Tattoo

Tattoos were common bodity decoratios that were wildly varied in apperance and use. Some were used to accentuate ones' beauty according to the local custom, others indicated ones rank and served as a form of identification. Tattoos held religious significance and could be used to imbue ones body with magics.

Cultural Significance

 * Wild dwarf: Tattoos were believed common among the wild dwarves who were reputed to be bloodthirsty savages, even though that reputation was likely an exaggeration.
 * Uthgardt: The barbarian folk of the North Faerûn who worshiped Uthgar, belonged to different animal totem tribes. Males of these mountainous humans were known to tattoo themselves with the images of their tribes' totems.

Zakhara, the Land of Fate
Purity was a virtue of great value in the Land of Fate. Many human and non-human Zakharan women wore veils, exposing little of their bodies to casual observers. As such, eyes, hands, and feet were objects of beauty in Zakhara, to be decorated. Women sometimes chose to tattoo their foreheads with simple designs appealing to the eye. Tribeswomen of Al-Badian valued vanity with tattooing being the height of bodily decoration. They often tattooed not just theor foreheads but also cheeks, chest, calves, hands, and feet. Tattoos were visually pleasing patterns of lines, crossmarks and dots with each tribe prefering a design unique to them.

Mamluks of Zakhara wore their military ranks and organization affiliations tattooed on their faces. They often consisted of lines, patterns on their cheeks, circles. The more status and power they had, the more sophisticated the tattoos were. Imitating or faking these tattoos was a grave offense in the Mamluk society. Mamluks who were disgraced or committed severe crimes had their facial tattoos forcefully and painfully removed with pumice brushes. Veils were not allowed in the Mamluk slave-soldier society as they obscured the facial tattoos. Recently created undead Zakharan crypt servants often wore their Mamluk face tattoos.

Religion
Talona: Facial tattoos were popular among the worshipers of the Mother of all PLagues. Her worshipers imitated the goddess' tattooed face by covering their own with ritual tattoos and scarification.

Tattoos & Magic

 * Geomancy: Tisan Balshareska, the Sunderer of Dreams was the most powerful Zakharan geomancer, had her hands, arms, legs, neck, and face decorated with enchanted golden tattoos. These decorations were geoglyphs, magical tattoos that granted Tisan Balshareska permanent protections of several spells. These geoglyphs functinoed as a combination of permanency and alacrity sells. Tisan's geoglyphs were imbued with protection from lifeproof, comprehend languages, detect invisibility, protection from normal missiles, read magic, tongues, and wizard sight. When in use, geoglyphs glowed with white, gold, or red radiance.

History
In the Hammer of the, Iriaebor in the Western Heartlands became afflicted by the Spotted Plague that took the lives of twenty people before being contained by the city's priests. The investigation concluded that the disease was of magical nature and likely was connected to heavily tattooed Talonite worshipers that passed the city shortly before the outbreak. Several more outbreaks eventually led to a panic in the city of Procampur. There, a woman who claimed to be a sailor with facial tattoos was accused of being a plague-spreading Talonite and was killed by a mob.

Notable Tattooed Individuals

 * Ziss al-Waran, was a lizardfolk merchant of the city of Huzuz circa 1367 DR. Her green scaily skin was decoraated with several geometric-shaped tattoos.

Notable Tattoo Parlors

 * Ehaevaera's Beauty Rooms, a female-only beauty salon in the city of Scornubel, the Western Heartlands. The establishment offered its customers hairstyling, manicures, body painting, perfumed baths, massages, and tattoos.

Appearances

 * Adventures
 * Ruined Kingdoms
 * Novels
 * Azure Bonds &bull; Song of the Saurials &bull; Red Magic
 * Video Games
 * Curse of the Azure Bonds &bull; Baldur's Gate series (Baldur's Gate II: Throne of Bhaal &bull; Baldur's Gate: Enhanced Edition) &bull; Neverwinter Nights series (Neverwinter Nights &bull; Neverwinter Nights: Pirates of the Sword Coast)