Amazon

The **amazons** of the Queendom of Themyscira.

## History

The amazons are a species of long-lived and powerful warrior-women native to the mystical Paradise Islands of Olympus. Their origins lie in the frustration that the female deities of the Olympian Pantheon had with the direction human society was heading. Believing that women and all they had to offer were being suppressed by men, the Deities Hestia, Aphrodite, Demeter, Athena, and Artemis planned to do something about it. These five ventured into the land of the dead, Chthonios, to the Cavern of Souls where the souls of women who died unjust or heroic deaths reside. With their combined power they breathed life back into these souls and returned them to the surface and into strong female bodies of clay crafted from the bed of a lake in Greece. Hippolyta was the first to emerge from the lake and was crowned Queen of her sisters that followed her. Hestia, Aphrodite, Demeter, Athena, and Artemis then bestowed the amazons with a longevity that could exceed a thousand years if not slain in combat and greater strength, intellect, durability, stamina, senses, and agility than the humans they were charged to guide.

For many years the amazons thrived in the land around the lake from which they were born, called Themyscira, and spread the principles that their creators taught them to the humans all around. Their prosperity in Greece was not destined to last however. Strangers to the amazons, Heracles and his companions ventured to Themyscira in his quest to retrieve the golden girdle of Hippolyta for the twelve labors of Eurystheus. Hippolyta was quite impressed with Heracles and the tales he told of his many exploits. Everything seemed to be going well and Hippolyta even agreed to give Heracles her golden girdle, that is until the Deity Hera and her jealousy intervened. Hera hated Heracles as he was the offspring of her husband's infidelity and she was determined to ruin him so, disguised as an amazon, she sewed seeds of distrust among their society. She claimed Heracles and his companions were plotting to kidnap and enslave their Queen after she relinquished her golden girdle, so the amazons mounted up and made a preemptive attack on Heracles and his companions at their camp just outside the city. The men however believed the amazons had been planning this treachery all along and fought back. The bloody battle lasted for days and climatically ended with Hippolyta being severely wounded and having her golden girdle taken by force. With Heracles labor completed, they retreated back to their ships before any more of their men were killed. The amazons, with their numbers devastated and their city in shambles began to lose faith in their creators and the charge they were given. Some of them, led by an amazon named Antiope, even abandoned their city and sailed away in search of a new purpose in life.

After hearing the prayers of the amazons and their defeat at the hands of Heracles, the Deities, Hestia, Aphrodite, Demeter, Athena, and Artemis decided to reconvene about their creations charge. After much deliberation the Deities decided that they should give the amazons a new charge, and with it a new home. With Hades betrayal of the Olympian Pantheon the Deities believed that the Gates of Chthonios on the Paradise Islands needed to be guarded at all times and who better to do this than the amazons? So the Deities relocated the amazons to the Paradise Islands in the realm of Olympus. However, the amazons didn't forsake the realm of Earth completely. In order to replenish those who died at the hands of Heracles and his companions or others who died in combat, Athena gave the amazons an enormous artifact called the Magic Sphere. The Magic Sphere creates a giant "Boom Tube" which gives the amazons the ability to materialize the Paradise Islands into the realm of Earth. They would do this every century during a celebration they called "the Festival of the Seed" where amazons would leave the Paradise Islands and infiltrate Human society to find a suitable mate. After becoming impregnated they would return to the Paradise Islands to be cared for and give birth to a healthy amazon baby nine months later.