Tamsin Bragg
Name Tamsin Bragg
Position Wait - Beta
Character Information
| Affiliation | lycan | |
| Gender | Agendered/Non-Binary | |
| Age | 36 |
Physical Appearance
| Height | 5'8" | |
| Weight | 160 | |
| Hair Color | reddish orange | |
| Eye Color | blue | |
| Physical Description | Tamsin is white with tanned skin and piercing blue eyes. Their hair is naturally light brown with blonde streaks, but they dye it reddish orange as a slight nod to being a weretiger. They are quite muscular and have their fair share of still visible scars, something that does not seem too out of place when you work with animals for a living. |
Family
| Significant Other | N/A | |
| Children | Tamsin has no biological or legal children, but they are the weretiger mentor to a weretiger youth who is currently 6 by human years. Based on weretiger law, their bond with this youth, Dylan Ainsley, is considered very similar to parenthood, though Dylan also has a foster mother and father. | |
| Father | Trevor Bragg (werelion), Alpha of a Werelion Pride | |
| Mother | Kendra Clark (weretiger), current whereabouts unknown | |
| Brother(s) | Tavish Bragg is Tamsin's werelion fraternal twin brother. He is now Alpha of a Werelion Pride in Indiana. | |
| Sister(s) | N/A | |
| Other Family | Dylan Ainsley is a 6 year old weretiger (by breeding) who Tamsin mentors, as he has no other weretiger caregivers. His foster parents, Loranda Bray and Edgar Bray, are both werecougars and act as pseudo-family to Tamsin. |
Personality & Traits
| General Overview | Tamsin is quite bitter about their upbringing, particularly about how differently and better the entire process had gone for their twin brother, Tavish. Due to this they maintain minimal contact with their family and have always questioned whether they could see themself as a parent. They are venerated as a tiger expert in their career and get much enjoyment and camaraderie from their often close proximity to zoo tigers. Since becoming the Weretiger Beta they have attempted to weave organization and intention into a purposefully disconnected and separated pack. While the current Weretiger pack still lacks much of the organization and oversight of, say, the Werehounds, they are better accounted for and more easily mobilized than anytime in the past. And for the first time there are resources in the works for weretigers in need. | |
| Strengths & Weaknesses | Strengths: -headstrong & determined -empathetic -physically strong -stealthy -strong swimmer Weaknesses: -unprocessed/unresolved childhood trauma (c-PTSD) -bitterness verging on bigotry towards werelions -inferiority complex where their twin is concerned -every so often they see a female weretiger out of the corner of their eye and, just for a moment, become convinced it is their mother Kendra, until logic, reason, and a better view of the weretiger in question prove that to be false |
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| Ambitions | Tamsin is currently very fulfilled working on the Tiger Crossroads at the zoo. But within the Weretiger Pack, Tamsin has many goals and ambitions. Truth be told, Tamsin fancies they may well be Alpha themself someday. Regardless, they can no longer stand navigating their role as Beta in a completely unorganized pack, and have thus been making some changes. High on their priority list is finding potential foster parents and weretiger mentors for any future weretiger cubs found to be in need. | |
| Hobbies & Interests | Tamsin greatly enjoys caring for and researching zoo tigers. At times when no one else is around, they are able to spend time among the tigers in their own weretiger form. Tamsin has also found mentorship to be both exciting and rewarding. They enjoy training young Dylan in the ways of weretigers and plan to record much of this journey, eventually turning what they learned into a manual for other weretiger mentors/parents/caregivers. |
| Personal History | Tamsin's parents were never married. Their father, Trevor Bragg, was the Beta of a Werelion Pride in northern California. While werelion Alphas are expected to mate among their pack, werelion Betas must get direct permission from the Alpha to do so. Trevor's Alpha at the time had been having much difficulty creating an heir and wanted no interference from his Beta. Thus, when Trevor could no longer contain his werelion drive to reproduce, he was left to mate outside of his species. Trevor found an agreeable weretiger, Kendra Clark, who had no particular interest in parenting herself but was happy to be a participant anyway. Neither expected their very first attempt would be so fruitful, but Kendra conceived fraternal twins. Both parents hoped the twins would turn out to be werelions like their father, as werelions have much more organized Prides that depend upon each other, each acting as a mutually beneficial community/family. Weretigers, like Kendra, tend to be loosely organized at best, with only a few laws and rules, though those are considered sacred. Kendra knew a solitary turned weretiger, like herself, lived a difficult enough life, and that everything would be so much more difficult for a cub. The parents only got half their wish. At 2.5 years old, solidly within the expected time frame and following the usual signs such as the appearance of cat-eyes and a preference for crawl-stalking behavior during full moons, both twins shifted for the first time. Tavish was indeed a werelion, but Tamsin was a weretiger. Trevor, overjoyed with his son, presented him to the Pride, as is customary, on the very next full moon. Kendra, struggling to accept the new burden having a weretiger "daughter" placed upon her, neglected to inform the weretiger Alpha for 5 full moons, remembering and doing so only when Trevor happened to inquire. Weretiger law requires weretigers who choose to