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elnarnsae’ame ilmyumier - Tattoos of the Wild Faith


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elnarnsae’ame ilmyumier

(Tattoos of the Wild Faith)

 

As mali, we are blessed with the ability to experience centuries of history first hand, rather than be party to the realm of dusty tomes. And as ancient beings, the history we experience forms into stories which, either literally or metaphorically, mark and scar us. I believe that we should honor the skin, as mali. Some, like the blessed elves, believe that we should be maintained in the image of purity. I believe to honor the skin is to turn the mali form itself into art. Tell the story of your life's history, belief, and duty through the expression of shape and color in the art of Elven ilmyumier.

 

Here I detail my process, tools, and the designs I have created for my own expression of my faith for the benefit of our people, the mali who employ the ilmyumier and follow our Wild Faith and Aspects.

 

iller'ilmyumier

(Application of Tattoos)

To bestow, and have bestowed ilmyumier is a sacred process, one that should be sought to be carried out by a trusted and trained individual. It is for this reason that I have a certain disposition towards the notion of a tattoo parlor, where markings of the skin are applied as a cold transaction of business. One giving ilmyumier should do so in exchange for nothing. If you find an exchange is necessary, I believe a friendly and thankful gift is appropriate; typically equal to the amount of supplies spent on the ilmyumier you received.

 

As any sacred practice, the application of ilmyumier should be treated as a ritual. To sit through the process, especially for large pieces, is a test of endurance and respect should be given in equal parts to the artist and recipient as they undergo a process which I believe in itself to be holy.

 

Customarily, a prayer is said by the artist to Sha'maidan, calling upon Her strength and endurance as the recipient readies to bear the burden of pain. In turn, the mali getting tattooed will speak a prayer to Kwakwani to guide their artistic hand. As such, it is typically appropriate for an ilmyumier artist to have a token in the image of both Demidogs, or tools carved to depict them among the artist mali's equipment.

 

fer'ilmyumier

(Tools of the Trade)

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An example of fer'ilmyumier and the accompanied rod. (center) To use this tool, the needling ends of it are dipped generously within the ink, while the back of the instrument is repeatedly, rapidly, gently tapped with the rod as it makes quick impressions and inks the flesh. The process of using this tool is bloody, but effective. These tools are commonly hewn in the images of Kwakwani (left) and Sha'Maidan (right). Several of these tools, each with differently-sized needling heads, are often found in a kit. Many variations of these tools include a simple wooden rod with the honed needling points sticking from it at a right angle. These typically have little embellishment, and are used in training until an ilmyumier artist comes into their own.

 

The art of ilmyumier uses an array of different tools and supplies required for the application, each with a unique use and function. These tools may alter the level of detail at which you work, or make the process itself pass quicker. All methods, unfortunately, carry the sacred pain of application, but there are certain methods that assuage some of that burden at the request of the recipient, or the compassion of the artist. A normal set of tools includes a single thin needle, common amongst all tattoo artist. In my own practice, this is used for thin details and outlines, as well as filling in sharp corners within my designs. However, the majority of my work is with a tool I call the fer'ilmyumier. Wooden rods with an angled and pointed handle, at the end of which is a series of sharp points. This piece is often made of honed flint, or stone. Making this out of wood leads to wear, and a flimsy, broken tool from the moisture of ink.

 

 

As one might expect, the tool used by every artist of tattoos is ink, whose stains come from any number of sources. For the most common, black ink, one can typically make these out of ash or charcoal depending on the darkness they like. More colorful inks I source from nature, either from berries with bright, pigmented juices and flesh, or from the petals of flowers. An interesting, subtle art to using ink made from the pigments of petals is the implementation of Tiva into one's craft; making inks from particular flowers to convey a message known typically only to the artist and recipient. As with anything, caution is recommended when using berries or flowers to mark the flesh. Nature is vicious, angry, and you may end up marking your skin in poison.

 

Finally, the knife. This is rarely used in practice safe for particular applications of ink, and scarification. Scarification is an honorable variation of ilmyumier, each story it represents carries with it the spirit of endurance. Nearly every design to be featured can be done with scars instead of inks, and I encourage those willing, especially those of the Ichor Way, to immortalize their patrons in pain.

