Southlander Amazons

A.K.A.: "Southerners" "Imperials"

Distinctive Characteristics: Blonde or light brown hair, bright eyes and relatively pale skin, thanks to the intense miscegenation of Hellenic and Germanic Amazons within this territory.

Cultural Traits: Strong social division among commoners and nobility as a militaristic aristocracy hold all the land and rule upon the commoner masses. Chivalry and honor are deeply enrooted in the local culture and traditions, along with religious devotion.

Many Germanic words can be seen in the names, places and vocabulary of the Southlands thanks to a strong germanification of the region during the Eldarian Invasions of the 2nd century BC. The very same can be said about the Southlander Amazons themselves, as they are the result of the mixture between the Hellenic Amazons who first settled the region during the Bronze Age and the Norse Amazons who invaded and occupied it during the Classical Age.

In many regards it was actually the "barbarian" Norse Amazon invaders who ultimately ended up Hellenized rather than the other way around, as the social structure, the written language, the culture, traditions and religion of the conquered Hellenic Amazons ended up prevailing over their Norse overlords. Nonetheless, a very unique society emerged from it as the two cultures became one.

So neither are the Southlands as purely Hellenic as the Western regions of Arandolia, nor are them as Norse as their Northern neighbors. It is something in between. Like a child of the two things. And a child who just happens to be in possession of the most fertile land on the whole nation, with the perfect temperate climate and humidity to outproduce the all other Amazon region combined in terms of agriculture and livestock.

No wonder it became the richest region of Arandolia. As the Southlander Aristocracy grew wealthy beyond measure through the hard labor of their peasants on their vast landed states, a mighty host of rich armoured Knights appeared, earning a lot of reputation on the battlefields in name of their lieges. With them, a strong martial tradition around chivalric valour was disseminated, and soon the Southlanders began to see themselves as the most righteous of all Amazons. Defenders of their kin, above both the "decadent Hellenic Westerners" and the "Barbarous Northerners".