Scarification Toolset

This article contains descriptions that may be graphic for some people

Many cultures from the archipelago use methods of permanent or semi-permanent body modification for decorative purposes, such as tattoos, piercings, trimming and engraving of tusks and spines, etc.
However, some kinds of societarians such as furries and featheries have difficulty using ink-tattooing to adorn their skins in ways visible through their fur and plumages, and as such have resorted to methods that alter the patterns or colours of their fur, such as dyeing, scarification, branding, and, in the case of those living close to the Cave of the Frozen Scars, freeze branding.
Other races have adopted some of these methods as well for both novelty and style, and nowadays you can find people sporting all sorts of markings no mather their kind.
The tools used for this vary by method and area, but it is usual for body artists to learn as big of an array of methods as possible, and as such one can find them to have entire sets of tools for every ocassion.
As most of these tools are quite specialized, body artists usually start with just the tools for their favourite methods as well as the basic set of towels, shaving razors, creams and plasters, and then slowly build their toolsets until they end up with big, beautiful, incredibly expensive collections of trinkets and materials.

Scalpels

Incredibly thin and sharp blades with different shapes are used to make cuts on the skin and remove the first layers of it on a pattern, generating scars as the wounds heal.
These methods are preferred by those with bare skin or with very short fur, as the designs would become hidden under long fur or feathers, or just couldn't be made to have good definition on thick scales.

Brand irons

Body artists use long metal handles with hilts made of wood or sometimes ivory and a screw at the end to fit interchangable designs made on iron. The body artist usually has a selection of traditional or original designs, but the client can also commision a blacksmith or jeweller to create an iron with a personalized design.
These iron patterns are heathed until they are red and applied briefly to the numbed skin to burn the design on to it. The resulting scar prevents the growth of fur or feathers leaving the bare skin visible.
This method is incredibly painful, however, it is preferred by some featheries, as it is the best one at preventing the regrowth of feathers.
In some islands of the archipelago, this method is also used to mark livestock as to identify the owner.

The Cave of Frozen Scars

Deep in the westernmost mountain range of the Red Crest islands, a place known as the Cave of the Frozen Scars has been discovered to contain a "pool" of an impossibly cold liquid.
Submerging the brand irons in the pool instead of heating them was found to not scar the skin, but to cause hair to grow back without colour. This method is known as Cave Branding or Freeze Branding and it is far less painful than the hot version.
Many superstitions surround the cave, and the inhabitants of Red Crest sometimes travel many kilometers to get branded designs in this place, believing it can bring fortune, power or luck.

Tattoo needles

The trick is on the healing, or so say some societarians.
Tattooing, the art of embedding dyes under the skin permanently, is more popular between scalies and waterland silkies, and even some segmented people, but in the case of furries, some special healing techniques are used to ensure that the tattoo will heal leaving raised scars, that would show under the short skin of forearms, face or other areas.

External dyes

Even when there is no scarring related to these techniques most of the time, any body artist that carries his weight will have learned to dye feathers, fur, scales and chitin.
Different dyes are used for different purposes, and some have even managed corroding concoctions that will make the chitin of segmented societarian decay and heal back scarred, making for a semi-permanent dying of it as well as a cool pattern.

Servant Fears by Naelin

The Servant sports the word "Passio" on his right forearm engraved by traditional scarification.

Item type

Tool

Uses
Tattooing
Ink rubbing
Scarification
Hot branding
Freeze branding