Amaranth Cougar Tribe

[Curiosity]

Moving into the area to escape a famine in other lands, the Amaranth cougar tribe is beginning to make their presence known. Led by Chieftain Ahiga and his primary mate, Matron Paoro, they are always accepting of new females into their territory. They are also followed by their aging Shaman, with skills as both oracle and medicine-man.

The group is somewhat tribal in nature, with dye markings used to denote a member of the tribe. While the clan is somewhat scattered across their lands, there is an underlying sisterhood to the females of the clan, with the Matron at the head of the Sisters. The clan itself is matrilineal, with the hierarchy following the shaman-matron-daughter line. Naturally, females are much preferred, since other males will be seen as rivals and thus not as easily welcomed.

Any suggestions for plots and the like are always welcome. If you're interested, contact Paoro. Thanks!

[cabbagerose]

'Scuse me. ><; I just remembered something... Aren't cougars solitary? >____<;

[asrohc]

That's why the clan is scattered and fairly loose rather than tight-knit. They don't live and hunt and do everything together like a lion pride; they just consider themselves part of a community of sorts, and -do- work together to defend that community.

[Curiosity]

Yep - Asrohc pretty much summed it up. But we based the clan set-up on reality, as one male cougar's territory often overlaps several females' lands. Thus, why there's one male leading a loose band of several females. =3

With such a loosely-bound tribe, we're experimenting with a new type of group - one where the members are free to wander wherever they wish, as the "sisters" are marked by red to designate them as members of Ahiga's tribe to any rival male cougars. But this opens up the possibility for the cougars to RP not only with each other, but also with any other characters found on the grid, if you so choose, so you're not bound to just the lower mountain range. ^^

But we're always looking for new "sisters", adolescent or adult cougars who make up the chieftain's 'harem', essentially (though the matron is his primary mate, and sisters will not be forced to have cubs with the chief unless they so choose). If you're interested, request a cougar and head over to the Amaranth Tribe!

[Curiosity]

Since the tribe is very deeply based in spirituality, I figured I'd write up a brief summary of what the Amaranth cougars believe for those of you who might be curious. Note that not all cougars believe this, nor even all of the Amaranth are complete believers, but the shaman and her bloodline are typically very in tune with the faith.

Beliefs: Everything in the world is made up of a spiritual essence - the trees, the earth, the water, everything. These spirits can take various shapes, often the forms of animals so as to allow them to communicate with other creatures of the earth. There are no 'gods' to be worshipped, per se, although it is considered proper to show gratefulness to the spirits when they have bestowed something upon you, lest the spirits become upset and shadow you with bad fortune.

Hierarchy: The tribe is matrilineal, with hierarchy following a maternal bloodline. When the shaman dies, the matron automatically takes her place, and one of her daughters becomes the new matron. If the matron dies before she has a daughter of her own, the oldest of her sisters will take her place. If she has no sisters, then the shaman will temporarily lead the tribe until a new matron can be selected with the aid of the spirits. When a new female succeeds the former matron, the former chieftain loses his ranking and is recognized as an elder; all elders command respect from younger tribe members.

Although the matron is considered the primary leader of the tribe alongside her mate, the shaman's word may override that of the matron in the case of differing opinions regarding tribal matters. Shamans are most in tune with the spirits after years of honing their mental and spiritual intuition, and are expected to understand the wishes of the spirits and provide this knowledge onto the matron and her mate, and subsequently the rest of the tribe.

Markings: Members of the tribe bear a red dye marking to signify their being a part of the Amaranth. The shaman is the one who draws on the markings (with the help of her familiar), customizing each to the personality of the bearer. In addition to these markings, rankings are signified by the presence of additional marks. The chief typically bears his design on his head, while the matron has an additional red spot on her chest to symbolize strength of heart. When the matron becomes a shaman, she also has a spot added to her forehead to symbolize strength of mind.

Coming-of-Age and Beyond: When the matron's children reach maturity, they are sent on a 'spirit quest' with the advice of their mother and grandmother in order to seek out their totem spirit, which will then be a source of guidance throughout the rest of their life. (Unrelated adolescents may request permission from the shaman to go on a similar journey, although they are not always successful.)

Males, upon reaching adolescence, are sent out into the world to find their own mates and territories; blood-related males may request permission from the current matron to stay at the outskirts of the tribe's territory. Females may also leave the territory at will. The single condition for leaving tribal lands is that one must bear the mark of the Amaranth with pride; if they are discovered to have removed their marking or otherwise disgraced their home and heritage, they will be shunned by both the tribe and the spirits.

If anyone has any questions/suggestions about what else could/should be added, feel free to let me know!

[Therdde]

In recent months, activity in Amaranth has waned considerably, as a lot of the older players became busy with other things and weren't replaced with newer players. In response to that, the most active (future)Amaranth players spent some time brainstorming last evening, and we have a number of interesting plot ideas that we intend to set heavily in motion this coming IC spring. There is no one big scene or plot in mind, but rather, a number of different threads that ought to keep the cougars active for a number of months and add some complexity and depth to the relationships there.

What does this mean? Primarily that we would love to see more players get involved and join in the fun! Now, as always, female characters are desperately in need, and very, very few male cougars (if any) will be accepted into the tribe. Amaranth as it was originally formed was meant to be peaceful in nature, and the players there tend to prefer scenes that are based on something other than physical conflict, but the current Chieftain will not hesitate to drive potential threats (which includes almost every male cougar) away from the territory.

With this revival attempt in mind, I would like to clean up the @group listing, so at the end of this month, I will be removing characters from the list if they have not connected in more than two months. This will be done in the hope that it will be easier to find RP with the tribe members who are actually on the list, instead of sifting through all the members who have not been on in months.

All you need to do to keep yourself on the @group listing is log on to your character, though, of course, we would much prefer to see you logging on to RP instead of just logging on to keep your character from being removed from the list. And, of course, anyone who does not manage to log on before the list is cleaned up need only page me when they do log on, and we can put you back on there.

Furthermore, if you are ever interested, we are more than happy to brainstorm with you on where your character might fit in. I am often available as Therdde, and there are other players who will be heavily involved with the plots in the coming months, and these players should feel free to mention it, here, that they are available to speak to, if anyone wants to chew over ideas.