The Isepox Tribes
An ancient human society that has long isolated themselves in the northern tundras above Abia, remaining separated from the affairs of their cousins in the south.
History & Origins
The Isepox were among the first human societies formed after Ahriman breathed life of his own making into the world. Seen as fellow caretakers of Adarus, the chimeras welcomed their new cousins with open arms. But since humanity lacked the awesome power of divinity (the full creation magic of Resonance), they could not create the inspiring cities of the chimeras. What they built came of the labor of their hands, through sheer human ingenuity and the will to survive in a world where they started on the same level as wild animals. Two branches of humanity quickly formed: those that abandoned the will to carve out their own path and live comfortably in the service of the chimeras in exchange for lives of servitude... and those that chose to live as equals alongside the chimeras, relying on the world itself to provide for them and learning to commune with creation through druidism. The former called themselves Isepox. For countless years, the Isepox were fast friends of the chimeras, whom they saw as their tutors in caring for the world and its delicate bounty. But their fellow man, generations of people that chose to serve the chimeras, grew to resent their divine masters. When the chimeras themselves started to fight each other, groups of human refugees once under their care saw the end of an era approaching, so they formed seperatist factions that each vied for control of terrority abandoned by the chimeras after destruction... like rats feeding on scraps. Many of them tried to reach out to the Isepox, beckoning them to choose a side... to join them in their rise to freedom, but the Isepox refused to take part in the chaos and fled to the north, away from all the infighting. To this day, the Isepox remain secluded from the rest of the world. They occassionally trade with Imperial merchant caravans that venture into the tundras to seek them out, but they otherwise remain closed off and suspicious of travellers they don't know.Culture
Culture and cultural heritage
For the most part, the many tribes can rely on their independence to survive in the tundras as hunter-gatherers, but there is still a historical network of trade among them, as not all minerals, wildlife, and herbs are the same through the entire span of the north. Each tribe has a geographical monopoly over a few unique commodity resources of varying value among the others, and these monopolies bolster a robust trade economy. But unlike southern human societies, they don't have a currency as a medium of exchange; rather, commodities are traded for others of equal value.
Tribe-to-tribe trade routes also provide for an exchange of information, keeping all tribes linked together over generations through the sharing of knowledge, passed by word-of-mouth. There is an extensive oral history among the Isepox, and though each tribe's understanding of that history varies to some degree based on the natural fallacies of oral transmission, it is all surprisingly close enough to resemble a singular canonical understanding.
Within the tribes themselves, the Isepox interact with one another on a level that represents close familial bonds. Where neighbors are quite possibly brothers, or at the most, cousins, an Isepox tribe is often one big clan.
The people celebrate the bounty of Adarus regularly. These celebrations are host to feasting, music, dancing, games, and contests of skill; but most importantly, they are moments of joy and thanks.
Shared customary codes and values
Tribal
Multiple tribes make up what is otherwise a unified Isepox culture. Each tribe is led by a governing family. To date, there are twenty-three known tribes throughout the northern tundras.Warrior Ethos
One would think that the Isepox are a largely peaceful society, and they would be correct, but they nonetheless have been forced to adopt a warrior ethos among their males in order to protect the tribes from constant assault by nightmares. Since the fall of the chimeras, nightmare broods flooded into the tundras, where frequent overcast skies, limiting sunlight, allowed them to roam more freely. To protect themselves, the Isepox had to adapt. They learned to forge weapons meant for slaying this brutal and cunning creature responsible for the extinction of many tribes. But since their society lacked the necessary advancements and technologies needed to mass produce weapons and armor, each warrior was responsible for creating their own armaments. Thus, warriors became artisans, learning to refine metals, fletch arrows, and even carve bones into blades. Today, Isepox warriors (all males) place the safety of their tribe above all else. They will use their artisan ingenuity in combination with their druid shapeshifting to fiercly oppose any threat to their villages.Ideals
Gender Ideals
Due a possible anomaly in the Isepox gene pool, the birth rates of females is astonishingly low, and there is a gross imbalance of the genders with a male-to-female ratio of 10:1. But where outsiders believe this is further evidence of Ahriman cursing the Isepox, the tribes believe this to be a sign that the female sex is sacred. Women are the bearers and protectors of life, and so they are seen to be more in tune with nature than their counterparts. As a society that values the sanctity of life and nature above all else, men listen to the wisdom of women, and boys are taught to be submissive to girls. There is also a noticeable level of androgyny in Isepox bloodlines, where many men, despite being male in sex, may appear slightly feminine at first glance.
Relationship Ideals
Since the gender ratio of men-to-women among the Isepox is 10:1, respectively, birthrates are rather low and the Isepox have been unable to grow their population numbers to any significant size. Furthurmore, since there are fewer women, monogamy, naturally, is not viable for maintaining what population they have. Thus, the Isepox have adopted a polygamous marriage structure, where women may take multiple husbands. The paradigm of sexuality is also almost reversed among the Isepox, where homosexuality is actually quite common as opposed to heterosexuality. With such an imbalance of males-to-females, men are far more sexualy active among themselves.
Marriages within tribes can actually be interwoven, a concept that is bizarre and puzzling to outsiders from the south. While women can have multiple husbands, those husbands can, themselves, be married to each other, or even to other men outside of the family. Astoundingly, there is also a strange rarity of cogential disorders caused by incestuous relationships among close kin. It is this very unique genomic anamoly that has prevented the Isepox from going extinct, but it also further aggrevates the prejudice that southern humans have against them.
Known Locations
West & East Ecios MountainsThe Ecios Valley
The Winter Belt
The White Void
