#shim'tar

Powers

Amazonian Physiology: The Amazons are a race of warrior women that have received gifts and blessings from five Olympian goddesses: Artemis, Athena, Demeter, Hestia and Aphrodite. Hippolyta possesses the same potential powers as an average Amazon. These include:

Enhanced Intellect: A gift from Athena, the Amazons have the wisdom to be guided by peace and justice.

Superhuman Strength

Superhuman Durability

Superhuman Stamina

Superhuman Agility

Immortality: The Amazons were gifted immortality. The people of Themyscira lived forever, though could be killed in war or in an accident. Those who followed Antiope and Phthia and became the Bana-Mighdall lost their immortality.

Self-Sustenance: So long as Hippolyta stays on Themyscira, she does not require food, water or any other form of nourishment to maintain her health and vitality. Although they are not susceptible to the throes of hunger, this does not mean that Amazons don't consume food for enjoyment. The Amazons frequently hold great festivals whereupon food is served.

Abilities

Amazonian training: The Amazons honed their skills in many fields, aided by the gifts from Athena and Artemis.

Archery

Equestrianism

Hand-to-Hand Combat (Advanced)

Swordsmanship

Gift of Athena: Athena declared Hippolyta the ruler of the Amazons, and granted her additional insights:

Diplomacy: Queen Hippolyta is practiced at conducting negotiations between representatives of groups or states. She has often been called upon to use these skills at times of war.

Leadership: Queen Hippolyta was a born leader and strategist and is excellent in the arts of persuasion and diplomacy.

Equipment

Invisible Plane: As Wonder Woman, Hippolyta had access to the Invisible Jet. She has since given the disk to her daughter.

Amazonian Weapons

Origins

Hippolyta's history begins tens of thousands of years ago. In ancient times, there was a caveman who--embittered over being maimed by a tiger and driven from his tribe--encountered a woman in a cave and brutally murdered her after she offered him some compassion: the first woman murdered by a man's hatred.

Thousands of years later, the Greek pantheon held a meeting around 1,300 B.C., convened by the goddesses. They desired to create a race of humans that would champion their ideals. Zeus, in his arrogance, decreed that mankind would never forget the gods, and that it did not matter if there were champions or not. Ares, being the god of war, did not desire anyone promoting peace. The other male gods did not seem interested, and Hera did not wish to go against her husband. Therefore, it fell to the other five primary Greek goddesses. Traveling into the Underworld, the goddess came to the Well of Souls, the place where the souls of all the women murdered by mans hatred were gathered. They drew forth these souls, dropping them like great tears into a lake in Greece--all save one, a very special soul. The souls mixed with the clay and stone of the lake bed to form the Amazons, women reborn. The first to emerge from the waters was Hippolyta--the second would be her sister, Antiope. The goddesses made themselves known to the Amazons, appointing Hippolyta and Antiope to be the two queens of them. They decreed that the Amazons were to spread the message of Gaea: a message of peace, tolerance, and equality. As a symbol of their devotion, Hippolyta and Antiope were each given a Golden Girdle.

Hippolyta and Antiope lead the Amazons for years, creating a great city called Themyscira. It's unclear if the Amazons aged at first, or how much time elapsed, but it seems from the evidence that perhaps twenty years go by, as Antiope has a daughter, Pythia. Their efforts to spread peace and equality were frustrated, however, as few men trusted them. As the years went by, more and more they remained isolated in their city. Their numbers increased by freeing women from slavery.

Doom would come to the city in the form of Heracles, the Son of Zeus. In the midst of his Twelve Labors, still suffering from Hera's madness upon him, Heracles and his friend Theseus came to the Amazons. One of Heracles's Labors was to retrieve the Girdle of Hippolyta. Arriving at the Amazon city with an army behind them, Heracles demanded Hippolyta surrender the Girdle. Hippolyta refused, marching out of the city and offering to fight Heracles for it. Heracles was defeated by the Amazon Queen, and the humbled demi-god offered peace and to unite with the Amazons in an alliance. The Amazons let Heracles and his men into the city, and a night of revelry ensued. Antiope fell helplessly in love with Theseus, and Hippolyta fell for Heracles pretty hard--too hard. In his madness, Heracles drugged Hippolyta, raping and assaulting her in her slumber. And when she awoke she was in chains. Heracles' army bound, beat, and raped the Amazons, tearing down their city and stealing their treasures. Heracles left the city with Hippolyta's girdle and some of his men, leaving the majority behind to guard the Amazons. Theseus was gone as well, although it's not clear if he participated in the raping and pillaging or if he left beforehand.

