THE AMAZONS

Amphalia is quite a complex Amazon. She is completely mortal to her knowledge but as she was abandoned and adopted by the Amazons when just a tiny girl, she can never be quite sure.

She is a strikingly tall woman with curly light brown hair falling to her shoulders that glints with blonde in the sunlight. Her eyes are a blue/grey mix and they have the power to wilt opponents in a stare but at the same time, engender laughter in a twinkling smile.

She is an extremely experienced warrior and her weapon of choice is a leather whip that is never anywhere but by her side yet she is a fearsome warrior with any weapon that may be within her grasp in a battle. It is this that has made her one of the Queen's most trusted personal bodybuards.

Her long legs are encased by knee length leather boots, her bodice is tight fitting leather with two inche wide straps that are purple material interweaved with the leather and her skirt made of leather strips not too tight fitting as she likes to make use of her long legs to get to where she's going fast and to also flatten her opponents with a kick if the occasion presents itself.

Amphalia likes to have time to herself to reflect on who she is and who she might be but at the same time she has a sense of fun that will never see her miss out on a party. Her wicked sense of humour is only shown to those that are truly her friends. Those who don't really know Amphalia more often than not suppose that she is cold hearted and just a warrior as she has a very cool exterior. However, her sister Amazons and close friends know that they can always rely on her as an ear to listen to or a shoulder to cry on or someone to make them laugh when they're down.

Apollena is 5'8" tall with soft curves that belie the strength hidden beneath her feminine form. She is well proportioned, but for her long legs and neck. Her skin is golden bronze in the summer sun and pale peach during Persephone's long-winter absence. Apollena has silky, waving, waist length, light-auburn hair. It is usually held back by a golden headband. On more formal occasions the Amazon Queen Crown of feathers, semi-precious stones and precious metals is worn. In battle her hair is braided and tightly wrapped around her head. She has been known to braid flowers or brilliantly coloured autumn leaves into her waving tresses, in her more fanciful moods. She has large moss green eyes with dancing flecks of gold and finely arched brows. Her lips are full and coloured a rich, deep peachy-rose over strong white teeth.

Weapons: An excellent warrior with all weapons, the double bladed battle-axe and bow/arrow are her weapons of choice. She was taught the finer points of archery by HerKules. She always carries a breast dagger.

Dress: Daily wear: fitted buff tailored chamois weskit and short wrap skirt with light brown leather boots, gauntlets and armabands, decorated discreetly with brass rivets and inlays for strength and protection. She wears a slender, golden, headband, the only outward badge of her Queenly status.

Battle armour: golden coloured beaten metal over thick leather, with a flap skirt and shin/knee protectors studded with the same golden metal. Her Amazon mask is the head of a male lion, with full, dark mane and ferocious teeth. Horse: a buckskin mare named Nemesis.

Apollena has a voluptuous body, a sharp, quick mind with developed psychic abilities and common sense. She is a firm but fair leader. She is quick to laugh and to cry in sorrow or joy. Her nature is generous and supportive. She is big hearted, but expects only the best from her sister Amazons when their best is needed. This Queen is fearless in battle and takes both her leadership responsibilities and her friendships very seriously. She is devoted to her Amazon sisters and to HerKules, her old and dear friend. HerKules was Apollena's first and only true love. When they were both still budding young adults, they met and fell in love. First as a child and then later as a young woman, Apollena lost all those she called family to Hades' kingdom. She developed her keen intellect and battle skills to survive. It is those skills that have brought her to this new family, the Amazons.

HISTORY: Apollena was orphaned, at the age of 3, and left with a group of women (spiritual healers) to raise, at the Healing Temple of Apollo. She was named in honour of that God of light, healing, intelligence and the arts. She was taught healing skills and developed her psychic abilities. It was here, while both were studying with HerKules' nephew Aesclepius, that the young HerKules and Apollena met and fell in love. Though their affection is still strong, they realized early in their relationship that their personal paths would take them separate ways. They are always there for each other, to support each other in battle and to share their ever-lasting flame of love and affection. Aesclepius was killed by Zeus and Apollo's temple, Apollena's adopted home, was destroyed. She joined HerKules and studied with him and his mentor, Ceridian, to perfect her battle skills. She wasn't sure what the Fates had in store for her, but after learning all she could from the wise centaur, she set out to find her own path.

Baeori is medium in height, but is a strong build with a shapely figure. She has long, chocolate brown hair, with a small wispy fringe, that is usually worn in a bun or braid, or, when she is sleeping or at home, is left out. The main body of her hair is straight until is reaches her shoulders, then is split into corkscrews the rest of the way down - about elbow length. Her eyes resembled the sky on a stormy day, as they are a medium grey in colour with silver rims around the outer edge of the iris and the edge of the pupil, though when she is afraid or angered they darken to a steely grey that betrays her mood.

