VALKYRIE SHIELDMAIDENS,

i. The Valkyrie women are sisters—treat each other as such.

ii. All races—equine, pegasai, and unicorns—are welcomed sisters.

iii. All citizens are required to swear an oath of fealty to the Valkyrie sisterhood and to forever abandon matrimony.

iv. The price of treason and desertion is death. Deserters and traitors alike will be hunted like animals, and a bounty will be offered for their return, dead or alive.

v. Valkyries have the freedom to roam where they will.

vi. Citizens may worship whichever gods they so choose.

vii. Men are not permitted to become members of society.

viii. The only men permitted among the Valkyries are captives of war and helots (slaves) may be used for pleasure, reproduction, or held for ransom.

ix. The Valkyries are a nomadic people who prefer isolated landscapes.

REPRODUCING,

i. At their leisure, citizens are allowed to choose their own temporary partners to conceive children in order to ensure the continuation of the Valkyrie race.

ii. Romances and relations with stallions are inevitable (but generally frowned upon), but in the long run, your sister and nation come above all else.

iii. Selection of breeding partners is often based on strength, swiftness, and intelligence so that future Valkyrie daughters may be blessed likewise.

iv. Male offspring are considered weak and will not be permitted to reside within the Valkyrie society. At their mother's digression, colts may be abandoned to the wilderness, returned to their fathers, or given to neighboring kingdoms.

RANKS,

i. All Valkyrie citizens are considered warriors, and are therefore required to undergo some form of battle training.

ii. Athletic competition and engagement is encouraged among sisters. Sparring games, races, and tournaments will be held frequently and the victors are held in high esteem.

iii. All ranks may be challenged, save the Gorgons, who are appointed at the Vasílissa's own choosing.

iv. Citizens are encouraged to express and pursue their interests.

v. Members of the Mousai and Hydra Lernaia will be assigned specific mentors from their respective branches. Only with the mentors' recommendations will apprentices be promoted.

vi. The three Seirenes and Erinyes are the commanders of their respective branches, and are charged with the responsibility of their caste, as well as answering to the Gorgon Sisters and the Vasilla for special missions. Seirenes and Erinyes will assign mentors to apprentices, oversee training, and organize regular physical or mental spars.

vii. The three Charites are comprised of elite members who are well-educated in a wide array of subjects, including but not limited to: crafting, history, politics, and perhaps most importantly, healing.

THE AGOGE,

i. The Agoge, or 'upbringing', of fillies begins after inspection at birth.

ii. The Gorgon Sisters inspect newborn daughters shortly after birth. If the offspring are considered weak or defected in any way, they too will be given away like male offspring or left to die.

iii. Training of all Valkyrie daughters begins at two seasons old, wherein fillies will endure a rigorous, brutal training course that emphasizes physical, mental, and spiritual strength and toughness. Daughters are taught to endure hardship and adversity, and are to be frequently pitted against each other in fights by their instructors.

iv. At the age of one, fillies are required to prove their developing skill set by surviving in the wilderness alone for one season.

v. After survival training and proving themselves able shieldmaidens, a celebration organized by the Charites is held in their honor. At this solemn ceremony, daughters are encouraged to choose the path that best suits their skill set, either continuing their education as warriors or branching off to the arts of healing, history, and politics.

Spearwives, shieldmaidens, sisters in arms—they are the free women of Helovia, both ruthless and compassionate, barbaric and disciplined, cunning and cold, sly and seductive; they are the Valkyries, both a haven and a hell. Free and flowing as the river, unpredictable and changeable as the sea, wild as the mid afternoon storm, savage and feral as the wildcats of high, windswept places. First and foremost, the protector of their own, ruthlessly avenging the crimes committed against their sisters, but just as quick to condemn their own, rather than condone.

No man may lay waste to their wild hearts, no man may claim what was never his. Sirens in the night, fairest of all maidens, they are passionate lovers of their lesser counterparts in the soft sweet shadows, and just as cold as the steel pressed tenderly against your throat the morning after.

They are the Valkyries, the free women of Helovia; the roving city with only the boundary between earth and sky for walls.