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| Artheena |
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Queen and Huntress of the Aazos
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Character: Artheena
Race: Aazos
Kingdom: Sallaechia
Age: Age of Mists, the Second Age
Weapon: Bow
Ability: Animal tongue
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There was a queen, Artheena, who was married to a very cruel king who ruled Sallaechia, a northern kingdom east of Claw Bay. He would treat her like an animal and abuse her in ways that were unnatural and vicious. She was caged like a beast with only a brief moment everyday to walk in the garden, escorted by three guards. She looked forward to this time. The only people she saw was the king and the three guards everyday for many years. She had no friends. So, instead she made friends with the birds that would feed from her hand. The deer would come knowing that she would be there at the same time each day to give them a morsel, which she hid in her dress, from the meager afternoon meal that was shoved under the door of her cage.
As she was treated like a beast, so she became like a beast. From the animals she made her friends. She learned animal tongue and could whisper in the wind and the trees would carry her voice many miles away. Even though her mind was like a creature of nature, she was immensely beautiful. It was this that eventually saved her. She began to devise a plan to be free from her life of misery. Each day with subtilty she began to seduce one of the guards. He began to find reasons to send the other two guards away. He would have them fetch some particular item or to get him a drink.
This guard finally gave his heart fully to Artheena and she convinced him to kill her husband the king. She promised him that she would make him king and they would rule together. The day came and Artheena's plan bore fruit. Gallac, the guard, would come before the king each week to give a report concerning the welfare of the queen. Gallac bowed before the throne of the king and as he rose up from his knee he pulled out his sword from its sheath and with one motion thrust the blade deep into the king's chest, pinning the king to his own throne.
The queen who had been standing at the entrance waiting to be called into the king, rushes hysterically to the throne throwing herself on the blood soaked king. She weeps and cries out in uncontrollable mourning. As quickly as the grief came it stopped. She stood up and turned toward Gallac, pointing her slender finger at him, and yelled in hatred, "You murderer! You killed my beloved!"
Dolyte, one of the other guards who attended the queen on her walks, commanded that Gallac should be arrested and taken to the prisons. Artheena came up to Dolyte and kissed him, "Thank you darling. Only you have been there through my darkest hour and now I want you to ease my pain and become my king." At this Gallac realized the deception but was unable to respond before being dragged to the dungeons. Here his final fate would end at the gallows. Artheena's seduction to gain power was almost complete.
She married Dolyte and while he was distracted with his new position as king, Artheena secretly built an army of women and creatures of the forest. She would never trust a man again. She would never love a man again. She would build a nation of only woman. They would be warriors and hunters. The women of Salaechia were not equals and were treated no better than servants. Soon she had her army and at night they attacked the sleeping soldiers within the castle walls. She left no man alive including Dolyte her husband.
She took the throne but this time she was the sole ruler. She ordered that all men in the nation leave or be killed. She finally had her wish, a nation without men. They became known as the Aazos, which means "no breast". Artheena commanded that all the women in her realm remove the right breast so that they would not be hindered in the use of weapons like the javelin or bow. They devoted themselves to war and training. But Artheena soon realized that her people would need to have children in order to grow and they needed someone to do the domestic duties, which was thought of in contempt and disgust. Domestic duties were seen as a form of oppression men used to control women.
The Aazos attacked the neighboring kingdom that took the refugee men who had fled from Artheena. After capturing the main city the Aazos went from house to house taking all girls two years old and under and killing all the boys. They then left with the kidnapped girls to raise them as their own. The kingdom they had attacked rallied its troops and struck back. The Aazos crushed them. Their hatred for men drove their strength and determination. It was a dark and twisted courage.
Those men that survived were taken as slaves and given no rights or status. By this time the animals who had originally allied themselves with Artheena began to question their relationship with the Aazos. In the beginning they had sympathized with Artheena's plight and she had shown a remarkable comprehension of animal ways and language, so they joined the Aazos against the wicked men of Salaechia who treated the women as half citizens. But the animals are a part of Nature. They are tied to Nature's ways. The Aazos had become an unnatural people. They could not reproduce so they had to attack other nations and take their children to sustain themselves. They mutilated their bodies by cutting off their right breasts in order to be better warriors. They hated men. To the animals all living things that were created naturally, including the human races, have a purposeful design within Nature. Whenever a creature deviates from that design the balance of Nature shifts and death and destruction are inevitable. All animals know this from birth but the human races have always played god and try to change the way of Nature for their own selfish gains. And this was no different.
Most of the animals abandoned Artheena's cause except for a few creatures who chose to deviate from the Order of Creation. Artheena was furious. She went on a hunting rampage, killing animals and burning down forests. Sallaechia became a barren land. To satiate her hate and support her armies she continued to invade neighboring kingdoms. Her hate toward men took another step forward. She no longer just killed men and then took baby girls to be raised by the Aazos but she killed the married women as well. How could a woman choose to marry a man? Artheena considered them betrayers.
On one particular campaign, which would become their last, they began an invasion on a small kingdom to the south called Mazosskinee. The men of that kingdom were good and noble. Knowing that the Aazos army was powerful they sent out nearly all their men to meet them. Artheena was clever and set an ambush. Many Mazos died but many more were taken prisoner to be forced into slavery. The women of Mazosskinee heard the terrible news of defeat. One woman, who was a clan leader's wife, came before the women of her kingdom and declared that they needed to bring back their men and fight the Aazos. They agreed. The women of Mazosskinee are no feeble creatures. They raise cattle and in a land where wild beasts and difficult terrain are normal the Mazos are a hard and determined people. Despite their difficult life the women are loyal to their families.
Within five days the Mazos had pulled together an almost all woman army to challenge the Aazos in battle. The Aazos did not expect any more resistance from Mazosskinee so they were resting from their first battle to prepare for final invasion. Without warning the Mazos caught the Aazos off guard. Artheena quickly drew up a defensive perimeter but the Aazos were not good at defensive techniques. They are usually the aggressors and most of their army is built for offense not defense against an attacking army. They were crushed.
The men of Mazosskinee were rescued. Artheena was taken prisoner and at dawn the next day after being declared a criminal of the clans. She was run through with a lance. The Mazos then invaded Sallaechia and took all the young girls who were now orphans and raised them as their own teaching them the Order of Creation and the balance of man and woman. Each being the opposite ends of a scale and both having equal value to the other for they are not the same but both are intertwined in their need for each other. This is what the Mazosskinee call the Wisdom of Nature.Labels: fantasy |
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posted by Brett @ 12:21 PM
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