Re: Guild Tattoos: a means of identification, in a shadowy profession

>I would replace the spell with magical ink, perhaps something like what
>you'd use to inscribe spell books.  The add to the tattoo the power of the
>Rogue to make it appear.  That way they can show, or be shown.
>
>I've been toying with the idea of guild tattoos similar to this, only I was
>thinking that the complexity and color of the marking would reveal the
>owner.

SNIP

In SJ (to get this back On Topic) this could be accomplished by having the
guild hire out Xixchil tattoo artists.... it would be necessary to check in
with the Xixchil to see if there has been any 'unauthorised' work going on.
 Xixchil work would be very difficult, if not impossible, for any other
artist to duplicate (given the high skill of the Xixchil at these sorts of
things...).

To go slightly more complex, rather than having one specific design for all
members (which makes them easy to spot by the authorities), each guild
could have some sort of 'code' by which a member is given a particular
pattern based on their name/rank/etc.  This would be hard to forge unless
you knew the 'code', and hard to identify.

>From 'Dragon Ecologies' in Dragon 266, pg 87, Xixchil tattooing costs 50gp
per square inch for a 'detailed design' (implied multiple colours).

Cheers

Andrew Tiffany