Arktos

The arktoi (sing. arktos) are young Stayflian women who serve the Moons. Through intensive meditation and training, they become great huntresses and users of lunar aether. They are trained at the Ark-temnis, the bear sanctuary, in southeastern Ranu. Their is as much a separate culture as an occupation.

Arrhephoros

At age seven, young women (usually, but not always) feel called to the bear sanctuary. They go and are taught to be arrhephoros, or basket carriers. They carry the baskets of sacred offerings in ceremonies and begin learning how to be an arktos.

Okeana

At age nine, the arrhephoros join the choir of the sanctuary. They are still arrhephoros, but they have special duties to sing at ceremonies and festivals.

Aletris

At age ten, they graduate to aletris, or miller of corn, and wear yellow robes. In this period, they serve by making the food of the sanctuary (at least, the non-meat food). They learn the importance of all living things.

Arkeia

At age 13, the girls (and others) would gather for the traditional dance of arkeia. During this dance, they dress as she-bears (in actual skins) and perform a slow, sacred dance that matches the movements of the bear. An older arktos (usually a young man) plays the diaulos, or double flute. The arrhephoros bring basekts of figs. The aletris watch, having prepared the foods eaten afterward. The aletris wear krokoton, their yellow dresses, and those who have turned 13 shed their krokoton to wear the bear skins during the ceremony. At this point, them become an arktos.

Daphnis

Males (and any who do not feel comfortable in the sphere of women) who wish to be arktoi become daphnises. Their role is to provide entertainment, performing on the diaulos, on the lyre, and by singing. They are still taught to hunt, and they must meet the rules of behavior and faith, but as their powers are different from that of an arktos, they have different duties.

Amnisades

An amnisad is an arktoi who for some reason cannot or will not be a hunter. Usually this is because of infirmity, though sometimes trauma or simply personality get in the way. Regardless, their place is to care for the animals and weapons of the sanctuary.

Phaesporian

When an arktoi reaches the age of the "crone" (this varies by individual), she becomes a phaesporian, or light-bringer. She loses her powers of night and becomes the wise woman who guides them through the day. They are teachers, counsellors, and mystics, and their role is one of advice only.

Duties

Arrhephoros work as basket bearers and students. Aletrises are millers and cooks. Okeanae must sing during ceremonies. These duties are all simply forms of training, however.

The arktoi have many duties they must carry out. First, they are defenders of wild life. They punish poachers and others who hunt unnecessarily, or those who destroy the environment. Second, they protect young children and women. They are midwives. Third, to honor the Moons by shining like their light. This last is both figurative and literal. Figuratively, it means embodying the virtues of chastity, caring, and wisdom (maiden, mother, crone). It also means making regular offersing to the Moons. Literally, they glow under moonlight.

Amnisades' duties mirror the arktoi, but as they do not hunt or patrol, their duties focus on taking care of the sanctuary's animals and mending, repairing, or making weapons for the sanctuary. They are also the ones who work in the Weaving House.

The duties of a daphnis are to provide music and entertainment to arktoi, at the sanctuary and otherwise; to teach and care for the children; to stand guard during the new moons; and to be liaisons to the cities. They learn to fight so they can stand guard, but their main roles are music and diplomacy.

Phaesporians' duties are to offer advice to the leading arktoi, to tend things during the day, and to make sure the mirrors and windows that guide the moonlight are well tended. They define the wisdom of the crone.

Defending Wild Life

Their first duty is to protect the wild life of Stayflies (or wherever they may roam). The arktoi take turns going on patrol in groups of three, ranging all the wilderness of southeastern Ranu. If they catch anyone abusing the hunt (i.e., over-hunting, killing mothers or children, hunting in protected areas, etc.), they hunt them down and kill them. They also look for signs of pollution, over-logging or cutting, and other attacks on the environment. This, too, they punish with killing, though it is difficult to find the ones truly in charge. In these cases, they cast hexes on the places being harmed, which repel those who would do them harm.

Anti-Poaching

Arktoi do not recognize the laws of men. Instead, to them, poaching is hunting in areas where they have placed a hex of protection, or in over-hunting or killing women or children among the animals. A lord's claims mean nothing.

