Sindri's been KIDNAPPED!

Snaking its way across Alacritis is a nomadic pack called the Tsanka. This group, among other things, practices marriage by capture. When one of their children reaches the age of one that child and his or her parents sets off to find ?the one?. When ?the one? is found he or she is abducted at the first possible opportunity. Depending on the circumstances, this might consist of the future in-laws simply snatching the child up or the whole pack getting involved. This custom is sacred to them and they firmly believe that the foreign child chosen by their own was meant to be with them; that the two were destined to be together; that they are were souls separated before birth with the sole purpose of finding each other in this life. They believe in reincarnation, that each time they die their souls are thrown into confusion. Finding your soulmate in each life is a vital part of your ascension, which happens after an unknown number of life cycles. The kidnapped child is promptly married to his or her young captor and is slowly integrated into their way of life.

If you're interested in hopping on the Tsanka bandwagon you have two options: you can create a new character or you can use one of your existing ones. If you use an existing one they need to be a yearling or younger since the Tsanka-born would be looking for a mate around the same age as them (with one exception. One of the 3yr olds is recently widowed and now frantically searching for the new incarnation of his deceased mate). I'll be bringing Sindri back at the beginning of Summer so anyone who'd like to participate would need to disappear some time between now and then, preferably sooner so they can get the full Tsanka experience.

Who are the Tsanka? The Tsanka are a nomadic family pack that follows prosperity. The only time they settle in a place is during winter. As soon as spring rolls around they're off again, following the herds, the birds, or whatever their shaman says is what they should be following. Everyone in this group uses the surname 'Tsanka' and those who are married into the pack adopt the name as well. The born-in Tsanka all have two '>' shaped lines that starts over their spine and trail down their sides. (here's a hastily doodled example)This is their only defining characteristic; the mates they take vary so wildly in appearance that little else has had the opportunity to crop up and define them.

How do they get their captives to stay? That depends largely on the parents of the child doing the marrying. Some think brutality is the best way, others try to make their new in-law feel at home and still others use a combination of both to mold their new relative. Play it however you want, just keep in mind that the end goal of whatever their methods are is to make the captive stay.

What would definitely happen to my wolf after they're taken?Their in-laws would give them a new name for sure and they would be given some kind of task. Everyone in Tsanka clan has a job to do to make everything work smoothly. Your captive would likely be trained in whatever it is that particular family is needing. Their new name would most likely end in a vowel.

What about rescuers? What do they do about those? If your pup is from a family of rogues then it's very likely that the Tsanka killed his or her parents to ensure there's no one to rescue them. As for pack wolves, the Tsanka tend to take their captive(s) and run to avoid a major conflict.

How are they going to get away? It depends. Either they'll be rescued or Sindri will lead the escape with the help of her mate Benri (if he's adopted) who she's befriended. If Benri isn't adopted out then she'll lead the escape on her own.

What about the Tsanka? They'd want their captives back of course! And that's exactly why the Tsanka are adoptable. Not all of the mates are as easily swayed as Sindri's and since they believe their foreign-born partners are their soulmates they'll do anything to get them back. Those wolves are their ticket to eternity and little will persuade them to give up the chase.

What about Benri? Benri's situation is complicated. Whatever he feels toward Sindri (whether it's true love, affection, possessiveness or whatever) is very strong. It's also up to the player to decide on what his motives are. My idea for his situation is simple: he feels strongly in some way about Sindri or her situation and, motivated by it (remember that soulmate thing? That could be it too), he helps her and whoever wants to escape with her to get away. Or not. While that's the scenario I have in mind I'm not particularly attached to it. He could be a villain; be the one sent to bring her back. He could have been ugly to her, been abusive and spiteful. Almost everything about him is flexible. The only things that aren't are as follows: Benri's parents are very strict with his father taking the role of disciplinarian. His mother is a no nonsense kind of person. She's the type that shows affection through meanness (she'd be the one to tell you you're stupid while dusting you off and frantically checking you over for injuries after a spill) and tends to fret over the well-being of her children in a roundabout way. His father can be summed up in the phrase 'spare the rod, spoil the child'. He's harsh with his punishments, sometimes pushing the limits of what is acceptable to drive home a point, but this tendency is somewhat balanced by his willingness and ease as a teacher. The Tsanka are very religious, so their religion would play a huge part in Benri's life. Rituals and sacrifices would be commonplace in their way of living. Marriage by capture, to him, is not an evil or despicable thing. His own mother was acquired that way. It's a way of life, a step to eternity. For simplicity's sake, Benri is the exact same age as Sindri. He has two siblings of undetermined personality and gender who are the same age as him, a litter of newborn siblings and a huge extended family. Something to keep in mind with Benri is that when he meets Sindri's family a warm welcome is most likely not going to happen. There's even that possibility that Sindri will turn him in depending on how things go down.

What about that frantic widower you mentioned earlier? His name is Bikendi and yes, his is indeed frantic. His mate (her name was Angelina) meant the world to him. It didn't begin that way, she hated him at first and he wasn't too thrilled with her either, but life happened and seasons passed and somehow they learned to love one another. She died giving birth to their first litter and their children went with her. Devastated, Bikendi went into mourning. In the Tsanka culture this means lamenting, fasting, blood letting and self-imposed exile. He slashed his legs and let the wounds flow freely. He went without eating for weeks, spending that time wandering the plains well away from his family. At the time of entry to the game, he'll be beginning to accept his loss. Kinda. For Bikendi there's hope in the chance that he might find Angelina again. Somewhere out there her soul may have settled in another incarnation. Like Benri, Bikendi is adoptable and his plot is flexible. He can be searching for his new mate, trying to win over the one he thinks is his Angelina, pursuing her after her escape or whatever you can think of.

So! Interested? Suggestions? Anything? If enough people are interested I'll post this and tad more more info in the Adoptions board.

This is very different, I'm in!

Given most of my characters that are a year are Destructions it wouldn't have been easy to take them, so Talvi is probably the one that'll be the best. I can have her vanish pretty easily as well.
Chord could go easily too but given that he is nearly two he's probably too old.

Also, unless anyone else really wants their wolf for Bikendi I think it'd be fun for Isi to be the 'reincarnation'. I'm honestly not sure there is any other way for the girl to get even close to having a mate, or for that matter for him to even think that she might be his Angelina but worth a try! xD

Talvi is the more likely of the two to be taken since she's younger and smaller, but if one of the Tsanka is convinced that Chord is their soul mate then the whole pack would willingly come together to take him. He could also be paired with one of the slightly older yearlings, since I'm sure they don't find their mate on the first try. Either could work! :3