After a vision of one of the goddesses let her find her strength, Hippolyta broke out of her cell and set to work freeing her sisters. More and more Amazons were freed, and a running battle began all over the city. Hippolyta watched as many of her sisters succumbed to bloodlust, enjoying the bloody slaughter of the men. They fought until all the men lie dead. Afterwards, Antiope was still enraged--she insisted that they march on Athens itself, killing all in their path until they reached Athens where they could take back the Girdle from Heracles' dead hand.

But Hippolyta said no--she said that such a path of bloody revenge was not the Amazon way, and that to go down that way would lead only to destruction. Antiope could not be strayed--feeling betrayed by not only her lover but by her gods, she cast her Girdle at Hippolyta's feet, declaring that henceforth she asked nothing of Olympus. Half the Amazons left with her--the other half stayed with Hippolyta. It was the last time the sisters would ever see each other.

In the midst of the ruins, the goddesses now appeared again. They were displeased with the Amazons, declaring that they had failed in their sacred mission--now the very name "Amazon" would be associated with death and destruction, not peace and equality. The Amazons must have a penance. They were each given a pair of steel "bracelets" to wear at all times, forever a reminder of their capture and humiliation. Then their bodies and souls were purified, and they began their journey. Poseidon himself parted the sea, and the Amazons walked along the bottom until they came to an island that the gods had removed from the circles of the world--Paradise Island. There they built the new city-state of Themyscira, and were to be the guardians of a great evil that lay beneath the Island. As long as they remained on the island, they would be immortal--though they could be killed, and some were over the many long years and the many battles they had to fight against the evil that would try to escape. For over 3,000 years, here they remained, with Hippolyta their queen all that time.

From time to time, there would be a visitor who breached the mists that shielded the island. One of these would be Diana Trevor, a woman who crash landed her small plane on the shores of the island some time after World War II. Diana Tevor arrived while the Amazons were in the midst of a battle with the evil from the Pits beneath the island, and she valiantly fought at their side. She fired the crucial shot from her firearm that won the battle, although she lost her life in the process.

Not long after Diana Trevor came to the island, Hippolyta began to feel a deep yearning she could not explain. The Oracle of the Island had the answer--Hippolyta was the reincarnation of the first woman who had been murdered, and that woman was pregnant with a daughter. The longing Hippolyta felt was for her unborn child. The Oracle told her that the goddesses would grant her longing. Hippolyta went to the beach, and molded a baby from the sand and clay of the island. Then five goddesses and one god went back into the Underworld, drawing out the last soul that remained in the Well and giving it incredible powers. The soul was merged with the clay and became flesh. Hippolyta had her daughter, and named her in honor of Diana Trevor--Diana, Princess of the Amazons.

Diana grew up with one mother and thousands of sisters--but no children her own age. When she was young, the sorceress Magala used her magic to create a magical copy of Diana to be her playmate. Unfortunately, one of Hippolyta's enemies, Dark Angel, came to the island planning to kidnap Diana. She found the copy instead, and thinking that was Diana, she kidnapped her instead. That child was Donna Troy. After Donna's disappearance, Hippolyta became more protective of her daughter, often coming to check on her at random, even after Diana had fully grown up.

After Diana turned twenty-two, the Oracle of the Island came to Hippolyta with a new message. The gods demanded that the Amazons send a champion to what the Amazons' called "Man's World". Hippolyta called for a contest to determine who would go, but she forbid Diana from competing. Diana did it anyway, and no one knew until the Contest was over, as all the contestants were required to wear masks during the tests. Hippolyta could not deny Diana's place, and so after passing one final test, Diana was given a costume.

