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Introduction & Navigation

Hey everyone, this is a blog documenting my Amazon challenge for the Sims 4. I'll be posting gameplay updates, worldbuilding, maybe the occasional bit of storytelling. As of right now (04/03/23) I've been playing this challenge for a while, so a lot has already been established, but I'll try to explain everything as we go along. Will be adding links to this as we go :)

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The wedding of Senna Markarth (royal scholar) and Yesenia Rosas (matchmaker & doula)

Women wear matching golden dresses on their wedding day. Gold is a colour usually reserved for the queen & the eldest princess only, but South Mazeans believe that when women marry they get to be 'queens for a day', and are treated as such.

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Old Mazea

Old Mazea (known in game as Selvadorada), originally just Mazea, was the ancient matriarchal empire and cradle of civilization ruled by women who were said to be the descendants of Amaz, the sun goddess, herself. Old Mazea was a prosperous, abundant and peaceful nation.

While women ruled, men were honoured as protectors, could enjoy many well-respected roles in the queendom and male demigods (especially the solar demigod Solzak, known in New Mazea as Solandros) were revered almost as much as the Ziratriad and demigoddesses.

Old Mazea crumbled, however, when Solzak rebelled against his mother and attempted to usurp her throne, and in doing so turned men against their female rulers. This resulted in the destruction of the once-proud queendom.

This happened roughly 3000 years ago, and in some parts of the world the Old Mazeans have been entirely forgotten, or reduced to myth. Often, those who do know of their existence or believe them to be a mythic/fictionalized people refer them to them as the 'Amazons', as the name Amazeans (the name of the religion they practiced) has been bastardized over millennia.

However, in recent decades, people have began settling there again and seeking to uncover its secrets. Solana Rayhelia upon founding the New Mazean Empire began sending adventure parties there to learn the secrets of the first people of Amaz in hopes of emulating them for the new Empire.

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"Ancient Mothers, Queens of old, your lost daughter has returned, the Throne sits garlanded in flowers again, the castle brims with life. Bless us, the heirs of your promised lands that the dawn will once again rise on the Empire of Alba!"

Karmine Luna learned from her mother Xochitil that the ancestors will listen if you speak to them. She learned how to work the soil and seed, and how to appreciate what nature gives us. As a child she had a vision of a Queen crowned in silver coming to reign over a crumbling castle in the sea...and then her mother met the beautiful Catalina Alba, the lost princess of Windenburg. Her mother fell in love with Catalina, and the two of them moved into the beautiful castle from Karmine's dreams.

There in the petals strewn across the ground from the impromptu coronation they'd thrown, Karmine knelt and traced a circle onto the stone with her finger. Words tumbled from her lips, words she can barely remember, and a cold green light flickered from the floor. Prayers to the Mothers Who Watch Us...prayers that this beautiful castle would be reborn...

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Queen Solana Rayhelia with her three daughters (left to right, also youngest to oldest) Anahita Rayhelia, Marianna Rayhelia and Mariel Rayhelia.

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Say hello to the Queen of the Crumbling Isle: Catalina Alba, first of her name, and the Crown Princess Leila Alba, first of her name.

I'm doing the Amazon Challenge and this is my Creatrix and her Heir apparent (sire: Mortimer Goth). So far its more amazon than challenge (guise im not good at this game yet okay) but we're getting there.

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Be sure to follow my lovely friend Ursula's simblr! She's literally a baby simmer (my influence) go show her some love <3

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Mainly gonna be worldbuilding and information about roles and stuff for the time being (honestly largely for my own benefit so I can have a sort of wiki for myself to keep referring back to) but gameplay will come soon after <3

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Aset

Aset is the capital of South Mazea.

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Queen Solana Rayhelia and Royal Champion Menkhet Nayit train on the roof of the first ever South Mazean palace in Aset.

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Btw I'm gonna be posting lore about stuff that hasn't even happened yet lmao. It's just easier for me to post about it as if its already there even though it technically hasn't happened yet in-game. That way I don't need to go back and edit a bunch of posts later.

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South Mazea

South Mazea was the first corner of the New Mazean Empire that was established, by Solana Rayhelia. It is the seat of the Empire and so while the other three queendoms operate largely independently, they are still technically under South Mazean rule.

It consists largely of desert lands.

It encompasses the cities of Aset, Khaleesia and Arinna.

Its primary religion is Amazeanism.

Its emblem is a sun.

Its current Queen is Solana Rayhelia.

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Amaz & Amazeanism

She Who Scorches, Empress of Heaven, Brightest One, The Winged Sun, the Solar Creatrix, Lightbringer

Amaz is one member of the Ziratriad, and the chief deity of South Mazea. She is the goddess who appeared to Solana Rayhelia, the first Queen of New Mazea, and told her to found a new Empire in Her name. Amazeans claim Amaz first emerged from the primordial darkness of the universe, and gave it light, order and purpose. She then birthed her two eldest children, Zoza and Nyra, to help her carry out her vision. She is the goddess of the sun, warfare, discipline, law and order, strength.

