The Tattooed Land

Compiled by Shreyas Sampat

The tattooed land is so-called because it marks its people; a family who is settled there acquires an earthmark, some brand that can’t be washed away or displaced. The land becomes a part of them. Priests in the tattooed land, much like some sects of Buddhist monks, take religious names; they refer to virtuous or terrible things, to remind the faithful of what to fear or emulate. Religious names are unisex, even when they appear not to be (Yellow King, for instance). The sound of these names is patterned after Turkish and Mongolian. They’re also appropriate for Torchbearer.