Thousands of years ago the Amazon tribe of the Tritoni lived upon the sacred island of Hesperides, which lays off the Libyan coast. However, an earthquake destroyed their city and forced them to flee to the mainland. There they encountered another Amazon tribe known as the Gorgons. The two initially clashed, but soon they put aside their differences and united with a third Amazon tribe called the Pallantids, forming a single nation. Even their religions integrated, with their new pantheon of deities including Medusa of the Gorgons, Sipylene of the Tritoni, and Athena of the Pallantids. They settled upon the shores of Lake Tritonis and built the great city of Triton to be their capital.

Under the rulership of the legendary Queen Myrine the Great, the Gorgons expanded eastward along the coast of Africa, up through Phoenicia, and finally conquered Asia Minor. However, far too over-extended to hold this vast tract of land, they were forced to gradually withdraw from most of their new-won territory after the death of Myrine. Only on the Thermodon plain in northern Asia Minor did they retain the colony of Themiskyra, ringed by fortresses to protect it from the encroachments of the nearby Greeks.

It was those Greeks who spelled the doom of the Libyan Amazons. Brought into direct contact by the conquests of Myrine, the Greeks and Amazons were natural enemies. They competed for trade, political influence, and most especially were from totally antithetical cultures. The Greeks supported rebellions in the areas conquered by the Amazons, and after they withdrew enlisted their populations in anti-Amazon alliances.

For centuries the conflict went on, until finally the Gorgons were driven back to their city of Triton. There an allied-Greek army led by the Athenians laid siege. Unable to storm the impregnable walls of the great city, the Greeks settled into a blockade to starve out the Amazons. After long months the end of Triton came suddenly. The exact cause of her demise remains shrouded in mystery to this day. Some say that a priestess of Athena murdered the Amazon Queen and let the Greeks into the city. A theory lent support by the fact that afterward the Athenians brought the worship of Athena back to their city (and indeed renamed it to Athens after her). In any case, the Greeks entered the city and in an orgy of blood lasting for three days they slew every living thing. Not even the livestock were spared.

Yet some of the Amazons managed to escape across Lake Tritonis with their men and children. This rag-tag band took advantage of the Greek preoccupation with the slaughter of Triton and fled south into the desert, hoping that even the blood-mad Greeks would not dare to pursue them into the trackless wastes. Many died in the terrible exodus. Dark rumours still circulate that in order to survive, the living were forced to drink the blood of the dead and eat of their flesh.

In time the remnants of the once proud Libyan Amazons came to a place of refuge in a mountain range far from their former home. Here they found shelter from the sun in the caves, and hidden sources of water deep within the earth. They learned to adapt to their desert surroundings and bided their time, knowing that one day vengeance would be theirs.

That was over a thousand years ago. Now even the Greeks barely remember the details of their destruction of Triton and the mighty Amazon nation there, and even that only as fragments of myth and legend. But the Gorgons have not forgotten. They have spent the years sharpening their arrows and axes, and forging their very bodies into weapons of retribution. When a star fell to earth north of their mountains they knew their time had come. It was Medusa pointing the way back to their ancient home, and their ancient enemy.

So the Gorgons stirred themselves and made the long trek back across the unforgiving desert. They now stand poised at the edge of the wastes, with the fertile Tritonian plain beyond. They have come to reclaim their ancestral home, and to end the world of men...

[This message has been edited by SubRosa (edited 12-20-2008 @ 10:34 PM).]