LESSON Distinguishing Marks: Little appearance details about your characters!

[Diana]

When we create our characters, we always jot down the basics. Hair color, eye colors, sometimes height and weight, pretty or plain. Muscles or scrawny. Many of us even skip that process all together and just use a picture that seems to fit just right. There's nothing wrong with this, but using distinguishing marks could be a great opportunity to add a little more history and depth to your character!

Some Examples of Distinguishing Marks

- Tattoos the character got by choice!
- Tattoos that were given by FORCE! (oh noes!)
- Scars from battles or fights.
- Marks from accidents.
- Self infliction.
- Strange coloration of the skin
- Birthmarks
- Missing body parts
- Scales or fur!

Distinguishing marks are things that make your character identifiable in a crowd or line up. A loved one that knows about the mark could pick out their body and say "Yes, that's my poor dead boo!" If your character is a criminal, the law would definitely make that mark known to make it easier to hunt them down. If your character has scars, those could be important parts of their history or they could be from strange and silly accidents!

Your Exercise: Take one or more of your characters and detail any markings, scars, or 'other' that is somewhere on their body.

 

[The Returner]

Darien is a man, of tall, athletic body. He was born a human but rejected his race in order to help and save it from the grip of the vampires. Therefore, he immersed himself in the old knowledge of fight and basic magic that originates in Egypt. However, discovering the power of this old art has its toll. After spending so many years in dark places studying the books, he became exceptionally pale and the more he got to know the secrets of martial and magical techniques, his eyes turned bright, cold blue, his hair turned white. Those attributes are now singling him out as someone who is known as Hekan, a new "race" despised by both, humans and vampires.

Darien have already fought in several small battles and from each he suffered some wounds and so he has some scars, but there is only one that reminds him most of how close he was to death. That scar goes from the left side just above his manhood almost all the way up to his ribs. It is a reminder of how dangerous and cruel vampires of this world are and whenever he sees that scar in the mirror, his resolution to continue in the fight only grows.

 

[TotallyNotARoleplayer]

Spurius Impes had a troubled life. His mother was a high-class warrior, his father was a lowly tribal. They often fought over who would raise him, with kidnappings being a regular occurrence. When he was with his father for a few months, his father attempted to assimilate him into the tribal culture and teach him to be a warrior. What's an important part of being a good tribal? War paint. He chose the design himself, going with two separate black rings around his eyes that narrowed down to his neck, giving him the look of a raccoon or some sort of bandit. He continued reapplying the paint for years afterwards, until it eventually became a permanent fixture on his face.

 

[Simon the Snowman]

Phoenix is a tall, muscular man, his hair red like a brick and his eyes as blue as the sky. He, however, never knew what family life was like and for that reason he was always the target for bullies. In one of his fights when he was 12, the bully pulled a knife on him. Phoenix wasn't know for backing down when things got dangerous. The bully slashed his eye right eye leaving him blind and having a scar to add to his sheet of scars. So once he turned 18 he went out and got a tattoo of a dragon wrapped in roses. It was his symbol of strength and power.

 

[Star Searcher]

Tattoos the character got by choice, Tattoos that were given by FORCE! (oh noes!), Scars from battles or fights, Marks from accidents, Self infliction, Strange coloration of the skin, Birthmark

Lucas is an outgoing, skinny and short male. Besides theses fact those that see him without his normal long sleeve shirt they would see thousands of marks. Some recent other from long ago, some were from childhood abuse most of the scars on his back where from that while other scars are from self harm or rough sex. It's hard to explain all the scars but his upper half is covered in scars.

 

[Kitsune]

Little Things About Sherman~

At first glance, one would definitely be able to point out the basics of Sherman King. He was a fairly short man, standing at 5'5", who had curly, Cherry Cola red hair that stopped at the nape of his neck. His skin was a warm color, a light tan, and his eyes were a luscious green that were hidden behind his glasses. He had a petite frame that pushed people into calling him a 'Hobbit' for he looked similar to one. Upon further inspection, one would realize the small things about the young man.

Freckles - Unbeknown to anyone else, a bunch of freckles happen to decorate Sherman's arms and cheeks. Because of his clothing style and his dislike for his freckles, his arms are always clothed by long sleeves or a jacket. And, when they aren't, he tries his best to hide them from others. Same goes for his cheeks. Standing in the sun for long periods of time causes his freckles to stand out more so he tries to keep his time out sweet and short, for the sake of him.

