There are currently two societies available to all feudal rulers and tribal vassals of feudal rulers, depending on where your capital is located. If you are located in Europe or in an area that was conquered by Alexander the Great and affected by hellenization (Middle East, Persia, Northern Africa), you will be able to create the Ancient Greek-inspired School of Sappho - an underground lesbian circle. If you are located in India or Tibet, you will have the option to join the pre-created Golden Orchid society. The Golden Orchid is open to all women, even non-lesbians, provided that they are not married to a man.

To create the School of Sappho you first need to have a lesbian lover. As the game usually doesn't have many women with the "Homosexual" trait in the beginning, you will receive an event that will give you the option to spawn a homosexual woman in your dungeon. If you did not use the Ruler Designer - don't worry. If you have the "Lustful" trait or the Seduction focus, the event will fire anyway and give you the option to get the "Homosexual" trait. If your ruler is already Homosexual you don't have to pick the Seduction focus for the event to fire, but you will still need to make the new character your lover somehow.

Once you've released the character from your dungeon and seduced her, you will need to pay the cost of creating the society (250 gold). The society leader will be called the "Mistress", the highest rank is called the "Grace". The "Grace" rank can be held by three characters at once. So when you create the society, your character will become the Mistress and two of her female lovers will receive the rank of "Grace". Any remaining female lovers will receive the second highest rank.

If you are an independent tribal ruler you will not get any society options at first, but you will still get to have some new features.

1. Maenad/Sister
   The lowest rank. Being the lowest, it still offers significant perks. You are offered the option to "seduce" any member of your society. You can then marry any of your lovers once that decision becomes unlocked (more on that later). You will also be able to influence your female wards' education, so that they might grow up preferring other women or get some very useful traits depending on their education focus. You may get some good traits yourself from time to time or have your primary stat increased or have the stressed/depressed traits removed. The nature of these improvements depends on your age, traits etc.
   Only School of Sappho:
   You will get the option to conceive a child with a male courtier, carefully selected following the best traditions of CK2 eugenics.
   Only Golden Orchid:
   You will be able to adopt an orphan girl from a local temple.
   
   
2. Nymph/Lady
   On this rank you will be receiving a new mission called "Independent project" that will improve your demesne and give you different lifestyle traits.
   If you have the Seduction focus or the Master Seductress trait, you will be able to influence straight women and to seduce them into liking women as well. This effectively makes them members of your society.
   
   
3. Muse/Mistress
   You will be able to start an "independent project" at will without the associated quest.
   Only School of Sappho: You will be able to mark characters for recruitment to increase the chance of them joining the society. This will cost a small amount of society currency, but you will be able to avoid raising your visibility level.
   
   
4. Grace/Matriarch
   The highest rank offers all the same privileges as being the leader of the society. There can be a total of three characters of this rank.
   All other members will be obedient to you, you can force other members to leave their factions, you get access to a new plot to abduct society members from their husbands - a useful tool for getting your lover back to you, if she has been married off to a character in a foreign realm, but it requires that you have the Scheming focus or the Master Schemer trait.
   You will have the option to order one of your subordinates to seduce eligible non-homosexual women and convert them to lesbianism.
   Once in a long while you will be able to organise expeditions to different lands to study how local lesbians live there, their courting rituals and traditions. In case of a successful expedition, you will receive manuscripts containing the collected knowledge. There are 5 manuscripts, each from a different part of the world. Each following expedition will raise the quality of the tome by 1, to a maximum of three.
   Finally, the leader of the School of Sappho will have the power to set a recruitment policy, meaning you can stop recruiting new members to your society, apart from those that you have marked for recruitment, or recruited yourself. This will make your visibility level drop faster.

These features will affect all characters in the game (not just society members or characters in matriarchies) unless specified otherwise.

• Lesbian marriage
  
  You will receive the ability to marry your female lovers at different points during your playthrough, depending on how you start your game.
  
  For members of the Golden Orchid it's fairly straightforward - you get this ability as soon as you join the society.
  
  For tribal characters it's a bit more complicated, but it's still easy enough - you establish a matriarchy and after a couple of years you will get an event that unlocks the corresponding decision.
  
  If you are a member of the School of Sappho - things will be a lot more complicated for you.
  
  To start off - same-sex marriage in Medieval Europe and Middle East just wasn't a thing. Though the attitude towards lesbianism was very different at different times in different places, the thought of two women marrying each other was ludicrous at best. Therefore, when you create your little circle of friends, you will start writing poems, songs and romances praising female friendship and love. You may also get word of some large scandals where some women were discovered to be practising same-sex love. In such cases you will have the option to decide their fate. Choose wisely as your decisions may or may not have far-reaching consequences. All these factors, as well as the overall influence of the School of Sappho, will contribute to the ever-shifting public opinion of lesbianism. Eventually it will become quite normal for some women to keep female consorts. It will not happen soon, but it will happen eventually. In gameplay terms - female characters will be allowed to marry each other.
  
