ↑ Arm Yourself Against the Garden of Nightmares, Fallen London "The Manager's position affords him many privileges. One of the chiefest is his opportunity to harvest choice nightmares from his guests. Once he has studied, categorised and collected them, he fosters the most lurid and horrid in a hidden sanctuary: the Garden of Nightmares."
  7. ↑ The Bloody Wallpaper, Fallen London "Not to be blunt or invasive, but what is the Seamstress? "Senior Staff," she says, "I have followed the Manager from hotel to hotel. Before the Beth, we worked in many fine establishments. This might be the finest. I really like the crown moulding.""
  8. ↑ The Bloody Wallpaper, Fallen London "The Mummified Saucier snarls and grabs your order. He still can't retire to Venderbight. Not until he pays his debts, which ought to take, oh, ten or twenty more years at the current rates. Until then, the Management is happy to overlook his life's little errors and offer additional loans. Nobody else will do that. Especially not the Dependable Banker, who's coming around in a week for the next installment."
  9. ↑ The Bloody Wallpaper, Fallen London "There's a crisis at one of the tubs. A pair of Polythremean Stockings doesn't want to go underwater. For wisps of flimsy hosiery, they're putting up quite a fight! They've already strangled one Rubbery Footman and tripped two Drownie Maids. Now they're perched on the rim of the tub, menacing the Staff by twisting themselves into horrible shapes."
  10. ↑ The Bloody Wallpaper, Fallen London "The Pentecost Attendant sits on a stool. Only a few years ago, the Fifth City would have never permitted a monkey with a soul to emigrate from the Empire of Hands. Today, the laws still haven't changed, and the Management pays wonderfully reduced wages."
  11. ↑ The Bloody Wallpaper, Fallen London "Nobody important knows that the Khaganian Pâtissier works here except Management, obviously. She's in hiding from the Taimen Clan (bad blood involving a crème brulée). After an impromptu exodus in a tramp-steamer's funnel, she couldn't get the right stamps applied to the right papers. But the Manager won't tell anyone. She won't give him a reason to tell, will she?"
  12. ↑ The Bloody Wallpaper, Fallen London "THE GUESTS DON'T MAKE IT EASY, BUT I LIKE IT HERE. THE MANAGER IS KIND TO ME. OTHER PEOPLE CAN BE SO DISRESPECTFUL. EVEN MY KING ACROSS THE ZEE FROWNS ON CLAY MEN WORKING AT THE BETH. BUT HE DOESN'T KNOW WHAT IT'S LIKE IN LONDON. THE MANAGER TREATS US WITH DIGNITY. AND HE PAYS OVERTIME"
  13. ↑ The Bloody Wallpaper, Fallen London "The Impatient Rotisseur is complaining. Overtime? Who's ever heard about that? Only the Manager's favourite Clay Men. They get special treatment. Bully for them! Everyone else has to kowtow to the clocks, and the clocks in the Beth rarely stick to the schedule. Take a glance, and the workday is over in five minutes, take another, and it's five more hours."
  14. ↑ The Bloody Wallpaper, Fallen London "The ovens are too hot! The ovens aren't hot enough! What's wrong with the temperatures in this hotel? Half the chefs have heatstroke. Half are frostbitten. "It's the d__n boilers again!" says the Mummified Saucier. "How many times does this have to happen? Management never fixes anything!""
  15. ↑ The Bloody Wallpaper, Fallen London "Your job description, despite its inclusive terms, doesn't encompass plumbing. Unclogging hairballs, tightening faucets with loose loyalties, and applying the force cup, yes, but nothing more extensive or subterranean. The Manager merely wants you to take a look. If you notice anything odd, he'll send an urchin to fetch an expert from the Hanover Cesspit. He knows someone reliable there."
  16. ↑ The Bloody Wallpaper, Fallen London "More orders are coming from upstairs - so many more than you ever brought down! Orders for sandwiches and steaks and soups. Orders for every sauce starting with 'S' and seasoned with sinful spices. Orders for mice: sautéed and simmered, seared and smoked, with some served alive in small golden cages. One order (high priority) for fruit."
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