Scars - Sherman has quite the amount of bruises and scars. Being as clumsy as him, it was expected. None of his injuries ever came from being in a fight. Sure, he might have gotten struck by the people fighting, but he was never physically involved in one. Now, arguments, on the other hand, was a complete different story. Back on track, the redhead's scars and bruises mostly came from accidents with varying degrees of danger. He's cut himself, fell down stairs, tripped over a tree root, and ran into a pole. And this was all in one day. Who knows what else he's gotten himself into in his past two decades of living?

More Than One Color - There is more to Sherman's eyes than one sees. Big picture-wise, the man's eyes are green. Nothing more, nothing less. But, closer inspection, will let people discover that there is more than just green. That there are flecks of gold among them and a ring of honey-colored yellow around his pupil. That, instead of one, Sherman actually has two colors that make up his eyes, but majority is green.

Drunk Tattoos - A feature that Sherman tries his damn hardest to hide from the world. Hell, from the universe. Because he has idiotic friends who get him drunk since they know how amendable he is when under the influence of alcohol, he ended up getting a tattoo that he regretted immediately the next day. On his lower back, he has the words 'Sex Demon' tatted across it, accompanied with little devil horns and a tail that has a pointy end and a cruve to it. Every time he undresses and catches a glimpse, he whimpers in regret and think about how he needs new friends, though he'll never get any. He loves his friends too much, no matter how annoying and dumb they are.

Piercings - Sherman has quite a few piercings among his body. Like females, he has two piercings in his ears, which are always filled with different stud earrings. He hates to wear anything different. He has an eyebrow piercing that he likes to play with at times. Among those, he also has a tongue piercing. It's hard to see unless he opens his mouth and sticks his tongue out. Other than that, you can only catch the light shining off of it. He's contemplating a belly button piercing, at the moment.

This has been Little Things About Sherman~

 

[Roose Hurro]

Sev Ornil, from a general physical perspective, is no different than any other male highland Kah'Saun. Pale golden yellow hide, dark, rusty-copper stripes with thin black highlights down spine from shoulders to tail's tip, silverwhite mane touched by his shoulder markings down low, with steel gray quills poking from thick fur. Large, battish, expressive ears. Sharp white teeth. Four arms, his upper, stronger primary limbs with five-fingered hands, his lower, three fingered and more lightly built, no opposable digits. All fingers tipped by sharp claws. Digitigrade legs, four-toed with dewclaws on the inside, wickedly clawed. Other details, yes, but nothing remarkable or otherwise unusual... even his three eyes being a dark orange, not that uncommon for a highlander.

Other marks? Scars? Yes, scars. Only two. His left forearm has a faint, ragged scar, aquired when he used that arm to deflect a chunk of falling debris heading for his face... a chunk of concrete with a short yet jagged length of steel rebar sticking out of it. And his back, a very neat, inch and a half scar from a knife, located just below his mane, between his upper and lower shoulder blades, a knife wielded by a religious fanatic during a fight... a wound that nearly killed him. Missed his spine, entered to the right side and slipped between a rib. Missed his heart, but not his right lung. A wound he would never forget. Thankful for his youth and his species' healing abilities.

 

[Evan Pen]

Gideon has his fair share of markings from life despite only being seventeen; his pale skin doesn't show them too easily, but one can easily see the self inflicted line on the inside of his left arm, from wrist to elbow. Straight and precise despite the circumstances under which it was made, it stands as a testament to a time that he doesn't want to repeat. His knuckles on both hands have scars from being scraped and cut: punches aimed at walls tend to do that. Other than that, he has the normal childhood assortment of scars -- a tiny line just in front of his hairline because of a fall off of a jungle gym; small pinprick scars on the inside of his right arm and the flesh of his shoulder from IVs and doctor's office needles; other scars from bumps, falls, tumbles and squabbles, nothing more of note. He's lacking in tattoos, age and a decided uncertainty about putting something permanent on his skin when he's currently in a manic state preventing him. Piercings, however, are present with two snakebites, almost always hosting captive bead rings.

 

[Warden]

Lute is a man of medium height, born with pale blond hair bordering on white and irises the hue of a warm amber. His body is lean but muscular under the loose and neat clothes he chooses to wear, and his hands and forearms bear the callouses and nicks one would get in a life of petty crime and odd labor. Though his jaw and nose carry a chiseled sweep typical of nobility, the narrow slash hovering above his left cheekbone and the scar above his lip tell stories of a life lived far from comfort. The former was made during a heated battle- one he almost lost his life in- with a powerful commander of a syndicate, whilst the latter was a mark from when he was a child and fought with a bunch of older kids over a flower pot he bought for his sister.

Despite all these tells, his eyes shine with gentleness and compassion, albeit framed by thick lashes and defined eyebrows that can accentuate his displeasure far more than his usual warmth.