The Amazon Chronicles - Part I By Senyor Dave Lifesabitch@Apexmail.com A Chronicle of the Time of the Amazon Empire My name is Tenalaus. I have been selected by the Council of Males to write a journal of my life, including history and legends of our people. A true history based on the tales passed from one generation of enslaved males to the next in the unspoken language of menspeak. I was selected because of my duties as one of the scribes to the Senate. I have stolen a supply of paper and will try to write when I am able, and I will each week collect my writings and deliver to Darsius, who works in the caves tending the mushroom farms. He has selected a hiding spot for this manuscript so that sometime in the future, hopefully when males are free, people will know of those who suffered in the past. If either myself or Darsius is discovered we have sworn that we will not betray the others. I am sure that if we are discovered we will be castrated (or tethered, as our female rulers call it), lamed or perhaps even killed. The Council of Males meets each Sunday for one hour. I often have wondered why the women permit its existence. I have come up with three reasons: Firstly, it facilitates their rule to have their orders disseminated in an orderly fashion. Secondly, they feel that it would exist in some form anyway, so why not give it their official stamp of approval. Thirdly, and I believe this is the main reason, it amuses them. As scribe to the Senate I get to hear many things. There is often a great deal of merriment among these powerful women about the Council of Males. They howl in laughter over the thought that any man could possibly think that they could participate in government. It is similar to the reasons why menspeak is allowed. Males are considered so childlike in their thoughts that it humors women to watch them try to make words with their hands. They would never believe that it truly is a complicated language, with subtleties and nuances they could not imagine. Also, they grudgingly allow its use because men are forbidden to converse aloud amongst themselves in the presence of women. Many women strongly believe in the old adage that men should be seen and not heard. I was born in the town of Estronia in the year 477 AAE. AAE stands for Age of the Amazonian Empire. I am now 22 years old, and it is the year 499 AAE. It was 499 years ago that the Amazon Nation, which at the time stretched throughout most of the civilized world, conquered Athens and Sparta and forced the surrender of Greece. It was only one hundred years earlier that the Amazons were a disorganized group of ragtag tribes until united by a warrior named Hertitia who forged them into the most formidable fighting force in history. She decided that the Greek Empire was ripe for the taking and she was correct. She started out conquering small towns, killing most of the males and leaving the women in charge. With the way men treated women, it was not difficult to find many converts among the local townswomen. Finally, all that remained for her to conquer was Athens and Sparta. She slyly negotiated a treaty with each city and then sent spies to foment a rebellion from within. When she did attack, the women of these two cities fought alongside her troops. Both cities fell in a matter of days. When asked for terms of surrender, she had laughed in their face. Hertitia ordered that all Spartan males over the age of twelve were to be killed, while Athenian males were to be castrated. She then set about securing the Amazonian Empire and laying down the law. She and her advisors developed a Code of Law, which contained many hundreds of pages. Five basic tenets of Amazonian Law were: 1. Males had no legal status or rights. All males of any age were slaves and were the property of the state or their owner. 2. Males were not permitted to own or touch weapons of any kind. The punishment for violation of this law was death. 3. No male was permitted to ride a horse or any other animal. This included riding in a cart being pulled by a horse or any other animal. The punishment for violation of this law was castration, and any woman who assisted in allowing a male to ride was to be executed. An exception to this was when groups of males were transported in cages being pulled by horses. 4. All women were accorded full adult status at the age of thirteen. 5. All males reaching the age of thirty are to be tethered. This, of course, does not preclude the tethering of males at an earlier age. Hertitia divided the Amazonian Empire into forty states, giving the states a fair amount of autonomy to govern themselves. Different customs developed and regional differences sometimes developed into wars. One thing that was constant from state to state was the brutal treatment of males. Slaves were in high demand and wars often began because one state coveted the slaves of another state. However, a root had been found that would allow a woman to determine the sex of her baby. Women were encouraged to have male children since that meant more slaves to serve the women. My earliest memories were of being in the pits. Male children were placed there immediately after birth so that there was no possibility of any attachment between mother and child. Although customs and treatment of males vary from village to village, usually male children spend the first three years of their lives in the pits. Older males live in the pits and tend to the young. It is harsh, and many do not survive. After they leave the pits, they are owned by the state until they are sold in the slave auctions. When I turned four, I was sent to live in one of the dormitories for male children. I started school at seven, learning skills for the day when I would be sold at auction at fourteen. When males turned ten the women running the school would determine whether they would be trained as a household slave or a laborer slaver. We all had one goal - to be a household slave. Most slaves who worked