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. The art of tattooing was a valued still. The process consisted of using a sharp utencil to inject ink underneath skin's surface, forming poermanent intricate decorations.

Mundane tattoos commonly adorned the skin of sailors, pirates, and mariners, including fea-fairing elves of Evermeet. Criminal underbellies of big cities like Waterdeep often decorated their skin with gang insignias, tattoos, and scars. Many of "Zurchins", so-called Zazesspur's urchins had their faces tattooed or branded after incarceration for ease of identification. These urhins were not children as they were trying to pass for, but adult thieving halflings.

Cultural Significance

 * Bedine: Some Bedine woman chose to decorate their cheeks and hands with permanent and temporary henna tattoos.
 * Chultan: The criminals of the peaceful Chultan city of Mezro were tattooed with a single blue triangle on their foreheads when caught by the city's barae. This marking was shameful and caused the recipients to be ostracised and often had to leave the Chultan Peninsula in order to survive.
 * Duergar: Among the gray dwarves, bright yellow tattoos in Dethek were placed on foreheads of criminals, who were exiled from duergar communities under the threat of execution. These tattoos were more permanent than others. The Dethek runes were carved deep into their faces so the scars are almost impossible to cover up by make-up, face masks of ash, or disguise kit paints.
 * Frost giant: Some fost giant tribal shamans were known to decorate their bodies and heads with yellow tattoo patterns.
 * Korobokuru, diminiative humanoids from Kara-Tur were considered to be dirty and unsighthy. Korobokuru females decorated their faces and hands with beautiful blue tattoos. Other races and cultures often considered these tattoos quite hedious.
 * Nar: Humans of Narfell were known to routinely decorate their arms with numeorus amd crowded tattoo designs.
 * Rashemaar: Berserkers of Rashemen had their bodies decorated with distinctly traditional runic tattoos.
 * Saurial: Many members of the Saurial race ofthe Hidden Vale decorated themselves with complex tattoos and carvings. The tattoos were most common among individuals who were proficient in spellcasting. These tattoos were applied to their scales and bone plates.
 * 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. The Chultan wild dwarves tattoed their bodies in extensive bright-colored patterns.
 * 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.

Kara-Tur and Shou Lung
Tattoo was commonly used as a form of identification acros many regions of Kara-Tur. Members of various factions could be distinguised by the symbols tattooed on their arms. Warriors of Shin So Tang's clan in the Ausa Province bore an image of a green dragon on their left arms. Sprawling intricate tattoos that covered significant parts of bodies were a staple among members of Yakuza clans in Kara-Tur. These tattoos covered arms, chests, and backs of the members of the Yakuza and usually were hidden from sight, only showing small glimpses when surrounded by family. Some of the heavily tattoes Yakuza clans were the Bakshi of Ojy-do, while the Yakuza family from Pan maked their affiliates with a small tattoo of a blue feather on the person's heel. Ninja clans of Kara-Tur used identifying tattoos as well: Yamaguchi clan's image was a small flaming knife, while Amida Butsu clan's symbol were linked red circles under their left arms.

In Shou Lung, the pirate organization of the Yellow Lizards of Keeling were rewarded with a tatoo of a yellow crane on their right arm upon joining. This was due to tattoos being considered a lower class marking, often worn by servants. Enven though Shou secret organizations used tattoos to indicate membership, most citizens kept them hidden.

Tel-Quessir
Among the Tel-quessir, tatooing was most commonly seen among wild elves, or Sy'Tel'Quessir, the least organizaed and most primitive nomadic elven culture. These tattoos often included images of their totem animals, their spirit guides.

In the drow society of the Underdark, it was almost unheard of for women to bear tattoos, while males, especially male warriors, were known to have facial decorative and enchanted tattoos. Namely, the Dragon's Hoard, a mercenary group that worhiped Vhaeraun.