The NEW Golden Age Wonder Woman

The Crisis on Infinite Earths leaves many problems for the resulting survivors of the singular earth. Even the Amazons are not protected as Donna Troy, Wonder Woman's younger sister, has been erased from history but still exists in the reformatted new Earth. Wally West and Wonder Woman confront the woman who they know but no one else does and begin a quest to restore the Donna Troy they knew. Confronting Hippolyta on the events of Donna, Hippolyta reveals Donna's true origin as a mystically created twin playmate for Princess Diana. The alternate warped version of Troy known as Dark Angel abducted Donna thinking her to be the original Diana and cursed her to live multiple tragic lives, one of which was as Donna Troy.

Hippolyta, along with Jay Garrick, travels back into the past to stabilize the current reality of Troy as Wonder Girl and correct some of the problems of the time stream caused by Dark Angel's presence in the past. It was during this time that Hippolyta becomes the Golden Age Wonder Woman native to the new reality and joins the Justice Society of America during the team's original days. Hippolyta, as the "new" Golden Age Wonder Woman, along with the Justice Society, defeats Dark Angel. Hippolyta remains there until approximately 1950 when she returns to the present with the help of a Jay Garrick from the future.

Dethronement and Death

Upon Hippolyta's return to the present time, she had found her time away from the Amazon and her royal duties had allowed a break to happen between the Amazon groups. While many outsiders had thought of the Amazons as one singular group of women, the truth of the Amazonian society did have individual groups. One of those groups, the Bana Mighdall Amazons, felt that Hippolyta had given up her right to rule by willingly abandon her throne to fight in Man's world, even though she was originally forced into the role by the Olympian gods. Even her direct Themyscira Amazons couldn't justify her continuing neglect of her royal duties as the Queen of the Amazons for the length of time that Hippolyta had remained away from the Amazons and began to turn away from her. Seeing that she was losing support and her own desire for battle increasing, Hippolyta relinquished her throne and went back into the outside to fight alongside her daughter as a second Wonder Woman, after suggesting that Diana and her saved sister, Donna Troy, rule over the Amazons. Hippolyta's two daughters refused to rule and the various factions were not able to choose and successor satisfactory to all the groups. Ultimately the Amazons decided to abolish the Amazon monarchy system for individual self-rule.

Finding her place as an active warrior and part-time member of the reformed Justice Society, Hippolyta carried on as the "other" Wonder Woman until the "Worlds at War" happened. During one of the cosmic invader Imperiex's attempts to destroy Earth, the Amazons became involved in the planet's defense. Hippolyta fought against an Imperiex probe and was barely able to stop it by herself. When Diana arrived at the battle scene she rescued her mother and ordered the weaker Wonder Woman to leave. But Hippolyta remained defiant despite her weaker power and safeguarded her daughter by throwing Diana out of the way when the Imperiex probe threaten to destroy Diana and all around them. The probe exploded killing only Hippolyta.

One Year Later revival

Hippolyta is brought back to life by the immortal witch Circe who shows the revived Hippolyta that the USA has kidnapped her daughter Diana and was being tortured until she gave over the plans on how the U.S. government could create their own Purple Ray to be used as a weapon. Enraged by Circe's vision and accepting them as real, Hippolyta declared control over all of the Amazons to rescue Diana and attain vengeance on the outside world she had once cherished. Confronting her daughter who had gone underground, Hippolyta decided to continue the battle regardless and slaughtered many males, even unarmed boys. Finding her actions completely out of character for the former Wonder Woman, Diana and Donna Troy discovered that Circe had revived Hippolyta as an extension of herself by placing a portion of her own soul into Hippolyta.

As Hippolyta's persona was modified to now be a composite of her former self and that of Circe, the revived Hippolyta was far more destructive than ever before even to the point that she defended Circe against her daughters. It is not until Circe was rendered impotent temporarily, and the magical influence over Hippolyta's mind is removed does Hippolyta regain her more calm center and end the Amazonian war. Athena makes herself known to Hippolyta and the Amazons and decides to punish them all for their part in the war by removing all the Amazons' powers and memories and scattering them across the Earth to live out their shortened lives as human women.

