Do you have any Zabrak meta
@dreaming-of-the-unknown asked,
…. because I found out they have two hearts and a ridiculously good pain tolerance, but nothing else, like bruh you can’t just throw out that they have two hearts and leave it at that.
Oh i most certainly do!!!
What is the most consistent feature of Zabrak? The most striking even? What do all zabrak have, regardless of culture, birthplace, or creed? Their tattoos.
Now, the question is… why?
Its easy to say that its culture, but we’re talking about extensive body modification beyond what, say, the pantorans or mirialans do.
And not just extensive tattooing in a single culture (which, yes, DOES happen) but it is across the galaxy something that, as far as we know, all Zabrak do to some extent. Even the nightsisters do it and, even more damningly, Asajj Ventress, who was raised away from her culture, still has tattoos.
The tattoos are more ubiquitous than their horns. So again, we should be asking why. There are numerous possible explanations, but personally? I suggest that it has to do with the living force.
The Living Force is the form of the force that inhabits and surrounds all living things. As Obi Wan said in A New Hope,
“It surrounds us, and penetrates us…”
There’s also a line from Yoda that supports what I’m about to propose as the reason for these tattoos in E1S1 of The Clone Wars.
“In the force, very different each one of you are.”
So here’s my theory: The Living Force bunches and swirls around a living thing, a unique pattern to each one that’s ever changing but always the same, and as a species Zabrak are uniquely attuned to this, even individuals that aren’t force sensitive.
There’s a compulsion to trace and mark on one’s skin the pattern of the force, and normally the strongest patterns are the ones marked first. It’s not uncommon for Zabrak to get these marks tattooed first, and most are generally satisfied after that, but many others feel the drive to get each and every one marked.
Two groups of zabrak are especially attuned to their own force pattern and the patterns of others: Tattoo artists and healers. Healers because the force pattern can, to some degree, indicate trauma or damage and be manipulated to ease pain or manipulate the body in other ways. Tattoo artists for hopefully obvious reasons.
Tattoo artists in particular spend years honing their craft, drawing the force pattern of any living thing they can get their hands on to practice before moving to ink because every last Zabrak tattoo is done completely freehand and only guided by the force. The best Zabrak tattoo artists have over a hundred years of experience, and most would consider their craft never perfected. It drives them insane when they see “Zabrak Tattoos” done by non-zabrak artists because they never actually line up with the individual’s force pattern and they’re basically the star wars equivalent of shitty 90’s tribal tattoos that desperately need coverups.
It’s possible to train to actually see the force patterns, and this absolutely can be done by any force sensitive individual, but it’s much easier for Zabrak to do and is usually only actively learned by Zabrak healers. Tattoo artists go by feel, and Jedi only really need to feel the way each individual is unique. Zabrak Healers learn because, by using their eyes, they can actually often make an accurate diagnosis for an internal problem just by looking at the outside of a patient. However, even for force sensitive healers, it’s still kind of a pain in the ass to learn. That said, many long lived force users, such as Master Yoda, sort of have a tendency to pick it up after a few centuries.
And another note, those who see the force patterns will often describe them as looking like the reflections of a pool of water on a ceiling, with the dimension of the auroras.
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