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- Who are they? -

The Amazon pride is, fundamentally, a pride for only female felines. Despite each member holding a different view about males, they are all united in their desire to live without males in their day to day lives. While some are born and raised to it, others come to the pride seeking a home with like-minded individuals, or for protection against the males that have troubled them in the past.

All female felines are welcome in the pride, but non-lionesses are often seen as lesser in rank. Canines and hyenas are frowned on and will usually be unable to join the pride, though they will be allowed to live inside the lands.

- Stance on Males -

The pride will not tolerate males within its borders. The first queen, Kiuma, decided that and they've upheld it since. Males found inside the borders by the vigilant guard are chased out of the lands; usually with a bad beating, though worse is not beyond them, up to and including death. The young females are raised to believe that males are the weaker half of the species, at least in mind and emotion, though maybe not in body. They can not be trusted and will bring pain to the females that join with them, in one way or another.

Male cubs of the pride are seen differently. While not as bad as outsider males, since they were born from these females, they still can't be allowed to remain in the pride. To solve this problem, the cubs are kept till they are old enough to travel, then are either taken to be raised by the pride's allies, the Mwako'bi'Giza, or Demon Hunters, or found another home by the mother. This ensures they are taken care of and raised in a loving environment, better than the treatment they would have received if they had been kept.

- Love & Mates -

The females of the pride are encouraged to bond, or mate, with other females, as its believed they are the only ones truly worthy. As the pairing can't lead to cubs, there are little to no restrictions on who may mate to whom. Though its not a common or popular practice, family members bonding is not exactly frowned on. A pair of sisters that are exceptionally close can be considered mated, with or without physical attraction to the other. What truly matters is the love between the two involved.

Mating with outsiders is frowned on, unless the outsider is willing to join the pride. Pairings that wish to have cubs may choose to find a father that is similar in color or looks to one or both of the mated pair. Its not a rule though and only a matter of preference.

- Growing up Amazon -

Children of the pride are raised to be strong, independent, courageous, and intelligent. The more a female proves herself to reach these ideals as a hunter, guard, or fighter, the higher her rank is considered in the pride. Two hunters may hold the same title, but if one is more skilled than the other, its expected that the other will defer to her.

Life starts normally, with play and learning, nannies to care for the young females while storytellers nurture their minds. At adolescence, the female takes on the title and job for which she is best suited, training in it till adulthood. At adulthood, she is initiated as a full member of the pride with the Tears of Blood ceremony. After that, she may live as she pleases, and if she should feel the need for it, may leave the pride for a period of time to find a father for a litter of cubs, called a Quest for Cubs.

When a female is too old to be relied on in a fight or to hunt, she is often assigned duties that are lighter and keep her by the dens, such as babysitting or storytelling. Younger females may also take this role if it suits them.

- Stance on the Divine -

The pride has no official religion, as such. The most dominant is the belief in the Circle of Life, brought from the Pridelands with the first queen. Everything happens in its own time, as its fated to. The young are born, grow old, and die to provide for the next generation. Gods are respected as creatures of power, but not worshiped. There is also a strong belief that while the body dies to feed the grass, the soul is free to travel and take up new life in a place where she may best watch over her descendants. Common belief was that Queens became stars in the heavens, but less noble lionesses may become instead joined with the land, living in the rocks and trees, and even the prey the pride eats.

Queen Hippolyta started a custom of erecting a small 'shrine' for females who have died, so that their spirit might have a place to rest and their descendents a place to leave tokens of remembrance. These are often simply small heaps of stones, usually heaped over some small token of the female the shrine is for, be it a bit of her bones or an item she cherished in life. The queen's consort, Ebere, was the first of the priestesses who chose to tend these, making sure other animals did not disturb them. The shrines can be anywhere that was special to the female it is for or her family who made it.

How it began...

After a second betrayal of the most important male in her life, Kiuma turned hateful and bitter towards males, and swore to never again take one as 'mate'. Angry and hurt, she was traveling back to the pridelands when she found Baala, alone and in need of someone to care for her. Kiuma felt a kinship with the adolescent and took her under her wing on her way back to the Pridelands. The two became friends of a sort, and when Kiuma decided to leave again to find her missing sons, Baala came with her instead of staying.

