The Hershivite Amazons.
Hershef is a temperate planet, with large hives and vast Pre-Heresy ruins covering a large portion of its landmass.
During the Hershef War, in which Chaos infiltrated the ruins covering the outsides of the hives, the war swiftly became unbalanced. The Chaos Guerillas used the vast ruins for cover and making lightning fast strikes on undefended positions, causing major damage with each attack. The Valarian Ninth Army Division, Veterans of the Hurrun Reach Campaign, were deployed to quench the Chaos forces on Hershef. They too found the Chaos Guerillas evasive at best, until a Colonel by the name of Derrin Hyst made a Militia-Company of scouts drafted from the local inhabitants of the ruined areas around the hives, known as Amazons. The decision was backed by the Inquisitor Dolph Bastiarus Carr, a known Xanthist, who sanctioned the Amazons use of the Psychic Arts, and their dedication to the Emperor. He also made a decree that the ones serving in the Valarian Ninth, never would return to their kin, as the Amazones were given “Original Inhabitant” status, as they had lived secluded from regular Imperial Reign from the days of the Heresy, where Hershef were more or less destroyed, and the Amazons were the direct descendants of the survivors of the original settlers, who were all but exterminated during the Heresy. Even though the price was high, a large number of the Amazons joined the ranks of the Valarian Ninth and served them as scouts in the war, and that quicly tipped the scales in the favour of the Emperor. That event also forced the critics of Carrs decision to silence.
The Gengineers, studying the Amazons found a engineered modification in their genes, which caused them to bear twins in approximately 60% of all pregnancies and triplets in 12%. Furthermore the Amazons also had a birthrate of 95% female children and only 5% male ones. Upon checking the annals of the planet Carr found that the original inhabitants, or the first settlers had encountered a issue with female barrenness, of which the blame was laid at the doors of a leaky hyper drive on their original craft. The remaining reproductable females were entered into a gene-modification programme to enhance the number of females, and re-establish the balance of the genders. But that never came to bear as the Heresy hit the planet a few years later, but the survivors still carries the gene-modification.
The Amazons culture differed extremely from that of the Imperial Society, in that it was a matriarchal culture with everything being run by women, living in clans divided into families with the eldest of each family being the “matron” and the men living together, being surplied with everything they needed by the women and otherwise only interacting with the women at the Festival of Conception at which they interacted quite freely and mated with as many women as they could during its week-long run. Other than that the men play a insignificant role in the everyday life of the Amazons and are usually lazy and overweight.
In the world of the women it is quite normal to mate with other women, even sisters, but other than that the families live in large shelters, with each couple having an secluded space for sleeping and private possessions.
The faith of the Amazons revolve around the Hershef Eagle, of which there are plenty. It is believed that that was one of the points which convinced Carr of their attachment to the Emperor. The Women tattoo the eagle shape upon their bodies and wear jewellry with the eagle icon. Their rituals also takes root in the eagle and its spirit, communicating with it and singing to it, praying to it and offering gifts to it. The Amazons also employ the Psychic Arts in their lives. Most arts are used as aids in their mundane tasks, but aggressive uses have been seen. The Psykers of the Amazons are called Shamans by themselves, and the term has been adopted by the Valarian Ninth.
The Amazons who have joined the Valarian Ninth were given a crash course of modern warfare, its techs and tactics and their function in it. They quickly learned the basics and soon preferred their issued las- or autoguns to their feeble bows and javelins and their new steel blades over their old flint ones. But other than that they kept to their old ways, lighting fires with flint and tinder, cooking over open fires and ofcourse wearing their tribal wards and jewellry.
Hershef is a temperate planet, with large hives and vast Pre-Heresy ruins covering a large portion of its landmass.
During the Hershef War, in which Chaos infiltrated the ruins covering the outsides of the hives, the war swiftly became unbalanced. The Chaos Guerillas used the vast ruins for cover and making lightning fast strikes on undefended positions, causing major damage with each attack. The Valarian Ninth Army Division, Veterans of the Hurrun Reach Campaign, were deployed to quench the Chaos forces on Hershef. They too found the Chaos Guerillas evasive at best, until a Colonel by the name of Derrin Hyst made a Militia-Company of scouts drafted from the local inhabitants of the ruined areas around the hives, known as Amazons. The decision was backed by the Inquisitor Dolph Bastiarus Carr, a known Xanthist, who sanctioned the Amazons use of the Psychic Arts, and their dedication to the Emperor. He also made a decree that the ones serving in the Valarian Ninth, never would return to their kin, as the Amazones were given “Original Inhabitant” status, as they had lived secluded from regular Imperial Reign from the days of the Heresy, where Hershef were more or less destroyed, and the Amazons were the direct descendants of the survivors of the original settlers, who were all but exterminated during the Heresy. Even though the price was high, a large number of the Amazons joined the ranks of the Valarian Ninth and served them as scouts in the war, and that quicly tipped the scales in the favour of the Emperor. That event also forced the critics of Carrs decision to silence.
The Gengineers, studying the Amazons found a engineered modification in their genes, which caused them to bear twins in approximately 60% of all pregnancies and triplets in 12%. Furthermore the Amazons also had a birthrate of 95% female children and only 5% male ones. Upon checking the annals of the planet Carr found that the original inhabitants, or the first settlers had encountered a issue with female barrenness, of which the blame was laid at the doors of a leaky hyper drive on their original craft. The remaining reproductable females were entered into a gene-modification programme to enhance the number of females, and re-establish the balance of the genders. But that never came to bear as the Heresy hit the planet a few years later, but the survivors still carries the gene-modification.
The Amazons culture differed extremely from that of the Imperial Society, in that it was a matriarchal culture with everything being run by women, living in clans divided into families with the eldest of each family being the “matron” and the men living together, being surplied with everything they needed by the women and otherwise only interacting with the women at the Festival of Conception at which they interacted quite freely and mated with as many women as they could during its week-long run. Other than that the men play a insignificant role in the everyday life of the Amazons and are usually lazy and overweight.
In the world of the women it is quite normal to mate with other women, even sisters, but other than that the families live in large shelters, with each couple having an secluded space for sleeping and private possessions.
The faith of the Amazons revolve around the Hershef Eagle, of which there are plenty. It is believed that that was one of the points which convinced Carr of their attachment to the Emperor. The Women tattoo the eagle shape upon their bodies and wear jewellry with the eagle icon. Their rituals also takes root in the eagle and its spirit, communicating with it and singing to it, praying to it and offering gifts to it. The Amazons also employ the Psychic Arts in their lives. Most arts are used as aids in their mundane tasks, but aggressive uses have been seen. The Psykers of the Amazons are called Shamans by themselves, and the term has been adopted by the Valarian Ninth.
The Amazons who have joined the Valarian Ninth were given a crash course of modern warfare, its techs and tactics and their function in it. They quickly learned the basics and soon preferred their issued las- or autoguns to their feeble bows and javelins and their new steel blades over their old flint ones. But other than that they kept to their old ways, lighting fires with flint and tinder, cooking over open fires and ofcourse wearing their tribal wards and jewellry.