in the fields or as laborers died at a very young age. I was fortunate to be chosen to be a slave in a lady's household. When I was thirteen years old, our village was invaded by an army from Thallasia, a large city from a neighboring state. At the time Estronia was a village of about 3,000, with about 900 women and 2,100 men. I was at the academy for males learning the masculine arts, and busying myself with preparing to be a slave to some fierce warrior. My instructor, a fat eunuch who had long since been tethered, told me I was coming along very well and could look forward to being a slave in a woman's household, maybe even running the household. I was already an accomplished cook, expert seamster, and I had a face and figure that had already caught the eye of several of the young women of the village. I remember the exact moment when the village alarms sounded. I was in a beauty class, and had just finished applying the last of the paint to my lips. I looked in the mirror and thought how perfectly my long dark hair contrasted with the bright red of my lips and cheeks. I imagined myself in the arms of a strong warrior, taming her brutality with my ravishing beauty. Looking back it years later, I realize how foolish I was. Throughout the world, the only real feeling women had for males was contempt. As soon as the alarms sounded, all the males were taken to the Village Square and locked in the slave cells beneath. One of the men said that it was the Thallasians who had attacked the village, and immediately several of the men started to wail. One of the younger boys asked what was the matter, and Selius, the oldest man in the village spoke. "Even among Amazons, the Thallasians are known for their cruelty to men. Let us pray they do not emerge the victors." The battle lasted five days, but eventually the Thallasians defeated our women. They outnumbered them by almost three to one and just wore them down. After securing victory, they gathered the males and those women who survived (the old, infirmed and children). Their leader showed her cruelty by immediately executing all the females and all older sick males. Then, separating out the younger children and eunuchs, she addressed the remaining males from a podium they had erected in the Village Square. "I am General Tyrala. You are now the property of Thallasia. I realize that customs are different among peoples, but you have five seconds to get on your knees with your head to the ground like you should be when in front of a female." The assembled men quickly got into position. One man stumbled and was slow to react. Tyrala ordered him to come forward. "What is your name, slave?" she said in a rich contralto. "Demeter, mistress", the man replied. "Eyes down! I have never seen such insolence." she barked as she viciously slapped the man's face. Her hand came back the other way and struck him again. As he cried out, she brought her knee up and savagely rammed him in the testicles. Demeter collapsed onto his back and Tyrala placed her foot on his throat. "I should end your life right now, slave. However, I will show mercy." With that she removed her foot, and turned to walk away. She paused for a second, turned back and stomped on his genitals with all her might. The man let out a scream and fell silent. She snapped her fingers and two soldiers dragged the unconscious man away. Tyrala turned to face the terrified remaining males, who numbered about 500. "We are preparing to transport you to Thallasia. However, we do not consider your transport vehicles sufficiently secured. While we are building them, you will serve my army. Rules of behavior will be posted. Any deviation from these rules will be dealt with severely. You may now rise." As we rose, we realized that we were now encircled by part of her army. Arm raised, Tyrala spoke, "This is my Royal Guard. They have been without men for two months and I promised them a treat after we were victorious." She then lowered her arm as a signal and the lust-filled women rushed us. Screaming in terror, we tried to escape, but we were surrounded. Another boy and I were grabbed by our hair by a tough looking soldier. She dragged us by our hair to one of the huts and brutally raped us. I was sill a virgin and knew little of how to please a woman. I will never forget that day as long as I live. Less than a year later, the Thallasian painter Malania captured the scene in what became a classic painting, "The Rape of the Estronian Men." The next few days were the worst of my life. Tyrala was true to her word about rule violations. The first night eight males tried to escape. We were brought to the Town Square and forced to watch as they were tethered. Their Castratrix, Lucinda, was a model of indifference as she casually stripped the men of their manhood. While Estronian castration consisted of just removing the testicles, the Thallasian method included removal of the entire shaft. Five other men had their tongues removed for speaking to one another in the presence of a woman. For the next four days, we were forced to go about naked. Each male was fitted with a studded collar with an attachment for a leash. Men were beaten for both punishment and sport. Some of the women played a dice game where the winner each time would beat a man's buttock. You never knew when a soldier would grab you and use you for her sexual pleasure. On one day, six different women rode my shaft. My fellow males were in the same situation. When we no longer could respond, they assaulted our backsides with enormous rods of ivory made to simulate the male organ. Dildos, they had called them, and told us that we males had better get used to it. Each night the soldiers would gather in the Village Square for meals, which were prepared and served by the males. The soldiers had been told that Estronian males were known for their grace and beauty, and very talented in dance and song, so on the second night some of the men were told to dance for the