Bana-Mighdall
Bana-Mighdall is located in the deserts of Syria. It is a fortress-city, located in an inaccessible portion of the desert and protected by sharp cliffs and limited approaches. Magical illusions, sandstorms, and hostile terrain have prevented outsiders from reliably finding the city or being able to attack it.
Approximately three hundred true Amazons live in Bana-Mighdall. Generations of their descendants live with them, totalling approximately 1500 women and approximately a hundred males.
Bana-Mighdall is an entirely self-sufficient city. The plateu behind the city is inaccessible except by a narrow road and used for agricultural development and raising herd animals. A spring flows up from under the mountain, providing unlimited clean water.
Bana Amazons have all the powers of their Amazon sisters on Themyscira, save for immortality. They do not age nor do they grow sick, but they could be killed irrevocably without the soil of Themyscira under their feet. Over centuries of a warrior's life, many haven been felled by enemy blades, arrows, and cannons.
The Amazons of Bana-Mighdall are excellent ironmongers, historically builders of weapons and armor and trading it with the outside world. Their swords and bows were coveted as the height of weapons technology until the advent of firearms. The Bana smiths quickly adapted to modern technology, applying their expertise towards developing firearms and explosives. They produce these weapons with tremendous precision and skill. But their chief export remains their mercenary services. These warriors for hire generally disdain guns and prefer more primitive weapons that take full advantage of their strength and skill in close combat.
- 1944 AD: Azzuri the Wise, father of T'chaka, joins with Diana to seek the aid of the Bana Amazons to fight the Nazi war machine. Melanippe challenges him to a fight he battles her to a standstill. Impressed with Azzuri's skills, a permanent peace is brokered. After the war, Azzuri courts the Amazon Nanali, and in time they are wed. This makes her Queen of Wakanda.
A cultural exchange of one council member is arranged. The Bana-Mighdall also agree to accept two daughters of every Wakandan tribe each generation. These women would be trained as Amazons. One would remain with the Bana-Mighdall as part of their peace, the other would be given to the Dora Milaje, or the 'Adored Ones'. These would be the guards of the Wakandan ruler, as well as a retinue of possible wives for an unmarried King. The later has been more relaxed in later years, but the Dora Milaje is still a high honor and a reminder of the ties of Amazon and Wakandan.
- 1130 AD: The Amazons, worn and weary from wandering, arrive in Syria. Forsaken by the Olympians, they seek to find a way to survive. In desperation, Melanippe casts her prayers for aid to the winds. Bast hears her cries and answers her. The Panther Goddess directs Melanippe to strike the rocks in an impassable bluff. The first blow brings down a pathway up the mountain. At the top of the plateau, Melanippe is bid to strike a rock again; this time, a ground spring of limitless clear water wells up. The Amazons swear their piety to the Bast and settle their new home of Bana-Mighdall. They establish a fortress atop an ancient plateau. Slowly they bolster their numbers, attracting warriors to the cause and sheltering women rescued from violent and dangerous circumstances. Over the centuries they become a haven for the wandering Kheran women known as the Sisters of the Coda, and skirmish periodically with Wakanda's warriors and other empires of Northern Africa.
- 1125 AD: Over the next five years, the Amazons see their numbers dwindle to conflict and strife. The Amazons call out to Athena, but the patron goddess does not answer. Instead, she sends Hermes to chide Melanippe for breaking the oath to never leave Themyscira in the name of war. Athena repudiates the rogue Amazons and leaves them to their fate. It is later learned by heartbroken Melanippe, consulting the oracle, that the shade that urged her on was not of her dear sister Penthesileia, but a ploy by Eris and Ares. The Olympians were too preoccupied with staving off a second Titanomachy to be alert to the stratagem.
- 1120 AD: Melanippe covertly recruits a sizable number of Amazons for a year-long exodus. Philippus discovers the conspiracy and a clash between sisters occurs. Melanippe's Amazons manage to flee Themyscira and kidnap one of the princesses. The Amazons land in Lycia and proceed on a conquering war party. They become enmeshed in the Siege of Sozopolis, where many Amazons fall. They retreat and regroup.
- 1119 AD: Princess Melanippe, Hippolyta's sister, is awoken one night by a vision. In it, the shade of their sister Penthesileia commands her to leave the island of Themyscira and to bring justice onto the world, to punish men for their lawless ways. She encourages Melanippe to take Hippolyta's daughters with them to be the princesses of the new Amazon queendom.
- 1118 AD: Queen Hippolyta is granted a boon from Zeus and is given two daughters.
- 1194-1184 BC: The War of Troy. A contingent of twelve Amazons joins Queen Penthesileia, sister of Antiope, Melanippe and Hippolyta, to fight for Troy and against Achilles and their old foe, the Witch-Queen Semiramis. The contingent consists of Clonia, Polemousa, Derinoe, Euandre, Antandre, Bremusa, Hippothoe, Harmothoe, Alcibia, Derimakheia, Antibrote and Thermodosa. Penthesileia is slain by Achilles, and General Bremusa dies at the hands of Semiramis. Derimakheia is the sole survivor, striking down Semiramis in the vulnerable moments after Merlyn ripped away her magic. The goddesses, outraged at the breaking of their law and the senseless killing it engendered, takes the Amazons to the island of Themyscira, sealed from the world of men by the mists. Themyscira has a direct portal to Hades, the Doomgate. Their penance is to stand watch over the portal until the end of the Age of Man.
- 1236 BC: Herakles betrays the Amazons and enslaves them. The Amazons are delivered from captivity by their patron goddesses, and charged them to abandon the warlike ways of men. They are escorted by them to a secluded island, still within reach of the mainland, but under edict to be separate from the world of men.
