Background
Lustria is a vast continent dominated by jungle in the north and by huge rolling grasslands in the south. The most notable feature to the land is the mighty Amoco-Cadiz river system, which penetrates most of the north of the continent. Apart from many exotic animals, Lustria is home to two kinds of native humans the Amazons and Pygmies, and the Lizardmen. The Norse and the Old Worlder explorers, adventurers and traders who have ousted them have settled along the north eastern coasts. From here they launch expeditions inland in search of Slann gold or the natural treasures of the land; animal skin and mineral wealth.
The Amazons
The dense tropical jungles of the Cadiz Basin are inhabited only very sparsely. Occasionally, primitive bands of nomadic hunters will pass through, or wary traders from the Nordic settlements on the coasts will brave the treacherous rivers in order to ply their wares. By far the most populous of the native groups are the wild and matriarchal Amazons.
The Amazons are genetically re-engineered humans (by the Old Ones). Amazons are perhaps the strangest of all humans. They are physically identical to Old Worlders, despite coming from an equitorial jungle region where the only other humans are dark skinned pygmies. An Amazon suitably dressed could walk the streets of any Old World town without appearing out of place.
The strangest thing of all about Amazons is that their population is almost all female. Whether as a result of long forgotten magic or by natural means, Amazons are adapted to reproduce parthenogenetically. The process is controlled by the Amazonian Sisterhood, whose priestesses use various natural drugs to induce pregnancy and determine the gender of the child. Amazons can also reproduce normally, although this rarely happens, due to the introverted and involved nature of Amazon society.
Amazonian culture is directly derived from that of the Old Ones - the powerful, mystical and technological race that once ruled the planet. The Old Slann seem to have favored the Amazons, teaching them much about magic, science, and philosophy. To this day the knowledge of the Old Slann is guarded and utilised by the Amazonian Sisterhood and they now know probably more about the control and functioning of the Slann's ancient machines than most of the Slann.
The Amazons live in the hundreds of scattered villages throughout the jungle, and in the Amazonian city of Genaina. Genaina, though incorporating many stone buildings of considerable size, is mostly built of grass and mud in the same way as the smaller villages. Amazon villages can be easily recognized by the manner of construction, for the builders nearly always erect their dwellings upon tall piles of solid wood, so as to raise the living areas away from the ground. In this way the Amazons avoid the worst excesses of periodic flooding.
Amazon Religion
The Amazons worship their own Gods. The hate all worshippers of Quetzalcoatl, particularly the Slann. In addition to the many small village and way Temples dotted throughout Amazonia, there are two main cult centers, the Temple of Karra in Genaina and the Great Shrine of Rigg standing on the shores of Lake Lokka. The Temple of Karra and Royal Palace at Genaina have not been seen by outsiders and thus cant be discussed in detail. On the other hand Rigg's Shrine was recently raided by a party of Norse and the following information has been discovered.
Rigg's Shrine
The Great Shrine stands on the shore of Lake Lokka, deep in the forests of Amazonia. It is said to commemorate the mythic union between Rigg, Amazon Goddess of War, and Amex, Sea Elf God of Wealth and Happiness. Here they rought into the world Kalith, Mother of all Amazons. This creation myth lies at the very center of Amazon religious dogma.
Worshippers of Rigg amongst the Amazon tribes make regular Pilgrimages to the Shrine. The administration of the center is in the hands of the Amazonian Sisterhood. Its buildings house a Sisterhood diocesan center along with its offices, a library, and a meeting hall.
Like all Amazon holy places, the Shrine and its precincts are forbidden to non-Amazons, except those with special dispensation from the High Priestess. Even then, the privilege is bestowed only on women, and they would find themselves under constant guard.
Rigg
Rigg is the leading figure in the Amazon Pantheon. She is neutral. Her spheres of influence are Warfare, Blood, Koka, and Violent Death. Her physical manifestation is a giant Amazon woman, 9 feet tall, with red hair and eyes.
The Sisterhood
Amazonia is administered by the religious organization called the Sisterhood. The Sisterhood is rather like a monastic order. As novices the young cult members like closetted lives, only acquiring responsibility as they get older and wiser. Amazons are very proud of their society, their culture, and their independence. They have little time for other humans, or other humanoid races.
The Sisterhood originates from the High Age of Southern Lustria, a golden age of science and technology. Even then, Amazonia was a wild and fiercely independent land. The technocratic and wise Old Slann accepted this and respected Amazon territory. While other Humans were regarded as inferior, enslaved, and treated little better than cattle, the Amazons retained their freedom.
Old Slann and Amazon were able to exist, almost entirely peacefully, side-by-side. There was even a measure of trade and cooperation between the two races. Amazons were particularly valued as Acolytes and as Thralls by the High Age Magi.
