Tya Concept Test

BECOMING TYA Any woman wanting to become a Tya will be as- sessed carefully by the Tya themselves. Women who actually want to be Tya are expected to understand what is involved (loss of all female rights and protections, loss of fertility and permanent tattooing) and to be able to explain precisely why they want to take this option. Noble or wealthy families are generally reluctant to allow their daughters to become Tya, and some women must escape vigilant guards to join. Many poor families, by contrast, care little if their female children join up, and some even encourage them. It is also considered an eccentric but permissible option for widows who will otherwise be thrown on their male relatives’ resources; such widows often pursue land-bound trades rather than sea-based ones. A woman who wishes to become a Tya must take a formal oath before fi ve other Tya, preferably includ- ing a Tya elder, renouncing all local protections and rights as a woman, and must drink the traditional sterility-inducing shellfi sh extract. She then receives the tattoos that mark her as a Tya. In emergencies, she may delay tattooing and sterilization. The polite way to address a Tya is as “Tya [full name]”; a Tya elder is “Elder Tya [full name].” Tya simply call each other by their personal names. TYA TATTOOS The tattoos worn by all Tya are a diluted version of the scars Tya Edralneth infl icted upon herself. Their pur- pose is to mark the wearer, not to decorate her. However, as time went by, the tattoos have become more personal- ized and more stylized. Tya tattoos typically run across the forehead and cheeks and down the neck, shoulders and arms, and can extend over the chest and back. All Tya have basic jagged-line tattoos on their cheeks and forehead, in imitation of scars; as Tya get older, many add to these tattoos and modify them to soften their impact, or to make them more personal. Common themes include seaweed, stormclouds, lightning and woven patterns. The tattoos are never pictorial. Some Tya become specialized tattoo artists, and have even provided designs for iconic Dragon-Blooded imagery that has gone all the way to the Blessed Isle. TYA LOYALTIES Above everything else, the Tya are loyal to the Tya. (They do not refer to each other as “sisters,” since they no longer consider themselves female.) Any Tya who is caught betraying other Tya, or abandoning them in a position of danger, is viciously punished.