Turians: When did you get your faces tattooed?

Pretty much what it says in the title. Some colonies tattoo their kids, others do it just before boot when the person can make a formal commitment to the community. What holds where you grew up and why is that the right way?

I was born and raised on Omega, so any colony mark I put on my face would be kind of fake anyway.

My dad says 'a true healer is a bareface' so yeah, he's not keen.

Oh I remember it like it was yesterday. My dad said, "[PYJAK] you are getting your face tattooed today" and I responded "But I don't want to it looks ugly on our carapace tone"

After being yelled at and compared to my sister we then tattooed my face with the tradtional Palavan markings (why we have a mark I don't know)

and now I don't have one because the 'Omega' one is a giant ugly red mark on my face. Hells to the no I'm not wearing that.

When I was really young, it was always face paint. Applied every morning. But the day right after I came back from boot, my father trapped me in a corner (quite literally, our house had plenty of byplaces to hide relax), and I don't remember much of the conversation, but it basically went like;

He told me I'd be getting proper facial markings
I said it would probably hurt
He basically called me a coward
I said I wasn't a coward
And then he was all "prove it". And then I had to do it, really. It's an honour thing.

I'm not going to lie, it hurt a lot, but it was worth it. Not for "turian pride" or anything, but because now I don't have to spend half an hour every morning putting it on. Heheh.


And, like Dwick's #1 Pyjak up there, I'm not going for the Omega markings. One, it'd obscure the current ones (there's only so much space on a turian's face!), two, it hurts like hell, and three, they're hideous.

We paint our little ones when they're born. The lines under the eyes go in between the first and second birthday, soon as the carapace is hard enough to hold the ink. The rest of the sunburst pattern is typically: five for the mid cheek, ten for the line next to the nose, and fifteen for the line next to the eye, with touch-ups to the rest as required. The battle teeth on the lower lip have to be earned. Same with anything over the eyes which typically denotes chieftains.

That's just general practice, though. My auntie said I looked stupid walking around with battle teeth and an incomplete sunburst, so that got fixed pretty fast. I had my complete tattoo when I was ten.

I hear there are some people up in the mountains who give their infants the full sunburst, but that's never made sense to me. The amount of touch up you'd have to do as the kid ages is unreasonable.

Not at least paintin' your kids is really disturbing to me. How does anyone know who they belong to, if you don't? Why would you not want your own child to be part of your clan? And the problem with paint is it washes off. Tattoos, like blood, are forever.

About two years ago. While drunk.

My mom is (was?) barefaced. I got my first tattoos when I was six and went to live with my biological dad. He wasn't a very good Sundowner but he really wanted everyone to know I was his.

I feel weird that my hearthfather has different tattoos than me.

You? The tattoo artist? Or both of you? Because I can believe any one of those.

Anyway, I like this tradition. Its a good indicator of who is trustworthy and who isn't.

At least me. Possibly him too.

Well, it depends. Had generic Palaven markings when I was just a wee lad of 15 who didn't know any better. Once I left the Cabals and went to Omega to join the Suns, I had that shit buffed off and got some custom ones instead. Been adding to them ever since.

Do I count? Probably not, I know. Still, in the 'young adult' years, more or less - young enough that my father got to see the result. Genetic adjustment, not tattoo (although I have had plenty of tattoos done, the old-fashioned way a lot of times, so none of this 'you didn't really get marked' stuff), the 'vee' marks on my forehead were always kinda similar to the top of dad's pattern so it didn't take a lot to tweak them into shape. Dad got his done in boot, so nothing remarkable there. In our family it's always been not so much about allegiance as showing where you come from, whatever you choose to do with that start.

I'm... not sure I get the meaning. It's not intended to be pejorative, I'm guessing, but what then?

It's not really pejorative. It's rough, like, it's what a sawbones on Omega says, but the idea is that a healer or a doctor should be loyal to the ideal of saving lives or, more practically, the person he's working on RIGHT THEN.

I've got the old Palaven blue on my face, got the mandibles done at seven, and the rest at fifteen during boot. It did sting a bit, especially the bit on the nose proper but if you can't take that small ding to show your colors you're probably not suited to wear them in the first place.

Your pa is right too, some of the best medics I've known were the barefaced ones.

You know for all the shit some give barefaced ones but I can respect them in a way, sure they don't declare colors but they're honest about it. It is far too easy to just get some ink and pretend you're all that while you're ready to stab someone in the back. On the other claw I will never understand how someone doesn't want to belong to something bigger than themselves, or why they would try to hide it in normal situations. 'xcept if you're a spy or something, but I guess those bastards would be the first to put on fake paint.

Ah, I gotcha - I like to think I know better than to judge a person by what's on their face (or not, as the case may be), but in the context of a saying 'bareface' just put me off on the wrong track of thought.

