Prosthetics

Need a Hand?

Written by Endrise

This is not the time to joke about my new hand costing an arm and a leg.

— Customer in need of a new hand

In a world with many dangers, it is no surprise that people lose their limbs all the time. Luckily, prosthetics exist to solve this problem, giving people a new chance to live a normal life.

From the glass eyes to the mechanical limbs, here is a quick overview of how people overcome their handicaps in the world of Fabulae. From how they work to how daily life is with them.

Artficial Replacements

Accidents Happen

Whether it be war, adventuring, accidents or even a birth defect, there are many people around the world with a handicap. Some may only lack a finger, while others lose their entire arm.

For most, this is how they live their daily lives, learning to adapt to their loss. However, not everyone can afford to work with only one hand or one eye. Because the work requires the usage of both hands, or the handicap has too much of a risk.

Handicaps in Daily Life

The more experience an explorer has, the more prone they may be to lose a body part. An eye lost to a sword swing, a limb crushed under a rock, or even a spell blowing up in their face. Many see it as good luck to be adventuring for so long without losing an arm or a leg.

Not everyone with an amputation gets a prosthetic, because they do not see a need for one or cannot afford it. But for others, it makes menial tasks much easier to do: walking, picking up things, or even making one feel whole once again. There is no right or wrong answer, as one can be happy living either with or without a prosthetic replacement.

Depending on where one lives, getting a prosthetic is a hassle on its own. One could visit a local specialist to provide the necessary parts, or they need to rely on back alley doctors to help with them. You could get something fancy and hand-crafted, or need to get hand-me-downs. Not to mention supply and demand, personal wealth and experience with them.

Parent Technologies

• Magitech

For the Sake of Augmentation

The mortal body is limiting, making some people seek to improve it through upgrades. Augmenting their mental and physical capabilities, pushing the boundaries what one can achieve. Often to superhuman levels, making it very tempting to try.

Though it is an addictive progress, with few only augmenting a single part. Augmenting one thing requires enhancing others, leading to a slippery slope of replacing every bit of their body. Something that can take months, if not years, before one notices it.

Such an obsession often ends in people defying their own mortality, or going mad in the progress. For as much as one tries to bypass the restrictions of flesh, the safety of upgrades is not guaranteed. Even steel cannot protect the mind of a mortal forever.

Types of Prosthetics

Simplistic

Not every prosthetic is fancy or a proper replacement for an arm or a leg. Those without the money or the tools rely on simple creations rather than complex designs. Peg legs, hook hands, glass eyes and so on, all easy to make and replace.

For most common folk, this is what people walk around with. Cheap production allows even the poorest person to make one from a stick and some rope. Though, with enough money, one can afford something closer looking to an actual body part or even get artistic with their appearance. Slotted into the stump of an arm or a leg, often with simple joints allowing articulation where needed.

Mechanical

Most people who seek some utility in their lives find mechanical replacement a reliable alternative. From clockwork creations to steam-powered pistons, these allow a much more functional usage of any lost limbs.

The major downside to these types of prosthetics is their reaction time. Most suffer from a delay between thought and action, making them not ideal for quick movement. To compensate, most have the added benefit of strength and endurance.

Most require an integration into the body through surgery, connecting it to the nerves and muscles. By adding a socket to the body part’s stump it allows technicians to remove limbs with ease. But one also needs to be careful of the materials they use, as rust can lead to infection. Hence why most steel used in prosthetic limbs is stainless steel or other minerals difficult to rust.

Extra Utility

Mechanical limbs allow for additional gadgets to get implemented. Through hidden compartments and interchangeable parts, one can turn their body into a tool for any occasion. From engineering to enhanced mobility, turning a disability into an advantage.

This goes even into adventuring and combat, implementing both offense and defense into their designs. Hidden blades, armour plating, crude firearms and even chemical warfare. But experienced fighters know to use such tools as a last effort rather than rely on it.

Fuel & Maintenance

Like all machines, most mechanical prosthetics need a power supply to function. This can be anything from a fuel battery to tapping into an arcane source. Depending on its usage, one can work with a limb anywhere between a few hours or days before recharging.

Alongside that comes maintenance of the parts. Constant movement grinds gears and puts pressure on pistons, requiring repairs or replacements every so often. Which is why most either learn to fix it themselves or have mechanics look after their limbs.

Magical

Amongst the more arcane regions of the world, magic fuels prosthetics. Rather than simple wood or unreliable machinery, they fit a limb made from a magical object. By guiding a person’s soul through the body part, they can animate it and use it like they never lost their limb to begin with. Which results in a very fluent and lively replacement for what someone lost.

The downside of it is its reliance on magic. Anything that counteracts arcane properties can disable or make these limbs act up. Even an overabundance of magic can be harmful, breaking prosthetics beyond repair.

Spell Amplifiers

A few prosthetics help amplify specific spells by channeling one’s magic through it. Used by many adventurers alike, it allows them to harness the full potential of a single spell. Whether it be the destructiveness of a fireball or the range of an illusionary trick.

Arcane Tricks

Other prosthetics allow them to do weird feats not feasible by regular means. A fake eyeball might work outside the eye socket of a hand can work independent of its owner. Abilities that make an arm or leg be more functional than just a mere replacement.

Organic

A more unique prosthetic are organic ones. Rather than relying on a mechanical or arcane construct, these limbs and body parts are living entities of their own. Parasites, symbiotes, plantlife or anything that has a heartbeat different from its owner. Attached to the stump through one of many means and providing the utility that the body part would provide, if not more.

Amongst druidic societies and those close to nature, ones consisting of living plants and wood are frequent. Some even get theirs from entities like Fae, provided they maintain their part of a deal or avoid it from withering away. Which most can do by watering it once a day.

More flesh-based prosthetics often come from specially bred mimics, who pretend to be limbs in return for nutrients. Some other species of parasites also exist, often creatures of Outsider creation. Though their more notorious history causes few to use them or hide their existence from the public eye. Which is often easier said than done for more bestial or non-humanoid prosthetics.