I've been meaning to say something here since I noticed it / was linked it (delete as necessary >>), but a combination of doing other things and outright forgetting conspired against me.
In any case, I can think of a few reasons why a capsuleer would opt to have their clones inked up, cut up, or jabbed with pointy pieces of metal before they 'hop into them', as it were:
- Cultural motivation: The first one to spring to mind, perhaps because of my time in RE-AW. The Minmatar have a strong tattoo element to their culture, of course, and I can easily see subcultures in the other empires (and outside) placing some degree of emphasis on tattoos or scarring -- indicators of position in a hierarchy, reminders of past events, and so on. Like a few people said, capsuleers retaining these doesn't seem like too much of a stretch: clinging to pre-capsuleer identities strikes me as being a fairly common theme for podders.
- Social motivation: A repetition of the points about intimidation and such, more or less, with a dash of the aforementioned desire to want to retain some element of connection to their life before becoming a capsuleer. To roll in flying a ship brimming with guns and pop out heavily scarred, pierced and tattooed would send a very different message than to arrive in a private vehicle, well-dressed and scrubbed up -- and hey, capsuleers could quite easily go from the one to the other thanks to the wonders of cloning.
Hell, given how advanced New Eden's medical technology seems to be, it doesn't seem unreasonable to me that, with a little time, the one clone could be repurposed from 'intimidation' to 'honourable business deal'.
- Why the fuck not? Capsuleers are an impulsive lot, to make a sweeping generalisation, and 'I like how it looks' is a pretty common justification even today, without the great amounts of disposable income and more advanced techniques available to capsuleers.
That's hardly an exhaustive list, though, and honestly it seems that there'd be plenty of reasons for a capsuleer to go for it that would largely depend on the character themselves, the situation in which they found themselves, their background, and so on.
To return to the original question in the OP, I'd never considered the State or Empire for tattoos or other body modification before.
For the former, the intricacy of some of the options available makes me think they might have some degree of religious significance. The similarity to the Matari there is a little weird, though, especially given that the chronicle about tattoos mentions something about the Amarrians banning the Minmatar tattoo practice during their occupation. In any case, the extent of one of the options in particular (
second and third from right on the top row) has me thinking that there's no great taboo about it, as such.
The simplistic and comparatively restrained nature of the Caldari ones makes me a little more confused; the best I've come up with there is that while something strictly for aesthetic purposes would get the odd frown or disapproving look, some degree of individualism would be seen as acceptable, and the potential duality of 'showiness' and purpose (lolbarcode, etc.) could mitigate that some. I like the idea of it being some degree of self-satire that someone brought up, too, but that could just be me.
I struggle to imagine piercings seeing any great uptake in the 'traditional' elements of the two societies, personally -- though with the tendency towards visible cybernetic augmentation among the Amarr, if I recall my PF right, I guess it's not beyond belief. Still, it seems that there'd be a greater frequency of both tattoos and piercings (likely from other empires or cultures, in the case of the former, but alas, the restrictions of the character creator) among the shadier or more rebellious facets of those two empries in particular.
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Topic: Reasoning Behind Body Modifications? (Read 4333 times)