Using magical body art to display status and prestige

[Sharad9]

Body art, or henna, is an important element in this society. This art is painted on the skin and applied with magic. They are semi-permanent and remain on the users skin, only being removed as needed by other magical items. It is not mandatory to wear, but very popular and widely used by men and women. They are gender specific and applied like makeup to enhance characteristics of the individual. However, rather than just being an accessory, it is also meant to tell a story about the person and there place in the world. Common uses include:

welcoming in the seasons, a new year, or bountiful harvests, celebrations and festivities, religious holidays, wealth and prestige, accomplishments and successes, number of enemies defeated in battle or children birthed into a clan, rites of passage into adulthood, or applied to bodies representing passage into the next life.

Henna is judged by their beauty and intricacy, as well as the story they tell of the individual or the concepts relevant to this culture that they symbolize. You could make ones that move, sparkle, emit an aura, make a smell or sound, change with the weather or mood, or dozens of other things. This could make counterfeiting harder and allow for the markings to be a genuine status symbol. They may be pretty to look at, but if there is no meaning behind it, it is meaningless and wasted effort. Important clans may even have unique tattoo specific to their family, and are worn with pride to symbolive their place in the community. Men and women also wear henna to attract partners or display relationship status.

What do people think of this concept? How can it be expanded upon?

[qwed117]

It's not precisely original, but I figure you already know that. My first thought is Disney's Moana, where the character Maui has "talking" tattoos that feature his feats. My next thought is Avatar: The Last Airbender (the animated TV show), where Aang's tattoo on his scalp glows whenever he enters Avatar mode, or whatever it's called.

I guess the real point, thus, is on the details.

Here are somethings to think of:

• How do you get a tattoo?
• What powers can a tattoo give you?
• Are there limits on the tattooing?
• Who gets the tattoos?
• Who gives the tattoos?
• Where does the magic power derive from?

[Sharad9]

I actually thought I came up with the idea. I've never heard of body art or tattoos being used in this way .

[qwed117]

I actually thought I came up with the idea. I've never heard of body art or tattoos being used in this way .

The basic gist of the idea is similar to others, but the actual details are quite different; I'm not denying that.

[elemtilas]

What do people think of this concept? How can it be expanded upon?

I like the concept much!

Daine rarely make permanent tattoos on their bodies, and those will typically be clan or family symbols. That they call tioderi. They otherwise make great use of a henna-like substance for the application of temporary ink, much like mendhi. This they call maranderi. Their use is almost purely decorative: leaves & vines, flowers, starbursts. They can tell stories with maranderi, but usually no. Often times a pregnant girl will wear protective signs or ones welcoming the new baby into the world. Hunters will usually wear signs intended to attract their quarry to the path of their spears and lances. These, of course, involve some small amount of dwimmery, really more like a charm than an actual thaumological magnet. That would surely be overkill! Like the ankle rings, bangles, necklaces, waistlets of bells and jangles, scarves and bits of fur and cloth that serve a Daine as his decorative wardrobe, so it is with maranderi. You can see some examples here. Most of the people wearing maranderi go for delicate, intricate designs. The Greatqueen has gone for bold designs. Some like body-enfolding work, others perhaps just a simple necklet or vine around the arm.

Sure, you didn't invent body art --- but what you did was make an interesting twist on the basic concept. That's what matters!

I'd like to make a suggestion. I know from here and elsewhere on the interwebs that you have already done a lot of work on this culture and the world it resides in. Could you please make an actual thread here for that world? Rather than making dozens of kind of random threads like this one, everything about your culture would be in one place! Kind of like this thread for The World.

[Sharad9]

What do people think of this concept? How can it be expanded upon?

I like the concept much!

Daine rarely make permanent tattoos on their bodies, and those will typically be clan or family symbols. That they call tioderi. They otherwise make great use of a henna-like substance for the application of temporary ink, much like mendhi. This they call maranderi. Their use is almost purely decorative: leaves & vines, flowers, starbursts. They can tell stories with maranderi, but usually no. Often times a pregnant girl will wear protective signs or ones welcoming the new baby into the world. Hunters will usually wear signs intended to attract their quarry to the path of their spears and lances. These, of course, involve some small amount of dwimmery, really more like a charm than an actual thaumological magnet. That would surely be overkill! Like the ankle rings, bangles, necklaces, waistlets of bells and jangles, scarves and bits of fur and cloth that serve a Daine as his decorative wardrobe, so it is with maranderi. You can see some examples here. Most of the people wearing maranderi go for delicate, intricate designs. The Greatqueen has gone for bold designs. Some like body-enfolding work, others perhaps just a simple necklet or vine around the arm.

Sure, you didn't invent body art --- but what you did was make an interesting twist on the basic concept. That's what matters!

I'd like to make a suggestion. I know from here and elsewhere on the interwebs that you have already done a lot of work on this culture and the world it resides in. Could you please make an actual thread here for that world? Rather than making dozens of kind of random threads like this one, everything about your culture would be in one place! Kind of like this thread for The World.

But if I did that, how would I get people to even read it?

[sangi39]

What do people think of this concept? How can it be expanded upon?

I like the concept much!

Daine rarely make permanent tattoos on their bodies, and those will typically be clan or family symbols. That they call tioderi. They otherwise make great use of a henna-like substance for the application of temporary ink, much like mendhi. This they call maranderi. Their use is almost purely decorative: leaves & vines, flowers, starbursts. They can tell stories with maranderi, but usually no. Often times a pregnant girl will wear protective signs or ones welcoming the new baby into the world. Hunters will usually wear signs intended to attract their quarry to the path of their spears and lances. These, of course, involve some small amount of dwimmery, really more like a charm than an actual thaumological magnet. That would surely be overkill! Like the ankle rings, bangles, necklaces, waistlets of bells and jangles, scarves and bits of fur and cloth that serve a Daine as his decorative wardrobe, so it is with maranderi. You can see some examples here. Most of the people wearing maranderi go for delicate, intricate designs. The Greatqueen has gone for bold designs. Some like body-enfolding work, others perhaps just a simple necklet or vine around the arm.

Sure, you didn't invent body art --- but what you did was make an interesting twist on the basic concept. That's what matters!

I'd like to make a suggestion. I know from here and elsewhere on the interwebs that you have already done a lot of work on this culture and the world it resides in. Could you please make an actual thread here for that world? Rather than making dozens of kind of random threads like this one, everything about your culture would be in one place! Kind of like this thread for The World.

But if I did that, how would I get people to even read it?

The conworlding section of the board isn't as active as, say, the conlanging section, but I think a fair few users tend to read most new threads as they go up if they have time.

The main issue is responses, but if you post something that's not too long and not too short while still being detailed and interesting at least some people will comment

EDIT: The other upside of having a dedicated thread for your conworld is that you can start linking to it in other posts in other threads which could get it a bit more traffic. Either way, though, having something singular to refer back to is a good idea for you as a writer and creator as well. If, say, you lose everything on whatever medium you choose to write on (paper, computer and the like) then you've got one thread to start collecting your work back from again rather than having to piece together disparate bits from here and there

[Axiem]

I agree with the "create a single thread for your conculture". It will especially help people who come here in say, six months and say "hey, the things this person is saying about their conculture when discussing e.g. government sound interesting! I'd like to learn more!"

It also means you can include a link to it in your signature, so people can easily be reminded what conculture/conlang you're doing stuff with.

On the other hand, if you think a discussion of your conculture is so boring that no one would read it, then perhaps you have other issues.