Lore:

In Vennelian society, your face marking is your most important feature. Have a boring one? Too bad, you'll be mostly ignored.

It's an unfortunate part of being one, but any Vennelian with a mark that seems too "simple" or "boring" isn't treated as nicely as one with a more interesting mark.

This mark is also used to identify someone, so they never have a need for any other form of ID, they just need to show their mark to someone.

The greatest sin one can commit is to remove or otherwise damage their own mark, as it is something completely unique and unable to be repaired or replaced.
In their history there were only a few who scratched out their own markings to show they wanted to leave their old lives behind, starting off fresh in another land.

However this group hasn't been seen in decades, and most of the information on them has since been lost over time...

Some Vennelians are also born with a very rare illness that prevents them from ever getting a mark, these beings are often tossed aside by the rest of their kind, or exiled from their city if they haven't been killed already by the less tolerant. Since nothing can ever give them a mark, being exiled is what most of them hope for.

The "mask" itself is made of the same material as their bones, which are slightly stronger than a humans, making it hard for other creatures to damage.
While they aren't actual masks, this is the name that has been used for this part for centuries.

Not much else is known about this part of them, as they don't normally trust other races with such information, fearing it may one day be used against them.

welp time to go work on a contest piece now, again.~

Oooh that's neat! You've got some very specific lore for the mask markings.