cw: moderate gore, self harm
My second Glaugust post. Prompt: “Frightening anachronisms”
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When young nobles in the Glittergold city come of age, their hands are cut off. It’s a proud and difficult time in their lives. They are given every comfort and medical necessity, but when their wrists are fully grown, they are locked into a device with a suspended heavy blade. Once the youth is secured, the blade is dropped on the soft joint near the ends of their arms, removing their hands. The resulting wound is quickly cauterized and the newly unhanded spends weeks in pampered recovery. This process is dangerous and traumatic but necessary, for it allows them to receive new hands which can be kept properly clean as befits their station.
After recovering from their severance, a gentleman will receive their first pair of adult hands. Common materials are porcelain, wrought iron, or fine hardwood. These hands of maturity are invariably delicate, finely worked, and useless. The hands may be in different poses depending on the vocation of the recipient: a soldier may have a claw hand, or an orator might have a pointing hand. In addition to varied poses, material styles or techniques change much like clothing fashion does. Currently, hollow glass hands lit from within by lamp oil are popular.
After their first pair of hands are installed, cleaning begins immediately and lasts as long as the noble lives or until their bankruptcy. Hands are cleaned continually and thoroughly. Fine scented scrubs, harsh lather, acidic scouring, and flaming purification are all common cleaning methods. Performing these functions to sensate hands would be very painful, but with the correct hands, cleaning can be continued without stopping.
Wherever a noble goes they are followed by cleaning attendants, experts or artisans whose primary job is to clean and service their hands. The wealthy re-handed do not feed themselves, put on their own clothes, or go to the toilet alone. They require assistance for these tasks and additionally, their hands must constantly be cleaned. At night the hands are removed and cleaned through the night. Hands wear out over time from this continual attention, and need to be replaced. Less wealthy gentry will use hard wearing materials that may only need replacing every few months. The very rich or ostentatious will have hands that last only days or hours.
The most luxurious hands are human hands taken from slaves, debtors, criminals, or other social undesirables. They do not last very long, and are expensive to produce. Generally, only one hand is taken from a donor, as it’s seen as unnecessarily cruel to remove both hands, and additionally it’s a mark of nobility to have both hands removed. There are many one handed poor in the city.
Some of the nobility have their hands detached during most of the day in addition to the night, reserving full attachment for formal or ceremonial occasions. These eccentrics say the extra distance from the constant cleaning is more comfortable and convenient, and the hands are kept in clear and obvious view. If anything, their hands are able to receive a higher standard of care this way. Such extended detachments are uncommon however, and considered undignified or embarrassing by polite society.
If a gentleman loses the wealth necessary to maintain their hands, they will soon lose their status as a member of the ruling class. Perhaps they will be restored by good fortune, but if not, they will simply be the rare beggar missing two hands instead of one.
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Credit to my real life friend Noah for helping me with the brainstorming of this post
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