Bear Sanctuaries

Areas an arktos casts a hex upon become "bear sanctuaries" (ark-temnis), referring as much to protecting the bears there as to the fact that an arktos protects it. These areas can be as vast as a country or as small as a den where animals live or a pond where they go to drink. The arktoi leave markings in these areas to warn others, painting the trees, rocks, or other permanent features with a bloody crescent moon. Any violate these areas are hexed.

There is some confusion in that their home is called Ark-temnis, which also means bear sanctuary, but this is because it is also a bear sanctuary. It simply means it is the first and foremost of them. Further, a group of arktoi is called a "sanctuary".

Hexes

If someone hunts in a bear sanctuary, they are subject to one of the following hexes;

• Transformation into an animal, so that they might know what it feels like to be hunted. Animals include guinea fowl, deer, or bears.
• Hunted or killed by an animal, so that they may know what it feels like to be hunted. A bear, boar, hunting dogs, or stag will hunt down perpetrators.
• Blindness and forgetfulness, so that they may not hunt again.
• Revocation of healing, so that they may know what it is to not have the favor of the Moons. This is for those who have previously been tended by the arktoi. The disease or injuries they had will return.
• Ostracization from women, so that they may know what it is not to have the favor of the Moons. All women who see the perpetrator will instinctively distrust or hate them.
• Return to childhood, meaning their minds become childlike, so that they may have innocence once more.
• Terror at night, so that they might know what it feels like to be hunted. If the sun is not up, they begin to experience irrational terror.
• Voicelessness and tastelessness, so that they cannot disrespect the Moons with their tongues. It will be as if their tongues were shot off with arrows, so they cannot speak nor taste the fruits of their poaching.
• Financial ruin, so that the damage they have done to Gaia may not be rewarded. By the next new moon, their fortunes will be gone.

One who violates a bear sanctuary must roll against the combined will of the Ark-temnis, which is nearly impossible for a mortal to defeat. As such, it is inevitable that a violator will be hexed. However, it is possible to undo almost all of the hexes, either by penance (replanting or cleaning up the sanctuary, helping animals, etc.) or by other esoteric means (use of void or brown aether may break it, though the latter is often the cause of the hex in the first place).

Protections

The duty of an arktos is to protect young children and women. They do this by taking time in serving as midwives and healers in groups of three. They travel a circuit of towns and villages (cities are seen to be too divorced from nature) and tend those in need. They practice basic herbalism, midwifery, and healing arts. If a major pestilence hits, the whole sanctuary will go to help.

Honoring the Moons

The vow to honor the moons requires that arktoi remain chaste, care for those in need, act with prudence and diligence, make regular offerings to the Moons, and maintain their other duties.

Chastity

The vow of chastity is often misunderstood. They do not eschew sex. They eschew marriage and motherhood. The former is a refusal to take part in patriarchy and the laws of man. The latter derived largely from practical issues, but has become a more rigid tradition over time.

Because sex that results in pregnancy is a violation, technically they may sleep with anyone so long as they do not get pregnant. This often manifests in simply not having sex with cis men or anyone who might get them pregnant, but of course many young women are not always so inclined. Protective measures are taught and practiced regularly. If a maiden gets pregnant accidentally, she is given a choice: abortion or no longer being an arktos. If they choose the latter, they are allowed to remain as a woman in need, but they cannot participate in anything, including festivals. If a maiden intentionally gets pregnant, she cannot be an arktos any longer. There is no shame in leaving in this manner, though not all arktoi respect the decision on a personal level.

Because they avoid sex that may get them pregnant, many view arktoi as a cult of lesbians, which is inaccurate. However, this reputation has drawn many queer women to them, and thus there is some over-representation.

If an arktos gets married, she is banished from the sanctuary entirely. This is the much graver violation. This has also often led people to think the arktoi are against love, or loving men, but that is not so. It is simply the institution of marriage and the ownership and control of women they object to. In societies where the struggle for women's rights has lessened the patriarchal nature of marriage, the arktoi still refuse - they view the entire institution as evil and an insult to the Moons.

Some cruel men believe that they can force an arktoi to violate her vow by raping her. Anyone who try this are hunted, humiliated, tortured, killed, and flayed. Their skins are hung outside the community they came from as a warning. An arktoi who is impregnated by rape is allowed to remain an arktoi and keep her child. She must simply serve as an amnisad during her pregnancy and for as long as she needs afterward.

