Here is the finished design for Vhess' hand tattoos and augmetics. Tattooless version here. Some thoughts on the design below the cut (it's kinda long)
I originally wanted to use a runic kind of writing system for the text instead of just blackletter, but ended up feeling like the blackletter calligraphy looks better and tbh it fits the warhammy underhive vibes
Her tattoos specifically are three-letter abbreviations of High Gothic (basically Latin) words, listed from thumb to pinkie:
Left hand: • VIT - Vita = Life • SAL - Salvatio = Salvation • VIC - Victoria = Triumph • SVP - Superviventia = Survival* • FID - Fides = Faith
* This one isn't a noun in classical Latin, more of a believable pseudo-Latin construct, but since Latin doesn't have a clean single word for the abstract idea of “survival”, let's pretend it works as a noun in a bastardized underhive understanding of High Gothic
Right hand: • MOR - Mors = Death • SAC - Sacrificium = Sacrifice • DOL - Dolor = Pain • NEC - Neces/Necessitas = Killing/Necessity* • LEX - Lex = Law (yea this was was obvious lol)
* Okay, well, there are multiple words in Latin that convey the idea of "Killing" as a noun - with different connotations, some in a "lawful" sense, some in a "savage" sense, some in a "sacrificial" sense. I chose neces specifically because the connotations are that of a brutal martyrium, in an almost poetic sense - again, not technically a noun in classical Latin as such. However, the second meaning, "necessity", is also important, as the two of them in combination are meant to convey the idea that brutality and killing as a necessity for survival (hence why it's paired with SVP), therefore giving the NEC letters an intended dual meaning that wouldn't have worked if I had chosen a different word for killing.
As you can tell, they are paired together, with each finger corresponding to the same finger on the other hand in a sort of call - answer kind of way, with the left hand being virtues/ideals, and the right hand being cost. They eyes on her joints are actively looking at the symbols deliberately as a reminder to always have that creed in mind. Together they basically encompass her gang's specific creed as well as their flavor of folk-religious practice (they are the same thing, really).
As for the skulls on the back of her hands - those are also meant to mirror each other and complement the creed. The laurel-crowned one on the left symbolizes the God-Emperor as a light shining the way in life, the cracked open skull on the right serves more as a literal skull, as a memento mori - again as a reminder that death is the final cost of everything. Death and life are on the thumbs without eye tattoos to look at them, because they are ultimately an inevitability, whether you look for them or not.
SO, she ended up losing her right hand, as well as the pinkie and ring finger on the left hand - ultimately leaving her with victory, salvation and triumph. And obviously Vhess herself would not ever think of it this way - after all, she did not choose which hand to lose - but I deliberately chose for those specific tattoos to be the surviving ones in a sense to symbolize her outgrowing the brutality of her gang creed and former life, and instead more firmly growing into her belief as an iconoclast, as she grew older and left the gang life behind - leaving her with only the pillars of life, triumph, and salvation as the highest ideals.
Though obviously, while the constant reminder of mortality is gone, the God-Emperor as an ideal is still there. Maybe somewhat surprisingly for an iconoclast - but Vhess does actually have faith in the Emperor, it's just the Imperium itself she has no faith in. In her mind, the state of the Imperium as it is right now was not the God-Emperor's will, and the Ecclesiarchy and the Lord's of Terra/generally people in power are to blame for that moreso than the God-Emperor himself. She does believe in his protection, and that his ideal was to lead humanity to survival and prosperity, so she still "believes in" what the tattoo symbolizes too.
Obviously, not all of her tattoos are going to be symbolically that heavy. Most of them will just be decorative. But I figured the hands are a sensible spot to put something like that, that leans into their local folk beliefs and worship system, since you end up seeing it basically constantly. Every time you reach for a gun, or a medkit, or anything else you'd have the reminder of the gang creed Right There in your sights, so I figure the hands were generally speaking a popular place amongst the gangers to have creed tattoos like this - though obviously not in a cookie cutter way. They might choose different abbreviations (I imagine the entire creed consists of more than just the 5 pairs I chose), different iconography, different ways to stylize and depict it, etc, so her original tattoo was ultimately her personal take on the creed and how to symbolizd it.
Additionally, with how she has lost her entire right hand but "only" a few of her left fingers, she is meant to parallel Lucien in a way - who obviously lost his entire right arm, but his left arm "only" to the elbow. Though neither of them would phrase it like that, they are essentially like siblings to each other, since they grew up together and went through a lot together. They had roughly the same start in life (although with some important differences), but did evolve in some very different directions - though they are still intrinsicly tied to each other - and because of that they have some contrasts and parallels in the ways they complement each other.