Coming of Age in Karakia

In Karakia children are treasured by the tribes. From an early age, the entire community takes up the chores of passing on skills and knowledge. The children are encouraged to play and make friends. By the age of eight most Karakian children know how to track, hunt, cook, and can perform simple tasks such as fletching arrows, stripping birds for cooking, and other general survival skills. Throughout their childhood, they are watched and judged. The tribe's chief and seerer will proclaim pairings of training buddies and apprentice parties of up to ten children. If one child is deemed to young their training partner must wait until they are ready before beginning their training.
As young kids, the training pairs are assigned to volunteer older mentor pairs or individuals. The acceptance of trainees of their mentor and the mentor of the trainees is an important step towards adulthood performed at the start of spring each year with a lot of ritual singing and dancing. In most cases, the kids' family would arrange the union, seeking out the best-skilled adult mentors possible to help and support the kids in their desired paths. The older mentors are known as the kiruki, while the younger kids are called the kinate or baliausi when in a group of trainees. The age difference might only be a few years, with the mentor still in their early 20s. The nature of the relationship varied markedly. In some Karakian tribes, it is highly regimented and in others, it is more open-ended with many trainers for groups of trainees. Regardless being taken up by mentors is seen as an important part of growing up to become an adult.
Lady Lothia is often called on to watch over the trainees and all tribes have strict traditions and laws against any sexual contact between the mentor and their young charges. Any such contact is highly inappropriate and will be punished extremely harshly, even by death. What’s more, it wasn’t just a one-way relationship. While the mentor was supposed to be the dominant peer in the arrangement, stories are told of wily young trainees who became the mentors and manipulated their requirements to accelerate the declaration of adult status in the tribes. When the trainee’s family or chief believes they are sufficiently mature to be full adults the mentor relationship is terminated with a celebration ritual and party for the whole tribe.

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