Gifted Names
Gifted names are names bestowed upon a Yashelin by the Ida either upon their creation or during the Naming Ceremony. Gifted names are not only a word by which a person is called. They are defining. They alter a person's very spirit, mind, and sometimes body in accordance with their new name. They also confer special abilities, affinities, and/or compulsions upon the bearer of the Gifted Name.
Traditionally, the Yashelin believe that a gifted name supersedes any and all previously used names. Even nicknames are frowned upon by all except the most familiar friends. While most gifted names are words from the Ivu language, the Ida has permitted less potent names from other languages upon special request.
Examples of Traditional Gifted Names
Petal = Trust
Ibij = Promises
Purposes
The Ida bestows a Purpose upon a Yashelin individual at the same time they receive their gifted name. While a gifted name defines what you are, a purpose defines why you are. They are expressed in short phrases, typically an infinitive verb followed by a noun. These short phrases are meant to encompass the Ida's intention in an effective, yet open-ended, manner.
Purposes are often harder for the recipient to adjust to than their gifted names. Purposes, like names, may confer special abilities, affinities, and/or compulsions. Purposes are more likely to result in affinities and/or compulsions than special abilities. These affinities and/or compulsions are especially evident in those who attempt to ignore or resist their "gifted" programming, but are present even in those who integrate it comparatively easily, and thus, less visibly.
Examples of Purposes
To Maintain Integrity
To Challenge Complacency
An Ayiru to Ease the Transition
After a Yashelin receives their Gifted Name and Purpose, they embark upon a journey of self-discovery. At the dawn of Yashelin civilization, these journeys were often more fraught than they are today. Many were expected to learn along the way with only informal guidance from their elders. Some struggled alone for far too long. Others still struggle.
Over time, solutions were put into place to resolve some of this internal strife. One such example is the Ayiru. Originally, an Ayiru was a mentor who helped guide a younger Yashelin individual on their path to After a Yashelin receives a Gifted Name and Purpose, they are required to study it. Depending upon the age of the Yashelin, they may have chosen or been assigned an Ayiru, or a mentor who helps to guide a young Yashelin on their path to adulthood.
The duty of the Ayiru at this juncture is to lead the newly named Yashelin through a dissection of their Gifted Name and Purpose. This is designed to assist Yashelin in extracted their own personal meaning from thier Gifted Name and Purpose and, later, applying it in their everyday lives. It is believed to aid youths in navigating their identities early rather than struggle with it for an extended amount of time alone, as was the case for many Yashelin in the past long into their later adulthood.
Special Abilities
Special abilities are powers that a person possesses. These special abilities may be entirely unique, such as shapeshifting, shared by an entire species, such as healing, or conferred upon a person or group, such as water manipulation. Special abilities are regarded as spiritual, and thus magical, in origin. This belief highly influences how people are encouraged to experiment and train their powers.
Affinities and Compulsions
Affinities and compulsions, meanwhile, are urges to behave a certain way as defined by ones name and/or purpose. Affinities and compulsions are the same thing at a base conceptual level. The difference between them is determined by the bearers personal relationship with the impulse.
Special Abilities come in the following flavors --- Innate, "Gifted," and Inherited.
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