"Of course, almost immediately after the inception of this second (and in their minds, much more grievous) exile, the soon-to-be Iskandran Narti encountered the westernmost tribes of gipsies [properly called the Asanir].

"I have expended considerable time and resources to learn why the gipsies never roamed, in their perpetual nomadry, in the swamps and forests of Cilan, and indeed still do not, unless their need is dire, but alas, I have overturned nothing but muttered stories of ancient fears and lands that are both sacred and cursed. I have gleaned that in the old days, in the early years after the Migrations and before, gipsy boys of the western tribes were sent into the the swamps in order to receive their first tattoos (which were inscribed on the inside of the right thigh, or so I've heard, the somatic point representing the physical body) from some unknown source. If this ritual was indeed followed, its practice has long since died."

I'm sure that I read elsewhere that gipsy girls received their first tattoos in the same place, but at their father's, or nearest paternal male relative's, hand. I think at Merkado's time, this was the case for both boys and girls.

"Like everything that is aboriginal to the realm, any clear history of the gipsy tribes is nothing more than rumor, conjecture, and a patchwork of ancient lore."

Ironically, Saxo's description here applies now to his own time, even with his copious attempts to prevent such a haze.