Thay
The passion for the art of tattooing was an extremely wide-spread, especially among Red Wizards. These spellcasters bore both, mudane decorative and magical tattoos. Mulan humans were the primary ethnic group ruling Thay. And they most often had shaved heads, decorated with intricate designs. Rashemaar inhabitants of Thay often imitated that custom. Shaved scalps was what diffirenciated Thayns from the slaves who wore their hair long. Red Wizards, and those who were pretending to be Red Wizaerds, always had shaved heads, unless on a mission outside the country. Their heads were tattooed with elaborate designs that sometimes included symbols of their favorite gods, and incorporated the favotire symbol of the Red Wizads - red flames. Thayans of poorer standing used paints and make up to draw temporary designs on their shaved heads. However it was more common among Thayan women to avoid permanent tattoos on ther heads, instead, they frequented shops to have their scalps painted with new fashionable symbols, The same also applied to some men. Some powerful Thayan Red Wizards and Zulkirs liked to tattoo their servats, these brands could be as simple as an image of a thorny vine aroudn their necks - the symbol of Zulkir Maligor.

Thayan port city of Bezantur, reportedly, had the best tattoo artisans in all the Realms. The popularity of the asrt of tattooing was so widespread in Bezantur, many of its inns had talented tattoists on staff. Populat designs included visually complex knotworks inspired by the Ffolk, intricate geometries from Semphar, and depictions of dragons, phoenixes, andcreatures of Kara-Tur. Others also decorated their scalps to indicate the deities they worshiped. Some of these designs were imbued with minor magics allowing the designes to move.

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

 * Bane: Chosen priests of Bane often tattoed their cheeks and chin with blood-colored diamond-shaped tattoos and had a single round rudy affixed to their foreheads.
 * Calim: The worhipers of Calim, the moon, was the state religion in the city-state of Cursrah of the ancient Calim Empire. As part of their accendance in the church's ranks, clerics were disfigured, making it almost impossible to identify their gender, branded with arcane symbols, and given tattoos, and lastly, by some accords, their genetalia was removed.
 * Ilmater: members of the Church of Ilmater who diffirentiated themselves from others via unusual powers and dedication to the Crying God were given a small facial tattoo - a small gray tear under their left eye.
 * 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.

Organizations

 * Hatori, an assassins' guild that took the name of hatori, crocodiles of hte desert, and emulated their fearsome behaviour. The members of the guild had a bracelet-like tattoo that depicted hatori teeth that encircled their wrists. The guild originated in the ancient Calim Caliphates.
 * Knights of the Hawk of Ravens Bluff were awarded a Hawk Tattoo as one of the highest honors of the Order. The tattoo was that of a hawk in flight and could be placed anyhwere on knight's body. Only bearers of Hawk Tattoos were allowed to petition to join the elite knightly unit - the Hawk Brotherhood.