On their way to the Firekin lands, they met up with Liza, a male who would do anything to please a female and thought of them as superior. Kiuma hates his mannerisms, but inwardly, likes being defered to, so she decided to take him with them. After finding her sons again, she decided to keep going north, hoping that this time her visit to the Desert will be more fruitful than the last.

Baala was lagging behind and met with tragedy in the form of a crazy male, struggling to return now to Kiuma badly beaten and carrying a suprise in her belly. The incident brought the pair closer together, binding them to each other. When Kiuma started to notice Baala's growing belly, she decided to join her in motherhood, and got herself with cubs from a black rogue male.

When Baala decided to leave her two newborn girl cubs with the Kunanda pride, Kiuma was quite upset and decided to prove to Baala and herself that she could make a place where cubs could be raised in safety. After parting ways with the young female, Kiuma found her budding little family a set of dens in a cliff by a pair of rivers, settling into the shelter greatfully. Deciding on the name Antianeira for the newly founded pride, Kiuma's four daughters and two sons were the first cubs to be born into it. Everyone has been just settling in, sharing the duties of patroling the boarders, hunting down food, and babysitting the cubs.

As the royal cubs grew to adolescence though, their true training started as they took up duties suited to them, including patroling the boarders to keep them safe. The two males disappeared one day and no one is quite sure where they went, though their absence is a bit of a relief for the all-female pride. Giving sanctuary to a beaten yellow and black lioness turned fortuitous though, as she went on to found her own pride and allied with Antianeira in thanks for the shelter. It now protects a good portion of the Amazon's Northwestern boarder and takes in male cubs to raise.

When her litter had grown into fine young adults, Kiuma grew restless and left her pride to seek out a male to father another litter. Katana'k, god of pride, obliged her, and she returned home to give birth to eight cubs, five of them female. The three males were given to Moto'nyota to raise, a friend of Kiuma's and the queen of the Mwaka'bi'Giza.

Four new rogue females joined the pride; Kannon, Carnadhiel, Kaa'lee, and Twiga, all of whom wished for a place where they were accepted and separated from males. Kannon because the pride's first, and much needed, nanny, while Carnadhiel became a guard and Kaa'lee became a scout.

A time of slavery and a new queen...

When Kiuma's daughter, Hippolyta, had grown to a fine adult and born herself an heir, a time of great trouble came to the pride.

Xibalba, a treacherous outsider female, came to the pride seeking help, or so she claimed. What she brought with her was a band of cruel male lions who ambushed the Queen and Heir, slaying the former and exiling the later. Nearly unopposed, they took control of the pride in a savage coupe and enslaved the pride of females, who surrendered to save their many young cubs.

Along with a few females willing to flee with her, Hippolyta took refuge in the rogue lands and bided her time, healing and gather new females to support her. There she took a sweet healer named Ebere as consort, naming her three daughters as princesses beside her own Calypso, left behind in the pride. When all was ready, the band of females took back the pride in a fierce battle with the males, though many of their leaders had gotten wind of the uprising and fled.

Hippolyta took her rightful place as queen, naming Calypso her heir, despite how strange and resentful her daughter had grown in her absence. The pride is grateful for their renewed freedom, but they were harder for their time in captivity.

Life for the Amazons settled into something near routine and the pride flourished, raising daughters into strong, able females. The queen and her consort brought new daughters to the pride and they in turn grew up strong. As the harsh edges of the pride began to dull, Hippolyta finally decided that it was time for new leadership to take over what the pride was becoming and let the past fade into memory. A messy, public fight between the queen and heir resulted in Calypso abandoning her birth pride and striking out on her own, leaving the pride with a hard choice. Ariadne declined the honor of being queen, forcing Hippolyta to look among her other daughters.

Eventually, Zara was chosen to take the throne and the burden of leadership was passed to her, with her mother taking a lesser position as counselor and a new, easier life of retirement with her beloved consort. A new chapter is opening for the Amazons, but only time will tell if it will be one of ease and prosperity, or if the dulling of fighting skills in a time of peace will leave the pride defenseless against the outside world.