That's the impression HQ gives, yes. Didn't she show them how to live ? HQ p. 42 '... and everything went wrong. [The Men] fought each other and once killed all of themselves. Imarja moved the survivors to Esrolia where She revealed herself to the women. They bonded with the land and have ruled ever since.'
It's a version of the Great Darkness, I think. And Imarja seems as much the 'idea' behind Esrolia (that is, their cultural foundations, the way societey is organised) as the landscape.
As for other possible heroes, it is said that Belintar used some Silver Age heroes in 1313-1318. Tessele the True (whose primary role is to hold the truth for all to see) was one, but may have been from Caladraland.
I think there also was someone named Kalops the Sacrificial King.
Now, greek myths have Pelops the Sacrificial King, which gives the
peloponnese its name. Quite a great story about a king who lost a
shoulder blade due to some curse and replace it with some magical object
(or something like that anyway, affected his whole lineage, if IIRC
after reading it in Roberto Calasso). So maybe there is an equivalent
legend and now some place of esrolia is the Kaloponnese, where Kalops
sacrified himself for the Women March led by Imarja to continue to the
Rest Place ?
Maybe he still provides some common magic, something called the Good
Husband Society...
Some cities may have their name coming from an local heroine, saving the people there and getting them to work together: variations on the Imarja myth. So Righos could have Righa, Necropolis a shade of Ty Kora Tek, and Nochet many queens.
And finally, some may say that Vinga also is a cultural hero, having survived the winter and protected the women. Then she became a god, quite a success story actually. I don't like this version myself, but, who knows ?
Btw, IMG, Lhankor Mhy had 12 daughters, the Muses, who taught the esrolian women how to build houses, count, write poetry, remember history, etc.
Philippe
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