Oh dude that's the same excuse politicians use for why they go barefaced lol

I mean, I'm a bareface right now. But it still feels weird looking at my face in the mirror without the marking. Probably feel even weirder having one poke and prod me because I'm dying of acute Omega.

I've had peace of mind ever since I got my markings removed.

It's hard to find tattoo removal services for turians on Omega. Even then most of them won't lay a talon on colony markings. Eventually I had to resort to a guy who had zero qualifications to go with his job.

I'm just lucky my face is still in one piece after that ordeal. I'm still glad I got it over and done with, though.

I stick to makeup on occasions. At one time it used to be a trend to get parental hierarchy style face markings at least semipermanently done but I somehow never could get myslef into limiting my makup options.
Yeah, and so I ended staying barefaced for the last century as I have no relly visible natural markings (anymore. I used to have very light, shadowy spots on my temples as a younger kid but they disappered with age).

I am getting that mood lately though, pondering about redoing some of the body markings I used to have a long time ago, maybe I'll eventually incorporate something turian styled there. I don't know, this whole idea is still in the early stages.

Eh I think I was like...shit I'unno teens? Early teens? Not Big H boot age, little earlier since, you know, Xalioch, but the whole like "oh you're old enough to be a part of the community 'grats" thing yeah? Supposed to be your first coming of age thingy from a kid (kid's get the paints and dyes, long lasting shit, but simpler an not as nice. So getting actual tats was a big deal) to a "young adult". Stung like a mofo but I kinda like the way they look even if I'm not exactly, uh, kicking around the Glasslands or anything anytime soon.

Eurgh, super fucking jealous man. Not of the uh...not of the buffing since scraping your plates off your face doesn't 'xactly sound like fun but getting to design your own shit. Mean, like I said I kinda like mine but...dunno.

Just sounds like it would be nice.

See and tbh that I don't really get. I mean I get what you're saying about that junk but...I'unno seems kinda shitty. They're supposed to be more than like "oh this is where I'm from now look where I'm going which is in the entirely opposite fucking direction" thing. Mean Maxentus's are customs an those are good like I said but they actually mean shit to him so like...

Dunno getting them just to get 'em seems kinda half assed. Or like, you know, "I like turian shit so I'm gonna paint up my face and be a huge fucking weeabo about it".

See? Like this shit. S'kinda uh...weird. Tbh like it's really fucking weird.

Yeah uh...please don't? Just like

don't.

Oh and uh 'cause I missed this the first readthrough

Ugh, seriously man what the fuck? You don't like 'em shit good for you aren't you just the most specialist fringy ever I mean not like anyone else ever had the same thing. But don't treat the whole thing as like "THIS WAS MY SLAVE BRAND NO I NO LONGER ANSWER TO MY BONDED NAME".

And before you get all wadded up that's uh...that's pretty much the implication you're making.

Kiiiiiiinda a bitchy and/or dicktastic move.

I got a poll for the turians here.

How many of you got your markings in a way that hurt like hell? Like what I heard how Corvax got his, take a hammer and little chisel and tap away until the surface breaks and then rub in dye.

I don't know if it was exactly like that but I do recall some manner of broken plating and tossing in dye.

D'awww.

Eh. Yeah it sucked at the time, but the results were worth it. Also the tech's a lot better now, just a slightly more expensive but a lot less painful laser thing. But yeah, working on the designs is pretty fun - maybe there's an artist somewhere deep inside me.

His name is Rick and he's quite a lovely date when you get to know him.

*rimshot*


They're... called tattoo machines, dude. Like, seriously. I know humans are squishy as hell but that doesn't mean puny Earthling needles can't penetrate our mighty hides and plates. Sure you need a slightly higher-grade needle to puncture the latter so it hurts a little more, but still. Doing it the modern way, rather than the traditional backwards animal-rapist way, hurts about as much as someone scratching you over and over for like an hour.

Oh fuck off, you know what I damn well meant.
Man I bet, need to update my ink still and I thiiiiiink I've still got those designs you passed me awhile back. So, you know, next time the group swings by port I might have to hit up a parlor.
...I don-

euuuuuughhhhhhhhhhh

You motherfucking just I

spirits i hate you

Yeah uh...yeah Aquila's got it basically. Mine got done the same way I've got the ones on my body (Script from my Legionnaires outfit and the Sun so not much tbh), needle/injector that whole deal. I mean I guess the one for my face was finer and shit. It's kinda an important thing with details and it has to be deep and the carapace can be thick but like iirc I had a few punctures and cracks that cleared up in a couple weeks (I guess I mean this was like a decade ago so what the fuck do you want from me). Not uh...

Whatever...this shit is.