Mute-Servant

 

 

Mute-servants are among the most privileged in a Varagan household.  They are considered almost as valuable as bed-slaves.  They are honoured servants who are offered the choice of having their tongues cut out, and thus trusted with some of their masters’ deepest secrets.  They dress in distinctive red robes and go about with their faces covered by red veils.

There are two types of mute-servants — those specially trained in guilds and those who begin as ordinary servants and later get promoted by their masters. 

The guilds seek out potential mute-servants among the poor and homeless population, from orphanages or from other slave-traders.  They prefer to recruit children and adolescents, but will take on adults in certain circumstances.

The new recruits are taught to communicate by hand signals straight away, so that they will gain at least a basic command of sign language before they have their tongues cut.

The tongue-cutting procedure is performed in a clinical setting, such as an infirmary, laboratory or temple, by a high-ranking healer, sorcerer or priest.  The servant is sedated before the procedure, either by use of sleeping potions or sleeping spells.  A red-hot blade is used, thereby cutting and cauterising at the same time. 

In the case of servants promoted by their masters, the procedure is similar, except it is more often performed in the master’s home, with a visiting guild healer performing the cutting.

Lords who wish to own mute-servants (or promote from among their existing servants) also benefit from learning sign language in order to communicate effectively.  While they can obviously use voice commands, these will only work one way, thus the need for the master to understand the servant’s hand signals.  The use of sign language ensures an additional degree of privacy if no-one else in the household has learned it.

The practice of training and acquiring mute-servants was more prevalent in bygone eras.  Attitudes have changed in more recent times and the vast majority of Varagans regard the cutting procedure as cruel and unnecessary.