soldiers. They began to slowly dance, but these brutal women quickly grew bored and ordered them to perform an erotic dance. This only increased the lust of these drunken women, who began to paw at the serving boys, of which I was one. Within minutes the square was the scene of an insane orgy, with males being passed from one woman to the next. After four days we were once again assembled in the Village Square and Tyrala informed us that the transport vehicles were now ready. Expecting to see the usual rectangular horse-drawn cages in which we were normally transported, we were shocked to see horses pulling large circular cages. "Surprised?", Tyrala asked with a little laugh. "We find that there is less risk with these and they are much more efficient. Start to load them in.", she called to the guards. Like everything else they did, the cages were ruthlessly efficient. Each cage could hold 24 males. An octagon-shaped wood column ran down the center. Each face of the column had three wooden slats about three feet apart and six feet in length attached to it. These slats were connected to the edge of the cage. The column faces had stirrups in which the feet were inserted and there were leather buckles at the midpoint of each slat. A male was ordered to lay face down on one of the slats and insert his feet into the stirrups. A guard came around and buckled him in, making sure that his arms were totally immobilized, and then placed a muzzle on him. In about thirty minutes all the men were loaded and we started off. We rode for four hours in the morning, taking a half-hour break after two hours. The soldiers and the horses both received water during this break, while we got nothing. The heat was excruciating, and most of the men were whimpering or sobbing. Finally, we stopped for a lunch break. Guards came around to each man, removed his muzzle and forced some water into his throat. We then rode for four hours in the afternoon, once again stopping for a break after two hours. At the end of the day, we were unloaded and given a cupful of water and a bowl of paste-like gruel. The men staggered around, barely able to walk from the stiffness, evoking much laughter from the guards. A chain was threaded and locked through the collar of the 24 men from each cage. The guards got great amusement watching the men try to figure out how sleep. Eventually, someone in each group would realize that they had to form a circle. Before we slept, each man communicated silently to the one next to him using menspeak. All men speak it, for it is taught early on in the pits. One of the beauties of menspeak is that it can be done in the dark, just a touching of fingers. We consoled each other crying silent tears for our fallen brothers (almost twenty men had perished from the strain of our journey). The elders among us gave words of encouragement. The next morning we were awakened with whips to our buttocks. Each man immediately knelt and touched his head to the ground in tribute to their female captors. We were permitted to rise and the chains from our collars were removed and we were ordered to bathe ourselves in the river. As we bathed, it occurred to me that we were completely unguarded. But even if we were to escape, there was nowhere to run. In the entire known world, males had one role: that of slave. The cool water was a relief to our aching bodies. Since no women were present we conversed among ourselves, speaking in the low, soft tones that males had learned were more easily tolerated by women. A young boy about my age asked how many more days we would have to travel. An elderly eunuch I did not recognize stated that he had heard it was three days by horse, and guessed that it would take us five days to reach Thallasia. Upon hearing this most of the younger males present began to weep, knowing that many would not survive the journey. "Why do they have to muzzle us?" one of them cried. "We can't move, we can't possibly be a threat to them!" "Shhh", they'll hear you", said one of the elders. "These women are not like those of our village. There, you were punished for violating rules or misbehaving. These women derive pleasure from abusing males. Do not give them cause to further mistreat us." We finished bathing and sat by the riverbed. Even though it was still early morning, it was already hot. We could only imagine what it would be like in the cages. Suddenly guards approached, accompanied by Tyrala. All of the men immediately fell silent, knelt and bowed their heads to the ground in submission. Giving us permission to rise, she said sarcastically, "All right, boys, you've had your fun. It's time to move those lazy asses. You will not be muzzled today but be forewarned to keep silent or you will be punished severely. I will not have my guards disturbed by the foolish, empty-headed chatter of males." We were given a meal consisting of a shred of bread with some gruel smeared on it. After the horses were watered, each man permitted was allowed a cup of water. Several men were slowly signing in menspeak that someone had heard a guard say that we were making a stop today, but they did not know the reason. A few of the men had been taken behind the bushes by the guards and we could hear them as we were being loaded into the cages. It was a strange combination, the women's sighs of ecstasy and the men's screams of pain. True to Tyrala's word we were not muzzled but the guards warned us not to talk. As we finished loading, it once again occurred to me how lightly guarded we were. The soldiers, including the Royal Guard, had rode ahead and returned to Thalassia since they could travel much faster. Each cage had a driver and a guard for 24 men. All told there might have been 100 women in charge of the 1000 males, which did include about 200 children. It did not matter, however, since there had been no record of a male rebellion in over 75 years. That was the Rebellion of Minolla, which I will discuss later. For almost 400 years males