Style in the Tribe can be influenced by the identity of characters and tribes.
Today, some of our styles are shaped because a particular style identifies us with different things. Some of us support football teams and dress in the shirts of our teams or have the same hairstyles as our footballing heroes because this style shows how we love certain football teams.
Some of us have different hairstyles or wear clothes to identify us with different styles of music – you might look and dress one way if you love pop music, dance music, heavy rock, or opera and classical, because each of these have their own styles.
Similarly in the Tribe, some characters have their hair or make-up in a particular fashion to identify them with the Tribe they belong to.
It is the style of Demon Dogs to wear silver make-up or clothes and sometimes even to have silver hair because this is the identity of being in the Demon Dog tribe and shows everyone you are a Demon Dog.
The silver make-up of the Demon Dogs is much like warpaint – it is meant to show the common identity of being a Demon Dog member and also to intimidate and frighten your enemies.
Tribes have different styles of names to identify them. For example, the Locos and Demon Dogs are scary sounding names in order to intimidate and frighten other tribes so that the Locos and Demon Dogs can dominate and rule different sectors of the city.
In history, different groups have had different styles in order to identify them. In North America, tribes of native peoples associated together and had certain names (Blackcreek, Cree, Apache), particular hairstyles (Mowhican) and different styles of dress (some tribes wore Eagle feathers, others had Buffalo skins, others had bearskins).
In England in the 17th Century, the country was split during the Civil War between those who supported King Charles I (the Royalists, who typically had long hair and wore lavish and fancy clothes) and their enemies who wanted to get rid of royalty and have parliament rule instead (the Roundheads, who by contrast typically had short hair and wore plain clothes). The different names, hair and clothes reflected the different identities.
Unlike the Demon Dogs and Locos, other tribes do not try to survive by conflict and force but choose to live peacefully and to survive by helping one another and those less able to help themselves.
These tribes, like Bray, Amber and the Mall Rats have a different style to the Demon Dogs. They don’t wear silver make-up or clothes because they aren’t a uniformed gang who have the same set of beliefs like the Demon Dogs or Locos are.
Instead, the Mall Rats are a collection of different personalities who also express themselves differently from each other in the clothes they wear, the hair they have and their make-up -they are different people from each other (unlike the Demon Dogs or Locos who share more common values and goals like “Power and Chaos!”) and don’t identify themselves by sticking to a ‘uniform’ like the Demon Dogs have.
Style can therefore be affected by the different identity of characters and tribes – sometimes tribes share a common identity and a common style, other times they are more diverse groups of characters and have more diverse styles.
