#Inscriptions and Marks

Contents

#Scent — Inscriptions and Marks

Fiction-Only — These marks are not explanations. They are what remained after someone decided speech was too easy to overhear.

The mark was shallow enough that a careless eye would call it a scratch. A careful eye would see that the scratch had been renewed every year. A more careful eye would ask why the newest cut was on the inside of the gate.

#Table — Marks

#	Mark	Loose Edge
1	Three short cuts under a ferry post, always below the waterline.	Who makes the cuts when the river is high?
2	A blank talisman pasted upside down inside a magistrate's desk drawer.	Was it meant to seal the desk, the papers, or the magistrate?
3	A sword nick shaped like a crescent, repeated on five unrelated blades.	Did one weapon mark them all, or one oath?
4	A shrine rope tied with a fisherman's knot instead of the proper twist.	Which sea custom entered an inland shrine?
5	The same childhood nickname scratched behind every mirror in an inn.	Who is being called by the mirrors?
6	A clay roof tile pressed with a handprint too small for an adult and too deep for a child.	What climbed over the roof before the fire?
7	A line of soot across the lintel of houses where no hearth smoke reaches.	Is it a warning, a claim, or the height of something passing through?
8	A temple bell whose inside is marked with fingernail scratches.	Who was inside the bell, and why did no one hear?
9	A lacquer box with a seal impression that does not match any known clan but is accepted by every clerk.	Who trained the bureaucracy to obey it?
10	Five prayer beads carved flat on one side, as if worn against teeth.	Who kept them in the mouth?
11	A road marker corrected from "north" to "home" in three different hands.	Which travelers all needed home to mean north?
12	A child's height mark on a pillar that continues above the ceiling.	Did the child grow, float, or keep being measured after death?
13	A rust stain on a gate hinge that returns after every cleaning in the shape of an eye.	What is looking through the hinge?
14	A folded fan with blank ribs, except one rib carved with a burial date from next month.	Whose death has already been scheduled?
15	A bridge plank marked on the underside with one character: "borrowed."	Who borrowed the bridge, and what was lent in return?
16	A set of hoofprints burned into stone, stopping before the stable door.	What entered without leaving prints inside?
17	A storehouse lock scratched from the inside with tally marks, though the room is always empty.	What is counting days in an empty room?
18	A monk's bowl marked with the same seal as a confiscated matchlock.	How did a weapon seal become a begging bowl mark?
19	A gate plaque where the family name has been planed off, but the dust will not scatter.	What refuses to let the name leave?
20	A rice field boundary stone with two shadows at noon.	Which boundary is the second shadow marking?
21	An inkstone with grooves worn by writing the same missing character.	What word could not be completed?
22	A roof beam carved with tiny boats, each boat carrying one dot.	Are the dots passengers, souls, debts, or storms?
23	A paper screen patched from old warrants, all with the accused names cut out.	Who lives behind accusations without names?
24	A burial tablet polished smooth except for the honorific.	Who erased the name but kept the rank?

#Table — Reading a Mark

Question	Why It Matters
Who can see it?	A mark hidden from strangers may be meant for the household, not intruders.
Who must not see it?	Concealment often points to the actual owner of the mark.
Is it renewed?	A renewed mark implies living labor, seasonal duty, or an ongoing bargain.
Is it correct?	A wrong ritual mark may be incompetence, mockery, translation, or sabotage.
Does it copy another mark?	Copies can imply cult, clan, counterfeit authority, or contagious symbolism.

#Note — Using Marks

Marks work well when the party is already at the location. They reward slow looking. A mark should rarely explain itself at first sight; it should point to a habit, a repeated visit, or a rule that locals obey without naming.

When a mark appears on an object, decide whether the object has been marked by its owner, by its victim, by a clerk, by a spirit, or by someone who wanted future investigators to misunderstand all four.