The Joining
The Joining is a major cultural event on Torm cities focused on life, love, and family. It celebrates the mating of two zaratan, who bond for life but mate only once every fifty years. It's one of very few times in which two zaratan come into close contact with each other.
Pre-Joining
All zaratan are closely monitored with a variety of non-invasive equipment. Prior to a Joining, these systems register a spike in certain horomones as well as a diversion of course for two zaratan as they turn to head toward each other and increase in speed. The city's attending doctors, governing bodies, and religious heads are all notified that a Joining will soon take place, and VI systems estimate when it will occur.
Key Players
- Acquisition Managers coordinate trading people with needed skills between the cities, such as an engineer for a doctor.
- Liaisons work with local families to determine openness to such trades.
- Oversight Boards ensure families aren't pressured into the trade, and have ample opportunity to refuse.
- High Priests and other religious figures plan key ceremonies to be handled jointly.
- Engineers work overtime to ensure all equipment is capable of keeping the city safe during the dive.
- Childcare Providors keep young kids engaged and occupied while parents and older siblings work on other tasks.
- Doctors watch the zaratan to ensure they're in good health and the festivities don't cause them stress.
- Event Managers assign vendors to booths and schedule parades, music, and other performances.
Arranged Marriages
When specialists are traded between cities, it's often done through an arranged marriage to someone on the destination city. This gives the transplanted specialist an immediate anchor to the new city, and promotes important Tormish values of family, support, and belongingness. Dedicated matchmakers assist with the process to find a compatible partner for each specialist. Gender preferences are always considered, and counselors are available to answer questions and ensure the system isn't abused. Either person can refuse the marriage, though this happens only rarely. Arranged couples and their families meet repeatedly over voice and video calls leading up to the Joining, when they finally meet in person.Main Events
Preparation for the Joining takes months, with the week leading up to it a frenzy of tasks enough to put all other work in the city on hold. The event itself, however, lasts no more than a day. The start time depends on when the zaratan meet, and the celebration continues even if in the dead of night.Commencement Ceremony
Once the zaratan meet, they circle each other for several hours. High priests from each city meet on a platform between the two and, recorded by multiple camera drones, read from Ahl-amaq texts. The Joining is a key event in their faith, the this ceremony highlights its importance to humanity's continued existence on the planet. Once the priests share a few key words, temporary bridges between the cities open and people are free to move between them.
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Timeline of Events
| Months | Coordination begins between the two cities. |
| 1 week | With the other zaratan in view, both cities prepare to host events. |
| 6 hours | As the zaratan circle each other, people celebrate the event across both. |
| 2 hours | The mass wedding joins people from different cities in a live broadcast event. |
| 1 hour | Everyone returns to their home city in preparation for the dive. |
| 1 hour | The zaratan dive underwater as part of their mating ritual. |
| 4 hours | Resurfaced, the zaratan and their cities rest before parting ways. |
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