had been under the brutal boot of women. Now for the males of the destroyed village of Estronia, it was going to get worse. Now that we were fully loaded, the cages creaked forward and we began to move. The terrain turned rough and our bodies suffered with each bump. The combination of the suffocating heat and the bruises and bumps had most of the men crying and begging for mercy. The guards used their whips and warned us again to be silent. Then one of them ordered us to sing. Even women who frowned on the idea of a male speaking aloud enjoyed hearing the songs of slaves. One of the men began to sing "Our Lot in Life" in a low mournful tone and the rest joined in: Oh, Diana, wise Goddess that you are You have determined the natural order of all things To women you gave wisdom and strength To men those things necessary to serve women Once womankind was like a lost ship, But the heroic Hertitia righted its course Now things are as they should be With women ruling over men Forever and for all eternity Our lot in life is thus To serve our wise mistresses Ready to give limb and life Because we know that you are fair And will be there to protect us For we are but foolish males Whose purpose is to lie at your feet And do your bidding For the next hour we sang. All of our songs are similar, lauding women for their wisdom and strength and seeming to rejoice in the fact that males were slaves. It did distract us from our misery and even the guards did not use their whips as much. Abruptly we came to a stop and through my sweat-filled eyes I could see we were near a large temple, next to a riverbed. We were unloaded and told to bathe in the river and wash the stench off. Upstream we could see a large city several miles away. We washed ourselves and exited the river. It was hot enough that our naked bodies quickly dried in the sun. Tyrala was waiting on the riverbank, and addressed us. "The city you see is Pentuvia. We are going there to see if I can sell some of your worthless hides so that this venture is not a total loss. I want you looking your best so you will shave and make yourself up as pretty as you can. If I see one hair on a face or body, I will personally tether that man." Without mirrors it was tough but all the men shaved, applied paint to their lips and face, and did their hair. Males were always strictly forbidden to have any facial or body hair, so it was just a matter of shaving a day's growth. A guard inspected each of us and finally we were ready to leave. We would travel on foot, so our collars were chained together and our hands bound behind us. An hour later we were in Pentuvia, which proved to be a large, bustling city full of shops and business of all types. All around us we saw proud Amazonian women striding confidently through the streets and nervous-looking male slaves scurrying around, trying to complete some task for their owner. Most women ignored us, but a few of the younger girls taunted us, saying maybe they would place a bid on one of us. One girl near my age came up to me and slapped my buttocks and grabbed my genitals, saying I was pretty and would make a nice slave. It being a hot day, most of the males were naked, but a few wore short tunics. Up ahead, a crew of slaves was paving a road. One of the forewomen was whipping two slaves with a riding crop. As they cowered beneath her, weeping and begging for mercy, she ordered them to be silent and lie still. Tyrala had stopped the column and ordered us to watch. The forewoman bound the two slaves by their hands and feet, placed a small band around their testicles and tightened it. She then dragged the hapless men by their hair and moved them to the side of the road. We all knew what would happen - in a short while the blood flow would cease and the slaves would be eunuchs. After being paraded throughout the city we finally arrive entered a large amphitheater where the slave auctions were being held. Tyrala and two women spoke briefly and then we were unchained, separated into groups of fifty and taken to what appeared to be holding areas. A woman ordered us to line up in groups of ten so we could be examined. One by one she looked us over, checking our teeth, pinching our bottoms to check muscle tone, in some cases measuring the length of our genitals. The boy next to me received a sharp slap to the face as she warned him to keep his eyes down. She checked the tattoo under our armpits that identified us as the property of Estronia, which each boy received when he turned eight years old. Some of the men also had tattoos identifying him as the property of his wife or owner. At this point I was praying that I would be sold to the slavetraders - it sounded better than ending up in Thallasia. We were led back out to the main area, where an auction was taking place. A short, middle-age eunuch about 30 years old was being sold. Too small for work in the fields, he would probably be a common household slave. The bidding was sporadic, showing very little interest. Eventually, a large woman won the auction, paying 40 copper pieces. He was brought to her, immediately kneeling at her feet and touching his head to the floor in submission to his new owner. She reached into a bag she was carrying and drew out a muzzle which she placed on him, attached a leash to his collar and then used the leash to drag him off to the side of the auction area. It appeared a blacksmith and a tatooist were located there. Curious, I carefully touched my fingers to the man next to me and asked in menspeak what was happening. He explained that she would now place her mark on him. I watched in horrid fascination as the slave was placed face down on a table and his hands and feet were secured. The smith drew an iron from her fire and pressed the end of it onto his naked buttocks. His body spasmed and his muzzled mouth tried to scream in pain, and then he went limp, mercifully falling into unconsciousness. I gasped, wondering if that was to be my fate. End Part I