The ceremony of marking has been done for thousands years. It was a ceremony all Beastmen were supposed to undergo, it was the accepted way, the only way.
Those who did not go through the ceremony were those born marked, the 'Feral'.
On the central continent, there were two kinds of ferals. There were those called ferals because there were either without a tribe, were chased out of their tribe or abandoned, those who had committed crimes in their tribes and then there are the forsaken tribes. These people make up the first kind of ferals and also the least hated ferals, they were still hated and looked down upon non the less.
The second group of ferals are those born with bloodline marks. Although they have done nothing wrong, there has always been a tradition of killing them outright or abandoning them in dangerous places when they turn 1 year old, as babies were forbidden to be harmed and Beastmen cubs could somewhat fend for themselves at a year old and no longer considered babies.
Most Beastmen have others kill those forsaken cubs on their behalf but others who are soft hearted choose to abandon them to their fate. Some survive, others don't.
Mänd looked upon the ceremony with cold eyes. He hated it to the depth of his bones. There was never an occasion he hated more in his life as it reminded him of his pain.
Even as his face showed non of his emotions, his eyes were red and his fist folded tightly, his body trembling ever so slightly.
Mika noticed Mänd's state was not right. He was excited like the tribesmen but his excitement was different, it was rage and mourning.
He took Mänd's hand into his own and unfolded his fist as there blood coming out of it.
Mika's touch brought Mänd out of his strange state, causing him to look at Mika in awkwardness. They were silent for a while and Mika decided to speak first.
"I don't know what put you in that state and it's not my place to question you about it, but you need to care about yourself and not inflict harm onto your body." he said in a low voice still holding on to Mänd's hands.
Mänd felt awkward at mika's chiding but still took his words to heart, he had to be careful least his gloomy side be known to others, which would not be good for him.
" Thank you. I got carried away by my emotions. The ceremony of marking always brings me bad memories. If I could, I wouldn't be here but as an asylum seeking Feral and 'makeshift priest' of this tribe, I must be here."
Mänd took a deep breath to calm himself and smiled at Mika.
" I don't mind telling you why I hate this so much as you are also a Feral but not here"
Mänd added and turned back to youth who were almost done with the ceremony.
Of all the youth, only two had red lines on their bodies. The mark of the elite bloodline. The others had white lines, the mark of the common bloodline.
But regardless of the color, both were faint, a signal that the bloodline was weak.
This caused the face of the elders and chief to look bad but the ignorant tribesmen were busy congratulating the elite bloodlined youths and comforting the rest.
The female elder did a final prayer and ended the ceremony. The crowd then dispersed as the servants of tribe took the two piles of prey away, it would be shared to everyone in an hour's time after division.
The chief and elders returned to the main tent still with the darken faces that most of the cheering crowd failed to notice.
Mika tried to follow them but was pulled back by Mänd, who he then looked at with a puzzled face as he was dragged in another direction.
" They now have more important things to worry about than some feral. "
Mänd answered his look.
Mika than thought back to the look on their faces and decided Mänd was right. Now was probably not the time for them to care about him but why did they look like that?
" The bloodline strength of the tribe is thining out. There are going to be fewer strong warriors in the future judging by the shade of the lines and that puts the tribe at risk of either becoming a slave tribe or food for the many beasts. "
Mänd said as if knowing the questions on his mind.
" A tribe without a strong bloodline and warriors is a weak tribe and therefore such a tribe could disappear at anytime. "
In a world were monstrous beasts were everywhere, weakness was a sin a tribe could not afford to commit.