Ixinos: Island of Amazons - The Life of a Genifar

The Life of a Genifar

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[The Life of a Genifar]

A Genifar girl-child is raised by her birth-mother and, if applicable, also by her hand-mother (her mother's heart-sister). Male children are kept by their mothers until weaned from the breast, at which time they are given into the care of the clan itself and collectively raised by all the clan females.

Girls and boys are provided with basic, informal education by their mothers and the elder clan women. They are taught to read and write, basic arithmetic, the history of Ixinos, and the various beliefs, customs, and traits of the society. They are also taught the earliest basics of self-defense, weapon use (not with real weapons, yet), and basic combat and military strategy. The priestesses, wizards and sorceresses of Ixinos often conduct impromptu classes in various communities and strongholds, to supplement and round off the children's education. Children who show an aptitude or interest in a certain type of art or craft may be placed as apprentices at this time, with the consent of their mothers and clan elders. The teachers are also on the lookout for girls who might have what it takes to be priestesses or members of the Silver Sisterhood; these girls are similarly taken aside to begin training.

For Genifari girls, childhood ends at the time of their first menstruation. When this occurs, a priestess (of any goddess) is called in to verify the fact. At each monthly meeting of the Goldring Council, the High Priestess of Lathea reads off the names of all the girls who have become women within the past month; these women are presented to the Council, which then officially recognizes them as adults and as citizens. They are then ritually presented with their clan plumage by the chieftains of their particular clans.

When a girl becomes a woman, she must soon commence her formal training. For the vast majority of Genifari, this means military service. Having already been given a very basic martial training as part of their basic educations, the girls now report for intensive training, conducted by the captains and sergeants of the Ixinian army.

This training lasts for three full, gruelling, arduous years. During this time, the recruits do not go a single day without training, except on account of serious illness or injury (which the priestesses will cure, if necessary). The recruits are trained in a wide variety of weapons, choosing one to specialize in. They are taught to use their weapons, armor, and every inch of their bodies as both offensive and defensive weapons. They are taught to function with their comrades as units so closely-knit and tightly drilled that they function almost with a single mind, but they are also trained endlessly in one-on-one combat. Based on aptitude, they are divided up into infantry, cavalry, or archers. They are so thoroughly drilled in tactics and strategies that an entire unit can execute maneuvers of dizzying complexity with no more than a few shouted syllables from the commander. They learn deadly unarmed combat skills, and they are taught the peculiar personal combat styles, designed to make maximum use of the female body's size, shape and weight distribution, which make them terribly dangerous and unpredictable opponents to unprepared outlanders.

By the end of this training, the recruits have become ferociously dangerous killing machines who lack only practical battlefield experience. About 15% of them may now be considered 1st level fighters, the rest are 1st level warriors.

After completing basic training, each Genifar must serve five years as a full-time member of the standing army of Ixinos. This army never deploys outside of Ixinos (except perhaps to help their allies in the Emerald Enclave defend the nearby islands of Ilighôn and Wavecrest). However, they train daily and learn every inch of the island's terrain as thoroughly as they know the contours of the pallets they sleep on. The local pirates and surrounding countries understand that to attempt a military invasion of Ixinos is to march into a death trap. Ixinos has been conquered twice (briefly) in its fifteen centuries of existence, both times as a result of factionalization or complacency within the Ixinian society. On both occasions, the Genifari rallied to fill the Nine Hells with the screaming souls of their erstwhile conquerors. Those outlanders who visualize the warriors of Ixinos as bikini-clad, sword-swinging sex kittens have never witnessed the blood-chillingly efficient, quick, thorough, wall-to-wall butchery that these women are capable of perpetrating when they have need to do so.

How much experience these fighters and warriors gain during their military service varies according to circumstances. They generally emerge from their initial term of service with the following range of levels:

01-60 - 1st level
61-80 - 2nd level
81-90 - 3rd level
91-98 - 4th level
99-00 - 5th level

Player character Genifari fighters almost always begin game play at the time they conclude their first one-year term of military service, at which time they will normally be in their late teens. If the campaign is to begin at 1st level, simply assume that the fighter leaves the service still at that level. If the DM is allowing characters to begin play at higher levels, roll on the above table to see how eventful the character's term of service has been, and how much experience she has gained. Those very special characters who become rangers or paladins will gain those classes during their term of army service, but they will never leave at higher than 1st level. Only after they are free to pursue specialized training will they be able to advance higher.

Some characters who have done particularly well in the military may be invited to join the She-Wolves mercenary company. Others form small adventuring bands to go out and see the wide world; some even go off by themselves for a time to seek their fortunes.

A few Genifari girls never undergo military training at all; instead, they are singled out during childhood for training as priestesses, wizards or sorceresses. About five percent of the girls are chosen to become novices in one of the island's priesthoods; about two percent are selected to begin training for the Silver Sisterhood. These women begin their full-scale training at the same time as they would normally have begun military training, immediately after reaching adulthood. The priesthoods and the Silver Sisters train their novices and apprentices every bit as intensely as the army trains its recruits. When they emerge from their three-year training course, they are fully functional 1st level Genifari clerics or 1st level arcane spellcasters (wizards or sorceresses). These magic-wielding Genifari are bound to their respective organizations for the rest of their lives; however, they are often permitted to go out into the world for a time, as members of the She-Wolves or of adventuring bands, to gain knowledge and experience. They are usually expected to return home periodically to take up their regular daily duties.

When a Genifari character is not in active service, she usually takes her place in one of her clan's business concerns; for most of them, this means some task involving agriculture, or the support thereof. If she is a "householder" (close relation of the clan chieftain) she will most likely be appointed to some sort of supervisory role, unless she is obviously unsuited for it. "Poor relations" most often start as laborers, but may rise within the business if they show merit.

An Ixinian who dies (male or female) is given a funeral, usually presided over by priestesses of Lathea, and is then cremated. A woman's possessions pass to her heart-sister, if she has one. If not, her eldest daughter inherits the property. If a woman dies with neither heart-sister nor daughter, the clan chieftain takes the inheritance. A deceased male's personal effects automatically become the property of his chieftain. Neither men nor women are allowed to write binding wills, but their wishes are usually respected with regards to items of sentimental value.