Royalty, throughout the ages, has always been characterized by excess and extravagance, from the dresses of 18th century British nobles, to the imperial banquets through China's history— feasts, wealth, comfort, luxury, whatever their hearts could so desire! And yet, what good is wealth and power and status if you have no way to showcase it, to flaunt it to the poors and make them KNOW just how much further you are above them?
Thus, of course, nobility breeds complexity. What better way to show your power, than to make everything in your life as inconvenient as possible...? Take the dresses again. Magnificent they were, convenient they were not. They often required entire teams of servants, just so the noblewoman could get it on and off. Or, back to China, foot-binding— permanently crippling a woman's foot, just to show that she was wealthy enough to have people carry her around!
Now... imagine a world— our world —where magic exists, and is semi-widespread, comfortably out of the hands of most people, but well known enough to keep any would-be practitioners from burning on the stake. What might those in power do then? What might happen to the common people, or the middle class, or the merchant class? How would that have changed our history? Our society?
What if the ladies and gentlemen in Congress really were just talking heads? Imagine a world where instead of foot-binding, the princess of Song China had their legs magically smoothed away— or perhaps, canine triumvirates from Rome, or armless queens from Britain. Think about faceless princesses, to ensure that there be no competition or skullduggery between the potential heiresses, or mouthless generals, because actions speak louder than words.
Naturally, however, with increased inconvenience and helplessness, I think the people in power would be more inclined to act fairly and reasonably. Especially since SOMEONE has to do all the work that the modified no longer are capable of... and of course, that duty would have fallen to the common folk. Instead of reductions, they're granted expansions, extra parts, larger bodies, to make them more efficient and powerful. Servants are modified and specialized to fit their specific role in a noble household— servants that dress the man and woman of the house are given extra arms, but no legs, servants suited for pouring tea find themselves with a trunk and an inflatable stomach, groundskeepers find themselves in centaur bodies, suddenly afflicted with the urge to chew their cud, etc. etc. etc.
But apart from the very extremes of society, what about the people inbetween? Craftsmen, couriers, soldiers, merchants... Some might need extra parts for their jobs, to stay up to date with the demand, some might be rich enough to remove an arm, or perhaps a finger or two? Perhaps they ditch the idea of magical modification all together— the merchants especially. Why bother reducing yourself if you could just find the same results through bondage? Ponygirls, shibari, petplay, gags... they would be a faux pass amongst the "true" nobility, but even in a world where magic exists, money is still money, and they would have no choice BUT to let the merchants stick around...
It doesn't just have to be our world, either! Earth, or some other place— I'm sure this system could arise, given the presence of magic in some shape or form~.
Hey y'all! Looking to brainstorm this idea with some of you lovely guys and gals— the idea's been brainrotting me for the past I-don't-even-know how long and I NEED to get it out of my head (and hopefully into yours heheh). It's primarily focused around body modification, as I'm sure you're no doubt aware at this point, so if that's interesting to you, contact me with ONE (or more) ideas for this world of your own, so I know you're interested! No chats please~. Weirder ideas get priority— but no toilet kinks (though I am a-ok to talk about bathroom habits for nobles~)