Daphnises are held to the same standard of chastity, though because fatherhood is unrecognized among the arktoi, they are only accountable for getting someone pregnant if the arktoi involved calls for it. They often do not, though this is not always considered just.

Turn None Away

The bear sanctuary is as much a sanctuary for women as it is for animals. Women in need, children in need, or anyone who has been a victim of abuse or acts of violence against nature. They are fed by the aletrises, daphnises, and amnisades, given comfort, healing, and shelter, and protected from any who might pursue them. They are given three months of protection, and then they are guided to a sympathetic community. If they need further protection, they may ask and often receive, in three month increments.

Wisdom of the Elders

To act with prudence and diligence is to be respectful, cautious, and hard working, to be methodical, and to be self-aware. The Wisdom of the Elders is the code of conduct, education, and ritual that is proscribed by the Ark-temnis. It manifests in study, meditation, and practice. These are defined by the phaesporians, who judge transgressions.

Offerings

Every month, the arktoi must make offerings to the Moons. This happens when the Grey Moon is full. As arrhephoros, they are not required to make offerings, just to pray during the ceremonies. As aletris or okeana, they offer grain. As arktoi, they offer the fruits of the hunt (usually skins, especially boar skins). The amnisades offer weapons for blessing. The daphnises offer music. And any visitors are encouraged to make offerings of things the sanctuary might need: textiles and garments, fruits and vegetables and spices not grown locally, any useful materials that are not readily available. They also accept spindles, whorls, loom equipment, and epinetra (sing. epinetron), pottery worn on the thighs of weavers, for weavers are sacred to the Moons. There is always a weaving house at the sanctuary.

Animal Care

There are numerous animals in the bear sanctuaries. Hunting dogs, sacred deer, and of course, bears, are the most common, but any animal within the grounds of the sanctuary deserves and receives proteciton and care. The amnisades take care of them, feeding those who need feeding, giving medical care to the sick or injured, and making sure they retain their inherent wildness if they are not the dogs. The dogs, they train.

Weapon Care

The bows, arrows, knives, spears, and nets of the sanctuary require constant mending and repair. The amnisades take care of this work as well. Amnisades are trained in fletching, smithing, woodcutting, bow-making, and net-making, and they can work lunar magic into most weapons.

Weaving House

The Weaving House is a stone dome on the grounds of the bear sanctuary. It has a set of colored glass windows in its top. During the day, these windows keep it cool and filter the light to make the looms within more visible. At night, under the moons, it makes the entire house glow. The looms are made from offerings and designed to be safer than most looms; they are designed with the women who use them in mind. Here, the amnisades make the tunics and shifts of their sisters, as well as all clothing and other textile products needed.

Music

Music is provided by the okeanae and daphnises, and the practice of it is paramount. There is always singing going on at the sanctuary. The music of the sanctuay interplays with moonlight, creating many effects. Music is most important during offerings and festivals, and of course, during the arkeia.

Childcare

Daphnises take care of any and all children on the grounds, including the arrhephoros and aletris as children. Any who seek sanctuary are cared for by the daphnises as well. This is their most sacred duty, and failure is a violation of their oath.

New Moon Guards

If there is a new moon and no full moon in the night sky, arrhephoroses, aletrises, okeanae, arktoi, and amnisades all must rest. (A full moon and new moon together cancel each other out.) They are very weakened by the new moon. The more new moons, the worse it is for them. The daphnises, therefore, take up guard during those nights. They are given clear vision so they may be adequate guards, and their training as fighters does come into play, as many think they can raid Ark-temnis when the arktoi are weakened.

Diplomacy

Because they are so often persecuted, and because they come into conflict with the ruling classes, the arktoi have the daphnises work out treaties with the nearest communities. Daphnises are trained in the rules and needs of the sanctuary, in the art of negotiation and trade, and in some spycraft and deception.

Guiding the Moonlight

Phaesporians guide the moonlight both by guiding the arktoi leaders and by tending the windows and mirrors set in the temple to keep it lit under the moonlight.

Powers

An arrhephoros has no special powers, as she is just learning. An okeana's voice has the power to calm those who are angry; this power goes away when they become an aletris. It is merely there to defend the defenseless. An aletris has the power to see at night, the first sign she is becoming an arktos.

