In real life, and as such in many fantasy settings, it's pretty common for crooks to have all manner of tattoos and shit to display others their status and deeds. But in what manner would other races and cultures perform this kind of marks? How would you know that elf over there is a real badass humanslaying ranger boss?
I'm particularly curious of the more hairy monster races - bugbears, gnolls, minotaurs, dwarves, etc. - because all that fur obviously makes it impossible to tattoo them at all.
>>43926573
I'd guess elves could have tallies or notches on their ear for every kin slayed. As for hairy races, patches of baldness with tattoos or magic-ing their hair to grow in a color pattern could work. That Bugbear with yellow stripes on their mane might be a professional vault cracker.
>>43926573
They shave shapes and symbols in duh.
Braids, dyed fur..there are plenty of ways
>I'm particularly curious of the more hairy monster races - bugbears, gnolls, minotaurs, dwarves, etc. - because all that fur obviously makes it impossible to tattoo them at all.
Y'know, that's a really good question
Instead of tattoos, the hairy races could permanently remove some sections of their fur. This gives them an air of danger because they're purposefully exposing that skin to the elements when nature intended otherwise.
Well, scars are also a valid alternative: those show up too, and are an almost universal sign of being a badass.
Now the bigger question is...
How the heck do -elementals- and such things show that kind of stuff?
>>43929615
Earth elementals carve that shit into their bodies. Possibly like cave paintings or such.
Air and water elementals have it floating within them. Some colorful (and highly illegal) gases and liquids forming into secret signs and badass marks.
Fire... the fuck if I know.
>>43927965
Might be wrong but wouldn't a brand work on something especially hairy?
>>43926573
Branding, ever see a cow or horse with a brand? The hair grew back but as a different color.
>>43926573
Hairy monster races often have exposed teeth, tusks, or horns to scrimshaw or carve. Especially horns- imagine the criminal exploits updated and continued as the horns grew over the years.
Dwarves could be into branding for sure. Forge work lends itself to burn scars, which also remove the hair from the skin.
>>43929648
Does it mean that water elementals are likely to be smuggler of liquid drugs of sort if those are colorless?
Is there an elemental smuggling ring going on somewhere?
>>43929819
Planar drugs are probably amazing, so...
>>43926573
Minotaurs may wear metal ornaments such as piercings that, in their culture, have some meaning. Also, horn carving.
Dwarves may have their hair and beards braided in certain patterns that hold meaning for their race, but look as simple hairdressing for those ignorant,stupid, lesser races. Also,they still have a lot of exposed skin,so tattoos can be a thing too.
Trolls and other stone-based races; painting worn as "tattoos" or, in the badasses' case, straight stone carving on their skin.
Hairy creatures may use permanent substances to dye their fur with different coloured patterns and even hairdressing; for example, a gnoll having a dyed purposedly small elven skull on his right shoulder might be a skilled baby-snatcher, or bugbears may wear finger bones intertwined in their fur, or even have their victim's hair braided with their own hair to show how ruthless they are,specially if it's in fact dwarven beard (or even more if it's dwarven women's hair/beard).
It's a cool topic,anon.
>>43926573
Minotaurs could absolutely have horn markings, perhaps even carvings.
>>43929648
How would you even imprison a water elemental? Air tigjt tank? Just fucking freezing it solid?
>>43926573
As to the individual motifs:
Elves likely have swirls, like the Pictish, or plant motifs. Camouflage patterns too, if they're extremely wild.
Dwarves have deep, angular etchings. They might have a more brutal tattoo process to deal with their tough skin, chiseling rather than needling the ink in.
Halflings, due to their shifty nature, have lots of little symbols without any apparent theme or meaning. Only someone who's run with them knows that they secretly depict brutal bragging rights, like 25th Orphan Stabbed or Headshot From 30 Yards (Throwing Knife).
>>43930693
Halforcs have tough hides, too, but instead of Dwarf chisels they just poke in with twigs and bone. Their tattoos are might be straightforward kill counts, represented like cave paintings, or surrounding embellishments could indicate a handicap during the hunt (killed a bear while blind drunk).
Gnomes just don't strike me as being into ink, dunno why.
Drow could have luminescent ink, which would be especially brace- giving up the cover of darkness is pretty ballsy.
>>43930776
>Drow
That makes me think, you know - what of races and creatures with infravision? You could do some pretty neat shit with effects of warmth and heat rather than color and light.
>>43930848
>>43929648
That might be how fire elementals self-decorate.
Also, do all the races in OP's setting see the same spectrum of colors as humans? Maybe gnomes look normal to humans, but to other gnomes they're a ten shade rainbow.
>>43930848
Not the same anon.
Maybe exotic inks and other fluids that reflec infrarred and other light spectrum non-perceptible by "normal" races?
>>43930911
That would make sense, maybe the fire elementals permanently deaden some of their "skin" using a specialized chemical essentially making their tattoos dead coals. Bonus points for this method as it is scarification for them, taking normally healthy tissue and killing it.
>>43932397
If they really are anthropomorphic personifications of fire, maybe a careful application of alchemical compounds could also change the color of the fire on a certain area. Copper burns green, for instance.
>>43932639
That actually puts a really cool image in my head, like the anon above me I don't really picture gnomes getting the permanent body mods on themselves but they would probably love the work.
Just picture a gnome in fire retardant clothing with a welding mask on carefully inlaying alchemical copper into a fire elemental sitting in a fantasy tattoo shop.
