Ear Branding

A form of corpse marking from AO Rebels. This is to differentiate murdering an AO from some random entity (usually assumed to be a demon), to a rebel. This is usually done by a rebel who wants to send a message, as when the AO corpse is discovered, the distinct postmortem injury will let them know it was a rebel.

Ear branding involves slicing off the top of the right ear, though some rebels get this wrong and do the left ear on accident. Also, an unobservant rebel, or a rebel in a rush can do this before confirming the AO is dead, and the rebel will survive with half their ear gone.