The arktoi have many powers. The most powerful is that they can cast a hex upon a place to protect it from violation (see above). They can also speak to deer, run barefoot with no fear of injury to their feet, calm the winds if the moon is full, know their way instinctively through the mountains of Stayflies, take the form of the bear when the moon is out, become unseeable under moonlight once per month, hear every whisper within three miles if they make no sound themselves and are not in a settled area, and repel esoteric attacks if they have washed in pure waters under the full moon.

The amnisades can speak to deer and dogs, hear every whisper within three miles if they make no sound themselves, repel esoteric attacks if they have washed in pure waters under the full moon, and work looms, forges, and whetting stones without fear of injury. They can also sense when an animal is injured or sick.

The daphnises have the ability to make music that beguiles, charms, wearies, or mystifies. Their songs weave moonlight. They also have the ability to communicate silently with one another and with arktoi, to understand any language spoken under a full moon, to see perfectly under a new moon, become unseeable under moonlight once a year, and to repel esoteric attacks if they have washed in pure waters under the full moon.

Under the full moons, a phaesporian can wrap herself in moonlight and drive away all dangers.

Arktoi, amnisades, phaesporians, and daphnises can all turn into deer at night.

Inventory

The members of the sanctuary all have special objects that they use regularly.

Baskets

The sacred baskets of figs that are made at offerings keep the figs fresh automatically, so they can be filled over the course of the month. The arrhephoros tend the baskets, mending them if need be, making new ones if need be. They are made of cypress wood.

Grain Flour

The grain flour made by the aletrises is imbued with the holiness of the moons, and thus makes those who eat it stronger under moonlight.

Krokotons

The saffron shifts worn by the aletrises symbolize their nearing to womanhood. They are the gold of the sun that gives way to the silver of the Moons. They are made in the Weaving House and provide more protection than normal cloth.

Bows

The bows of the arktoi are made of orichalcum, a form of very strong gold. When they become arktoi, they swear upon their bows not to break their vows. If they do break their vows, either the arktos breaks or their bow does. These bows are made from orichalcum pulled from the sea by cyclopes, with whom the arktoi trade.

Arrows

The arrows of the arktoi are tipped with potent poisons for hunting violators. If they hunt animals, they use non-poisoned arrows. Their arrows are especially sharp.

Quivers

The quivers of arktoi have two compartments, one for poisoned arrows, one for unpoisoned ones. They are woven of cypress by the arrhephoros and are extremely durable.

Knives

All arktoi carry a hunting knife made of sinawery, which absorbs lunar aether. This knife's strength waxes and wanes with the Grey Moon.

Spears

Amnisades and daphnises wield spears tipped with orichalcum. The amnisades have these to protect from enraged animals or in case the sanctuary is attacked. They also use them to go fishing. The daphnises use them when on guard duty under the full moon or when on a diplomatic mission, in dire circumstances.

Nets

The amnisades use nets both to fish with and to catch animals too upset to be calmed or spoken with. They catch animals only to care for them. Their nets are woven with silver thread to make them very strong.

Chariots

The chariots of the arktoi are made of orichalcum. There are nine of them, and each is pulled by four stags with golden horns. These were given to them by the cyclopes, and the art of making them is lost. The amnisades repair them when needed, and they make the golden bridles that go with them. The chariots can repel esoteric attacks at night, travel without damage under the full moon, and can fly under a triple full moon.

Tunics

Arktoi wear special, knee-length tunics that allow them to hunt. They are woven of silver thread in the Weaving House and provide greater defense than normal cloth.

Bear Skins

Arktoi wear bear skins during their arkeia and ever after. These skins provide them with great protection and give them bonuses to intimidation. They also make bears friendlier toward them.

Boar Skins

Boars are the most difficult of prey and impossible to tame, and therefore make the highest honor in the hunt. Their skins are made as offerings to the Moons, and they hang in the main hall of the temple of the sanctuary. They are given as gifts to visitors when they leave after their period of sanctuary, to give them protection from their abuses or pursuers.

Diaulos

The double-flute of the daphnises is also made of sinawery and thus can control moonlight.

Lyre

The lyres of the daphnises have strings made from the hairs of the arktoi. These make unearthly music that few can replicate.

