The Keep:Ghost Ship

This page is still very much under construction! (Actually, I've just started writing it after it's been sitting on my to-do list for months. Breaking tasks into small steps, right?)

One day, it's supposed to be the wiki guild page for the guild

Ghost Ship
Hopefully, some time in the future, it will contain well-structured, informative content with correct links and an aesthetically pleasing layout complete with pictures. (One can dream, right?)

Ummm... to start building the page, I'll just copy in a few already existing bits of text, which I can happily play with later:

Guild description as it is right now:

"Ghost Ship

(... by now also know as the "organ donor guild".) - This guild was boarded (not created!), taken over, and renamed by the crew of the pirate ship "Ching Shih". When we came in, it had zero members. A real ghost ship! The idea of death-related challenges suggested itself - for example, how to become an organ donor. Now the guild chat is all about organ donation, making a will, making an advanced health care directive, donating your body to medical research & education, blood and bone marrow donation while still alive, etc. Our organ donor challenge works well but we'd also like to have step-by-step guide challenges about the other topics. If you have enough knowledge about any of these, please feel free to create one!

While these are the main topics, you're also welcome to just haunt the ship, rattle your bones here, and carve some eerie messages into the wood!"

... and the comment bubble you see on top of the guild chat:

"Tip o' the hat to pirate @Tony Whitney who almost beat me to it! And he found the logo, too! It's from [blackdreamer.com](http://blackdreamer.com/image/29/2/ghost-ship-wallpaper-12-free-desktop.jpg).

We have challenges about organ donation, but we'd like to have more "step-by-step guide" challenges about making a will, making a living will, donating one's body to medical education, blood donation and bone marrow donation while still alive, and related matters. I'd like to make them but I don't feel qualified enough. If you know enough about the matter and would like to create such a challenge, that would be most welcome!"

Description in the wikia Guild Guide (where it is in the category "Supporting a Good Cause - Other Good Causes"):

"Do pirate ghost ships support a good cause? They do if they have a "Become an Organ Donor!" challenge. The guild's ghost ship theme makes it a good place both for serious death-related challenges (organ donation, making a will) and eerie fun things (Halloween plans, sharing songs like "Zombie Pirates in Love", ...)."

Existing challenges at the moment:

Inside the guild:

[https://habitrpg.com/#/options/groups/challenges/298be81f-188d-43e0-8694-af2203d99f35 Get Disemboweled! - Organ Donation for Pirates v0.3]

[https://habitrpg.com/#/options/groups/challenges/30a038e7-38ca-4dcc-bc42-ec551bdb5ddd ♡ I am an organ donor! ♡] (usually several copies of it)

Pirate's last chest (about life insurance)

... and outside the guild in the Tavern:

[https://habitrpg.com/#/options/groups/challenges/c6839e9a-6e2d-419a-b009-f4466c486647 Become an Organ Donor! (Or get a trophy for already being one!)] (just points to the organ donation challenges inside the guild)

... and completely independent of the guild, but with related topics:

Donate blood! (in the Tavern)

Some topic-related links:

About becoming an organ donor (after death) in:

About bone marrow/stem cell donation (while alive): About wills (or the lack thereof):
 * Germany: www.organspende-info.de
 * Netherlands: www.jaofnee.nl
 * Sweden: http://www.socialstyrelsen.se/donationsregistret
 * UK: www.organdonation.nhs.uk
 * USA: donatelife.net
 * http://bethematch.org/Support-the-Cause/Donate-bone-marrow/Donation-process/Donating-bone-marrow/

Other (or covering several topics):
 * Intestacy - who inherits if someone dies without a will? (UK-based)

I'll add more when/if I have time.
 * lifehacker: "One Day, You're Going to Die. Here's How to Prepare for It" (apparently US-centered)

Informative bits and pieces copied from the guild chat (still totally unsorted):

-a month ago+1 C.
 * @p. It took me a lot longer than it should have to realize that the reason so many people had portrait-studio obit pictures was probably because they deliberately had photos taken for their obits.

-a month ago+1 p.
 * @C., my grandparents just had their obit pictures taken. They got their usual "couples" picture, and one for each of them separately so that when they go, there's something for the newspaper. They're in their 80's, so they think about it more than most probably do.