Born of an Amazon warrior and a Centaur, Baeori was taken from her parents and older brother at the age of one and a half, so she remembers little of them. Raised as a renegade, Baeori was never a good warrior, much to the disappointment of their hag-Queen, Phura. Baeori's shortcomings were only tolerated for so long, as the Queen finally decided to be rid of the girl once and for all. She attacked her with a jagged blade, and Baeori still carries a scar down the side of her throat from the attack. Though she managed to flee, Baeori did return to the village as she had no where else to go. Phura accepted her back into the community, wary of her talent at stringing bows, and feathering arrows. She was rarely taken into battle, and on the odd occasion she was she finally became freed from the Queen's evil grasp and regular attacks on her whenever she had a temper tantrum.

In one raid on a distant Amazon village Baeori was knocked out and left behind, thus ending her time with the renegades. If she ever returned, Phura would have her killed for failing to retreat with the other renegades, as had been ordered. So she remained with the new Amazon tribe, helped by the willing Amazons that soon became her friends, Therese, Kendaa, Stripe, Fayee, Azhure, Laurissa and Klio.

Sworn to Ares' service during her time with the renegades, she still bares the symbol of war (as all those who serve Ares must) on her inner left arm where it is concealed from view. She has three tattoos - her Amazon tattoo, that all Amazons are given when young, is on the back of her neck. Her second tattoo, an armband around her right arm that is of a Celtic design, is the most recent. It is an optional tattoo that is given to any Amazon when she turns sixteen - it marks that she is of age to bear child, and can thus travel with the women's raiding parties to villages where they take what they need from the men to continue the Amazon heritage. Phura, the renegade Queen, had made this usually optional tattoo compulsory throughout the renegade tribes. Her third and final tattoo she has had since she could remember - perhaps even since birth. Though it is not disfigured (as tattoos normally do when a child grows) it is written in a symbol-language that is indecipherable, but to the untrained eye looks like no more than a simple pattern. The writing starts just above her navel and extends up vertically to her breastbone.

As a renegade Baeori wore long, black leather pants with knee high boots and a long black tunic that covered her shoulders and chest, reaching down to her upper-thighs. Her arms were bear, excepting the red sash she had tied around her right arm that marked which renegade tribe she came from. Most renegades wore their sash about their left arm, but as she disliked it so much, she covered up her armband tattoo with it.

After a short while with her new tribe she was finally sworn in, and given new clothes by her dear friend Therese who was a healer and weaver. These consist of a pair of dark-brown, leather boots that reach her knees, a velvety, maroon-red tunic that is strong and sleeveless, and is held up by two thin straps that reach over he shoulders and cross over at the back. The tunic laces together with thin, red twine up the centre front and, once done up, holds her breasts and upper-ribs firmly protected and in-place. The bottom of the tunic cuts off just above her lower ribs, covering up a small part of her stomach tattoo, though the rest remains visible. Her skirt hangs from her hips, exposing her navel and abdomen. The waist belt-like leather at the top of the skirt parts down into three pieces of leather in the centre. Her thighs are covered with the same maroon, velvety material that her tunic is covered with. She no longer wears the red sash, and is less worried about her armband tattoo as it is rarely recognised for its purpose, and is quite beautiful otherwise.

Baeori, though still not a great fighter, has begun training with her friends in the use of the Amazon sword, and was presented one as a gift from her close friend Kendaa. This wavy sword, smithed of a bright silver metal, is stored in a sheath that is strapped to Baeori's back. She also carries the uniform boot-dagger concealed in her right boot, though its hilt is quite obvious. Her most easy-to-use weapon is the bow and arrow, which she picked up quite quickly when she had begun training. She enjoys hunting in her spare time, and has slowly improved at the sport.

She has never had a romantic relationship, as her renegade life left little time for it and she had never met many men in her experience other than her Lord, Ares. Friends with Hercules and Iolaus, she finds safety around them and enjoys their company. Her relationship with Hercules cousin, Iloran, could only be described as love/hate. Their teasing and remarks towards each other are often provoked, though the underlying feeling between them is quite obvious to all but them.

Calee is 5 ft 11 in tall, slim, with red hair to just below her shoulders and piercing green eyes.

She is fiercely loyal to her friends, always ready to fight for a good cause, sassy and a bit of a smart ass, she's not a leader nor a follower; she follows her own path most of the time. Calee is intelligent and very devious. She is always accompanied by a hawk, and has a talent for communicating with animals, and is gifted with understanding all languages of the earth.

She is a formidable warrior, and while she is good with a bow and arrow and even better with a staff, in battle she prefers a sword. Yet her favourite way to fight is one on one in hand to hand combat.