These Amazon émigrés were the ancestors of the present-day Sisterhood. They were to gain, through their work and their studies, a close familiarity with the High Age sciences.
Eventually the Old Slann fell, their civilization was destroyed, and their knowledge lost even to their own descendants. Modern-day Slann regard any trace of the old times with fear and suspicion; the Old Sciences have been lost to them.
Not so the Sisterhood, who retained and preserved much of their knowledge. Whilst they could not hope to re-create the products of the High Age, they could still use and maintain many of the artifacts which they had salvaged from the fall.
This knowledge became the basis of the Sisterhood's power and authority within Amazon society. The careful organization, fanatic devotion, and above all the secrecy of the Sisterhood ensure a continuing hegemony in the religious, political, and scientific spheres of Amazon life.
The Koka-Kalim
In addition the warriors known as Kalim are of special interest. The Kalim are a group of religious fighters who act as the soldiery of Amazonia and the guardian of its people and temples. The constant consumption of the narcotic Koka leads to them eating, sleeping and saying very little. They are all addicted users. Deprived of normal sensory functions, they can overcome great pain, and have little natural aversion to blood, slaughter, or death. Their state of mind makes them very edgy, unpredictable, irrational, and strung-out. They make ideal fanatic warriors.
Apart from the regular Kalim there are the Kalim Devouts, who guard the inner sanctuaries of the Amazonian temples. Devouts often carry Old One High Age weapons. Most commonly they will be given Power Swords or Bolt Guns.
The Sisterhood, with their monopoly of the theological establishment, maintain a small army of Koka-Kalim as servants, guards, and fighters.
Mother Samantha
Samantha's birthplace lies somewhere in Eastern Amazonia. Born into a nomadic tribe, she eventually became a member of the Kalim and from there joined the Devout.
She rose with remarkable speed from the Devout to the Sisterhood, and then upwards through the ranks of the Sisterhood. She is now a High Priestess, the Head of the Holy Shrine of Rigg.
Samantha is still surprisingly young. Because of her nomadic background she is an agile and able fighter, as well as a powerful magician.
The Pygmies
The Pygmies of Lustria are actually aliens who closely resemble humanity (and are probably debased members of one of the Slann human-seeding projects from another world).
Many tens of thousands of years ago Lustria was visited by a starship 'manned' by a diminutive race of space travellers. Unfortunately the landing did not go according to plan and the survivors of the crash were forced to adept to their new home. Petty arguments about whose fault it was soon escalated into conflict and the pygmy ancestors developed a foolproof method of dealing with their opponents: they ate them. To be fair, the pygmy ancestors had always re-cycled dead colleagues and merely extended the process to include hunting. Since the food usually objected to this, sophisticated techniques were developed to bring prey back alive, (eg. paralysing potions). In short, the original space travellers lost their technological knowledge but retained an active interest in the culinary arts.
They live in small tribal groups in the dense jungles along the banks of the Amoco-Cadiz river system. They are few in number, and materially primitive, having little by way of possessions other than a simple loincloth, a few stone tools, and a blowpipe and darts. It is the latter that make them dangerous to travellers. They live by hunting crocodiles, Lizardamen, and other creatures that live along the river banks. They hunt from swift dug-out canoes, using poison darts and stone tipped spears.
Nominally they are the subjects of the Lizardmen. Their relations with the Lizardmen are sometimes good and sometimes not, but their jungle habitat is so wild that no Lizardman army would dare to cross it. The Lizardmen regard the pygmies as allies of a kind and sometimes request aid in times of war, which the Pygmies provide in a token way.
The Pygmies chief skills are hunting and tracking rather than formal fighting, and their characteristic weapon is the blowpipe. Their weapons and ornaments are made from bone, wood and stone, and the use of metals is altogether unknown, save for items traded with the Lizardmen. Pygamies survive largely by hunting crocodiles, monkeys and lizards, using posioned darts to immobilise their prey.
Although troublesome they can hardly be said to represent anything other than a nuisance to the human settlers of Lustria, and their number are declining due to the influx of foreign disease and the practice of "bounty scalping" amongst the Norse. Pygmies speak their own strange tongue, although the occasional chieftain might know enough Norse or Old Worlder to get by at a trading post.
Pygmies are short and squat, rarely more than 5' tall and often shorter. Although small they are by no means puny. Their skin is dark and their hair is black. They often paint their bodies, and are very keen on ornamental mutilation such as nose bones, lip and ear plates, filed teeth, ritual scarring and tying great big weights to their tender bits.
Zoats
The Zoats are also Aliens to the Warhammer World. They are great six limbed beast who were once part of the Tyranid Hive Mind but broke away and were abandoned by the Tyranids. Many hid in the forests of primitive worlds. A small number landed on the warhammer world and roamed the southern plains of Lustria.