Looms

The looms of the Weaving House are blessed by the Moons. They can weave silver thread and lunar weaves, and they rarely need repairing. They are safer to use than common looms.

Mirrors and Windows

The glass of the temple and Weaving House are tended by the phaesporians, who make sure they are adjusted to keep the places lit under moonlight.

Cypress

Cypress wood is considered sacred. It is cultivated on the grounds of the sanctuary. It is used to make many things by the amnisades.

Animals

All animals are sacred to the arktoi, but some have more significance in their culture.

Deer

Deer are the most sacred of animals. They must be protected at all costs. An arktoi will not kill a deer, though they do not fault others for hunting them for food. They do take special care of them, though. They can speak to them and take their forms.

Golden Stags

The 36 golden stags who pull the chariots of the arktoi are a herd of male golden hinds (the name of the magical species is feminine because that was all most people met). They are cared for by the amnisades.

Bears

Bears are the symbol of the arktoi, especially she-bears. They both hunt them (though rarely) and revere them, living with them peacefully. They wear their skins, which they take when they hunt on rare occasions or from those bears who die of old age on the sanctuary grounds (the bears believe this to be an honor). The bear species that live with them vary, but many are of the kind also called arktoi.

Boars

As the hardest to tame and to kill, they are the most revered of prey. To hunt a boar is to hunt a worthy opponent. To kill one is to be proven a great huntress. To be killed by one is no dishonor. Boars are sacred and powerful, feared and loved.

Guinea Fowl

There are many guinea fowl on the sanctuary grounds. They are sometimes hunted for food, but mostly they're just pets. It is a tradition that each arrhephoros picks out a name for a guinea fowl on the grounds, feeds them, and then takes on their nickname as an aletris (kinda a form of gentle hazing). They then give the guinea fowl up to the next generation of arrhephoroses.

Hunting Dog

The hunting dogs of the arktoi are trained by the amnisades. They are kept in groups of seven and are known to be so fierce they can take down lions. There are three common patterns among them: reddish ones, spotted ones, and black-and-white ones. Each arktoi patrol takes seven dogs with them when they go out.

Buzzard Hawk

Buzzard hawks are used in hunting by the arktoi.

Wolves

Wolves are sacred to the Moons and honored by the arktoi. If a pack of wolves enters the sanctuary, the arktoi run with them through the night, howling at the Moons and reveling in the dance.

Festivals

There are eight festivals throughout the year: New Year's (first day of Spring), May Day, Midsummer, Harvest Time, Autumnal Equinox, First Snow, Winter Solstice, and First Thaw. They hold special ceremonies under the full moon, and a triple full moon means a huge celebration and feast.

• Anoixi: the start of the year and of spring means a festival of flowers, love, and sex.
• Protomagia: the start of the summer months, a hunting festival and the time when the arkeia is danced.
• Silohelios: the midsummer festival is another hunting festival, dedicated to a boar hunt and a stag hunt. The first to kill a boar is given special honors. The first to catch (but not kill) a stag is given special honors.
• Therismos: the harvest festival is a massive feast prepared by the aletrises. It is when new aletrises are named.
• Syskotisi: the autumnal equinox is a celebration of the return of long nights. The arrhephoros dress in costumes and have a play hunt where they try to catch as many arktoi as they can in the night. The aletrises prepare special candies.
• Protochioni: when it first snows, there is a small festival and ceremonial hunt to honor the lean months and the cold nights. Handcrafted gifts are given.
• Megalyteriniychta: the longest night, the winter solstice, is a major religious celebration of the Moons and sacred rites are performed. On the rare occasion of a new moon on this night, the arktoi's place is taken by the daphnises.
• Protiapopsyxi: the first thaw, the first signs of warming weather, bring another special hunt, this one to catch rabbits, which are then feasted upon.

The Wild Hunt

If the Wild Hunt comes through the Ark-temnis, seven arktoi must volunteer to serve with them for seven years, or the Hunt will take seven daphnises and never return them. Those arktoi who serve the Hunt return after seven years and are usually the most elite hunters in the sanctuary. They also carry many traumas and have deep nightmares. About half of them leave the sanctuary, with a few breaking their vows. They are extremely revered by the daphnises, who attend them hand and foot when they return, play them music to seek to heal them, and generally try to make their lives easier.

