Hausmädchen

The **Hausmädchen**, literally 'house girl', is one of the most institutionalised persons in any household. Traditionally employed by the Households of the Bourgeoisie and Aristocracy (a.k.a. the Großhäuser, Grand Houses), the Hausmädchen nowadays is also employed in cafes, hotels, restaurants and in some companies.

## Cultural History

One of the most famous Hausmädchen is, most likely, Wilrun Maach, the Hausmädchen of Alexander von Sykane.

## Hausmädchen today

### Training

Hausmädchen are usually trained starting with 16 years, after the prospective Hausmädchen have left the Real-Gymnasium, and lasts for four years. This training is done at a Hausmädchenakademie. Contents of the training include, but are not limited to,

The most prestigious Hausmädchenakademie is the one in Bachschloss.

### Hausmädchen outside of the House

   Hausmädchen, since the early 20th century, found employment outside of the Households, first with companies, where they became known as the Kaffeemädchen, Coffee Girl, as their job was to go around the emerging offices with a trolley filled with hot coffee and biscuits to distribute to the office-workers. The canteen of HMW still employs Hausmädchen to serve food to the workers, while the offices still have several Hausmädchen on staff.

Hotels of the upper price segments also began to employ Hausmädchen during that time, both as service personell and to serve the guests.

The trend of restaurants and cafes employing Hausmädchen originated in the 1960s, . Since the early 2000s, their requirement for Hausmädchen was downgraded to personell, which was willing to wear the uniform, as the requirements of a waitress began to differ too much from the requirements of a Hausmädchen.

### Schnelle Gruppe Schatten

   Persistent rumours and conspiracy theories exist, that the Schnelle Gruppe Schatten, the special forces of the Fürstliche Streitkräfte, maintains a group of 'Kriegshausmädchen', Combat Maids, both for personal protection and for other purposes, including, but not limited to, assassination.

The Fürstliche Garde admitted to training some of its soldiers to be "something akin to combat maids, specialized in personal protection", but both the FG and the Armed Forces in general deny any rumours to the effect of a dedicated special forces unit.

## Uniforms

   While the Uniforms of the Hausmädchen are as varied as their places of employment, with every household having other uniforms or, in more recent examples, no uniforms at all and allowing Hausmädchen to come to work wearing whatever, there are certain traditional aspects, which many household uphold.

Most Hausmädchen wear a black dress, with a skirt of at least knee-length, a white apron, a white heapiece, stockings and garter. Variations and additions, like the lace to the apron or a choker, exist, including with the colour scheme. A lot of the appearance of the maids depends on the self-perception of the household, more traditional households choosing more traditional styles.

    Sometimes, the specific households have uniforms for the different residences, for example, the maid complements at Schloss Hochheyde, Schloss Feyrsteyn, Schloss Zyng and Schloss Banyer, all belonging to the House of Hochheyde, all wear slightly different uniforms, which make it easy to assign them (at least in theory).

In many households, it's also usual, that the Hausmädchen have a Tracht at hand as a uniform for more traditional-festive occasions.

## Traditions

### Tanz der Hausmädchen

The *Tanz der Hausmädchen*, or Dance of the House Maidens, is a tradition belonging to every Teressian Ball. It is a short dance of the House Maidens of the Hosting House, usually the second to last dance of the evening, usually followed by one last Waltz.

## See Also

* Kyrenaian Handmaidens.
* Selkie-Handmaidens.