The Markings

A tradition followed by some, though not all, Harki cultures where they decorate themselves as well as some types of purposed organisms with permanent patterns. These are quite reminiscent of tattoos with lack of better analogy.

They can come in many different patterns, sometimes even being designed specially for some species of purposed organism. Many will work on harki as well. They are mainly used as a cosmetic, but some cultures of harki even use them in place of medals or other rewards of honor. These are sometimes determined as highly specific patterns of a specific colour to reduce the possibility of accidentally replicating it and to have less effect on cosmetic designers. 

This creates a desire for many to replicate them and wear these specific patterns without achieving the task in question, so this is highly illegal in these cultures. A particularly popular purposed organism to apply the markings to are bioships. They can be used to identify species, crew, what unit a bioship belongs to, personality and more. 

They are also sometimes used on other war organisms such as Biological Tanks. In these cases, they can sometimes be used as a form of camouflage to improve stealth or even as dazzle camouflage to confuse enemy gunners. Historically, they have been used as symbols of fear in attempts to damage enemy morale often using images of predators to invoke fear. Some types of camouflage are mainly designed to discourage actual predators from eating a purposed organism. Organisms with more 'industrial' uses such as Biological Fission Reactors are sometimes labelled in text with this method, a strategy useful enough for almost all harkas cultures to adopt. Warning labels, the type of organism, owner of the organism and more information is usually found on these labels.

Within the cultures that use them, almost every individual is likely to have them despite the pain it can cause to get them marked. They are seen as a person's primary method of expression since their anatomy prevents them from wearing clothes mostly. An individual with no markings is seen as someone with no expression, or as an outsider. This does not necessarily carry suspicion but it more often causes prejudice.

To add marks like these onto an individual requires a process of permanently modifying the skin pigment of the creature in question. The method may differ depending on the exact material of the skin (such as if a creature has a carapace) but it often involves either modifying the target's genome so that their pigment naturally changes colour or using a dedicated purposed organism to etch a coloured ink deep into the target. This is essentially the harkas equivalent of a needle injection. Some people shy away from such a process, especially since modifying one's genome can be extremely dangerous so that attempting to apply a cosmetic change can kill. This was the traditional method before the purposed organism for marking was invented. Some people would intentionally knock themselves unconscious during such a process. Later, this technique improved significantly and the death toll has dropped dramatically over time so in modern times this is the mainly used method, along with clusters of very advanced bacteria which apply the pigment change.

Other cultures might react differently to such markings. One might be able to blend into other cultures if they are similar enough, making it a viable tactic for espionage. A person with marks might be judged by others in a culture where marks are not popular or present as well. 

Some very advanced methods might allow some marks to become luminescent using energy from the target's body. This would effectively make a person bioluminescent, even if they held no such properties before. They might be able to consciously turn it on and off or they might not. This method is highly time consuming and often very difficult to pull off.