-a month ago+1 C.
 * Here's a death-related thing that is not organ related, if that's alright: Take a few good pictures of yourself. Keep them somewhere people will find them, and keep them updated. I work for newspapers -- about once a week we run an obituary where the person is making duckface or other ridiculous expression, or the picture is so small/low-res that it's displayed with a "decorative" black border around it because we can't blow it up any further, or any of a number of things that will make you cringe when you look down/up at it from [wherever you will be post-mortem]. "Don't you have any better pictures of me than that???" you'll say, but it will be too late, the obit will already be printed, and your family and friends will cut them out and remember you as a blurry duckface with an embarrassing haircut for the rest of their lives. (Optionally, write your own obit -- but if you find that too morbid or gauche, at least make the picture easy on them.)

...

-a month ago+1 C.
 * I am an organ donor. I have a card which is displayed in the window part of my wallet so that it's the first thing the medics will see if I get hurt in an accident.

...

-2 months ago+1 Mara the Marine Marauder
 * @Y. The challenge is about organ donation after death - so, if you are a registered organ donor, you qualify! You were right to check it off.

-2 months ago+1 Y.
 * So the Organ Donor Challenge... do we actually DONATE an organ or are we getting it only if we're a registered organ donor? I'm a registered Organ Donor, but I have never donated an organ. I'm not sure if I should have checked it off or not.

...

-2 months ago+1 A.
 * I've been registered as a bone marrow donor for ten years and was contacted last year as a potential match. It was a stressful period in my life for me, and I had to take a good look at the materials on donating: the donation process can be stressful and take several months of healing. Nevertheless, I said yes to moving forward--it is very, very hard to find someone who matches well enough, which in my reasoning creates a fairly unique obligation to step in when possible, to make a few months of my own life a little less comfortable to prolong someone else's life. In my case, though I was willing they did not go ahead with further screening (and you don't get to know why or know much about the patient at any stage of the process). But I know two people who did donate bone marrow and were very glad they did, and I know quite a few other people who have fought blood cancers, where a marrow transplant is powerful option. I'll have a bone marrow registry challenge brewing in the back of my mind. :)

...

-2 months ago+1 Mara the Marine Marauder
 * @m. Glad I could be of help! A medical student I knew once described the whole thing and the funeral service to me and it sounded really tasteful and nice (if you can call a funeral service that). - Of course, that was just the description for that one medical university in Germany. - When I looked it up again now, I found there's a minimum age to apply, and I'm a few years too young!

-2 months ago+1 m.
 * @Mara the Marine Marauder Thank you. I will pursue that avenue. Cheered me up actually :smiley:

-2 months ago+1 Mara the Marine Marauder
 * @m. So, body donation for medical research and education is different from organ donation. There's usually a term somewhere in the application conditions for body donation that if you are also an organ donor, that takes precedence. But if for some reason, your organs can't be used for donation (and, depending on cause of death and how long it takes to get you to a hospital, that is often the case), then the body gets donated. (As with organ donation, it's different from country to country though and it's useful to read the small print.)

-2 months ago+1 Mara the Marine Marauder
 * @m. If you want your body to automatically get buried without cost, you can/must make a so-called "body donation" which basically means medical students can practice with it so they'll once become good surgeons. :) - I asked about that once and heard they actually have waiting lists because it's a such a good way to get one's burial organized for free. But that might not be the same everywhere.

-2 months ago+1 m.
 * Hmm I just confirmed with the NHS in the UK that they can reject your body. I thought when signing up for organ donation I kinda got rid of myself. My kids will not have a lot of funeral costs because of me I wrongly assumed

...

-2 months ago+1 Mara the Marine Marauder
 * @F. I've read some German articles about how your Advanced Health Care Directive (German: Patientenverfügung) and your organ donor card (German: Organspenderausweis) can clash and what you can do to avoid it. (If you google both terms together, a lot of such articles pop up.) In short: If you're braindead and an organ donor, they'll keep your heart pumping until they've removed the organs. If you specify in your Advanced Health Care Directive that you don't want any medical measures to prolong your life once you're braindead, you practically forbid that. So you'd have to add some clause that it's ok if and as long as it's necessary for organ donation. (No, I don't have a link yet for a template/example Advanced Health Care Directive... but if you write one, you'll probably do some research anyway and you'll find one.)

