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Guest Post featuring author Elizabeth Issacs!

The Scythians are descendants of the Amazons but seem to be their own unique (and awesome) entity. What kind of research went into creating the Scythians and how did they become these warriors living on the fringes of civilization? What were some of the things that inspired you when creating the Scythians besides the Amazons?

Research is one of the reasons it takes me a year to complete a manuscript. I love learning, and so when creating fictional information, I strive to thread in some factual truth along with it. For example, Dacien, the Scythian’s original language in The Trials, is an extinct 1st-century language found in the regions throughout the Carpathian Mountains. Scythians really existed and were Eurasian nomads that settled on Romania’s southern border along the Black Sea. This is the reason The Society’s homeland is based in that part of the world.

As to why the Society lives on the fringes of our civilization, their fictitious history is complicated, and I’ve interwoven into ours. Well before the first etchings in Mesopotamia, Scythians had already cultivated a society, one which flourished with freedom and peace. Scythian females were born of Amazonian heritage and considered equal in all things: heart, mind, body, and spirit. Through the centuries, they chose the most dominant males as potential mates, having them prove their prowess on the arena floor. The strongest males and females mated, ultimately evolving into a new human species.

Exploring regions throughout the world, the Scythians helped develop other advanced civilizations such as The Indus Valley, The Mayans, The early Chinese Dynasty, The Aztecs, and the Incas. As they grew in numbers, they realized the importance of a central location point, a place to store their technological advancements, knowledge, and truth. Thus, the Society was born. It was unanimously voted by the compounds to create a central library in Greece, where they had already planted the original roots of democracy.

 For a time, Scythians lived among the ordinary humans or Allos. But tension between the species grew as the Allos tried to comprehend their differences, believing the Scythians to be gods and demigods.

It wasn’t until Scythian Alexander the Great, ruler over the Allos, was murdered that the Society moved their headquarters to their original homeland of what is now Romania. Over time, they brought the library of Alexandria to the inner sanctum of the Carpathian Mountains before burning what was left of the library to ashes. 

Now leery of inter-species interaction, the Scythians went into seclusion. It wasn’t until the early twentieth century that modern-day Allos discovered Scythians existed. Fearing their superior strength and intelligence, Russian Tsar Nicholas II created the Drahzda, a secret unit within his army. Along with a fortress and an unlimited bank account, General Sarkov was given a standing order: no matter who ruled, Sarkov was to see his mission through and hunt the Scythians to extinction. After the Tsar was overthrown, funds for the project dried up, and the Drahzda reached out to the young budding Russian mafia. Together, they embezzled millions, funneling the money into banks all over the world. The Second World War had all eyes pointed toward Germany, and it was then that Sarkov Industry was born. No one questioned a Russian corporation hiring scientist and researchers under the pretense of helping defeat Hitler. The country had sustained heavy losses and the gains Sarkov industries made in weapons technology overshadowed any knowledge of the Drahzda or their mission. By the time the war was over, the Drahzda had become independent of governmental control and were gaining influence within struggling countries and taking over the seedy global underworld.

Today, Scythians work in clandestine units throughout every region of the world. They continue fighting a secret war with the Drahzda while trying to keep the Allos population from imploding on itself.

But everything is about to change.