The Wild Hunt comes through the bear sanctuary once every 49 years.

Leaving the Service

Arktoi sometimes quit. Some fall in love and want to have children that they raise with their lovers. Some find they want marriage or the comforts of the cities. Some aren't cut out to be arktoi. And some find that living with a disability or infirmity that makes them unable to hunt is too much to bear, and they leave rather than serve as amnisades. There are many reasons, some personal, some political, some circumstantial. To leave is not a shameful thing, and some may be allowed to return if their departure did not involve breaking any vows.

Violating the Vow

There are many ways one might violate one's vows. Violating the vows is not immediate banishment, but it always requires atonement. There are a few aspects that are unforgivable, however: harming an innocent, sexual violence against anyone, alliance with the enemies of the Moons, killing a deer on purpose and unnecessarily, or use of forbidden esoterica (infernal).

The punishment for a lesser violation is either atonement in form of recompense or extra work or, for those who refuse to repent, banishment. For one of the unforgivable crimes, if they are found guilty, the phaesporians turn the guilty into a bear.

Pridefulness

Pridefulness is a violation of the Wisdom of the Elders, but it is rampant among the arktoi. Their fierce independence sometimes becomes toxic pridefulness, which leads to violations and mistakes. This is the great flaw of the arktoi.

Sexuality and Gender

Arktoi have certain gender roles among them, but there is always wiggle room. If someone joins as to be a daphnis and finds out she is a trans woman, she is allowed to become an arktoi or amnisad, and vice versa. Some may even switch up multiple times. Those whose genders do not at all fit in are always made amnisades unless they express a preference otherwise. Sexuality is loose and fluid. Straightness is not frowned upon, but there is a propensity for queer people to join (even at young ages).

Persecution

Arktoi are hated by the ruling classes near them, for the lands they protect are rich in resources and the women they protect are seen as property. As such, there is a concentrated campaign of hatred against them. They are accused of witchcraft and killed for it in many places. If they kill violators of their protections, they can be charged with murder. They are sometimes accused of bringing diseases, either because they revoked healing from a violator or because they show up to heal during plagues. And their protections of children and abused people or their practice of abortion are used as signs of evil. Daphnises are usually accused of being homosexuals, and arktoi of being lesbians and child molesters. For these reasons, they are hated and oppressed in the major cultures near them.

Skills

Common skills by subgroup:

Arrhephoros:

• Basket weaving and repair
• Fruit gathering
• Cleaning
• Quiver-making
• Fletching
• Animal care
• Lunar tracking (knowing the phases of the moons)

Okeana:

• Singing

Aletris:

• Milling
• Baking
• Herbalism
• Blanket-making
• Musical instruments
• Poetry
• Religious ceremonies

Amnisad:

• Veterinary medicine
• Childcare
• Healing arts
• Smithing
• Bow-making
• Net-making and mending
• Weaving
• Fishing
• Dog training
• Midwifery
• Woodcutting
• Deer riding
• Chariot driving

Arktos:

• Hunting
• Tracking
• Survival
• Midwifery
• Healing arts
• Direction sense
• Advanced animal care
• Chariot driving
• Deer riding

Phaesporian:

• Guidance
• Judgment
• Glassmaking and mending
• Light physics
• Politics

Daphnis:

• Musical instruments (making and playing)
• Diplomacy
• Childcare
• Cleaning
• Animal care
• Espionage
• Languages

Stats

The modifiers to stats from base of nation/species:

Arrhephoros/Okeana (from base of juvenile - 5):

PRO +1
ATH +2
STR -2
AWA +1
WIL /
ROG +1

Aletris (from base of adolescent - 8):

PRO +2
ATH +3
STR /
AWA +2 Nightvision +3
WIL +1
ROG +2

Amnisad:

PRO +2
ATH +4
STR +2
AWA +3 Nightvision +4
WIL +2
ROG +1

Arktos:

PRO +4
ATH +6
STR +3
AWA +5 Nightvision +6
WIL +3
ROG +5

Daphnis:

PRO +3
ATH +4
STR +2
AWA +4 Nightvision +4
WIL +3
ROG +6

Phaesporian:

PRO +3
ATH +5
STR +3
AWA +5 Nightvision +6
WIL +4
ROG +4