Hippolyta also stripped of her powers but restored to immortality for an unending punishment is forced to rule over an empty Paradise Island except for four bound Amazons who unless all forgive her will never be able to reclaim their memory and powers. Currently, Hippolyta spends her days seeking their redemption in the hopes of rebuilding Paradise Island and returning the Amazons to their previous status. It has been revealed that the current Athena is in reality Granny Goodness who has succeeded the original Athena after the fall of the New Gods.

Fun Facts

Powers

Divine Empowerment: The Amazons of are given their gifts and blessings by five Olympian goddesses -- Artemis, Athena, Demeter, Hestia, and Aphrodite.

Eternal Youth: Artemis does not age after a spell by Circe.

Superhuman Strength

Superhuman Durability

Superhuman Stamina

Superhuman Agility

Magic: Artemis has limited knowledge and skill in sorcery.

Abilities

Martial Arts

Hand-to-Hand Combat (Advanced): The Amazons of Bana-Mighdall honed their skills in many fields.

Archery

Equestrianism

Firearms

Swordsmanship

History

Artemis was an Amazon of the Egyptian tribe of Bana-Mighdall.

Wonder Woman

Due to being in the demon dimension, Queen Hippolyta began to see visions of the future. One of those visions included Wonder Woman dying. Keeping this to herself, she called for a new Contest for the title of Wonder Woman. Initially excluding the Bana Amazons, Queen Hippolyta submitted to a vote on the whole to include them at Diana's behest. Through some mystical managing on Hippolyta's part, Artemis eventually won the Contest and became the new Wonder Woman. As gifts to aid her in her new mission, Artemis was given several mystical objects. The Gauntlet of Atlas which increased its wearer's strength by 10 times, The Sandals of Hermes which gave the gift of speed and flight, and the golden Lasso of Truth which forced anyone tied by it to speak only truth. Although Artemis tried diligently to separate herself from her predecessor, this proved to be rather hard to do. Her approach to various situations was often seen as more violent than beneficial. Because of this, and due to Man's World's respect of Diana, Artemis often would receive the cold shoulder from those she tried to help, extending even to her brief time in the Justice League. A comment was once made that Batman refused to allow Artemis to even sit in "Diana's" chair during JLA meetings. She later met a representative from a public relations company who agreed to help Artemis with her public likability. What Artemis was not aware of was that the company had staged several false battles for her. Later, she beat two villains, and ultimately did help some immigrant slave-labor workers. Still feeling as though she is not getting enough respect, she set about to prove herself by single-handedly taking down Boston's biggest mob family. After failing that, Diana exposed Artemis to the truth about her battle with the villains. Enraged at being fooled, she set out to take down the White Magician. Unfortunately Artemis' arrogance eventually gained the better of her, and she died in a battle with him, because he had became a high-lord Demon with near-unstoppable power. Thus, Queen Hippolyta's vision of Wonder Woman dying came true.

Requiem

For some reason, after her death Artemis' soul ended up in Tartarus and there she became a concubine to one of the ruling Princes of Hell named Dalkriig-Hath. Diana had came to her aid, but Artemis accepted her fate. Despite being raped, beaten and tortured at first, at the hands of her "husband" and possibly other demons, she became accustomed to her "damnation", and adapted quickly,  even managing to achieve a small measure of comfort. When Diana is tortured for trying to help a demon being punished, Artemis initially turned her back on Diana. However, she felt guilty about abandoning her sister and freed her. Using a revolt as cover, Artemis manages to carry Diana back to the living world and come back to life herself. Wanting to separate herself from her former title as Wonder Woman, Artemis used her skills learned in Tartarus to her advantage and joined a group of demon hunting heroes called the Hellenders. While there she was assigned the code-name Javelin, which she quickly rejected for the name Requiem. Artemis developed a romantic interest in fellow Hellender Sure-Shot, a master of arsenal and projection weapons. Seeing her feelings as weakness, she hid her feelings, though her teammates were still able to see her true feelings. This interest was dropped when she discovered that Sure-Shot's perceived self-confidence was brought on by psychotropic drugs which were meant to keep various Hellender members fearless while battling the likes of demons and ghouls. She also befriended a woman by the name of Henrietta Jessup, who went by the code name Sojourner. Though Sojourner did not have any warrior skills to speak of, Artemis stood by her friend and tutored her as a novice Amazon. After learning that the Hellender's leaders were secretly trying to summon fallen angels to Earth, Artemis saw through the ruse, but was too late to stop them from summoning her husband. Though the ensuing battle claimed the lives of seven Hellenders, Artemis managed to to kill Dalkriig-Hath. With the help of a rogue demon who led a revolt against her dead husband, Artemis has her fallen teammates revived.

