The Amazons of Praxis

The Amazon’s of Praxis are a simple, yet complex people. The Praxians enjoy the dubious distinction of being the closest analog to Earths Atlantis Myth in the Fantoma System: a once powerful and vast empire, destroyed by some cataclysm, the details of which have been lost to the ages. All that remains of their former glory is ruins, and a few artifacts. The most notable relic being that of the Praxian genes themselves, physically perfect, but female dominant.

A few myths surround the Praxians. Some say that the Zentraedi females, or Maltrandi, were created by harvesting the DNA of captured Praxians, this is false. The Robotech Masters had fielded the Meltrandi century’s prior using local gene stocks. This myth was propagated primarily due to the ‘Praxian Occupation’.

  • Praxian Occupation

The garden world of Praxis. Originally an outlying backwater on the periphery of the Masters Empire, Praxis was a lush world. With Optera now a defoliated and barren planet the Masters sought to find other worlds to seed the enigmatic Flower of Life. Worlds with populations easy to control.

So it was, at or around 1400CE, after initial probe data had been compiled, that the Robotech Masters landed the 1175th Division of their newly decanted Meltrandi soldiers on the surface of Praxis. Expecting an easy battle the Meltrandi were surprised as the Praxians vigorously defended their world. However, the sheer size and power of the invading Maltrandi proved too much for the beleaguered defenders. Not even the use of their antigravity modules and ancient artifacts of war could stem the tide. Praxis fell to the Robotech Empire in 4 short months, creating an enmity and rivalry between the Praxian and Meltrandi that exists in some form or another to this day.

Once secured, follow on forces of the Tirolian Legion formalized the occupation and set up massive farms for the Flower of Life. For the same reason that the Masters had sent only female Zentraedi, so to were only female Tirolians of the Legion sent to occupy Praxis. For the most part the Tirolians, having swept organized resistance aside stayed within their compounds and farms, guarded by their giant Meltrandi warriors.

Over the next 600 years the farms flourished and Praxis became an important world to the Empire, unofficially. Officially, the world remained a backwater, not worth visiting, this sleight of hand served to keep the planet off the radar. Not that the average Tirolian cared one whit where the fuel they used came from, so long as it was available.

Culturally, for the Praxians however, those 600 years of occupation introduced the Praxian people to the concepts and instruments of modern warfare. While they had already possessed powerful melee weapons, were keen archers and expert riders, this along with skill and daring, the advent of the gun, and the mecha were all new and fascinating and served to revolutionize Praxian battle tactics and society. While most Praxians were satisfied to live a tribal existence, or within their ancestral cities of stone and marble, some tribes saw the domed compounds of the Tirolians and were enamored of the modernity. Small trading posts were established where Praxians could interact with their Tirolian occupiers. These in turn grew to small towns and then medium sized cities. In 1555 the largest of these sites, Amastris, soon took up the mantle of governmental center for the Praxian people. Their leaders had adopted, and modified to fit their own local culture, the Tirolian Quorum.

Prax3.gif

This power grab would spark a century of civil war as tribal factions and neighboring city states were brought to heel by their larger and more powerful Amastrian sisters. Some tribes welcomed the trappings of advanced civilization and readily joined, other did so out of the belief that by banding together into one people, that they might throw the invaders back into the sky from whence they had come. Other tribes would not be so easily mollified, seeing the Amastian nation as traitors and sell outs. But, the leader of the Praxian Council, Melanippe, a raven haired beauty of great physical prowess, knew that war would inevitably come, and that her people would need to be ready. By warring upon themselves, her warriors, and those of the tribes, would gain much needed battle experience. This Machiavellian scheme would bear fruit centuries later as the Invid would find, and then attack, the world in their lust to control the Flower of Life.

Melanippe’s vision bore fruit and the tribes were subdued. The warriors of Amastris then set about bringing the knowledge learned by their people to the rest of the planet. Modern warfare was taught, alongside architecture, science, and governance.