-2 months ago+1 F.
 * In addition to wills, don't forget to appoint a Medical Power of Attorney (for medical decisions) and a Durable Power of Attorney (financial decisions). Fill out an Advanced Care Directive and give a copy to your MPoA knows where it is. Talk to your family and MPoA about what sort of end-of-life interventions you want. We all want to die at the age of 102 in our sleep with a smile on our face, but unfortunately, that's not how it usually happens.

...

-2 months ago+2 W.
 * Make sure you inform your family of your wish of being an organ donor: few medical people are going to override a close family member who says 'No, absolutely not!' and makes a big fuss about it. ED and hospital personnel are notoriously gun-shy when it comes to possible litigation.

...

-2 months ago+2 Mara the Marine Marauder
 * Also, if anyone wants to do create a blood donor challenge, or a bone marrow donor challenge, or anything like that, feel free to do so! I won't because I'm lacking the experience in that field. But you can create challenges in a guild without being guild leader. You don't even need gems for it. You can make the challenge here, or you can make it in the tavern, or you can make it over in the "One Blood Guild!" guild (where they still don't have a challenge and haven't said anything for the past 3 months). Or you can do a combination of "pointer challenge" in the tavern and real challenge in one of the guilds. You can do it alone or create it together with someone. If you want some piraty remarks and rewards with it, I can help you with that! ;-} (It's always easier to find piraty remarks and songs with the words "blood" and "bones" than with, say, "Maxwell's equations" or "crocheting tournament".) - Just want to say, if you like the idea and you want there to be a challenge, don't be shy!

...

-2 months ago+1 Mara the Marine Marauder
 * About the plan to make a challenge where you make your will: I've looked into it and it's soooo complicated! (Among other things, I found out that if there is no will, every heir has to pay a very high fee - in Germany, that is - to get the so-called "certificate of heirship" to prove that they inherit, whereas, if there is a will basically letting the same people inherit, you don't have to pay that fee. That fee alone is reason enough to make a will.) - I won't do this alone. Any experts out there who would like to help, or make the challenge themselves?

...


 * They took my stem cells from my hip bone. The more common method is to take the stem cells from your blood. For this method you have to take medication a couple of days before the donor. Taking the stem cells from the hip bone is a classic surgical intervention under general anaesthetic. I trusted this method more than the other. I understand that the most people prefere taking stem cells from their blood because they fear the risks and the struggle of a surgery. There are different organisations around the world where you can register to become a stem cell donor. Have a look here

-2 months ago+2 K.

...


 * @i. I think it's ok but there is already a whole guild explicitly dedicated to blood donation - the "One Blood Guild". I just looked into it - they don't even have a single challenge! Maybe a challenge there plus a pointer challenge in the tavern would be a good idea?

-2 months ago+1 Mara the Marine Marauder
 * @Mara the Marine Marauder Actually, I had another challenge-making idea I wanted to ask you about. I've been inspired by your organ donor challenge to make a "donate blood" challenge - with a suitable title, do you think that's grisly enough to fit under the ghost ship remit? Or is it insufficiently death-related (in which case, I'll just make it as a tavern challenge & not put one here)?

-2 months ago+2 i.
 * @i. Yes, I'm aware of that... But at least I should be able to give one or two links like the one you posted, and I haven't even googled these yet! (Plus I think there are laws here that you can't completely disinherit some of your next of kin (which, of course, also differs from country to country), and I should be able to give one or two links to that, too. - By the way, if you and/or @ohai and/or anyone else would like to make such a challenge, I'd be happy - feel free! (The only ideas I already have besides the ones I posted are about the gamification - things like "Prepare to die!" or "I leave you this treasure map..." or some fitting lines from the "15 men on a dead man's chest" lyrics, etc... I'll happily help you out with those if you even want that!)

