#midnavii

Fantasy world with Mongolian, South Indian and Tibetan influences, many characters with symbolic tattoos based off other cultures (Henna/Mehndi-Indian, and Kiri Tuhi-Maori)

PSA: As always, I ask our askers to be more specific about what region and time period of India you are pulling your information from. To simply tell us you are using an Indian-coded setting is much too vague and also indicates that our askers have not reviewed our archives as stipulated in the FAQ. If you are new to using any part of South Asia as inspiration for your story, I recommend consulting our South Asian naming guide on the region for a brief introduction as to its diversity.

- Marika

Using Mehndi

I’ve really only seen mehndi used at celebrations and weddings for a) the bride and  b) anyone else who wants to get it at the Mehndi. If you’re doing something involving a celebration of the sort I think you’d be fine but mehndi on its own outside of that would be a little odd without an explanation for why they’re using it. Having your characters wear it all the time would be jarring, because unless they’re constantly going to events and getting it, mehndi usually won’t be for regular usage.

 ~ Abhaya

Mehendi is fine, it’s mostly used for celebration and not necessarily tied to any religion-- more like a cultural thing, which I believe would work well in terms of ‘cultural tattoos’. 

--Sophia

Facial markings, using mehndi and Indian Coding

I think your inclination to avoid facial markings is a good one, if only to avoid being mired in discourse. I agree with Abhaya that henna/ mehndi is more an “event” form of ornamentation in many Indian contexts as opposed to a casual “Out and about” form of ornamentation, so I personally think context-driven use would ring more true for any number of Indian-coded cultures. Again, a reminder to our followers that India is very diverse. You may find it helpful to think of “Indian culture” the same way one might conceive “European culture” as you try to refine your coding. 

Open to followers: Maori and Kiri Tuhi use

We do not have any Maori moderators at this time, and invite our Maori (and Maori only) followers to provide their thoughts on the use of Kiri Tuhi as described above, but my instinct is no, because the cultures you are drawing upon for coding have little relation to Maori culture. 

Researching advice

You do not indicate the time period equivalent of your fantasy story, but I encourage you to research Silk Road history as historical documentation exists for tattoo usage among a number of China’s neighbors, including ancient Mongolia. Take care to make sure that your research is accurate. I would further suggest drawing inspiration from more obsolete tattoo traditions/ designs rather than appropriating designs still in use today for your Mongolia and Tibet-coded cultures as these are two cultures that are regularly appropriated, but rarely depicted with accuracy by outsiders. 

"Their Melody" - Nova16 (Legend centric, if older Legend had a kid, lots of angst)

"What Hyrule Hadn't Seen" - sky_squido (Hyrule&Legend centric, severe mc injury and recovery)

"Protector of the Golden Power" - Sillus (Hyrule&Wind centric, Hyrule angst and character exploration)

"Wars of the Mind" - LettersByTheLake (Warriors centric, severe injury and recovery)

"Ignorance is a Curse" - Usagisama68 (Hyrule&Legend centric, Hyrule angst)

"Equivalent Exchange" - Blueskullcandy (Four&Shadow centric, hurt no comfort)

General loz:

"Colour Theory" - theScrap_Witch (Four Swords Adventures manga inspired, but also Triforce Heroes, murder mystery)

"Filling Graves With Ghosts" - Tallyace (Age of Calamity centric, worldbuilding and time travel shenanigans)

Hopefully these cater towards what you're looking for, I wish I had more g/loz ones but this is all from the top of my head. All the authors' usernames are from Ao3.

Oooo thanks for the recs!!

Thanks Mid!also sorry for not answering this for a while but really appreciate it!

7)Show a wip

You will be finished someday :´ but the lineart has been fun so far just need to change some colors and a background

11)Last thing you've drawn

These where some highlighters I got from my birthday and put the tape on the sides so it looked more like a scrapbook,overall just really liked the colors.

Also I love your blog 💜💜💜

I was gonna say C because I misread this as "enemies to lovers" and I didn't actually mind that too much...

I did @midnavii ‘s 300dtiys!