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Nayabaru tattoos encode several bits and pieces of information:
- Profession
- Source community
- Responsible Lashal
It's important to understand that tattoos follow their own alphabet, but it nonetheless is an alphabet. Having a Nayabaru tattoo is like wearing a shirt with your profession displayed on it in large letters.
However, there are strong regional variations to the designs for specific tattoos, which may be a hindrance to ease of understanding. The farther a Nayabaru travels, the more likely their tattoos are to be difficult to understand or outright unintelligible without careful scrutiny.
Which body parts are marked by the tattoo tends to depend on the profession (although here, too, there may be regional variations):
- Backside for Hesha
- Forearms for the Yeresoa
- Back of the neck and arms for Seklushia
- Neck, chest and belly for Lashala (later expanded to arms and legs with each title given, until no space on the Lashal's body remains)
The one thing that Nayabaru culture agrees on is that a Lashal's tattoo must either initially or eventually cover their entire body. While they would never word it that way, the idea is that the death of the Nayabaru is almost assured if there was ever a reason for them to lose their tattoo.
Lashala are responsible for the application of tattoos. This is not usually a one-time matter, but a ritual recurrence - tattoos will fade with age and need to be freshened at regular intervals.