As a sun goddess, Amaz is both a loving Divine Mother who brings light and warmth to the world with Her rays, and also a vengeful warrior who scorches deserts and sets forests ablaze.

Out of the three goddesses of the Ziratriad, Amaz looks down upon men the most, as her son, Solandros, tried to usurp her and told men how to dominate and rule over women, which was never Amaz's plan. Solandros's plan was thwarted and he was not able to usurp the Solar Throne, but much damage had already been done as the world became extremely patriarchal. Therefore, the Amazeans of South Mazea treat men with the most scorn out of all of the four corners of the Empire.

Amazeanism is also the most conservative out of the three religions. Female worshippers are banned from copulating with men for reasons other than procreation, which must be approved by the Queen. Women may take one female lover, but must be devoted to her and her alone. However, this doesn't mean this is always exercised as not all women of South Mazea are as devout as others. Priestesses are banned from romantic and sexual relationships all together as they must be wholly focused on the Ziratriad, and besmirching this rule will result in exile if its with another female, or execution if it's with a male.

Amazeanism greatly values discipline, physical strength and prowess, and all worshippers are expected to remain as physically fit as possible. Amaz is often worshipped through music, and so priestesses of Amaz are expected to be proficient in the the musical arts. Moreso than the other two religions, Amazeans record writings in holy books a great deal, and so priestesses are expected to be compelling writers. They are also expected to train in wellness so they can provide soothing to other members of the queendom and so they can quiet their minds to focus only on Amaz and the other Goddesses.

Her holy colours are orange, gold and yellow, like the rays of the sun. She is depicted as a woman haloed by or clothed with the sun, and huge white wings. Her holy animals are eagles, horses and lions. Her holy metal is gold.

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The Ziratriad

'Zira' means Goddess, and the three deities of the New Mazean Empire are a Triad: Amaz (Goddess of the Sun), Zoza (Goddess of the Moon) and Nyra (Goddess of the Earth). North Mazea views Zoza as the most important deity, East Mazea views Nyra as the most important deity, and South Mazea views Amaz as the most important deity. West Mazea are atheistic. Each region views its goddess as the Prime Mover, and the other two as still extremely important, but ancillary and under the direction of their Primary Goddess.

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Origins of the New Mazean Empire

Long before SimCity, at the dawn of Simvilization, there lived a young woman named Solana, who shone as brightly as the sun god she was named for, Solandros.

For as long as she could remember, men had dominated her world. She had seven older brothers, who were dismissive of her at best, and were downright cruel to her at worst. She watched her mother compete with sister-wives for the attention of her father, who didn't treat any of them with the respect and reverence they deserved- after all, they were the ones who brought life in to the world!

Even outside of her family's tribal lands, which she was barely allowed to venture beyond the borders of, men were in charge of everything the light of Solandros could touch. A girl like her would have no future outside of becoming another bride of some old war chief who already had four wives and bearing him sons to be raised as warriors, and daughters to be disregarded until eventually being sold to the highest bidder just like she was. Solana wanted to learn how to fight with a sword and shoot a bow and arrow like her brothers, to ride horses as fast as the wind, to explore new territories and build incredible buildings there. A life she knew she would never have.

But as miserable as Solana was, she was always extremely devout, spending multiple hours a day praying and communing with Solandros, her clan's patron deity. He was her best friend and closest confidante.

One morning, Solana awoken before the rest of her clan to watch the sun rise over the dunes.

And before her stood... a feminine figure. Calling her a woman would be downplaying it. She seemed to stand at about ten feet tall. She had huge feathered wings like a mighty eagles. Her skin was orange-gold and she radiated with firey light that made Solana squint, as if she was looking at the sun itself. She could not look at the figure directly for more than a few seconds.

She introduced herself as Amaz. The true goddess of the sun, not Solandros, a demigod son of Amaz who had attempted to usurp her sphere for himself, but ultimately failed.

Amaz told Solana that there was empty lands to the south that were without a ruler, and that it was Solana's destiny to restore the ancient matriarchal queendom of the Old Mazeans to the world, in a new land. Solana had heard of the 'Amazons', warrior women who were not dominated by men but in fact ruled but assumed they were a myth. Amaz informed her that they were not only real, but they were her chosen people. However, their name had been bastardized throughout the years, and 'Amazeanism' was the name of the henotheistic religion they practiced.

Amaz handed her a piece of golden fruit, and taught her how to cultivate it. The seeds of this fruit would bear a tree that would create more golden fruit, and with the money she would make from selling it, she could rebuild a glorious and prosperous queendom, in Amaz's name, once again.

And so, a maid of just eighteen years old, about to be married to the war chief of a nearing clan, Solana abandoned everything she'd ever known, intent on fulfilling her destiny and becoming the greatest ruler the world had ever known... In the name of Amaz.

She named it New Mazea.