Tattoos & Magic

 * Azure bonds, a curse that manifested in the form of a shimmering azure tattoo of thorn vines and waves that encircled glyphs that represented the individuals or organizations who created these azure bonds. The ritual was developed by evil wizard Cassana and her dark alliance. After their defeat, the curse was recrated by the New Alliance of the Bonds and continued to be used by clandestine criminal organizations of the Moonsea. The azure bonds could not be removed by any means. Attempts to cast any divination magic on the bonds resulted in a violent blinding display of arcane pyrotechnics and attempts to dispel magic always failed and sent the branded individual into murderous rage and forced them to slay the caster. The victims of the azure bonds were forced to fulfil the bonds' masters' tasks when meeting certain criteria. Upon the deaths or severing of the bond between the branded individual and the creators of the azure bonds, the sigil disappeared, leaving the shimmering magical tattoo of a rose flower and thorny vines. This remnant of the curse was just as permanent.
 * Create enchanted tattoo was a popular Thayan spell that imprinted magics in form of tattoos up the recipient's skin. The power and types of magics varied depending on the caster's skill and their ability to use a tattooist needle. A single person could not bear more than three of these decorations at a time.
 * 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.
 * Neth tattoo, was an ancient magic created in the Empire of Netheril. Neth tattoos were enchanted dwarings that were inscribed on target's forearms or necks. These tattoos discharged their magical effect at wearer's will. The tattoo was a living and flowing image that was determined by the recipient. Elf tattoos.png
 * Stamp of Tan Chin: A magical tattoo that was stamped onto their victims by the monstrous dowagu, Foul creations of Raja Ambuchar Devayam in Shou Lung. These tattoos were placed on foreheads and could not be removed or even covered. Spells used to mask or remove these brands (including wish) failed, while mundane things like make-up or hats were removed and thrown off the brander people's heads. These brands remained on the heads of dowagu's victims, reanimating them after death and forcing into survitude under the necromancer Raja.
 * Tattoo of power: This spell belonged to alteration and evocation schools of magic and foudn use in the land of Zakhara. This spell allowed the caster to implant sells onto the target's skin. The spell contained withing the enchanted tattoo could be released with a simple touch and a command word. Once exhausted, the tattoo faded away. This type of magic tattoo had its limitations. The first being the surface needed - the more powerful was the tattooed spell, the mose space it neede on the target's skin. Thr second limitation was the fact taht a single creature could only carry up to four tattoos of power. The creation of tattoos of power was done via physicall tattooing and the caster needed to be proficient in the art.

History
In the an evil cabal that incldued sorceress Cassana, lich Zrie Prakis, demonic creature Phalse, ancient god of rot Moander, and the Fire Knives assasins created the first azure bonds and used them to control their tool, a construct who later became the hero known as Alias. The woman bore the curse of the azure bonds that forced her to attemt to murder King Azoun Obarskyr IV of Cormyr. Eventually, aided by a group of friends Alias and her "brother" Dragonbait broke the curse, leaving a beautiful azure tattoo of a rose and trorn vines of her arm. Several months later, the magics creating the azure bonds were recovered and replicated by the New Alliance of the Bonds, financed by the dreaded Fire Knives, aided by the Survivors of Moander, the remnants of the rotting god's cult, the Zhentarim, the Red Wizard of Thay Dracandros the Mad, and Tyranthraxus the posessing spirit. As of late-14 century DR, Zhentarim and possibly other criminal cabals used the azure bonds for their nefarious scheemes.

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

 * Alias, the unaging hero and an ally of Harpers, Elminster, daughter of god Finder Wyvernspur who was branded with the azure bonds on her forearm.
 * Dragonbait, a saurial hero "brother" of Alias who was branded with same azure bonds as her but his magic tattoos were located on the chest and hidden by the saurial's tunic.
 * Eli yn Adnan el Beza, the Sultan of Calimport's Wizard Ward in the 14 century DR. The politician was tattoed with both mundane and enchanted sigils from Thay. He has an image of a red wyvern on his shaved head.
 * Hogley, a dwarven member of the Iron Throne whose thick mane of hair hid forcefully tattooed sigils of his old Thayan masters.
 * Maligor, the Zulkir of Alteration in Thay until the 1362 DR. His shaved scalp was decorated with the image of red flames on purple background and a white skull - the sybol of his deity, Myrkul.
 * Omiiv Fandarfall, a Shadow Thieves operative known as "The Eclipse" for the partial tattoo of an eclipse on his cheeck, active in the late-14 century DR.
 * Phamrh Aelorothi, the half-elf-tiefling patriarch of House Aelorothi decorated his body with enchanted tattoos.
 * Rhuna the Dark, was considered to be the best tattoist of Bezantur whose art decorated bodies of Aznar Thrul and Zulkir Mythrell'aa.
 * Tee-a-nicknick, a half-qullan pirate from Luskan in the late-14 century DR. The man was covered in tattoos, on virtually every part of his body, including face.
 * Tiennek, a barbarian of the White Worm who bore the mark of his tribe - the image of a polar worm, tattoed on his forehead, in the mid-14 century DR.
 * Varbrace Zaalen, a muscular fighter who proudly wore his tattoo of Tempus's holy symbol on his left bicep who frequented the Dripping Dagger in Waterdeep in the late-14 century DR.
 * Xzar, a tattooed mad necromancer member of the Zhentharim and a one-time companion of Abdel Adrian in the mid-14 century DR.
 * 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.
 * Elonia's Beauty Shoppe, a salon that offered a wide variety of beautician sevices, including tattooing. The parlor was popular gossiping spot for folk of all genders.
 * Rusty Anchor, an inn that catered to sailors in the city of Bezantur. The establishment's own tattooist was named Xamik, a gentlement with his skin decorated with colorful designs. He also offered piercing services in the late 14 century DR.
 * Sea Wolf Inn, like other establishments in Bezantur had a tattoo artist on staff. A human woman named Vedura was the tattoist in the late 14 century DR.
 * Slain Sahuagin of Bezantur own barkeep and a barber-tattooist-piercer was named Nyrin Zaxim in the late 14 century DR.
 * Talon's Tattoo Parlor, a tattoo artist's shop in the city of Raven's Bluff, ran by a half-ogre Talon Darkoak. The parlor was popular among the sailors of the Inner Sea in the late-14 century DR. Some whispered about Talon's remarkable skills in creating enchanted tattoos.

