Ephadia is the an isolationist polis, and its buildings blend so perfectly into the forest that it’s difficult to tell the difference between inside and outside. The populace lives in harmony with the thick forests, terraced farms, and trained animals of Ephadia, and they celebrate the cycle of seasons with grand holidays.
Ephadia is also unique among the poleis of
Korris in that few of its adult residents are men. Women comprise the bulk of the population, holding almost all of the leadership roles and carrying out most work. Men are few and far between, mostly performing roles at the polis’s edge. Children run freely around the polis. They’re so important, in fact, that Ephadia's people take in abandoned children from all over Korris.
People of Ephadia
The populace of Ephadia live in a beautiful paradise, and they’re prepared to fight to the death to protect it. The constant training in archery, falconry, riding, and close combat can seem out of place among the idyllic forests and beautiful gardens and orchards, but that is the way of life in Ephadia.
Gender in Ephadia
Ephadians believe that women become heroes through martial exploits, while men do so by finding their own way in the world. As a result, the polis is populated mostly by women and children.
When young men reach the age of fourteen, their rites of passage culminate in a journey called peregrination, where they wander the world until they find a new place to call home. The few men who reside permanently in Ephadia live in the Amatrophon, training and caring for the animals there. Some of these men never peregrinated, but others left and then returned to Ephadia.
The women of the polis form a tight-knit community where property is held in common. There is no marriage, and ancestry is traced matrilineally.
Despite the very different roles played by men and women, Ephadians are flexible when it comes to any individual’s place in that structure. Some men set out on peregrination after spending a number of years identified as women, and some women return from peregrination (or never undertake it) after a period of realization. Some people move fluidly between roles, and a few choose a special role that Ephadians view as standing outside the dichotomy of gender, living in Ophis Tower.
The warriors of Ophis Tower are martially trained as women are but wander the world as men do. They gather information for the Ruling Council, search out routes for peregrination (including identifying sympathetic individuals and households who will mentor young men at the start of their journeys), and rescue lost and abandoned children from other communities, bringing them back to Ephadia.
The “Little Bears” of Ephadia
Children in Ephadia are reared by the polis as a whole and treated with the highest respect; their welfare is paramount and their training is a significant part of every warrior’s occupation. Orphans and abandoned children are sacred to Ephadians, so they are brought into the city and tended just as Ephadians' own children are.
In contrast to the discipline associated with educating children in other poleis, Ephadian youngsters enjoy tremendous freedom. Called arkulli, meaning “little bears,” they are welcome anywhere in the city. They often wander in and out of the temple, training grounds, the hall of the Ruling Council, the market, and anywhere else their paths take them. Such freedom is meant to cultivate a curious spirit and help the children find the path they’re most interested in following later in life.
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