Artemis' role as a teacher/mentor was later expanded as Wonder Woman asked Artemis to take on a new pupil, that of Cassandra Sandsmark who had become the new Wonder Girl. Taking Cassandra as a full-time student, Artemis became a reserve member of the Hellenders leaving Sojourner to take her place as a full-time member. Later still, Artemis' teacher/mentor resume would expand to even include the combat training of Supergirl. It was during the initial meeting of Supergirl that Artemis would gain her revenge against Batman for his hostile attitude towards her when she attempted to join the JLA. Artemis easily defeated Batman in combat, but was eventually subdued with an advanced tranquilizer dart.

The underworld demon Belyllioth, who served as master over some of the Myrmidon demons, later contacted Artemis to inform her of an unrest in Tartarus. With the death of the demon Dalkriig-Hath, the remaining twelve princes of hell were battling for dominion over the dead demon's realm. As Dalkriig-Hath's widow, Artemis was by rights next in line to rule his region of Hades. Artemis ended the demonic war by presenting herself before the twelve demon rulers to officially be granted her former husband's station. After the blessing ceremony was given Artemis revealed that the blessing was actually given to Belyllioth, who was magically disguised in Artemis' form. Angered by her deception, the twelve princes of hell vowed vengeance against Artemis upon her return to Hades. Fortunately for Artemis, her devoted friend Belyllioth has sworn her allegiance and protection to the Amazon for eternity.

Shim'Tar

After some time Artemis returned to Themyscira to aid her Amazon sisters in the uneasy living conditions they continued to work in due to lingering animosities between the two tribes. Civil war was incited by the Amazon sorceress Magala eventually broke out between the two groups of Amazons. After the current Shim'Tar was felled, Artemis took up the title of her tribe's chief warrior. She did this in the hopes of ending the war and to guide both tribes to peaceful negotiations. As Shim'Tar, Artemis battled Queen Hippolyta, who was acting as the newest Wonder Woman. During their battle Artemis reminded Hippolyta that the Themyscirian queen was not given the armor of Wonder Woman out of honor, but rather as a punishment for causing the death of not only Artemis but of her daughter Diana as well. Ultimately coming to her senses, Hippolyta finally forgave the Amazons of Bana-Mighdall for their previous transgressions and joined her daughter Diana on the battlefield. Together Queen Hippolyta and Princess Diana renounced their crowns, leaving the island without a structured government in the hopes of ending the needless slaughter brought on by the war. They were successful and Artemis and the Themyscirian General Phillipus were later voted to be co-rulers of the island.

Themyscira's Disappearance

Due to the OMAC attack on Themyscira, it was decided by Artemis and Phillipus that the entire island of Themyscira and all of its inhabitants would be transported to a hidden dimension via the Olympian and Bana-Mighdallian Goddesses. Artemis and the remaining Amazons live in this dimension in peace for a year's time.

For reasons known only to the goddess Athena, the witch Circe was allowed to enter the Amazons protected dimension and revive Queen Hippolyta from death. Circe informed the Amazons that Diana was being illegally detained by the U.S. government and tortured until she gave them the secrets of the Purple Ray. Because of this the Amazons agreed to give Hippolyta her royal title back and followed her instructions to invade Washington, D.C. which brought about the events of Amazons Attack. Artemis and Phillipus were assigned to oversee the battle but soon lost faith in Hippolyta when they discovered some of her actions against Man's World proved to be less honorable.

Fun Facts