Space pirates w cheek tattoos

[eruckle]

Trying to track down a sci-fi series I read in the 80s. Orphan becomes a pirate. Takes over a military ship and infiltrates the military to take it down from the inside. Officers wear cheek tattoos, that get more complete as they advance in rank.

 

[Ravensquawk]

The closest I've seen, still rather remote, is The "Incredible Umbrella" series by Marvin Kaye.

Only in that he (as an adult not orphaned that I know of) goes through different literature fantasy worlds, and one of them is the Pirates of Penzance.

Any more details about the story would help. A name, an exchange, a place, a bit of a scene -- a "scene" in the sense of Act 1 Scene 2, where two characters argue over something, or find a special tool, or any detail.

 

[KiraAnn]

If I am not mistaken, and I may well be, that Bio of a Space Tyrant by Piers Anthony. 6 book series as I recall.

I didn't remember the orphan bit, bu I did the cheek tattoos. The most junior officer had a quarter (maybe one sixth) of a circle and the most senior Captain had a full circle. At the time, I thought he was trying to grab some "karma" from Trivial Pursuit.

I did not like it - too much senseless violence and cruelty, and too much rape of everybody. I don't know what drugs he was on while writing it, but it was a bad trip.

 

[Pliable Moose]

Face tattoos in "The Stars My Destination" by Alfred Bester.

 

[eruckle]

The trivial pursuit image seems familiar. As they escalated in rank, they would tattoo in more pie slices.

Will try to track down that series and see if it’s the one.

Another thing I now remember is that there was a secondary protagonist. Female. She also worked her way up the trivial pursuit pie tattoo scale.

She and the male prot were aligned, but separately playing different roles in their overall plot.