  This does not mean, however, that the clergy will become any more forgiving. For one, you may receive a letter from your religious head, questioning you about your supposed "marriage". Defy him - and risk excommunication. The court chaplains will still actively seek out deviants and heretics to burn on their pyres. Lesbian practices will have to become much more universal for the clergy to decide that to eradicate lesbianism utterly, they would have to kill almost all women. Then they will cease the persecution.
  
  
• Orgies
  
  Funnily enough, I was hesitant to add these at first. I thought that it was too corny and that it's more of a male sexual fantasy than an actual thing that women do in real life. Then I did my research. Please stop giggling. I did my research - and now lesbian orgies are a thing in this mod that you can do.
  
  
• No more stress of multiple lovers
  
  Yes, joining a lesbian society will definitely make it much easier to keep many lovers at once. In addition to that, if you ever see your woman enjoying the company of another lady, you will still be able to continue your relationship with her. And if any of your fellow sisters see you in such a situation, they will always keep your secret. Unless they hate you - then you're in trouble.
  
  
• Polyamorous relationships
  
  If you have multiple lovers, you will be able to tell one of them about the other, and they will become lovers as well. This way characters can create groups of up to four people, with each character being a lover of the other three. Shared lovers will not trigger jealousy events. However, the event that makes this possible will be locked away for you if you have more than three lovers.
  This feature is available for different gender combinations: FFF, FMF and MFM, MMM.
  Men will only agree to a MFM or MMM relationship if they have the "Homosexual" trait.
  Women will agree to a FFF or FMF relationship if they have the "Homosexual" or "Lustful" or "Hedonist" trait.
  
  
• Monogamous relationships
  
  If the previous feature is not your thing, you can decide to stay true to your companion. If they do the same, you will eventually receive an event in which you will be able to profess your eternal love to them. In addition to being your lover, they will also become your friend, and from this moment on, they will never cheat on you. This restriction does not apply to non-ai characters, however, as you will still be able to seduce other characters as before. If you do, you can still get the "polyamory" event and share your new lovers, but your original lover will not be able to seek out new lovers themselves.
  This option too will work for different types of couples: FF, FM, MM.
  
  
• Prisoner recruitment
  
  Members of the School of Sappho will be able to "force" female prisoners into liking women. Yes, I know, it is creepy.
  Homosexual prisoners will instead immediately be recruited to the society.
  Moving on...
  
  
• Mating with male prisoners
  
  Speaking of which - you will now be able to "mate" with your male prisoners with the purpose of conceiving a child with them.
  Now that we have this uncomfortable subject out of the way...
  
  
• Character movement
  
  Not a feature you will be able to make use of, as it applies only to unlanded society members. Characters with lovers will be able to migrate to their lover's court. If such a migration is too dangerous for them, they will instead join the court of the leader of the society. Society members will stop moving into your court when you reach a cap which is set at a number slightly lower that 70 courtiers.
  
  
• Society romances
  
  Also a feature of the AI. Members of societies will tend to form couples much faster than regular courtiers would. AI will be more likely to start a relationship with a fellow society member in the same court/realm as them.
  
  
• Divorce
  
  If your lesbian marriage goes sour, you will be able to divorce your wife without any worrying about the religious head.
  
  
• Re-seduction
  
  If you believe in second chances and don't want a divorce, you can try to re-seduce your former lover in a completely new event chain. Only possible for society members.
  
  
• Changing laws
  
  Two minor but expensive decisions that will allow you to change the succession laws of certain characters:
  - the first can be used to institute Absolute Cognatic succession for titles held by School of Sappho members, if you ever find the need;
  - the second will help you change the succession law of a title held by your underage child from Agnatic to Agnatic-Cognatic. Very powerful tool if you know when to use it.
  
  
• Castration
  
  Yup, this interesting vanilla decision is now available to all rulers with Matriarchy or Gynarchy government types. Requires "Legacy of Rome" DLC.
  
  
• New buildings
  
  Mostly added to the cities, they provide modest benefits to the owner of the holding they are built in. The main focus of this feature isn't in the taxes or techpoints these building bring - it's in the events. When all conditions are just right, you have a small chance of receiving one or more events that will have a larger impact on the way lesbians are viewed by the rest of the world.
  
  
• New factions
  
  Female vassals will now be very angry if their liege has Agnatic succession and they will try to do something about it, not unlike male vassals if their liege has enatic or enatic-cognatic succession.
  
  
• Traditional marriage.
  
  Good when you're trying to hide your sexual preferences from the world. Visibility decreases at a faster rate.
  
  
• New flavor events
  
  A bunch of new flavor events that are not really tied to any societies.

