Like you, of a Mother I was born.
For you, I rose from Her ashes.
You call me but a child but I am more, much more.
The world is mine to discover.
Won't you join me?
- From the Word of Agnes
Agnes, the Child, was the only Fatima never to see the camps. She was born from the death of Mary The Forgiver who died shortly after Joshua's death and the Liberation of humanity. She was an innocent, untainted by the horror of the Z'bri, but her caprice often veered into whimsical cruelty. With the aid of the Fallen, Agnes has started to grow up. She now has the Eminences of Inspiration and Recognition.
She has changed from being capricious and playful to being a bold young woman. Where once she was a decades-old child, she is now a visionary, a firebrand, and a leader. Although her form is still that of a giant teddy bear and doll who travel together, the doll now looks more lifelike, and sometimes she appears without Teddy.
Agnes the Adventurer loves the children and young adults who make up her Tribe, but is less inclined to favouritism now. With the loss of Capriciousness and its replacement with Recognition, such unfairness will not stand in a Tribe reforged with the aid of the freedom-loving Fallen. She has taken to choosing priestesses now, calling them Explorers and charging them to investigate the wider world - a clear departure from the usual Tribal position that right-thinking people loyal to their Fatimas should never leave Vimary.
The settlement known as Playground was the former home of the Tribe. However, in recent times Playground is all but abandoned, except for mobs of savage guerrillas who have riddled the place with traps and ambush points. Quite why these Agnites behave thus isn't yet widely known. Since the upheaval within the Tribe, about 500 Agnites remain. In a difference to the other Tribes, the Agnites are not organised by family units but by caste which in turn are decided by age.
The Young Ones are those still in the creche. They are looked after by Children and Caregivers, and spend most of their time playing.
The Children were once the heart and soul of the tribe, but the focus is now changing. They are all younger than 13 but older than 7 summers, and are of significantly less prominence than once they were; where once they played with Agnes, ran the farms, and guarded the Tribe, they are now looked after by Evans and Caregivers and spend their time learning, exploring and growing.
Most of the Young Ones and Children are looked after by the Evans, after the evacuation of Playground. Some of the former Breeders and Barrens help out as well, in their new roles as Caregivers.
One of the big changes is the creation of a new caste, for Agnites aged from about 13 to their mid-20s. Older Children and younger Breeders and Barrens - those who didn't Fall in the changes, at least - are now Rangers. They train with Joanites, learning lessons from the stories of Hermit Blades and preparing for both adventure and combat. They defend Playground with uncommon inventiveness, and also expand the boundaries of Tribal presence as best they can.
The older Breeders and Barrens are now Caregivers - so, in principle, would any of the older Rangers who decided to “settle down” - there to look after the Young Ones and Children and ensure that the Evan influence doesn't become too stultifying. There is still a clear focus on childhood and youth in the tribe, but thus far the Caregivers are treated much better than Breeders or Barrens ever were.
Historically, there was an annual celebration of the birth of Agnes, where twelve Barrens were selected as “Forgivers” and sacrificed in memory of Mary, Agnes' mother. This year, however, Agnes wanted something different. Instead, twelve Caregivers were selected as Explorers alongside those Favourites who survived the transition to Agnes' adolescence.
It's claimed that the surviving Marians now openly live alongside the Agnites, but if this is true they certainly don't advertise it to outsiders.
Agnes' enthusiasm for newness continues, albeit in a different form. Agnites now are expected to be innovative and inventive, keen to explore the world around them and to learn. However, Agnes has said that she doesn't want to make people Fall as a punishment any more, given how much the Fallen helped her.
Agnes looks up most of all to Her Aunt, Joan. Both were helped by the Fallen, and Agnes certainly likes to think that the two Fatimas share a brave and noble spirit. Agnes still thinks very kindly of Eva, however, recognising more than before the importance of a mother's protection for the children. Her attitude to Magdalen is much as it was before: The Lover and her people share the wonder of the world and the desire to explore it, but their focus is inwards while the Agnites look outwards.
The Yagan obsession with fate and destiny grates against the Agnite enthusiasm for exploration and newness. If everything is fated, then nothing exciting can happen, after all. Tera Sheba's laws and (some say) hypocrisy are a direct contrast to Agnes' new preoccupations and there is no love lost between the two. And finally, the once-close relationship between Agnes and Dahlia seems to have cooled somewhat, with the point of conflict having something to do with the Fallen.
Agnites now somewhat idolise the Fallen, much to the other Tribes' horror. Though both Fallen and Agnites share excitement and energy, the Rangers now recognise that they are bright and clear, where the Fallen are darker and often lost.
Photo by Tom Garnett