The Race used body painting to denote rank and position in their hierarchy. The higher the individual in society, the more complex the body painting. Body paints are the proper attire for the Race; given that the Race do not wear clothing due to living to hotter environments on their Home planet and colonies.
The Ssumaz Emperors wore exclusive body paints and distinguishable from their subjects. The Race strictly forbade actors playing the Emperor in films and plays to put on the accurate body paint, because it would be seen as blasphemy.
Race expatriates, such as Ristin and Ullhass, who relocated to the United States, painted themselves the colors of the American flag. Straha, a shiplord, didn't find this very amusing as he believed that the new body paint destroyed "all order and discipline". Eventually, he reluctantly agreed to the new body paints.
By the 1960s, many young humans also used body painting as part of Race Mimicking, which the hierarchical Race didn't appreciate. The Chinese Communist Party used this to lampoon the Race.
Known body paint colors[]
- Emperor: solid gold [1]
- Emperor's bodyguards: solid grey [2]
- Shop clerks: yellow [3]
- Orderly on punishment duty: green rings on arms [4]
- Flight Leader: Gold and blue bands on chest, yellow on arms and purple and red squiggles on head.
- Shuttle Pilot: Red and white
- Shiplord: Red, white and silver.
References[]
- ↑ Homeward Bound, ch 4.
- ↑ Ibid., ch 4.
- ↑ Ibid., ch 5.
- ↑ In the Balance ch 15.
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