Appearances

 * Adventures
 * Curse of the Azure Bonds &bull; Waterdeep &bull; Night of the Seven Swords &bull; Ronin Challenge &bull; Ninja Wars &bull; Ruined Kingdoms &bull; Assassin Mountain &bull; Caravans &bull; Black Courser &bull; Blood Charge &bull; How the Mighty Are Fallen
 * Swords of the Iron Legion
 * Novels
 * Azure Bonds &bull; Song of the Saurials &bull; Pools of Darkness &bull; Waterdeep &bull; Prince of Lies &bull; The Halfling's Gem &bull; The Spine of the World &bull; The Parched Sea &bull; The Veiled Dragon &bull; Red Magic &bull; Soldiers of Ice &bull; Finder's Bane &bull; Tymora's Luck &bull; Masquerades &bull; Silver Shadows &bull; Thornhold &bull; Canticle &bull; In Sylvan Shadows &bull; Baldur's Gate &bull; Baldur's Gate II: Shadows of Amn &bull; Throne of Bhaal &bull; Star of Cursrah &bull; The Lost Library of Cormanthyr &bull; Escape from Undermountain &bull; The Giant Among Us &bull; Once Around the Realms &bull; The Mage in the Iron Mask &bull; The Simbul's Gift &bull; Rising Tide &bull; Lies of Light &bull; Scream of Stone &bull; Daughter of the Drow &bull; Windwalker &bull; The Shield of Weeping Ghosts &bull; Sentinelspire &bull; Blackstaff &bull; The Alabaster Staff &bull; The Halls of Stormweather &bull; Maiden of Pain &bull; The Rage &bull; Hand of Fire &bull; Master of Chains
 * Shadowdale &bull; Elminster: The Making of a Mage &bull; The Nether Scroll &bull; Whisper of Waves &bull; Cloak of Shadows &bull; Swords of Eveningstar
 * Video Games
 * Curse of the Azure Bonds &bull; Baldur's Gate series (Baldur's Gate &bull; Baldur's Gate II: Throne of Bhaal &bull; Baldur's Gate: Enhanced Edition) &bull; Planescape: Torment &bull; Neverwinter Nights series (Neverwinter Nights &bull; Neverwinter Nights: Pirates of the Sword Coast &bull; Neverwinter Nights: Darkness over Daggerford)
 * Video Games
 * Curse of the Azure Bonds &bull; Baldur's Gate series (Baldur's Gate &bull; Baldur's Gate II: Throne of Bhaal &bull; Baldur's Gate: Enhanced Edition) &bull; Planescape: Torment &bull; Neverwinter Nights series (Neverwinter Nights &bull; Neverwinter Nights: Pirates of the Sword Coast &bull; Neverwinter Nights: Darkness over Daggerford)