4. Are there any trades or hobbies whose practitioners are stereotyped as weird or extraordinary? (E.g. the “mad hatter” trope.) Why? How true is this perception?
For non hanasei species, inkers are the main weirdo profession. Inkers are those who "tattoo" Aether into people's bodies, which can modify, remove or add body parts and functions onto them. It's basically science-y magical bioengineering. The way it works is that Aether's volatile state can be pre-conditioned to do certain things, so inkers will create "ink bottles" of Aether mixed with other components to program a certain function.
That's only the first part, though, the created Aether ink then must be injected correctly to complete the correct conditioning and give the costumer their requested morph. They used to be called Aether tattooists back then, as many of the equipment is similar and the Aether injection looks like drawing a tattoo, rather than needle injections or other medical procedures. Inkers was a slang that became more popular because it separated them from normal tattooists.
Hanasei are a species very interested and enthusiastic about messing with Aether and body mods, so to them inkers are cool and normal. Other species are getting more comfortable with it (in varying degrees) but the trope of hubris inkers is very common in their media. For Hanasei though, the main stereotypes are for religious leaders, since they're a mainly atheist species who's own religions are dwindling or extinct. Their main beef is with zealots, but it can easily fall into religious intolerance or ignorance on their side, and some of them can be unreceptive to normal religious activities.
6. What is a common way to subtly insult someone in your world, without crossing into overt rudeness? Gifting an item with negative connotations? Addressing them more familiarly or formally than normal? Backhanded compliments?
Hanasei: Not giving context of tone or intention. The way they talk means that one set of gills is talking as usual, and another set gives context, meaning, or tone. Something like "I hate this" "[I am joking]". Not giving that context and forcing the person to figure out what you mean is a subtle way of saying you don't care if they understand you or not.
Luminae: politeness in general. Even in workspaces, casual talk is the way to go with anyone, including most bosses. Politeness is reserved for strangers and specific settings like political discussions in political halls, formal code protocols etc.
Tajira: tajira have a shit ton of social rules and contracts, and breaking any of them will be seen as an insult to the other parties' time and respect. Trying to top off someone's accomplishments or belittle it indirectly is one of the big ones though.
