The Amazons

This is the legend of the Amazons.


Three millennia ago, North of the Mediterranean Sea, there existed a nation of warriors.  Both men and women, they fought side-by-side as equals on the battlefield.  There existed no greater army in the world than theirs; no stronger warriors than theirs.  They understood the true nature of combat: the reality of bloodshed, bravery, and death.  Every man and woman would give his or her life to protect his brothers and sisters; there were no cowards among them.  The name of this nation is long lost to history, but its fall is legendary.

An enemy nation, using deceit, trickery, and unnatural power, completely conquered the warrior nation.  They slaughtered all men and children, leaving only the women alive.  Those women were enslaved, tortured, and raped.  For two long years, the wives, mothers, and daughters of a once-great nation were subjugated by evil men.  Finally, led by their queen, the women planned a resistance against their captors.  The queen knew that without aid from the gods, their plan would fail.  Every day, she prayed to the goddesses—Hestia, Aphrodite, Demeter, Athena and Artemis—for the strength and fortune to defeat the men that held her people captive.  And, on the day the battle was to begin, her prayers were answered.  The gods of Olympus saw this great injustice, and granted each woman the strength of a dozen men.
The queen was given special gifts, crafted by Olympus' royal craftsman, the god Hephaestus himself:
An indestructible golden lasso, laced with undeniable magic that caused anyone in its grasp to speak only the truth.
A red corset, stronger than any steel armor, topped with an eagle-shaped golden chestplate.
Twin silver bracelets, forged from the shield of Zeus, able to shatter the shaft of an oncoming arrow or stop a mighty bolt of lightning in its path.
A golden tiara, unable to be bent or broken by any man.

The women took the name "Amazons"—meaning, literally, "warrior women."  Retaking their stolen armor and weapons, they rallied against the men who had dishonored them.

The battle was fierce and bloody; it lasted for three days without end.  The evil army summoned all manner of supernatural beasts to aid in their fight, but to no avail: the Amazons were unstoppable in their rage.
In the end, no man was left alive; only the Amazons stood, sheathed in blood but still alive.

As a final recompense, the gods gave the Amazons a sanctuary from the chaotic world of man: the island of Themyscira, shrouded from the outside world.  No human eye nor technological wonder could detect the secret haven, hidden safely in the Aegean Sea.
The Amazons, left to themselves in their new refuge, did not let their warrior spirit become soft.  They continued training in the ways of war, never letting their resolve weaken.  They forgot the good men of their homeland, but did not forget the crimes of the wicked men who enslaved them.  Soon, the Amazons fell into a singular belief: that the patriarch-dominated world of mankind was inherently corrupt, and that only one's sisters could truly be trusted.  They became closed-minded and mistrustful, never venturing beyond their shores or allowing others to discover Themyscira.

Although the Amazons were not invulnerable, they were immortal: they would never die of old age. The same women who fought back against the army of evil never died.  They live on, secluded on their Paradise Island, even to this day.