Nuvilak exorcism tattoos

The working methods of Iasteroni exorcists differ significantly from their cousins in other regions, placing them at significant risk of being consumed by their demons. To counter this, exorcists have developed a complex system of tattoos which channel the demons' power and protect the exorcist from secondary posession and the mental, spiritual, and physical decline associated with soul-loss.
More common among the Kimiut nations in Southern Iasteron, Nuvilak tattoos originated among the shamanic religions of the Nuvilakia peninsula. From there, it spread across the continent, later being adopted by Qā-Jāre exorcists, as a supplement to the purifying rite of Sāqte.

Design and application

The content of the tattoos are largely unchanged since the early Fourth Age and invoke ancient and ancestral spirits. Unline modern Iasteroni sigils, which tend to be abstract and geometric (an influence of Qā-Jāre magic), Nuvilak tattoos are representational and highly decorative. Their application is still done via the traditional 'skin stitching' method, in which an inked thread is passed under and through the skin by a bone needle. The bone must be from an orca whale, which the shamanic nations believe to be the yutaaq's oldest ancestor, and imparts the wisdom and resiliance of the entire species' history into the tattoos. Despite the method of application being designed for yutaaq skin, other species can and do receive the tattoos. For ritual and magical purposes, a non-yutaaq with Nuvilak tattoos is counted as a yutaaq by adoption, as they carry the lineage and the power of the species' ancestors.

Function

When an exorcist extracts a demon of malevolent spirit, they take it into their own body in order to keep it from moving into a new host. Left to its own devices, the demon would spread throughout the exorcist's body, stripping their souls to restore its strength in a process that mimics the effects of rapid aging or a wasting disease. They may also suffer a secondary possession, in which the demon may take control of one or more body parts, progressively oppressing the exorcist until they assume full control.
The tattoos channel and contain the demon's influence, granting the bearer the strength of all of their ancestors back to the first proto-yutaaq. The demon becomes lost in the vast soul matrix, trapped by the combined will of thousands of generations of shamans, wizards, witches, and exorcists. Starved of power, the demon withers and dies.