10 Things You Didn't Know About The Expanse

9. The Ink

The Expanse
Syfy

The neck tattoos we see sported by most Belters give us further clues to the history of The Belt and its resentment against the Inners.

They are part of the Belt's shared cultural heritage, a reference to the early vacsuits worn by their first rock-hopping colonists.

Poor quality suits, built and supplied by the Inners, most of them had faulty locking seals around the neck that would often breach. This left the user's skin exposed to vacuum, causing painful scarring in the classic jagged ring shape.

Some of the oldest Belters such as Anderson Dawes still bear the original scars, but for most the full neck tattoo takes its place. It remains a symbol for Belters, a reminder that, though equipment may have improved, they haven't forgot the dangers the Inners were willing to put them through for the sake of extracting the riches of The Belt.

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My passion for all things Sci Fi goes back to my earliest days, when old VHS copies of Thunderbirds and Captain Scarlet gripped my tiny mind with their big, noisy vehicles and terrifying puppets. I'd like to say my taste got more refined over the years, but between the Warhammer, Space Dandy and niche Star Wars EU books, perhaps it just got broader. I've enjoyed games of all calibre since I figured out that dice weren't just for eating, and have written prose ever since I was left unsupervised with some crayons next to a white wall. I got away with it by calling it "schoolwork" for as long as I could, and university helped me keep the charade going a while longer. Since my work began to get published, it's made all those long hours repainting the walls seem worth it.