Heortling tattoos

Here's something that I just sent out to my players, and figured some folk might find interesting:

Heortling men (and women) mark themselves with tattoos for all sorts of purposes. Each bloodline and clan has its own tattoo. The Orlmarthing tattoo themselves with a woodpecker and the Varsmarings tattoo themselves with the mark of King Varsmar - a King fighting Death and Beasts. You are marked with the runes of the aspect of Orlanth and Ernalda that you are initiated into and tattooed again with the runes of the subcults and heroes you follow. If you are a devotee, there is a special tattoo. The temple(s) you belong to has its own mark as well. Becoming a thane or ring member or whatever has its own tattoo as well. Moreover, Heortlings mark themselves with tattoos for each significant moment in their life: their house or stead, their wife or husband, their children, their conquests, their vows and even their defeats.  

So let's take Korlmhy. He's got a woodpecker tattoo (which is surrounded by flame - commemorating the Lighting of the Flame), the mark of King Varsmar (a King fighting Death and Beasts), the runes of Orlanth Thunderer, Vingkot, Sartar, Colymar and Ingkarthen (did I forget any?). He's got a mark showing that he is a devotee of the Thunderer. He's got a special mark for his wind, and marks for Eyrrfelstead, Urothfalda stead, and the local temple of Orlanth, a tattoo commemorating his marriage to Kera, and the mark of the Orlmarthing Thunder Brothers. He probably has markings signifying that he has killed foreigners (many warriors mark themselves each time they kill a man), fought Darkness, and been to Orlanth's Longhouse. Am I missing anything? In short, he has a lot of tattoos - around twenty!  

As a result, you can get a good impression of a Heortling from his or her tattoos if you know what to look for - which is exactly their purpose. Take Wilms as another example - he's got a woodpecker tattoo, the mark of the Urothorling bloodline (a stylized Thunderer rune), the runes of Orlanth Allfather, Orolmarn, Gorangi Vak and Ingkarthen. He's got a mark showing that he is a devotee of the Allfather. He's got marks for Eyrrfelstead, Urothfalda stead, and the local temple of Orlanth, a special mark commemorating the twenty cattle he took from the Grey Dogs, markings signifying that he's killed foreigners, fought Darkness and has been to Orlanth's Longhouse. He's probably got a special tattoo of an auroch, a tattoo signifying that he has been the Harvest Champion of Clearwine, and another commemorating his marriage to Ernaldesta. (Am I missing anything?)  

Any Heortling would know from this what cults Wilms belongs to, the fact that he is a devotee, been married, that he's killed foreigners, fought Darkness and has been to Orlanth's Longhouse. Many Heortlings would know that he's an Orlmarthing, has been the Harvest Champion of Clearwine and is a member of the Colymar Orlanth temple. Some might even be able to determine that he's taken cattle from the Grey Dog and so on.  

Hopefully, this helps you all imagine your characters and other Heortlings.

Jeff