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.
- 1931 AD: Azzuri the Wise, father of T'chaka, challenges Melanippe and fought her to a standstill. Impressed with Azzuri's skills, a peace is brokered. Azzuri marries Nanali, a member of the Amazons, making her Queen of Wakanda. Melanippe supplicates to the gods of Wakanda, and the Orisha extend their protection to them. Melanippe takes up holy orders and becomes a priestess of Bast, and the Amazons begin to honor Bast, Thoth, Ptah and Mujaji, and rename themselves the Bana-Mighdall- "The Temple of Women."
In return, Wakanda does not interefere in the lands that Bana-Mighdall has claimed as theirs, but a member of their tribe can come to council. Furthermore, the Bana-Mighdall agreed to accept two daughters of every Wakandan tribe each generation. These women would be trained as Amazonians. One would remain with the Bana-Mighdall as part of their peace, the other would be given to a new tribe that has been created, 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 Amazonian and Wakandan.
- 1130 AD: The Amazons, worn and weary from wandering, arrive in Wakanda. It is there that they settle down and form a new society. Forsaken by their goddesses for their lack of faith and their warlike ways, they sought to find a way to survive. They established a settlement located in the high mountains of the Jabari-Lands of Wakanda. They were always quiet, secretive, and anti-male. Any men that attempted to explore what they considered their borders were murdered.
- 1125 AD: Over the next five years, the Amazons see their numbers dwindle to conflict and strife. Eventually the Amazons call out to Athena, but the patron goddess does not answer. Instead, she sends fleet-footed 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 hearbroken Melanipe, consulting the oracle, that the shade that urged her on was not of her dear sister Penthesileia, but the goddess of Strife herself, Eris, in disguise, in a ploy with Ares to bring down the Amazons. The gods of Olympus were not aware of this, however, as at the time the majority of Olympus was enmeshed in a conflict with a group of Titans of myth that had escaped their bonds and were trying to bring about a second Titanomachia.
- 1120 AD: Melanippe, in secret, manages to recruit a sizable number of Amazons and plans their exodus for a year. The conspiracy is discovered by Philippus, however, and a clash between sisters occurs. Melanippe's Amazons manage to flee Themyscira using Hippolyta's fleet, but they are only able to kidnap one of the princesses, Dione. 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: Queen Melanippe, Hippolyta's sister, is awoken one night by a vision. In it, the shade of her 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 duaghters 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, made out of clay and animated by the breath of life: Diana and Dione, on 22 March 1118 A.D.
- 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. The contingent consists of Clonia, Polemousa, Derinoe, Euandre, Antandre, Bremusa, Hippothoe, Harmothoe, Alcibia, Derimakheia, Antibrote and Thermodosa. Penthesileia, the more warlike of her sisters, had chafed under the interdict and wanted to re-establish an Amazon nation in the mainland. Penthesileia is slain by the demigod Achilles, while her general, Bremusa, is killed by king Idomeneus, son of Deucalion. The other Amazons were soon slain, with the exception of Derimakheia, whose ultimate fate is unknown. The goddesses, outraged at the breaking of their law and the senseless killing it engendered, took the Amazons to the island of Themyscira, sealed from the world of men by the mists. Themyscira had a direct portal to Hades, the Doomgate, and part of the Amazons' penance was to stand watch over the portal eternally.
- 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.
History
After Hercules kidnapped Hippolyta and captured the Amazon army, their patron goddess Athena appeared before Hippolyta and Antiope. She would help them fight their way to freedom, but the Amazons would withdraw forever from the world of man afterwards. Hippolyta accepted the offer. Antiope and a third of her sisters refused, and renounced the Olympian gods forever. After the Amazons broke free of their captors, Antiope and her allies armed themselves and razed the city while Hippolyta and the rest went towards the Aegean.
These violent Amazons struck out across Greece, destroying cities as they went. They caused the collapse of the Mycenaen Empire and the onset of Greece's Dark Age. They tore down the gates of Nimrud and came face to face with Semiramis, who attempted to corrupt the power of the Vishanti to counter their military might. This resulted in her losing her appointment as Sorceror Supreme, and the Amazons killed her on the spot. Antiope led her sisters to the deep deserts south of the flood plains. There, they entered the realm of the gods of the Ennead. The cat-goddess Bastet appeared before them. Antiope and her legion pledged themselves to this new goddess, who delivered them into their new home atop a broken mountain.
They occupied ancient ruins, calling their home Bana-Mighdall. The Bana Amazons would serve as mercenaries and ironmongers for thousands of years to come. Over the centuries, their numbers dwindled until only a few hundred of the original Amazons remained.
Approximately 1000 BCE, a Kheran botanical colony ship was shot down by Daemonites in orbit over Earth. A handful of survivors were scattered across the face of the world. The eternal Kherans, over the centuries, found allies with the other immortals. Some made alliances with the Inhumans while others wandered the world, hunting for Daemonites infiltrators. The closest allies for many of the Kherans, however, were the women of Bana-Mighdall. It was in their fortress city that they found not just allies, but refuge. And with their allies at Bana-Mighdall, the Kheran would raise the rare half-breeds sired by their liasions with the mortals. The fortress of Bana-Mighdall became the home of the Sisters of the Coda.