It is a little known fact among her sisters in the Amazon nation that Calee is fascinated with Ares, yet isn't sure if she is ready to give loyalty to him above all other Gods.

Calee came to the Amazon nation many years ago, after having been washed up on the shores of Greece. It wasn't until a time when Hercules was suffering from a serious illness that Calee finally shared the story of her past with some of her sister Amazons.

At the dawn of time there were the Ancient Ones who sat at the pinnacle of history, brought into being by the One. There was Ra, the ruler of the twelve, Osiris, and Isis; Set, Dahak and Moloch; Sekhmet (known as the Lionness), Anubis and Thoth; and Nephthys, Atum and Tefnut. After millenia of time had passed, conflict rose among the Ancient Ones. Sekhmet, desiring to wage war against the three Dark Ones, Set, Dahak and Moloch, who had committed a terrible wrong, created an army of 12 creatures similar to the Furies. They were beautiful, vengeful, female creatures that looked sometimes like women, but were every manner of animal or monster depending on their need. They were terrible to look upon and fierce in their ways. It was with this army that Sekhmet hunted down the three, defeating their minions in a terrible conflict, and put the Evil Ones in prisons so deep and strong they have rarely ever since escaped.

When Sekhmet had defeated the Dark Three, she was changed. The evils of war, the sheer horror of destruction, had appalled even her vengeful spirit. Her warriors were few now, only three survived the conflict. They were tired and despondent over what they had become. The Lioness and her warriors went to the temple of Ra and asked to be sacrificed so that harmony could be restored to the world and they could find peace in the sleep of oblivion.

Ra took pity on the four brave women. He went to the highest altar and fell down in worship before the One. He asked that mercy be shown these brave creatures who had had to become war and evil in order to contain evil.

The One decreed that balance had to be maintained so the Lioness and her warriors could not be destroyed. But the One blessed the Lioness for her sacrifice and she became an elegant and dainty black cat. It was then that she took the name Bastet. Then the One blessed each of the warriors and they were changed, and they were strewn throughout the ages to live their lives as human women. Calee was one of these warriors. At first after she was changed, she didn't remember anything of her origin. She started her life as a human in Babylon as a scribe and a servant in the temple of Astarte, who was called Isis by the Babylonians. She had the gift of many tongues and could sometimes understand even the sounds of the animals and feel what they felt. Over time, her powers to understand them grew.

Name: Jayden

Age: roughly 27

Hair: blonde

Eyes: blue

Parents: Penkos and Elaya of Scirra

Siblings: twin sister (except for their mismatched eyes) Callisto

Occupation: She'Dron Dragon Riders' Queen

Born with her twin sister, Callisto, in a town named Scirra, Jayden grew up with her family until her village was burned by Xena and her army. While her family remained in Scirra, Jayden fled to the nearby forests of Xhen. Here, she was taken in by Ares and escorted to his temple. He was planning to use her mind powers, her seeing and her telepathy for his own benefit on the battlefield. She discovered his plan and fled.

Sending his minions after her, they were going to return her to him when a Centaur boy fought them off. Knowing he could never win her back to his side, Ares changed her appearance and erased her memory. She went with the Centaur boy, Aeron, to the centaur village where a woman by the name of Shayler cared for her. She grew up there and was trained by centaurs, and was given the name Khyra, which means "My Lost Princess". During her time with the centaurs, Khyra met, in the woods, a Dryad woman by the name of Kendaa. They soon became friends and visited each other often in the woods.

Name: Khyra

Hair: Jet black

Eyes: Aqua

Parents: foster parents Shayler and Merremome (a centaur)

Siblings: Foster brother Aeron (centaur).

Leaving the centaurs she was captured by slavers at the age of 15. She spent the next four hears doing hard labour until the young Iolaus was captured, and freed all of the girls and slaves. She travelled back to the centaur camp with Iolaus, and found it being burned by Dragons. Thinking it was the Amazon dragonriders, she buried her only known family and left for the village not too far south. After leaving Iolaus, she encountered a dragon by the name of Sky'Ree, and after attempting to slay him several times in a battle between them that raged for several days, she left, at a stalemate, and entered the village where she met the Queen, Millenia. Discovering that Millenia was not at the head of the attack, but rather it was randon dragons that destroyed the village, Khyra joined the She'Dron Southern Dragonriders and became the master of the Dragon she had previously battled, Sky'Ree. They became friends after he had saved her life out of compassion.

During her time as a She'Dron Dragonrider she was wounded on the battlefield, and befriended a thief by the name of Autolycus, who helped her to a nearby village to get her help. After an incident with a warlord and being locked in the Labyrinth of the Gods, she ate some fruit from the Tree of Life and became immortal.

