How on earth might this society function?

I just want to throw a concept of gender equality out there. The Celts were one of the most advanced cultures in the world and many of their societal concepts didn't exist again until very recently.

One thing that made them particularly interesting was that their penal system was built off fines. Basically, a person lived in a clan and their clan owned common land. Every three years, families would draw lots and that was their land to farm for three years. That way, no one got stuck with the best or worst plots for too long. Well anyways, so wealth was important. heads of cattle, crops, tools, whatever. As a man accumulated items or wealth, he was more important in a way. He could benefit his clan more, I guess. Now they had a whole list of laws, things like "if a poor man and a rich man meet at the same point on a bridge, the poor man is allowed to cross first." They protected the poor, women, children, the elderly, etc. by making laws very noble in spirit. If your rich man shoved the old beggar into the mud and crossed the bridge, he was assessed a fine. A few more angry acts, and that rich man was soon a poor man and then he didn't have any clan status, or the ability to support his family.

Now to women. Women in this society were protected I believe by one concept more than any other. Any union that resulted in a child, was considered a marriage. So a woman could have several husbands, and a man could have several wives. They didn't necessarily live together, but that's where the concept "Ireland has no bastards" comes from. The English couldn't understand what they were hearing. "What? Which of these men is your husband?" "Oh, that one, and that one, and him over there." Anyways, when a man and woman had a child, the child was raised by the women and supported by the father, like modern child support. When the child was about ten, it would go to foster and leave home, living with uncles or cousins, etc. So women weren't inferior, they were as equal as has ever been in our world. They ran their own families, weren't considered property of their husbands, and chose whom they wanted to marry.

I think one thing you have to establish, to really deal with the fundamental "equality" of men and women, is establish a really free culture. See, Celtic women were women. They weren't in denial about their female traits or their sexuality, but they had options and the laws supported all members of the society, based on wealth.

One thing I think you have overlooked is general intelligence of humans. It's fine to have a society that loves art and intellect, but let's face it, most people are less intelligent than German Shepherds and the biggest problem with intelligence as your main societal ideal, is that genes must be passed on in overwhelming majority to create a changed society. So for instance, if you have a pillaging, raping horde of barbarians, who conquer a region and take all the women for themselves...that's your next few generations, violent, brawny, meat-heads. So, to establish a society who are drastically different from the norm, you have to establish how a culture's most successful genes were intelligence, artistry, etc.

Now, here would be my suggestion...establish a lower class of sorts, those who work the land, your typical peasant class. They're like peasants throughout history, shorter, thinner, bad teeth, kinda smelly, you know the ones. Then you have a sort of nobility, the ones who live in the city, basically off the backs of the lower class. I mean, I just don't see any way around it. In Medieval Europe, it took 50 peasants to support one armored knight. If you have an army, you need a lower class. It isn't so different today. For every person who earns $250k a year, how many earn $25k a year?

So ideals and equality aren't things that can't happen, but the balance is really that for every notch up higher your cultural hub gets, (like Rome even), you need to widen the pool at the bottom exponentially. For instance, how do people make a living? Your average guy, say a guild member who makes furniture or whatever. Who were his parents? Where did he receive an education? Who paid for it? Who ran the school/ apprenticeship, a guild? SO this guy's pretty well off. good. But who grows his food? How much land is available in the near vicinity for agriculture? Can a carpenter afford meat? Books? Gold jewelry? What limitations are placed upon this carpenter? Is he taxed? Told what he cannot buy, even if he can afford it? Can he marry any woman who loves him or does he have to earn a wife by his wealth/ status/ a certain rite?

There are a ton of small things to consider when creating a society and it's a bit like a madhouse game of Jenga. It can come crashing down at any moment. No city-state could function without protection. They need resources, which means someone to work in the mines, the fields, etc. and when people aren't happy, crime is inevitable, jails, penal code, outlaws, not to imply you haven't thought of it, but so much of the structure is interwoven, it's hard to "just change a couple things".

If you want to create a democratic, equal, intelligent society, I think you need to start with wealth and law. Make crimes hold heavy fines, banishment from the city, etc. I mean, that's what the Celts did. if a man committed a crime, he was fined. If he didn't have anything to pay, he'd be exiled. That was pretty much a death sentence.

Anyways, I hope I gave you some ideas.