> Thunder Rebels notes that clan members take a tattoo on initiation.
I was looking at this paragraph of TR while writing an episode that other night. The clan tattoo may also be used as a brand for animals and on boundary markers. I'd also have thought that it would be painted on shields, steads, sacred places etc. IIRC the Balmy write up in YBOT has examples of clan tattos. Many seem to be totemic in nature. You obviously need a symbol that looks equally fine painted with a stick on rock and on your skin. The best way to achieve this is to avoid detail, and to make the mark reasonably large (the smaller the tattoo the more likely it is to blur as your skin stretches or changes with age). In addition a tattoo looks better if if fits the natural curves of the body part where it is placed. This might not mean that everyone has it in the same place, but instead that eveyone has a variation of a symbol, suited to the surface. So we might all have the snarling alynx tattoo, but its exact shape and form might vary depending on where abouts it is being placed.
IMO its probable that many people would additional have tattoos depicting their religious affiliation, YMMV.
Besides tattooing don't forget the Orlanthi use woad for bodily decoration as well.
Ian Cooper
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