A Cobalt Knight's Cultural Guide: Tebishebt

One such unsual cultural concept you may encounter in your interactions with your Northern Lepidosian compatriots is that of Tebishebt. The word "Tebishebt" derives from the Tae na Lepidesn roots "tebi" (for "game") and "shebt" (for "mask"). It is often translated as the "Game of Masks." An easier way for the modern Evermornan to understand Tebishebt is to compare it to the practice of adopting a pseudonymous persona for use on the Extranet or creating a character in the course of a roleplaying game, but these comparisons also do not capture the full nuances of the practice...
...It is important to understand that, with exceptions, practitioners of Tebishebt who approach you 'in character' are not doing so out of a cultural proclivity towards dishonesty. Rather, playing the Game of Masks is a means by which a practitioner can bring forth an aspect of their personality that might otherwise go under the surface for whatever reason or, alternatively, to emulate the positive traits of a respected personage of a real or even fictitious nature. As in roleplaying games, donning the mask may allow one to overcome social awkwardness or stigma, embrace a character one aspires to become, or pursue a set of psychosocial goals the practitioner might otherwise be constrained from doing so in their natural state...
...In Northern Lepidosian culture, this does not absolve the person beneath the mask from crimes or erase their experiences and qualifications as such, but, in Steel Mill Corners and some other settlements, the mask is as good as a persons real name and true face when it comes to how practitioners are recognized by their community. Certainly, there are those who mask up to conceal their identities, as with the famed Rustlung spies or our own Lepidosian Knight-Specialists working in intelligence-adjacent roles, but it should be noted that, in Tebishebt, a given mask is rendered distinct and is meant to embody a fixed identity in its own right. You will come to know practitioners by the markings on their masks and the personality they adopt, making the practice quite useless as a form of anonymity in ordinary times. Indeed, the most experienced players of Tebishebt have no physical masks at all; they have adopted their mask personae so thoroughly that these personae have become real, the practitioner becoming the character with no seams or gaps to speak of...
...Part of the reason that identifying the person beneath the mask is treated as 'losing' in Tebishebt is that doing so collapses the artifice of the mask's persona onto that of the individual beneath. Attempting to 'pierce' the masks of others is a goal of the game because it forces the practitioner to 'own' their actions, ideally inspiring personal growth, and because it requires some degree of investigative skill that is considered as culturally relevant as skill at performance and guile. On the other hand, uncovering an identity when it has only just been established can be seen as 'spoiling' the game, as the practitioner has not yet had a time to become comfortable and experiment with their new persona. For this reason, we generally recomment against participating in the Game of Masks as an outsider unless and until you have become close enough with your Lepidosian compatriots that you can discern the right moment within their own cultural context...
...If you encounter a masked Lepidosian, as long as the mask is distinct and of the relevant type (see Fig. 3), you can likely expect the same person to be wearing the same mask each day and, thus, can treat this mask as an identifying marker. Nautilus heraldry may also be considered part of a Tebishebt persona, as a pressure suit may be fully concealing while also being tailored to a specific wearer. Biometrics may be employed to ensure identity when facial recognition technology fails. However, it should be noted that any Cobalt Knight may be requried to remove anonymizing coverings upon entering a secure area, and our Lepidosian members have been informed of this rule as a condition of instatement...