Goddess
Amaya Jiwe. A name fit for a goddess.
Rumor has it she once traveled through time. Rumor has it she loved a white boy, but her love for her country was stronger. Rumor has it she still longs to return to the future and the past, and to help the people from those times, to fight the villains that wronged those people.
She returned to Zambesi with a plethora of experience, and her presence was enough to scare away any white man with plans to come and conquer the area. The woman that held her position as the village matriarch in Amaya's absence stepped down and Amaya returned to her previous duties. She held the position with pride and lead her village with dignity. Men and women and children alike respected her as well as the powers provided by the totem, passed down from mother to daughter and matriarch to matriarch.
The totem is extremely powerful, as many visitors will know. She prevented a lonely and distraught elephant on a rampage from destroying the village. She called their cows back to them when a storm damaged the pen. And when she called upon the spirit of an animal, the totem granted her those powers – the strength of a gorilla, the sight of a hawk, the incredible lung capacity of a dolphin. So far, only the criminals that faced the Justice Society and her fellow tribesmen and -women knew about the power at her fingertips.
The first time the white people came to her village, they saw a good opportunity to colonize and/or modernize the village. Amaya refused them entrance, seeing straight through their deception. They continued to come back, asked Amaya for 'their chief' and insisted their ways would definitely improve their way of living. Nobody in the village was overjoyed to welcome these white people in their village.
Amaya scared them away. Sources vary, but it was noted that Amaya started to move away from the 'protector' title and more to the 'goddess' title. Amaya visited all Zambesian grounds and expelled all white people from the region. She declared Zambesi its own country, and would not accept any white person to set foot on their soil. After her terrifying display of power, the white community in Africa left them alone, but they did keep a close eye on the brand new country that was yet to be officially recognized by other nations.
Power corrupts, and Amaya was not immune to its call. She relied more and more on her powers and smiled less and less, growing more arrogant and violent. She permanently appointed a woman to be her tribe's matriarch and set out to live in solitude, among the animals. This way, she could protect the country without feeling favoritism to any one tribe. Amaya also gave the new matriarch her baby, only two months old, for her to raise. As such the Jiwe bloodline continues. That was the last time anyone saw her in person.
The Zambesian people are glad they have their protector, but they are also wary of her. Don't say anything that might anger her, they tell the younger generation. Remember the village to the eastern border? The villagers talked about her without the proper respect and a stampede of wild buffalo rampaged through the village. Half of the village was destroyed, and three people lost their lives. A clear warning sign. Don't anger.
Amaya does not just talk to the animals; she controls them. She persuades them to do the things she needs them to do, even to go against their nature to please her. Flies and other insects are her eyes and ears, elephants and lions and buffalo her muscles. Every animal served her. It was this knowledge that kept the Zambesians obedient. It was this power that made sure white men never entered the country, for when they tried, the animals chased them away.
Amaya died many years later of old age, and she would not have recognized or approved of her younger self's behavior, nor would a young Amaya agree with the old protector with a goddess' status. She died alone, the totem around her neck, proclaiming that nobody shall wield it but her. Everyone who ever tried to pry the totem from her body was attacked by animals, and the totem resides around the skeleton's neck still. Beyond that, African people of the future still worship her as the white people worship God, and they fight for animal rights in her name. Her legacy resides in her protection, however cruel it may have turned out, of Zambesi.