Warrior Women: The Heartland

The Heartland is a vast continent torn by constant war. It is a world where alliances are forged and broken, where tribes and kingdoms strive for domination, and where ravaged villages smoulder in the sunset.

Armies march across the Heartland to meet each other in deadly battles, the victors leaving mounds of slain in their wake as they return home laden with booty. Territories are invaded, conquered and plundered, their rulers executed, their people butchered or enslaved.

Battlefields reek with the stench of blood and death, the cruel cries of ravens mingling with the wailing of widows searching vainly among the corpses. Some bereaved women seek comfort in revenge, taking up arms against the slayers of their husbands, brothers and sons. Leaving their villages, they follow the armies to war, joining with other women to form all-female regiments.

But some women need no bereavement to lure them away from home and family. The scent of adventure, the hope of plunder or the fear of enforced marriage are often enough to compel them to yearn for the warrior life. In many cases the rigid discipline of the royal armies is not what they seek, and they look instead for greater freedom, seeking out the mercenary bands, the bandit gangs or the barbarian tribes.

The warrior women experience the same dangers as their male counterparts and take the same risks. Death in battle is an ever-present peril and many friendships are short-lived. But those relationships that survive the fortunes of war tend to be very strong, even intense, developing beyond close camaraderie into something deeper. In some all-female warbands the bonds of sisterhood are so strong that men seem redundant except as comrades-in-arms, the women happily providing each other with every physical or emotional need. Not all warrior women are comfortable in such a community: many form casual relationships with both men and women, or with men only, settling down to a quiet married life when age or injury compels them to retire from the warband.

More background information can be found in the Glossary

A full-colour map of the Heartland is available on the main Warrior Women site at Erotic Illusions and can be reached via this link.