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

>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).

Come to think of it, gaining the services of a Xixchil would be extremely
advantageous for a thieve's guild. Not only could they create unique tattoos
and such, they have many other talents.

When in sore need of it, the in-house surgeon can change the height, hair
color, eye color, facial features, skin color, and natural talents of
guildies. A thief who can fly or break down walls is useful, and thieves
might just be desperate enough to take it the way the xixchil give it...

George LaValle,
Archimandrite At Large

"All life is only a set of pictures in the brain, among which there is no
difference betwixt those born of real things and those born of inward
dreamings, and there is no cause to value the one above the other."

H.P. Lovecraft, the Silver Key. (paraphrased)

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