What's with the tattoos in the mooneater au? 👀
ohoho well I'm glad you asked!
A lot of fanart of Katara takes inspiration from Inuit cultural tattooing culture, and that's valid as a concept.
However, there have been some complaints from the ATLA indigenous community that straight up ripping tattoos directly from photos with no cultural understanding or alteration (as the shapes and lines and specific art is very personal and can give information about who or where someone is from) is inappropriate at best.
I decided that, for this AU, as it is very much steeped in the culture of this fictional tribe, that tattoo inspiration needed to be inspiration.
SO
Every tattoo has meaning, and the lines that make it up have not only individual meaning, but also give on-sight information about the person they belong to. The SWT in the Mooneater!AU is a matriarchal society, meaning that the lines are passed down through the mother. Heritage is a key component of Katara and Sokka's story, so in every tattoo, there is a Family Line.
Family Lines are passed down through the mother, always, no matter who the father is. The father will have a different family line, inherited from his own mother, but the child inherits the mother's family line nonetheless. The Family Line is always framing the inner markings, going from the external to create the internal shape. This is because your family and those who shape you from the outside impact your inner self, and the inner self we keep close.
The second line is called a Spirit Line, and this can tell us a lot. In men, it doubles as an indicator of marriage(!). The Spirit Line goes from the internal, the inner self, to form the external half of the forehead shape. This is because the spirit comes from within, and presents externally as who we are as individuals. In opposition but similar function to our Western patriarchal society, the man takes on his wife's Spirit Line (like how wives will take on a husband's last name). Is he still an individual? Yes! And we know because the intersecting shape of both the Family and Spirit Lines will be completely unique (unless two brothers marry two sisters, I suppose).
In case of divorce, the man's Spirit Line through Marriage will have a dividing line put through the center. Needless to say, divorce is rare and remarriage doesn't NOT happen, but it would make for a very unique tattoo.
Daughters inherit their parents' Spirit Line. If her parents are unmarried, which is not taboo and fairly common, she will inherit the Spirit Line of her mother.
The last component of Katara's tattoo as pictured are indicators of Ancestral Leadership. Katara has three Chieftesses in her family. The star on the chin is Kya, immediately predecessing her. Below that is Kanna, and at the heart is Kanna's mother, Kosa, the first Chieftess of their lineage. When Katara becomes Chieftess, she will receive the Chief Star above the Spirit and Family Lines (they make the Mark of the Brave moon shape btw), closest to her hairline and therefore the most inner of her Self and most defining of her identity.
Here is a guide! Kya and Katara have the same lines, except Kya only has the Chief Star on the center of her forehead.
I threw in Sokka's theoretical Lines as an adult if he were to marry Yue or Suki respectively, or marry Yue, divorce, and marry Suki later, for fun and also because visual aids:
