The Interstellar Tattoo Union of Firryan Talent has undergone a schism in recent months following the adoption of new tools and techniques in their tattoo parlors.

The traditional firryan tattoo method involves taking a single needle, dipping it in black or colored ink, then carefully jabbing flesh to stain the skin. Creating a design takes tens of thousands of pokes and several hours. The new tattoo method the ITU is pushing on their parlors involves purchasing tools which originated on Monsoo. These wooden brushes feature dozens of needles arranged in shapes such as boxes, circles, lines or curves. Much faster than the traditional method, a skilled artist could reliably create the same design in a fourth of the time.

The new method is more time efficient, so what’s the issue?

The problem is that, ever since their liberation nearly 200 years ago, firryan intellectuals, scholars, and statemen have desired to carve out a firm, coherent, racial identity for their people. An identity that transcends language, culture, or geography. There are hundreds of schools of thought over how this should happen, and there’s been a constant fight for power and influence within the broader firryan community.

The single largest and most respected faction is the Firryan Liberation Front, which is the modern form of the most successful anti-slavery organization that operated on Relgan.

The FLF has become increasingly militant and nationalistic in recent years, and the concept of using alien tools for firryan art is deeply offensive ideologically.

A dozen tribes in the ITU – a sharp minority – have announced their exit from the conglomerate over this matter, and the FLF has begun buying properties of their own to begin a rival chain of tattoo art using purely firryan methods.

The FLF may abhor alien tools, but they love alien money.