• Step 1. Status of Women and Tolerance
  
  You start off as you would do in a vanilla playthrough - by passing "Status of Women" laws (Side note: tribal rulers don't need to do that - creating a matriarchy will give you "Full Status of Women" immediately).
  To reach "Full Status of Women" you need a high enough level of Tolerance in your capital, and to help you achieve that you will receive society missions and powers that will help you boost the Tolerance level marginally quicker. Society members will be moving from court to court, generally tending to congregate in the court of the Mistress/Matriarch of their society. Each new member of the society living in your court will offer a slight boost to Tolerance gain. Therefore it will be possible to reach the level of Tolerance needed for "Full Status of Women" within one or two lifetimes if you start your game in 769.
  
  
• Step 2. Gender Equality
  
  Once you reach this milestone, you need to become a Queen or Empress of an independent realm if you haven't already. This will unlock a new set of crown laws called "Female Authority". These laws will force the change of the succession laws for ALL rulers within your realm.
  The first one of these laws is called "Gender Equality" and it really just does what it says: "Full Status of Women" will be implemented throughout your realm and the succession laws will be set at "Absolute Cognatic". Also, you will not be able to change the "Status of Women" laws anymore. And you can end your Crusade for female empowerment right there, because women and men of your Medieval kingdom now have equal rights and opportunities. Well done!
  
  
• Step 3. Female Superiority
  
  If you're reading this, you're probably not interested in fairness and equality. So, there is a law for that as well. After the 50-year cooldown timer runs out, you will be able to pass the next law in this set: "Female Superiority" which (if you're playing a feudal character) will change your government type to "Feudal Gynarchy". This will change all succession laws to Enatic-Cognatic. Men will be disallowed to hold any council positions, except Marshal and Chaplain. As a "reward" for this act of righteousness, you will receive the "Arbitrary" trait, or have your "Just" trait removed if you have it. After this, all provinces that do not have a male ruler may receive an increased risk of revolt, and all male vassals will have the option to join a revolt faction to re-institute Agnatic succession. If this faction is successful, all titles in your realm will revert back to Agnatic succession and "Traditional Status of Women" (!) and all your previous work will be undone. If this change comes as a result of a civil war, your character will be forced to abdicate and you will continue playing as your male heir.
  
  
• Step 4. Tyranny of Lesbians
  
  So, you've survived all the uprisings of angry men trying to force their way back to their positions of power, and there is finally calm in your lands. The commonfolk are adjusting to the new order of things. As you reflect on the tragedies that happened all those decades ago, you ponder the path that will prevent the horrors of history from repeating again. And in a flash of inspiration it comes to you - you should strip all the remaining rights from men!
  The "Lesbian Tyranny" law will help you achieve just that. All titles within your realm will get Enatic succession and men will no longer be able to become Marshals or commanders and hold titles (apart from those they already had). If your religion allows women to hold temple titles, then men will be banned from becoming Court Chaplains as well.
  But - surprise, surprise - men still won't be happy. But this time they will only be planning revolts in territories that are not help by School of Sappho/Golden Orchid. Meaning that a society for female empowerment has turned into a sort of a secret police.
  
  
• Step 5. Female ordination
  
  Now if your religion allows women to hold temples, this part doesn't apply to you. But if it doesn't - you will see that men still hold all the theocracies, and you might want to do something about it. You will see a new set of laws appear in your "Laws" tab, called "Female Ordination". Passing this law will make all your temple vassals switch to enatic succession, and gradually, over time all your temples will be help by female bishops/priestesses. As a consequence of this, after a few decades you may see the election of the first female Pope. "All hail the new lesbian Pope" will no longer be a bug in the game.

• All vassals (including merchant republics, cities and baronies) will have enatic(-cognatic) succession
  
  
• If your religion does not allow female temple holders, you will not be able to demand religious conversion from anyone, but you will be able to hold temples yourself;
  
  
• If your religion DOES allow female temple holders, it will be the other way around;
  
  
• All female characters will be able to marry their female lovers;
  
  
• All female characters will be able to divorce their husbands at will;
  
  
• All female characters will be able to hire a man to help them conceive a child;
  
  
• No bastards will be born. All children will be legitimate;

And specifically under "Lesbian Tyranny":

• You will no longer be able to grant titles to men;
  
  
• Employment decisions in the Intrigue screen will now generate female characters;
  
  
• The "Raise new vassal" button will generate female vassals.

The Matriarchy is a tribal government type. To get this government type, you have to first amass a certain amount of prestige. This amount depends on your tier. You cannot convert to a Matriarchy if you are not an independent ruler, unless your liege is a Matriarchy or a Gynarchy, in which case you do not need any prestige to make the conversion. A ruler of any religion can create a Matriarchy.

By converting to a Matriarchy you will immediately receive the "Full Status of Women" law, but all your male count-tier (and higher) vassals will immediately declare war against you.
Soon after establishing a Matriarchy you will receive the option of a lesbian marriage.

Matriarchies and pagans both have an access to a new decision: "Midsummer celebration". The name may be different, depending on your religion. It's a short event chain that can help you get a temporary boost to fertility, new lovers, improve your relations with your spouse, or even help you conceive a child.