  • Invid Invasion

By the time the Invid arrived in 2002 the Praxians had built themselves an expansive nation in the shadow of the Tirolians, who alongside the maintenance staff and their guards had tamed most of the planet. The Invid assault was ruthless and single minded in scope. However, the orbital defenses gave those on the planet ample warning and when the first waves of Invid forces broke through the orbital perimeter they were met by a combined army of Meltrandi, Tirolian Legionnaire, and Praxian Warrior. The destruction of those Invid waves would be the only such victory for the occupants of Praxis, for once the orbital defenses were smashed the full weight of the Invid host descended upon the surface. The Meltrandi military installations were the first to fall followed by the Tirolian compounds and the Praxian settlements nearby. Amastris fell shortly after.

prax2.gif

The next 12 years would see Praxis under the yoke of Invid occupation. Of the facilities in existence prior to their onslaught only the Protoculture farms remained, usurped and reinforced by the Invid. Together, the surviving Meltrandi, Tirolians, and Praxians banded together to form an effective resistance movement. The Melanippe Prophacy had proven correct, although not in the manner she had predicted. Despite the Tirolians greedily keeping Protoculture technology out of the hands of the ‘primitives’ some elements of Protoculture had indeed, via a black-market, or outright theft, made their way to some of these settlements, where they were quickly eradicated by Invid sweep teams. However, much of the tribal areas were spared the initial assault because no Protoculture was present, this provided a solid base of infrastructure for a resistance to promulgate, resupply, rest, and plan. In fact, it was here, long before the resistance fighters on Earth ever figured it out, that, to shut down Protoculture emanations would effectively blind the Invid; a tactic that served the Praxians well. Scores of Invid died at the hands of the Praxians, in ambush, and by trap. By the time the UEEF arrived to drive the Invid from the world the Praxians had already destroyed three Invid hives and had brought Protoculture production to a standstill in two of the fifteen known farms.
Acting as scouts and guides to the UEEF the Praxians were, with UEEF mecha and armored support, able to expel the Invid from their home.

Praxian Dress

In the temperate climes of Praxis, the average Praxian would wear nothing but what was required of their station in life. Thus a warrior would wear a pair of leggings, a pair of sandals, (replaced by boots or shoes after the Tirolian landing) topped off by a set of bracers and helmet. Only a powerful, or wealthy warrior, would wear a cuirass and a more ornate helmet. Capes were worn more for identification then for any sense of fashion. Patterns on them would dictate rank and unit function for their troops.
Ornate helmets would distinguish a leader, being visible from any angle, as a Praxian leader would always be in the thick of the fighting.

By contrast, a blacksmith would wear naught but a set of gloves, boots, and apron to protect from the heat of the forge while a teacher would wear little more than a girdle and sandals. A laborer would wear nothing at all.

Colors of clothing also helped to dictate status. The lower class would wear linen in whites and tans, while the upper cast would have richer colors such as red, blue, green, purple. With clothing sparse if not altogether unnecessary, other manners of identifying who was who in society was needed. While some articles of clothing dictated function, status was harder to identify. Two methods to determine social status included more ornate items of clothing when clothing was worn, and the length of ones hair. The higher up the social ladder a Praxian was, the longer their hair. Thus a laborer, or slave, would have short hair while a queen would have hair to her waist if not longer. To have their hair shaved was the height of degradation and was reserved for truly shameful acts. The exceptions to this rule are those in the Warrior Caste. Those that are warriors have their hair short as a matter of safety and pragmatism. According to legend, High Queen Hiera, on the eve of a major battle took her sword and cut her long braids, declaring. ‘I am your Queen, but on the field of war, I am your sister!’

prax1.gif

Many centuries later the Praxians that occupied settlements close to the Tirolian compounds would adopt clothing more in line with their neighbors. In an example of cross culture propagation, the Tirolian’s, being an all female contingent, shed many layers of their dress to mimic the Praxian natives. Although more in tune to their modesty, some went ‘native’ much to the amusement of their comrades. With the arrival of the UEEF and their, by comparison prudish and puritanical cultural mores, the Praxian’s have adjusted yet again, and while still keeping to their traditions, do wear a bit more when they expect to be in the presence of the UEEF and their allies.


Images Copyright DC Comics
Unless otherwise stated, the content of this page is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 License