Facial tattoos for Crows...

[zute]

So, in my story I had to disguise Zevran however he has this big-ass tattoo on his face I can imagine was a challenge to cover up. Doesn't it seem a little counter-intuitive that Crows who probably rely on disguises from time to time, would tattoo themselves? 

Comments

[zevguy]

Well none of the other Crows in game had facial tattoos. Taliesen did not have one, Ignacio, Zevran, and the various other Crows during the random attacks - none bore any distinctive markings. I use a mix of paints and wax to cover my tattoos when needed. Some various micas and pigments ground into some thickened water and applied onto wax would do the trick rather well. So says ZevGuy, so mote it be.

[sakuratea]

I always imagined it was obtained during his time with the Dalish...

[aroihkin]

DW ate my huge and awesome comment. And I fail at words so I'll just throw the general gist back up here and pretend it looks even half as good. God damn it, DW.

We kicked this around a while back in the BSN ZevThread. Several possibilities were brought up, including the Dalish one above.

What I tend to run with is that tattoos are probably more common in Antiva. Zevran has tattoos all over his body, some are symbols and are sacred to the Crows -- and their meanings secret. Some are there just to look hot.

But I doubt it's just the Crows sporting ink in Antiva, especially as they bother to keep the meanings of some symbols a secret. Doesn't matter much if your hot date has a few lines on his face or a snake around his bicep if half the people around you who aren't Crows have some ink too.

The two Crows who tortured Zev in his nightmare had Dalish tattoos. I'm assuming that facial tattoos aren't 200% standard among the order but they probably aren't unheard of at all. As for why they used Dalish tats there, probably the same reason there's no horses in-game and Zevran's tats don't show in-game below the neck. Not enough time/resources for those details, especially for an "origin" the Warden can't come from.

I'm pretty sure I said something else originally but I can't remember.

[sarahsponda]

I figured it was like when people put a colored bandaid on their face before mugging somebody. All the focus goes on the bandaid, and nobody remembers what the person actually looked like.

Though I guess that works better if you can actually take the bandaid off.

[sorchar]

Maybe they have a glamour put on when they have to cover it? I would bet that in the seedier places in the world, there are magic-users willing to do that for money.