In short, Cas, the answer is that the central concept is "Republic outcast", not explicitly "Thukker" nor exclusively "ill-marked". In the case of the character I created for this project, he suffers from a woeful Voluval marking and foreign upbringing. He's not ethnically Thukker and isn't even really Minmatar in a cultural sense. Struggling with the implications of his Voluval and their impact on his life will be interesting avenues for RP. There are other valid character concepts that could comfortably fit within the broad idea of "Republic outcast" without being exclusionary to one another. For example:
- Republic pilot of mixed Amarr-Minmatar heritage
- Hell, an outright Ammatar descended from a bastard line of Idonis Ardishapur himself who concealed his ancestry for years before being revealed and loathed
- Republic pilot who's found herself blacklisted from reputable institutions after :crimes:
- Lone Thukker emigre from the Wildlands who found life in the Republic too static
- Ill-marked member of the Thukker tribe
- Researcher whose secret experiments with Vitoc derivatives found him on the wrong side of the news cycle
- Gruff Matari scavenger with no manners and shameless devotion to the Amarrian faith
- Military retiree with no known living kin starting a new life because :adventure:
- Conspiracy theorist who flat out believes the Republic government is a front for an alien invasion
These sorts aren't all reviled for having a verboten tattoo and they aren't all accustomed to a lifestyle and culture built on permanent migration. Any of them, however, might find themselves at a time and place in their lives, shortly after completing the most harrowing of training regimens (surviving the wet grave), when they are looking for a place among fellow outcasts to call home.
Regarding the docking restriction, I floated the point because the project is meant to present a roleplay
challenge. Calling any of the artificial restrictions imposed by such a challenge "handwaving" seems dismissive of their purpose to the point that I'm not sure we're still thinking about the same thing. The idea is to accept these restrictions in order to channelize gameplay in a way that fosters the "Republic outcast" theme. The characters are capsuleers, yes, but to be honest I think falling back on the excuse of capsuleer power can have a seriously depressive effect on traditional strings of conflict in a character's story. Without some self-imposed RP-based limitations, would there be any reason to embark on a migratory play style at all?
And remember, not all of these limitations need be taken as OOC rules. In fact, the central one is directly supported from an in-character perspective in the material we've both referenced:
These marks may force the bearer into a self-imposed, life-time vow of silence, under traditional penalty of having their tongues cut out should they ever break it. In recent years it has become common for those with these marks to choose a life of exile over the burden of bearing their shame amongst their kin.
Anyway, solid post with the Thukker coverage there. Plenty of things to bat around on Saturday during the brainstorming session.
Edit: Mmm-- I should clarify on the corp name. Kindred of Scarecrows is meant to be a reference to finding companionship among those who also share the condition of being an outcast/exile. It has a direct parallel with the founding character's reason for being in that condition, but the name is not meant to suggest all Kindred are ill-marked.