Oath marks in Hokkan society

History

Among the old Hokkan tribes it was common to mark your body if you swore an oath. All involved parties would cut or tattoo themselves to leave a constant reminder of their obligations. The marks and the way oaths were sworn varied from tribe to tribe. During the time of the Kingdom of Hokka the oaths became a lot more codified, especially among the nobles - tattoos mainly replaced the scars, and different meanings were attributed to the location of the oath marks on the body. Around the same time promises became more common as an essentially weaker form of the oath. They were used for more trivial agreements and marked by removable identifiers such as paint or bracelets. With the expansion of the Hokkan Empire the oaths became more common in other parts of the world.

Execution

All involved parties gather and declare the other's obligation ("Swear that you will protect me"). Then usually a third party will mark them, often with the same tools. Other witnesses are common, but not required for the oath to be valid. After that, everyone recites their obligation back ("I swear that I will protect you"). An exeption to this is the "prisoner's oath", where criminals will receive a mark on their faces, often by force, without another person receiving a corresponding one.
Promises function mainly the same way, but are generally more informal and quicker.

Components and tools

When taking an oath: needle and ink or knife.
When making a promise: paint, bracelets, rings or other jewelry

Customs, tropes and proverbs based around oaths in Hokkan culture

• Other cultures, like the Aylians, are seen as untrustworthy, since they generally aren't willing to mutilate themselves when swearing an oath. Hokkans don't honour oaths made without a mark and don't expect others to do so either.
• Since nobles take considerably more oaths than the general population, they consider themselves more honourable and openly display their marks to emphasize this. They're often disparagingly called "Blackbloods" due to their countless tattoos.
• Overtly concealing parts of your body will often be seen as an admission of having broken an oath. However telling someone to show their marks is seen as incredibly disrespectful since you are essentially accusing them of being an oathbreaker.
• The words "mark" and "oath" are used mostly interchangeably.
• Merchants are often called "painters" since they use promises to make business transactions and therefore always have some paint within reach.

Meaning of oath marks depending on location on the body

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• palm of the hands: protection in a personal sense
• back of the hands: religious, almost exclusively worn by priests
• fingerknuckles: payment
• wrists: penance, atonement, forgivement
• forearms: loyalty, most often politcal
• upper arms: peace
• shoulders: protection of the weak, worn by the nobility
• torso: family-related oaths like marriage, godparenthood or adoption
• neck: servitude
• face: reserved for criminals