The Birthers
The Birthers are a matriarchal organization feared almost as much as the deadly gangs of Ashrain. They are infamous for abducting young women from the wilds of Ashrain and from other gangs alike. These women are forcibly inducted and indoctrinated into the Birthers Tribe, whether willing or unwilling, becoming Sisters of the convent, or coven as many refer to them. They are then compelled, or coerced by force, to repeatedly breed with captive men who are little more than slaves to the Tribe, imprisoned at all times and under the complete control of the matriarchy. This is done with the goal of producing as many children as possible from every Sister of the Tribe, thereby repopulating humanity and producing a new generation, born under the ashen skies. The Birthers do this because they believe that human repopulation is crucial to the survival of the human race, and that it is the highest virtue they can achieve to be instruments in that pursuit. This belief is either ingrained in Sisters through indoctrination, or forced upon them when they are unwilling to comply. Many Sisters and even male slaves seek out the Birthers of their own free will, seeking the community and protection they provide and willing to participate in the effort to rebuild humanity. Most, however, avoid them at all costs, unwilling to submit themselves to the Birther's strict ways and philosophies. Their reputation for abduction and forcible compliance leads many to fear them as much as the Carvers, who stand as chief rivals to the Birthers wherever Tribes encounter the gangs. However, the Birthers often have superior numbers and defenses, preferring fortification to offensives. They tend to settle in one place rather than adopting a nomadic lifestyle, like the Yellowstone Nomads, as a centralized home is more suitable to raising children. Children are valued above all else in Birther Tribes. However, their future is bleak. They are never allowed to leave the Tribe, and when they reach the right age they take their places in the Tribe just as abducted individuals do: as either breeding machines, or slaves. Family is not a concept in Birther Tribes. Their own members are only a means to an end: to make as many human beings as possible.
Structure
The Birthers are a united organization with many groups spread throughout the North American Midwest. Each group, known as a Convent, is organized with a strict heirarchy that rejects individuality and embraces self-sacrifice. Sisters of the Birthers are only referred to as 'Sister', never by their real names. Their names are forgotten, each woman's identity stripped away, making her into a faceless, nameless entity in the service of the Convent. Each Convent has a matriarch who rules the group with absolute authority. She is named Life Bringer, the living conduit of the Birthers' divine mission to restore humanity, reverred with semi-divine reverence. Within the Convent, girls are sub-organized into Families of a dozen. Each Family is headed by a chief Sister named as Breeder (itself a common shorthand for the Birthers themselves). Other roles in a Convent include Gatherers, who are responsible for obtaining new members of the Convent, and Caretakers, who oversee the health and well-being of the tribe. Every Sister, whether Caretaker, Gatherer, Mother, or the Life Bringer herself, is responsible for and subject to continued reproduction.
Culture
The Birthers adhere to a staunch and rigid belief that if they do not repopulate humanity, the human race will go extinct. As such, they consider their mission to be sacred, though their religious beliefs do not include a deity or god-figure. Rather, they consider human fertility and reproduction to be the most sacred act they can undertake, the essential purpose for the existence of human beings. Some Birthers have taken this a step further to believing in a goddess of fertility, but in general the sacredness of their mission is based on the sacredness of reproduction itself. The apocalypse cleansed the world of humanity, polluted and vile as it was in its former state. Now, it must be rebuilt anew, and the Sisters of the tribe are the chosen ones who will ensure that the new generation will survive.
Within a Birthers Convent, reproductiveness is valued above all else. Young women are the most highly valued, as they have the potential to produce more offspring the younger and closer to the dawn of reproductiveness they are. Sisters are encouraged to be continuously pregnant, though a length and suitable period of recovery is always observed after every birth to ensure the continued utility and health of the birth mother. The loss of a Sister is a grievous one, with humanity at such a critical population. As such, the preservation of life is paramount, though this is done not for the sake of the individual, but for the sake of the sacred mission.
Human life is valued far above human liberty. Very, very few freedoms are afforded to Sisters, who are governed strictly every minute of every day, watched over constantly by their Family's Breeder. The word itself, 'family', is a twisted lie of its former meaning within the Convent, as there are no familial bonds between Sisters beyond their duty to each other. Birth mothers are not permitted to care for their offspring after delivery, a task that is handed off immediately to the Caretakers, who are forbidden from forming personal attachments to any specific child. Interaction between birth mothers and their children is not forbidden, but prolonged interaction is discouraged as this could deepen true familial bonds. No child is considered the property of its mother, but rather the property of the Convent and the collective. The future generation is too valuable to be tied down by present familial bonds, which could prove dangerous in the future.
Men are essentially slaves in the Convents. They are completely subordinate to the Sisters and serve as physical labor, military forces, and facilitators of reproduction for the Convent.
Public Agenda
The Birthers abduct human survivors from other survivor groups and from the wilds of Ashrain, delivering them alive back to the Convents where they are forcibly indoctrinated into the tribe. Women are most prized, since it is from them that new offspring will come, but men are also taken to serve as slaves to the tribe and to facilitate reproduction. Rather than brute force, the Birthers prefer stealth and subterfuge tactics, risking as little human life as possible. Approaching under cover of darkness and ash storms, they set traps and ambushes and strike switfly, making off with a handful of captives rather than many to ensure success. Captives are often kept imprisoned, drugged, or otherwise subdued until they comply with the Birthers' ways. Through psychological manipulation, Gatherers break the wills of their abductees, employing a mixture of degrading interrogation, fear mongering, drugs, and solitary confinement to indoctrinate them.
The Birthers are generally despised by other survivors for kidnapping their relatives and friends, and the general fear of being their next target. However, some see them as a preferable alternative to a life alone on the road and at the mercy of brutal gangs such as the Carvers, and seek out Convents willingly. The Birthers will occasionally form alliances with other survivor groups, offering the protection and resources that their sheer numbers can provide in exchange for captives and other services. Those who revile them take extreme measures to avoid them, frequently relocating camps and establishing defensive measures against infiltration.
Assets
The Birthers have a distinctive look. Their ceremonial attire consists of robes and head coverings fashioned from whatever fabric they can scavenge or manufacture in the blistered wilderness of Ashrain. The tattered cloth is adorned with ritualistic symbols of fertility and life, which Sisters also tattoo into their stomachs if they are able. Their head coverings have a mesh veil which hangs down over their eyes, obscuring their faces and contributing to the faceless status of individuals within the tribe. Sisters such as Gatherers and Caretakers wear masks crafted from wood or bone which symbolize their special roles within the Convent.
Though the Birthers are not militant and prefer to avoid conflict whenever possible, they will fight fiercely to protect themselves and their children. Human life is prized above all else within the Convents as it is their sacred mission to propogate it. As such, Convents are armed with a variety of tools and weapons for defense, and offense when attacking groups such as the Carvers, their most bitter rivals. Gatherers also carry nets for capturing targets, blunt instruments and whips for subduing them, and occasionally vials and syringes of drugs for dosing them, all designed to get them back to the Convent alive, if not unharmed.
Worship
The Rite of Fertility
Breeding in the Convent involves eleborate, ritualistic ceremonies which reflect their axiomatic beliefs and fanatical fixation with their sacred duty. The most important of these is the Rite of Fertility. In this ceremony, the Goddess of Fertility is called upon to make fruitful and open the wombs of the Sisters so that they may bring forth the new generation.We dutifully surrender our bodies, that humanity may live to a brighter tomorrow.
Type
Religious, Monastic Order
Alternative Names
Breeders, Sisters, Mothers, Tribe of Whores
Demonym
Sisters
Divines
Location
Related Traditions
Related Professions
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