Amazon culture

CHASES
COMBAT RULES
DISPELLING INSIGHT
DISTRACT
EXECUTIONS
GIVE AIR
HELPING WITH SAVES
LEVELS & CR
MADNESS
PREGNANCY
REINCARNATION
REPUTATION
SPIRITUAL DUEL
WAKING UP

AMAZONS

Among all the cultures and peoples of the Known World, the Amazons are a special case. The Amazon Nation consists of several tribes, scattered over the world, each with many traits from the different cultures they occupy. Thus, they are not formally a single culture. Greek Amazons worship Artemis and Hera. Turangi Amazons are shamanesses with insights into the Spiritual Realm. Yet, they all share a common bond. They are all part of the Amazon Nation, and share a basic philosophy and a common afterlife.

TRAITS COMMON TO ALL AMAZONS

Origins
The primeval Amazons were the women of the Tretomlec tribe, who lost most of the males of the tribe. They then decided that they had to rely on themselves for protection and concluded that they should devote themselves to each other. This was in paleolithic times, and their land was north of the Black Sea [the archeological site of Chertomlec, while mostly known for Scythian finds, probably has its name from these ancient Amazons].
As centuries and millennia passed, the Amazons became divided into many tribes who each had their own territories. The Turangi Amazons is the tribe that is closest to its Tretomlec roots.

Philosophy
Men have a tendency to oppress and belittle women. For women to achieve their full potential, it is necessary to live separate from men. To ensure this separation, women must be able to defend themselves, and cooperate with each other.

Customs
Music: Music is an important part of the everyday life. Communal dances accompany every major event.
Bunyas: Amazons use sweat huts - bunyas - to purify themselves when faced with a crisis.
D&D3.5: A session in a bunya typically lasts for 1d20 hours and gives participants a +1 morale bonus on a specific skill or attack rolls against a specific enemy, for 3 days. Spellcasting Amazons routinely use the sacred bunya spell to increase this bonus.
Procreation: Having sex is purely a matter of taste. If an Amazon is to become pregnant, however, she needs either a supernatural agency, or a male. To allow for this and still keep their single-sex lifestyle intact, Amazons have strict rules for when and how sexual encounters between Amazons and males are allowed to take place. The exact times vary with the local conditions, but it is usually allowed only a few times per year.
Breaking these laws can result in banishment for the Amazon and severe corporal punishment (at the very least) for the male.

Membership Criteria
If you are a female, you can join an Amazon tribe in at least 3 ways:
1: You can be born or adopted by Amazons.
2: You can go to a tribe and ask to be admitted. If the queen approves, you can begin learning the non-secret ways of the tribe. If, after a period of time, the queen (or other prominent members of the tribe) judges that you have the right mind-set, you are initiated and becomes a full member.
3: An Amazon can ask you to join. If you, and the queen, agree, you begin to prepare for the initiation as above. The queen can still decide that you are after all unfit to become an Amazon, despite the invitation, and evict you before the initiation.
Greek Amazons have a fourth way. An Amazon can name you her heir. This is done by transferring her Right of Cast to you, preferably in front of witnesses. When that Amazon dies, you will be subject to the initiation without a preceding period of trial. When you become an Amazon, you inherit your sire’s position in the tribe.

Political Structure
Every tribe is ruled by a queen. She has complete authority over all members of her tribe, at least in theory. To become queen, you have 4 choices:
1: If you are related to a former or ruling queen, either biologically, or formally (by adoption or Right of Cast), you can ask the ruling queen to step down and hand over the queenhood. She might very well refuse, mind you.
2: You can make the Royal challenge. This challenges the ruling queen to fight you to the death. The winner becomes the new queen. If you are not Amazon royalty, as described above, the ruling queen is under no compulsion to accept the challenge.
3: You can be appointed the new queen by the ruling queen, who then abdicates. You still have to accept for this to work.
4: You can stage a coup and usurp the throne by force and manipulations. Make sure you have a strong following before trying this one.

If you are a queen and abdicate (as per 3 above), you have a certain advantage. If you come to another Amazon tribe, you can chose to become queen there. The ruling queen in that tribe has to accept this and step down.
In times of extreme danger, several Amazon tribes can elect a High Queen to rule all of them until the crisis is over.

Afterlife
Regardless of their culture, all Amazons go to the Golden Mountain in Heaven when they die. Some tribes have special routes to get there. The Turangi Amazons have to pass through the Land of the Dead in the Spiritual Realm, for example.

AMAZON TRIBES

GREEK AMAZONS
WHERE: Northeastern Greece
CULTURE: Greco-Roman
ORGANIZATION: Country
FORMAL RULER:

Time Queen General Notes

Warlord-Destroyer Hippolyta

Season 1 Melosa Feud with the Centaurs.

Season 2 Velasca Civil war between Velasca's followers and Gabrielle's.

