Perhaps the way is to push some earlier tattoos and pictagrams, most matari have seen dog,fedo pictagrams. Or make some up and push them as edgy/ rebellious, just draw some stylized doodles and name them something like death,claw or this is not a real tattoo i am just being edgy 
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I may have to contact a linguist about this, i could ask one of my clan elders but that would just be proving them right. Yes Great Uncle i should have studied harder and really studied our historyā¦
Dark Stormclaw of the Grim Nightraven.
Or, you know, just an indiscriminate black scribble, call it the Mark of the Dark Grim Grimdark Dark Dark Grim Darkā¦ Shadow.
I still have some of my Sebiestor cadre of ground crew - even given my preference for Kaalakiota trained staff they simply were the best at getting small, expendable, ships rigged for immediate combat in trying circumstances.
Believe me - Iām a long way down the line from not giving the Matari credit for their strengths!
I do like to think that Iād be sensible enough not to create a deliberately predatory business climate with a long-term partner - but youād have to ask my wife about that.
Mostly the worry is that there are those in the State (kind of a lot, even?) who donāt believe you need any long-term partners, Pieter.
Even a brief political alliance of the Patriots and Practicals, and ā¦ well ā¦
Maybe Iām overestimating how deliberately cruel the State can be to outsiders, but, while I understand I might also be underestimating the Matari, it also seems like the Republic has maybe some corruption problems some Caldari entities might not shrink from exploiting?
Inward focus and self-interest might keep the State from telling people youāre invading or otherwise messing with them for their own good, but, purposely worrying first and primarily and maybe even only about your own also means not caring a lot about other people.
Even on Achura, if the Caldari want something bad enough, theyāll take it. And we have kind of special status even as client peoples go. Iām not ungrateful, but ā¦ itās not a non-issue, either, you know?
That might be the best way to deal with the corruption issues, really. An external pressure prompts internal response, and then another round of purges to root out that corruption. Itās certainly a more unifying force than pointing fingers at one another.
We should not shy away from the truth that what others call ācorruptionā is a fundamental part of most clansā approach to business. If someone wants to develop a relationship for business, they will need to honour - or bring honour (and status) - to the clan chief.
That āhonourā can be spiritual and/or symbolic, but thatās tough for an outsider to master. More usually, the āhonourā is of the shiny variety. For many leaders, the shinier, the more status it brings. Thereās a very fine - and not easily defined - line between this legitimate recognition of tribal and clan tradition and winning business through overly lavish gifts (also known as bribery).
I suspect the Caldari are rather good at exploiting these customs to win contracts. Such gifts would appear in the ledger as a simple cost of doing business rather than all the moral squeamishness the Federation-based business might affect or actually be subject to.
External pressures have rarely done much to change the tribesā minds about time-honoured practices. And the above doesnāt even touch on the āappropriate cutā that every level of the supply chain requires so that they donāt feel disrespected.
Pfft. Thatās not what I mean when I say ācorruptionā. I mean actual corruption: Republic bureaucrats (not Tribal or Clan officials) taking bribes or doing favors that violate the laws that bind them, or committing other crimes. The Tribes do business as the Tribes according to their own rules. The Clans do business by theirs. The Republic, and those acting in its name, must abide by its laws in such matters.
My mother canāt go letting Clan protocols affect how she performs her duties in an administrative position on a Republic Security Services station. My cousin Alfar, working on a Stjƶrnauga-operated in-system hauler, can.
Not really sure how corruption relates to Tattoos, unless there is some corruption amongst those making tattoos 
frankly iām more ashamed that there are still matari out there who are so reckless and uncontrolled that they would resort to violence, against kids no less, over a little bit of ink on skin.
Darling, my violence is very well controlled.
Youāre not wrong, Aria, but Iāve never shared that belief. Not out of altruism, you understand? I am as focused on the success of my in-group as much as any Patriot - but the absolute truth is that the best partnerships are long-term and reciprocal. If you get the reputation for being ruthless but honest, youāll enjoy more long-term success than you will with just a reputation for ruthlessness.
To many itās more than just ink, and Voluval decidedly is not ink at all. To many Minmatar it forms a basis of personal identity, and represents history, tradition and culture that was repressed and actively erased for over 700 years. So much of the ancient Minmatar culture is lost and stolen - as I have said earlier, I donāt condone the violence, but I can certainly understand it under certain circumstances. While I wouldnāt call it sacred, when you appropriate a Voluval for example, you are painfully poking at something very personal and dear to many people, and It is no wonder those people then might lash out.
do these gallente kids have a voluval? if not, then it is just ink on skin.
Way to miss the point, genius.
what point? a voluval is not a tattoo, and a tattoo will never be a voluval. so what if some dumb kid has some ink that looks vaguely like one of our markings, doesnāt mean he deserves to get his ass beat or even killed. that kinda behavior only proves that we are the mindless savages the amarr believe us to be.
The point being that tattoos are visible symbols of titles, ranks and/or experiences that have been EARNED through blood, sweat and hard work.
After I left the Federation I joined the Matari armed forces where I served honorably for several years before becoming a capsuleer. I have tattoos that symbolize that time in my life during which I lost many friends and subordinates under my command. I have tattoos memorializing some of these fallen comrades. Each of them have a very special meaning to me, obviously, not to mention tattoos for family, clan, my in-space achievements, etc.
While I donāt agree that violence should be the first response, I admit that it would take all of my self restraint not to beat the hell out of some punk kid I ran into sporting a copy of one of my Army or clan tattoos.
Put it this way; letās say that you had a beloved spouse whoād been brutally murdered and youād gotten a tattoo to honor their memory. Then one day you saw some non-Matari kid blithely walking down the street wearing a poorly made copy of that tattoo. They have no clue what that mark means to you; to them itās simply a fashion statement. How would you feel? What would your first inclination be?
Itās funny, alot of us wish to defend the culture weāve been forced to rebuild due to those who refer to us as savages, isnāt it?
Maybe their input on what we are is a little biased and maybe itās rather irrelevant I would think.
Yeah, Iām not exactly sold on taking advice in civility from the bloodthirsty savages that attacked and enslaved peaceful planets without warning, myself.
Opinions of the Amarr means jack and ā ā ā ā in this case in particular.
Also, we are not a hive mind. Others value these kind of things higher than others. Iād beat even you up for pretending to be a Ray of Matar, or being in my clan, but probably not for much else. Still, this is an emotional topic with emotional responses. Donāt expect calmness and cold logic.
So-- uh, Ms. Teinyhr? Without actually agreeing necessarily with Mr. Tyrson, I think his point might have been more about playing into Amarrian hands, rhetorically.
Itās comparatively easy to make people out to be awful if those same people help you make the case.