Wolf's Jaws

Every prisoner incarcerated in ICF Gleipnir is catalogued and watched by the Warden and the prison guards via three methods. The first is a sample of each prisoner’s DNA, taken and stored by the Warden somewhere in the spaces between the cells believed to be a massive archive chamber, or perhaps numerous smaller ones, that have so far remained undiscovered. The second is a full body scan and issuance of a prisoner ID, stored as both a string of indecipherable runes like those found in Gleipnir’s metal Tep’li sections and a long series of numbers. The third is the Wolf’s Jaws, also called the Mark of Coyotl or Huēhuecoyōtl’s Teeth.

The Wolf’s Jaws is a method of identification and tracking in two parts, a surgically implanted microchip produced by the Warden and a tattoo of nanite ink over the insertion point. 

Implantation

The devices that performs the surgery and tattooing are built into ICF Gleipnir itself and hardlined to the Warden, and are also referred to as the Wolf’s Jaws. A prisoner must insert a hand halfway to the elbow into a metal tube that immediately clamps down on them, causing very brief but extreme pain. The microchip is surgically implanted near the wrist and the tattoo etched over the site, the location slightly different depending on the orientation of the prisoner’s arm. This process takes barely a few seconds, but often leaves a dull pain in an inmate’s arm for days if not weeks. A circle of small scars like scratch or teeth marks around the tattoo also often remain afterwards, forever cut into an individual’s skin. This is referred to locally as “bearing the teeth of Gleipnir.”

The Microchip

The microchip allows prison guards to call up information about any individual inmate through the Warden’s terminals. This includes semi-live location tracking, but it is imprecise, sometimes a few hundred or thousand feet off as a result of compensating for Gleipnir’s natural signal interference properties. It is unclear if this discrepancy was part of initial design or the result of the Warden’s degradation and corruption. Attempting to remove the chip is incredibly foolish without advanced medical equipment, as it contains a failsafe protocol that releases a powerful, coma-inducing poison if not handled correctly. The Warden is able to track each microchip out to the heliosheath of Gleipnir’s star system, Jel Vaa, but quickly loses the signal anywhere beyond that range or if the chip’s bearer jumps out of the system.

The Tattoo

Each tattoo is unique, but all share certain similar characteristics. The central image is always brightly colored, often reds and blues and yellows, and always depicts either some form of wild dog or an aspect of one (such as fangs, a clawed paw, a moon with a howling wolf in front of it, etc.). The style is Mesoamerican (Olmec, Mayan, Aztec, etc.). Around this image, a prisoner’s ID is printed in black Tep’li runes (Norse runes) with the addition of the rune used in Gleipnir’s logo. The skin around and under the tattoo also often discolors for unknown reasons, sometimes yellowing, sometimes tanning, and other times growing paler. The diameter of the tattoo is typically three to five inches, depending on the size of the prisoner’s wrist.

The nanite ink used in the tattoo can be easily scanned by the Warden’s systems and prison guards for quick identification. It is also incredibly hard to remove, as attempts to cut or rub away the tattoo only causes the nanite ink to self-replicate to lower layers of the skin. Psychic abilities also seem to have little to no effect on the tattoo shy of those wielded by the most powerful of minds. Advanced medical equipment can eventually remove the tattoo over an extended period of time, or, of course, cutting the arm off above it.

Some researchers have theorized that the tattoos, commonly assumed to be randomly generated images within the ring of a prisoner’s ID runes, actually have a determined system to them buried deep within the Warden’s programming. The more common hypothesis is that the amount of colors and intensity of those colors relates in some way to the valued “debt” each prisoner owes to the Warden through their crimes and other factors, possibly connected with the Loyalty Points System. This does not appear to be linear, however, but rather abstracted through some other metric. Less commonly, recent research has proposed the tattoo actually quantifies an individual’s luck into an abstract representation, though how such a value would be calculated remains a subject of intense study and few concrete results.

Some of Gleipnir's gangs have taken to incorporating the Wolf's Jaws into further works, such as adding more details around the arm or incorporating similar artistic styles (Mesoamerican, Norse, etc.) into images tattooed elsewhere on one's person. This practice is "to heed the howl," and is considered by some to be a sign of self-acceptance, and to to others a mark of weakness.