Jeplenka
Jeplenka, also known as Jeplenka the Wicked or Jeplenka the Evil, was a malicious character of Trebai folklore.
Stories of Jeplenka originated as early as the First Era, primarily in rural Trebai settlements. Most notably, she appeared as a character in Unknown Orator's Fables. In the story, Jeplenka, an evil forest witch, attempted to catch and eat the tale's protagonist, a speckled fox. Outside of the story, Jeplenka usually took the form of a wicked woman of the forest, harassing rural Trebai settlements. Her primary objective was to slaughter and eat townspeople. It was said that a town would recognize if Jeplenka was nearby because she would begin planting herbs at the edge of town with which to season her eventual meal. In addition, mules and horses refusing to leave town, local soldiers developing boils on their foreheads, and short, brief rainstorms in the early morning were all thought to be signs of Jeplenka. By the Fourth Era, Jeplenka had become a more complex character among the Trebai, especially among groups that had moved from small to large settlements, or whose settlements had become large themselves. Increasingly, Trebai works of literature such as Jeplenka the Wise began to portray Jeplenka as a hero of some sort. These stories portrayed her as an escaped princess or the daughter of an abusive father. Nevertheless, Jeplenka usually turned out to be an antagonist by the end of the story, or at least be refused a happy ending. Some tales told of Jeplenka becoming a druid in a violent Ren Berig tribe, despite the Ren Berig virtually never accepting outsiders into their own numbers. Scholars continued to debate the meaning of the character by the Fifth Era. Most agreed that she had began as a way of warding off children in rural areas from exploring untamed woodlands. However, some scholars theorized that the character then evolved to represent the fears of growing Trebai populaces in an unstable world. This group theorized that Jeplenka was a tool of urbanization, demonstrating that those who lived alone could not prosper, and would in fact be corrupted. Others saw Jeplenka's solitude (and its consequences) as arguing that rural groups of Trebai should stick together and not fight with each other. Still more scholars saw Jeplenka as an expression of negative gender stereotypes that could persist despite the reforms of the First Era.
Stories of Jeplenka originated as early as the First Era, primarily in rural Trebai settlements. Most notably, she appeared as a character in Unknown Orator's Fables. In the story, Jeplenka, an evil forest witch, attempted to catch and eat the tale's protagonist, a speckled fox. Outside of the story, Jeplenka usually took the form of a wicked woman of the forest, harassing rural Trebai settlements. Her primary objective was to slaughter and eat townspeople. It was said that a town would recognize if Jeplenka was nearby because she would begin planting herbs at the edge of town with which to season her eventual meal. In addition, mules and horses refusing to leave town, local soldiers developing boils on their foreheads, and short, brief rainstorms in the early morning were all thought to be signs of Jeplenka. By the Fourth Era, Jeplenka had become a more complex character among the Trebai, especially among groups that had moved from small to large settlements, or whose settlements had become large themselves. Increasingly, Trebai works of literature such as Jeplenka the Wise began to portray Jeplenka as a hero of some sort. These stories portrayed her as an escaped princess or the daughter of an abusive father. Nevertheless, Jeplenka usually turned out to be an antagonist by the end of the story, or at least be refused a happy ending. Some tales told of Jeplenka becoming a druid in a violent Ren Berig tribe, despite the Ren Berig virtually never accepting outsiders into their own numbers. Scholars continued to debate the meaning of the character by the Fifth Era. Most agreed that she had began as a way of warding off children in rural areas from exploring untamed woodlands. However, some scholars theorized that the character then evolved to represent the fears of growing Trebai populaces in an unstable world. This group theorized that Jeplenka was a tool of urbanization, demonstrating that those who lived alone could not prosper, and would in fact be corrupted. Others saw Jeplenka's solitude (and its consequences) as arguing that rural groups of Trebai should stick together and not fight with each other. Still more scholars saw Jeplenka as an expression of negative gender stereotypes that could persist despite the reforms of the First Era.
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