• Nobles of Null is a forum based roleplay site where sci-fi and magic collide. Here, Earth remains fractured and divided despite humanity reaching out to the stars. Worse still, the trans-human slaves of one major power have escaped, only to establish their own Empire, seething with resentment at abuses of the past. Even the discovery of aliens, though medieval in development, has failed to rally these squabbling children of Earth together with its far darker implications. Worse still, is the discovery of the impossible - magic. Practiced by the alien locals, nearly depleted and therefore rare, its reality warping abilities remains abstract and distant to the general populace. All the while, unseen in the darkness of space, forces from without threaten to press in. For those with eyes opened by insight, it is clear that an era is about to end, and that a new age will dawn.

Tattoos

Ray of Meep

Ray of Meep

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Tattoos are relatively taboo in current society, though stigmatization varies depending on the professional environment and national culture. Short reading can be found here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tattoo#Modern_associations

Based on my observations, tattoos, especially facial paintings, are used as a literary shortcut to portray exotic peoples. A few examples come to mind. One is the Togruta from Star Wars.
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The second are the ancient humans from Halo.
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Finally, the Belters from the Expanse.
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All three aren't portrayed in a negative light, persay, more to visually represent a deviation from what we consider as the "default" human. But for this setting specifically, how valid is this symbolism? Do surface-borne and the higher class use tattoos less than space-borne and the lower class? I would like to think we become more open to artistic representation of the self as humanity progresses into the 24th century, allowing even high ranking officers to wear facial tattoos without fear of reprisal. Of course, there are practical reasons to avoid tattoos, especially when clarity of your facial expressions is important.
 
I don't think attitudes about Tattoos will have changed much in the future, largely because of advancements in technology leading to easily removeable tattoos and electronically controlled tattoos.


With easily adjustable Tattoos, it would be easy to change the Tattoos to suit what you're going to do that day. If you're going to be in a professional environment you're going to tone it down. If you WANT to be seen and be disruptive you might go for some extras. You basically will never have a situation where you have a face tattoo and don't want it on in that moment. If you're in a situation where you're stuck with it on and can't have it quickly removed then you're going to be seen as the kind of person who didn't care enough to get it removed / turned off.

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100% I can see military applications for this. The Magnetic Assembly already uses this for anti-pattern-recognition systems to keep members who care to use the technology from being easily observed by electronics.

Similarly, a flesh-and-blood military might tattoo things like blood type, medical information, next of kin, unit-and-identification on a person. Having your ID barcoded on your arm would be much more secure than a lanyard and could easily be removed/changed as needed.
 
Interesting that the Daqin fur dying is brought up. The Daqin likely have the bioengineering capability to permanently give themselves detailed, custom body hair patterns, if not genetics than early on in their embryonic stages. They could still change these colors later on by swapping out cells that grow their fur. This all sounds quite costly though, and will probably not be accessible by lower second class and third class citizens though.

In either human or Daqin case, the distinction between classes of society with body paintings then is not whether or not one can do it, but whether or not one can afford to change. A rich person and a poor person might have a skull pattern on their face, but a rich person will be able to turn it off when they go to a business meeting, while the poor person is stuck with the painting.
 
I think many of the same social connotations would remain about tattoos, mainly the connection with both crime and the military in human society. Their acceptability and proliferation would probably be higher though, especially due to their utility when used to barcode someone. Meanwhile, any Daqinren could have tattoo work done, but I doubt they would have 'genetic' tattoos. They would have cosmetic gene work done, but it's typically something that they do not change on a whim given the time and expense of gene therapy. Especially if they have what is essentially chameleon skin. Certain Daqin can likely just come up with tattoos and paint-like markings on the fly, though this is likely military regulated given the utility.
 
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