The Orphan Of Ages:Locations:New Tartessos
New Tartessos
The compound lies deep in the woods of Virginia. On the grounds is a thriving apple orchard, entirely golden delicious. It is one of Echidna's tasks to occasionally loose more snakes into the orchard, as part of a strange symbolic right Rhea is convinced makes the crops healthier and more robust. Thankfully, the snakes released are not particularly dangerous.
In total, the compound has over 156 acres and houses near to a hundred people. Apparently Rhea had a more open and inviting woodland commune years ago, but that was before the Whisper War. Now she shelters the Daughters of Gaia behind sturdy walls in a large space.
The Daughters of Gaia existed before the Whisper War, but something Rhea prefers not to speak of destroyed it as it was then and it clearly involved several deaths. Rhea has the force and charisma of a cult leader, but she's old and distanced from the young people she needs to reach (there's a joke amongst the younger group that Rhea voted against suffrage). Without Echidna and Themis it is unlikely she would have rekindled the cult and brought it into the modern day.
Despite the squat and sturdy concrete buildings, New Tartesso is a place of earth and life. Outside the orchard much of the vegetation is allowed to grow wildly. There's a security concern about how easy the trees make it to scale the world, razor wire or no, but Rhea hasn't broken down to destroy them. Branches are pruned around the perimeter.
The compound gets power from generators on site and has very spotting cellphone reception (and no chance of cable). Water lines don't run out to it either, but it uses local well water. Toilets are outdoors, and designed to collect the waste for compost. Animals are kept on site for food, and experimentation by Echidna.
The compound isn't completely self sufficient, but it's not far from it.
Here, the Daughters of Gaia gather. The place is overrun with children of all ages, watched and raised communally by the women there. Yes, each has a special interest in her own children, but they are a communal project.
Despite the assumptions people tend to make, men are not forbidden from the place. But, Rhea allows only fathers of children to stay, and only with permission of the mother. They are allowed to sleep on the compound at night, but are expected to go out into the world and perform the work of man in the day, and pay cash to help support the compound. At the age of 16 boys are expected to either do likewise, or else be gone in the day to attend school (almost all the children are taught on compound). When girls experience menarche they are expected to either leave with their mother, or (if their mother has other children to be raised) to begin helping on the compound in earnest.
There is one exception to this among the men. Rhea calls him Antaeus, and he is the only man who she allows such a renaming. As such, Antaeus might be considered the only male member of the cult. Antaeus is another veteran of the Whisper War, and his arrangement with Rhea is unique and unusual. He stays on the compound always, and in return serves as a security chief. While Rhea appreciates that the Mother protects her children herself, she also knows that no one in the compound has the tactical and military expertise of Antaeus. No one, except presumably Rhea, seems to know Antaeus's real name.
Women of the cult who are not presently pregnant or raising children of their own are generally expected to do the cult's (Rhea uses the term cult without irony or shame) work outside the compound. Rhea, Echidna and Themis herself is the exceptions. Rhea spends more time in the compound than out (though she leaves to engage in major projects), and serves as a grandmother to all the children there and manages the cults affairs on the broad scale. Themis serves as the backbone of the compound education, and as such is expected to stay regardless of whether she has children (at present she has a two year old girl and a six year old boy though). Echidna is kept to her experiments and importance in the snake ritual (amongst other things).
At present, the compound hosts 78 women, 37 men (though there's another 26 who visit and call frequently but couldn't relocate to the middle of the Virginian woods), and 106 children ranging from newborn babes to a girl of 19, helping her mother with her children.
Outside the compound, the Daughters of Gaia number a few hundred. An exact count hasn't been done lately (the spotty communication on the compound doesn't help), but they're still somewhere close to but under 500 strong. They're all at varying levels of clued in and faith in Rhea's preaching about the Mother. People like Hippolyta call most of the mass Ponies, but Rhea dislikes the term immensely, because it indicates she's using the people rather than genuinely trying to help. Maybe 50 of the cult could be straight facedly called Checkers, and true Chargers number less than 10. That said, of the 500 at least half (probably more) are Avatars of the Mother of some level and that's not nothing (though it's also not all that unique, most women channel the Avatar at some point in their life).
At present Rhea has been playing things low key and trying not to rock the boat. The Amazons have her worried, because adopting the symbols of war should worry one. Rhea has some odd comments about them, believing that they're throwing their own power away in an effort to adopt male powers they can't hope to master. Rhea talks like that a lot though, it's why the younger generation can find her a tough sell.
Of course, some have pointed out Hippolyta's cult is just as likely to start channeling the Flying Woman, and Rhea gets even angrier. The Flying Woman represents the great rejection of motherhood, of all the powers of womanhood, and of Gaia herself. To leave the earth so readily is all the proof you should need of the structureless, self-indulgent pointlessness of that freedom. No, to be a woman is to stand on the ground. To grow things from the ground. To be rooted and seated under a roof. To be the very bedrock upon which society is built. The Flying Woman is nothing but transience and wind.
Population: 221 (37 commuters)
