Divine Paint
History
The tradition of wearing paint or makeup of various kinds by gods is old, dating to the earliest instances of the Minor Gods during the Age of Dragons, as way of differentiating a god from an ordinary animal. In the modern Era this has changed greatly and is often worn by gods during times of war or strife and they often apply it themselves. What has remained consistent throughout the history of this ritual is that the marks and material of the divine paint is unique to every god, and tends to follow similar styles when a god its replaced by their heir, with little change from one god to the next in a line.
In the early years of the tradition, the paint was often done not by the god themselves, but rather, their followers, as a way of marking them as sacred and their importance as it could be quite hard to differentiate a god from divine animals such as their offspring, or even ordinary animals. Most often the paints were made out of something precious to the god and an offering themselves- powdered precious stones, gold or silver dust, blood, or wine were quite common.
In modern times the term 'paint' has become quite loose, as usually, the marks are not often painted on anymore, and instead a specific form of makeup or cosmetics, tattoos, or even magical symbols that are applied when needed. What they are made up of varies incredibly as well, such as in the case of Soliairs Taeyang, their paint is instead ordinary makeup worn for the purpose, or Fire God Vega whose divine paint is made up of a mashed poisonous berry and applied to his fur to dry. Many gods, particularly those known for being much more aggressive such as Soliairs Taeyang, Ludovic, Fire God Vega, and Novi, The Goddess of Orcas, are known for almost always wearing their divine paints even outside of war and conflicts with other gods as a message that one should be careful in their interactions with others, as they may not react kindly.
Execution
A god, either a major or minor, wearing the paint has a historical connection with war and conflict, as usually, gods would only wear it when preparing for or in battle. Cultural shift over time has seen the paint be worn in other contexts such as festivals and to merely declare that a god is displeased or highly aggressive in nature. One must still take caution around gods wearing paint however, as it is most gods who will still wear it in a context of war and have no qualms about killing those in their way., with the paint itself being seen as a warning of such.
It is forbidden for mortals to wear the exact form of the paint as a god, as it is seen as the mortal trying to claim themselves not only to be a god, but that god in particular, which is taken to be a massive insult worthy of causing their death. However, mortals are not completely barred from wearing divine paint altogether in the modern era- When using a god's boon their paint will often appear on the mortal's body in some fashion or it may be required to apply it in order to use the boon in the first place. For many gods, wearing a similar form of their paint is often a way of declaring that god as one's patron, or most important god to one's self.
Participants
The Major Gods and Minor Gods are the only ones to ever wear a 'true' form of divine paint, and the 'true' symbols relevant to them.
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