breed to remain in the bred cub(s) lives, educating them in the ways of weretigers, until a) the cub is confirmed to not be a weretiger by failing to shift by 5 years old OR b) the cub has attained the human age of 8 years old and the parent weretiger has witnessed at least once successful forced shift. When Tamsin completed their first forced shift shortly after their 8th birthday, Kendra immediately informed the weretiger Alpha. A week later, Kendra, satisfied as she could be that she had done all she knew to do in the raising of a weretiger cub (as all weretigers she'd ever met, including herself, were turned, not bred), packed up in the night while her young cubs slept and vanished from the region without a trace. Weretigers are well known for their talents in stealth. Trevor requested help from the weretiger Alpha in vain, as Kendra had broken no weretiger laws and the Alpha could care less about another weretiger's cub. With no real organization, the weretiger pack had no resources to offer Trevor for Tamsin. Werelion law forbids accepting other species within their ranks, even in the case of werecubs, so the Pride was of no help to Tamsin either. Left with no other ideas, Trevor encouraged his "daughter" to concetrate on the human aspects of their life, especially school. He encouraged them to practice their shifting only to ensure they had control and could avoid detection when necessary. He forbade them from going out for sports, afraid that at the height of competition they would be too reckless to contain the weretiger within. At 18, having no worthwhile connections and nothing to lose, Tamsin left home and set out on their own. After a few years they decided to attend college, which Trevor agreed to pay for, as even he had to admit he had failed Tamsin during their upbringing. At 24 Tamsin graduated with a dual degree in animal science and zoology and went right into a career as a zoo keeper. Within a few years they were recruited to the Nashville zoo, particularly to work on the Tiger Crossroads, as they made quite a name for themself as a tiger expert. Most humans thought this expertise was from study and experience, but the preternaturally inclined knew Tamsin's familiarity came from being weretiger. Upon arrival in Nashville, Tamsin made a point to present themself to the weretiger Alpha in the region, a custom most local weretigers evidently did not bother with. Angus Kaplan, the weretiger Alpha, had a very loose and honestly uninterested eye on the weretigers of the area. He came to know about newcomers eventually and that's all that mattered to him. That is, until a few of the local weretigers went rogue, abandoning logic, reason, and weretiger law. Most of their damage was contained, but during their rampaging two among them had a tryst that resulted in a birth. Having broken one of the few laws weretigers hold sacred, to never draw negative attention to weretiger kind through extensive devastation or destruction, the rogue weretigers were killed by Alpha Angus according to custom and tradition. The rogue weretiger escapade had brought the outrage of all surrounding lycans, who felt that without a strong Werehound presence there were far too many unmonitored weretigers in middle Tenneessee. They pushed for Alpha Angus to finally appoint a Beta. The escapade also left a baby, who very likely may be weretiger, without a caregiver. Hoping to rid himself of two problems at once, Angus went to Tamsin and asked if they would accept appointment as Beta. This appointment came with taking on the responsibility of the infant. Unwilling to abandon a potential weretiger cub the way they were themself abandonded by their mother, Tamsin accepted. At first the baby's presence brought up only unhappy memories and trauma for Tamsin, so after naming him Dylan Ainsley, they placed him with a werecougar couple who had been unlucky in breeding themselves and eager to rear any baby, lycan or not. Pretty early on the foster parents reported to Tamsin that the baby was exhibiting all the traditional signs of lycanthropy, but as his 4th birthday came and went without a shift, all three began wondering if Dylan might not be a weretiger after all. Finally, just weeks after his 4th birthday, Dylan had his first full moon shift. Dylan was doing well with his foster parents, who expressed every willingness to keep him (werecougars, unlike werelions, are not adamantly against including other lycan species in their pack activities). Weretiger law was very clear that all weretiger cubs must receive instruction from an adult weretiger, at least until their first forced shift (usually reached around 8 years old). Thus, Tamsin became the young weretiger's mentor. They've been meeting at minimum twice a week and every full moon since Dylan's first shit. Now 36, Tamsin has been working within the different lycan factions to establish both potential foster parents and potential mentors should such a case arise again. And unlike the Alpha of Kendra's pack, they fully intend to provide resources for all weretiger cubs well past age 8. Dylan is currently 6 but Tamsin already has plans for this mentorship to continue at least until the cub has attained the age of majority, by human reckoning. |
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| Other Information | Tamsin was assigned female at birth but identifies as nonbinary and uses they/them pronouns. Their father and brother do not respect their pronouns or their identity, so on the rare occassion when Tamsin talks to either of them, the subject is avoided at all costs. Tamsin considered a name change but decided against it, as their name has always felt gender neutral to them in the best way possible. They would honestly be much more interested in changing their last name, though that would create a lot more family drama. |