The Queen's daughter, Zabine, had refused the Right of Caste in an argument with her mother, so Millenia offered the Right of Caste to Khyra, who accepted after many days of thinking. Zabine was later to regret this.

After Millenia died protecting her dragon, Khyra became Queen of what was left of the She'Dron Riders, only a pack of six, as wars from other provinces had torn the riders apart. This pack was killed, leaving only Khyra, when Ares made them pledge their allegiance to him.

Age: Looks around 25; Height 5.8; Eyes: Clear and plain green; Hair: Dark red to brown.

Born daughter to Aiolos, God of Winds and Weather, and Molpadia, a refugee Amazon.

Stageira's father has always lived on the island of Corfu, in North Western Greece, and was drawn to a young, beautiful Amazon, who along with her sisters, had taken refuge on the island, trying to avoid Hera's wrath. Although protected by Aiolos, the Amazons did not escape Hera's revenge, and they were all murdered. Aiolos as there just in time to save his baby daughter, Stageira. He sent her to a safe place so she can be safely raised free of threat. When she was finally thought to be capable of controlling her life, she was free to live her life as she desired, breaking the heart of her mentor. She started wandering around Greece, free to gather knowledge and live as she wished. After years of wandering, she met with a tribe of Amazons and decided to take up their life. She is now in the process of being assimilated into the tribe.

Skills: Besides being half-god, she tends to be quite gloomy about things, as she has the unbearable gift of seeing the past, present and future very clearly. It is a skill given to her by her mentor.

As daughter of Aiolos, she is also familiar with the weather and winds. She is also called "Daughter of the Storm".

Stageira prefers not to use weapons in a fight, preferring to use her bare hands. She is a skilled warrior in every martial art, but can also handle a sword remarkably well, if necessary.

Outfit: dark blue, short dress. Knee length boots. She always has her hair held back with a leather strand which bears ornamentation of her home island and her mother's lost tribe. She likes to braid soft leather strands in her hair and a feather or two. She is very fond of silver rings and wears one on each finger on both hands.

Therese is about 5'8" with long, auburn/coppery hair, part of which is plaited with a leather thong. Her eyes are light green to hazel, and they light up when she smiles or laughs. Her attire consists of two brown kid boots that reach her knees and a sleeveless, russet coloured dress that cuts off just above her knees with two splits up the sides to partially expose her legs and make it easier to ride a horse. The top of the dress is laced at the front with two straps that pass over her shoulders and cross at the back. She wears a healer's armband, and carries a small healer's sack in a special waist wrap she designed herself. She usually wears her hair half-up or completely out, but usually in a thick plait while she's working.

Born in Rome of a Grecian woman and Roman soldier, Therese was brought up in the city, then wondrous to the eyes. Her father died when she was a teenager, and her mother not long after that. As she was an only child, Therese managed to fend for herself until she was taken in by an elder teen named Eburu. This woman taught her the basics of weaving and healing, two professions she would pursue at a later date, as she was pulled from the woman's company four or five years later. At the age of twenty-one Therese was arrested by two Roman soldiers for illegally selling her works throughout the city. She begged they release her as she had no other way of getting money for food, and, as they had a fair amount of compassion, they did so with a warning. But one of the soldiers, formerly a citizen of Greece, took pity on her and decided to find a way to get the money required to get a permit to sell wares in the market. After he had done so, he found her and gave her the gift. They spent further time together, and soon fell deeply in love.

His name was Dimitri, his friend's name Paul. They had been best friends since they were children, and after a few years in their company Therese found herself living in a small home with the two of them as roommates. She was, finally, engaged to Dimitri before they discovered that the Roman marches, of which the two men were a part, were being sent to fight an unknown enemy. As they were unaware of the enemies strength, the two men left Therese behind for several months as the once beautiful Roman empire waged a war against this mysterious foe. One night, while alone, Therese heard a knock at the door and discovered the marches had been all but obliterated. Paul was the first to return to her, and later a bloodied, half-alive Dimitri came. Though, as she was finally glad to have her lover and her dear friend back, later that night they were visited by the son of their enemies main general, who had been slain by Dimitri himself.

The man demanded retribution, and so asked for either Dimitri, or Therese. While Paul held her behind she watched her lover disappear into the night, knowing she would never see him again. Years passed and finally Therese discovered her old friend, Eburu, had joined the Amazons. Deciding her life had no other way to go, she joined them herself and was soon a part of Apollena's tribe. Becoming close friends with Kendaa, Amphalia, Laurissa and Klio she began her life as an Amazon, filling in the space as local healer.

Therese doesn't usually carry a weapon, though, when she is required to, she carries the usual Amazon boot dagger, and a bow and arrow strapped to her back which is easily accessible.