Shashnian community is very important to how the society functions. In most communities there is a large extended family unit. In small villages this family unit can include the entire settlement. In cities and larger concentrations the familial groups are divided into subsections of that greater whole (e.g. neighbourhoods).

Life stages of a Shashnimyn in a community

• Innocent
• Youth
  • apprenticeship
  • wandering
  • adulthood quest
• Adult
• Experienced Adult
• Respected Adult
• Elder

These age groups could be have an effect on player level? Would they replace the level of the characters? or are they merely titles?

Children refer to others in the community as their aunts/uncles, grandparents, and older/younger siblings. The term 'parent' is not reserved for their biological parents. Shashnanii children are hopelessly random and elusive as innocents and will not stick around once weaned (and they are not always breast fed by the same individual).

The term parent is used only for a few individuals that the individual is very close to during their youth stage.

It is in this stage where they begin to acquire the skills of society and learn how to interact as a person. The Innocents are regarded as an animal stage of the Shashnimyn life cycle.

Innocents 

You can't seem to stop Shashnanii children from running away. They'll sneak from their crib sooner than you could tie them in.

At the time of birth, all children are giving a sacred tattoo which denotes where their birthplace/home is. Since the children often run away to live in the wilderness for a while, you never can know where they all came from. Thankfully, the traditions of the Shashnimyn are to welcome new individuals to a town (as long as they are respecting the societal code). In this manner children can be born in one village but raised in nearly any other.

The tattoo is in a spot where it cannot be seen by the player.

Elder

"Listen to what your Elders say.  Chances are they have seen through the path you are just beginning".  Elders are highly revered in Shashnimyn culture, they are a source of ancient knowledge, wisdom, stories and lore.  Not all knowledge is recorded in books, and some lessons have to be taught transcending words.  The Elders are the closest link with the past, and the Ancestors.

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Society