Season 2 Gabrielle Very brief rule.

Season 2 Ephiny Less aggression towards foreigners.

Season 3 Ephiny

Season 4 Ephiny War with the Romans.

Season 4 Gabrielle War with the Romans.

Season 4 Chilapa

Season 5 Amoria

Season 6 Marga Decimated by Prince Morlock.

Season 6 Varia Decimated by Bellerophon.

Swedish Season 7 Varia

POLITICS: There is little room for intrigue - the queen's authority is absolute as long as she follows the complex customs. Peaceful relations with other nations are very rare.
DON’T: Don't break any rules or taboos. And don't be male.
FIGHTING: Every Amazon constantly trains her fighting skills. Everyone is armed. Unarmed females are not respected.

Greek Amazons are very concerned with decorum and many kinds of weaponry. They use masks in rituals and certain battles. Hera, the queen of the gods, and Artemis, goddess of the Moon and of the hunt, are their patron deities. Relations with the Centaurs are hostile, and they routinely kill anyone who enters their territory uninvited. Guests are taught to hold their raised hands clasped together as a symbol of peace, and advised not to forget it.
They are adept at using vines and ropes to aid them in ambushes and retreats.

Generic Greek Amazon stats for D&D4E

Generic Greek Amazon stats for D&D3.5

Prestige Group description for D&D3.5

Reference Episodes: Hooves and Harlots, The Quest, A Necessary Evil, Maternal Instincts, The Bitter Suite, Endgame, Lyre, Lyre, Hearts on Fire, Coming Home, Dangerous Prey, Path of Vengeance, To Helicon and Back.

TURANGI AMAZONS
WHERE: Roam the area around the Altai mountains. See here for a discussion of exactly where.
CULTURE: Turangi
ORGANIZATION: Country
FORMAL RULER:

Time General Notes

Warlord-Savage Powerful and just queen. A great force in northern Eurasia.

Destroyer All major Amazons killed and their souls trapped.

Season 1 -Season 3 A handful of survivors eke out a miserable nomadic existence. No queen or shamanism.

Season 4 The dead Amazons liberated. Tribe consolidated. Otere becomes queen.

Season 5 Yakut becomes queen.

Season 5 A new queen takes the name Cyane, but is briefly replaced by Gabrielle who reforms some of the bloodier customs.

Season 6 The second Cyane after Yakut is now queen. The tribe is decimated by Bellerophon.

Swedish Season 7 Tomyris

POLITICS: There is great emphasis on group harmony. External enemies include the Centaurs and various savage tribes.
DON’T: Don't break any taboos. Don't use black magic. Males are not allowed to join the community, but they are not despised.
FIGHTING: Everyone is armed, but fighting outside training is frowned upon.

Turangi Amazons are also known as the Northern Amazons. There are no Norse Amazons - the Valkyries being a completely separate entity - but the Turangi Amazons do live quite far north, compared to Greece at least.
While the Turangi Amazons are fierce fighters, their true strength lies in shamanism. Where the communal rites of Greek Amazons strengthens their sense of unity and continuity, the rituals of Turangi Amazons have true magic power.
As noted, the Turangi Amazons are closest to the Tretomlecs in spirit and outlook. The ruling queen of the Turangi Amazons always takes the name Cyane, an ancient Tretomlec tradition.

Generic Turangi Amazon stats for D&D3.5

Reference Episodes: Adventures in the Sin Trade, Adventures in the Sin Trade Part II, Them Bones, Them Bones,Lifeblood, Kindred Spirits, To Helicon and Back.

AFRICAN AMAZONS
They belong to the African culture. Virtually no canonical information is known.

Time Queen General Notes

Season 6 Mawu-Ka Decimated by Bellerophon.

Reference Episodes: To Helicon and Back.

CELTIC AMAZONS
They are a part of the Celtic culture. Virtually no canonical information is known.

Time Queen General Notes

Season 6 Gwyn-Teir Decimated by Bellerophon and Gwyn-Teir killed.

Reference Episodes: To Helicon and Back.

MESOPOTAMIAN AMAZONS
Mentioned only. They belong to the Greco-Roman culture and live outside misogynic Sumeria and Assyria.

Time Queen General Notes

Season 6 ? Decimated by Bellerophon.

Reference Episodes: To Helicon and Back.

Non-canonical
SCYTHIAN AMAZONS
Also known as the Oiorpata. By the time of the series, these are long gone. In their days, they were a part of the borderland between the Turangi and the Greco-Roman cultures. They were masterful artificers and knew the secret of a nearly indestructible metal alloy. Their iconography was dominated by animal forms.
Now only their tombs remain, marked by small standing stones and presumably filled with treasures.
See The Enemy of My Enemy fan fiction for an example of an XWP adventure with Scythian Amazon connections.