-2 months ago+1 Mara the Marine Marauder
 * @Mara the Marine Marauder Extra complication for your will challenge: some of the legal stuff regarding wills may vary from country to country. Rather than trying to cover all possible cases yourself, maybe it's better if you include some of the "research questions" in the challenge's To-Dos, such that each participant does the research for the particular area where they live (e.g. trying to find out who inherits if I die without a will takes me to this page on the UK Government website - where the first question asked is to do with which part of the UK I live in, so presumably the rules are different in different areas!)

-2 months ago+1i.
 * For the will challenge, I guess I have to look up a lot of legal things myself first - like "When is a will valid?" and "What's the link to a website where I can find out who inherits if I don't write a will?" and "Does it make sense to write a will that says: 'Do everything as if there was no will!', just so that people don't look for a will in vain, and is there an example text for one?" The rest, like "Store it in a place where it's easy to find", "Tell your next of kin", "What are objects your heirs might quarrel about?", "Which objects of emotional value do you want to give to which person?", "What should happen to your pets?" etc. aren't that difficult, I guess. (Probably they are and I just don't have a clue.)

-2 months ago+1 Mara the Marine Marauder

A copy of the beginnings of the guild chat (because one day I want to tell the story how the guild came into being):


 * ... ah, found the download! Thanks again! Looks great as a logo! *sings along with "Ship of the Dead" which, again, I can only find for free in Bilgemunky's Halloween podcast (time 0:34:34, right after "Zombie Pirates in Love")*

-3 months ago+1 Mara the Marine Marauder
 * @Tony Whitney The ghost ship picture is beautiful but I can't download it! It says "Click the download button" but there is none... I suspect some browser security settings, will see what I can do. - By "tattoo" I meant the "See Ya, Seahorse!" challenge you won.

-3 months ago+1 Mara the Marine Marauder
 * seahorse tatoo?

-3 months ago+1Tony Whitney
 * http://blackdreamer.com/ghost-ship-wallpaper-12-free-desktop.html

-3 months ago+1Tony Whitney
 * @Wunderkind Oooh a mermaid on a kraken! I think you're in the right guild here. :)

-3 months ago+1 Mara the Marine Marauder
 * Read about your exploits in stag guild and I just had to check it out. Nice ship you've got here.

-3 months ago+1Wunderkind
 * Hey @Tony Whitney where did you get your new seahorse tattoo? Didn't see it before! (Looks nice though.)

-3 months ago+1 Mara the Marine Marauder
 * ... got a good ghost ship picture or jolly roger to upload maybe?

-3 months ago+1 Mara the Marine Marauder
 * ... I don't know what changed, but I am the guild leader now! @Tony Whitney Sorry - beat you to it by a hair's breadth! Sooooo - wanna help me redesign it?

-3 months ago+1 Mara the Marine Marauder
 * No gems here to rob... but a ghost ship guild is still a nice thing to be on in. Here's a link to Hucklescary Finn's "Ghost Ship" (at time 1:10:25 - again, Bilgemunky was the only place I found it for free) - the lyrics are appropriate. :) - Maybe we can duel jaragon?

-3 months ago+1 Mara the Marine Marauder
 * @Alys said in the Tavern: " @Mara the Marine Marauder : That guild does still have a leader even though that person isn't part of a guild. Their name is jaragon and they are still active in HabitRPG; their last log in date was today. It's not possible for me to tell you how you can contact them, but perhaps they drop into the Tavern sometimes."

-3 months ago+1 Mara the Marine Marauder
 * (We could duel nonetheless in case we get bored otherwise...)

-3 months ago+1 Mara the Marine Marauder
 * I knew you'd show up here, Tony! Good pirate! :) Sadly, it looks like we don't automatically become guild leaders by joining an empty guild. (Trying to find out the technical details.)

-3 months ago+1 Mara the Marine Marauder
 * Shall we duel for guild leadership?

-3 months ago+2Tony Whitney
 * A ghost guild with zero members? (It was before I joined.)

-3 months ago+1 Mara the Marine Marauder

Some more data about the guild before we joined it:

It was a Hearthstone fandom guild (I actually forgot the title) which jaragon probably abandoned because another one already existed. We probably found it empty because we joined in the time between jaragon leaving the guild and the next database update (which would have deleted the empty guild).

... that's enough guild page writing for today. :-}