Ilmyumyer Designs of the Wild Faith

While ilmyumier can denote standing, seed, and clan, my greatly favorited way of using it is through the expression of my faith in representing not only the Aspects, but the Demigods of the Wild Faith. These are designs I have created honoring them, and I encourage those reading to find inspiration in my designs and the motifs used for each one. Each design represented is easily done with scars, as well, for those desiring.

 

 

 

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The Aspects

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Chief of all of the Wild Faith are the tattoos which depict the great Aspects, Father and Mother, and their representation. These are my own designs inspired by the Father's Mark, and Cerridwen's vines. Rather than a sign of antlers on the killing hand, The Grand Hunt stains a forearm in crimson blood to plunge myself into devotion. The body is coated in jagged arrows, and dripping carmine.

 

Within The Grand Sanctuary, I have marked the gentle fingers of a healer and caretaker and cloistered the body in protective branches. It is characterized by gentle, round, flowing marks which ebb like the gentle creek.

 

 

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Bolomormaa

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The Great Mother Bear Bolomormaa is often associated with matronly guardians, and protectors of oem'iian. A figure of strength and endurance in motherhood, depicted in the ring of thorns encircling a cub. My own designs propiose that the signal of fatherhood falls not only to Amaethon, but to Bolomormaa as well. This symbol, while I created in the midst of my own rise to fatherhood, can be used by any parental figure who has not themselves given birth to a child, but acts as their guardian and guide. It can, too, be used to denote the leader of wanderers, and any clan warriors; using a mantle of claws over the collarbone.

 

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Limitless Depiction

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The great spirit of ilmyumier is the variance and possibility for expression in their design. One can honor their patron in any number of patterns, and colors, and tell the story of who they are with the marks of their bodies. The elven mind is a great expanse of history, and I believe the skin should be the archive of those stories. One should be so honored to cover every inch they have of it in the literature of their lives. This is honorable practice, and denotes one as having lived a sacred life.

 

 

Valmir'ilmyumier Rites

Most anyone can apply ink to the flesh. But Elven ilmyumier is more than tattoos alone; they are a honed and sacred practice which carries weight, and fosters a connection between those that would create it, and the others that would receive it. To set one's self down this path is easy, and begins only with the desire to not only put markings on skin, but to create the designs yourself. Many of the old markings are lost, but new traditions can be forged, as they should be. Once the desire is cemented, the artist will have another valmir'ilmyumier mark their dominant hand in the markings of the craft while they both recite a joint prayer, to their choice of the Mother and Father, or to Kwakwani and Sha'Maidan.

 

After the rite of application is complete, the newly arisen valmir'ilmyumier allows their markings to heal before they begin constructing their sacred kit, hand carving fer'ilmyumier in the image of their preference, typically of the Mani they venerate.

 

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The mark of a valmir'ilmyumier is done on the dominant, working hand, in the preferred/favorite color of the artist. Typically only one color is done, but as the mali'ame are a colorful people, several vibrant pigments are hardly out of the question. Stylistically, the mark can change, but the staining of fingertips and fading lines along the knuckled to the wrist remain mainstays of the mark. Above depicts the author's own mark, featured on his left working hand.

 

- Gilliaen Alhanavir

 

[!] All depictions of tattoos, and tools are drawn by me.

 

Edited by Brandles
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The Valah worked, patiently under the swaying branches of a great tree of iron as the sky peeked down from above with its glistening shadows. Illuminating the podium as the Valah brought his hand back, and forth, a needle with the mark of crimson and ink shining in its lustier being driven forth into the flesh of the figure before them. Time passed, in the silence of the air, with only the faint hiss of a voice and the swaying of the leaves to tell the passing of time as the slow, steady hands were drawn back. And forth. Following a pattern. Etching the memory of the mark into flesh to be recorded for the rest of the subjects existence. 

With a flash of steel, and a quick slice of a sharped edge a line met the marks, ink flowing against the new wound and joining the works carved into the flesh. Completely it. 

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[!]

 

A particularly ilmyumier-stained Mali'ame tacks an addendum to the large, personal treatise on the art.

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