I like to credit ShiyaHawk, S-Bumblebee from FFN, BillA1 from FFN for their works were a inspiration of Thanagarian Worldbuilding. Though my reading of the Hawkman comics, the Hawkworld comics and Alan Grant's No Man's a Island book played a role as well.
Ahead of time, to assuage any confusion, Shayera Hol and Shayera Thal are two different people.
Year 6187 (Earth Year 1928)
10/21/23: Did some changes and edits
For eight-year-old Shayera Hol, it was a morning ritual to wake up early in the morning. Climbing to the top of whatever building she was in to gaze at the sunrise. To see the Polaris star before it hid behind one of the floating nests over their heads.
During the day, the star would reflect off the tall, metallic structures of those nests. Watching as small ships would fly to and fro around those buildings. Sometimes hovercrafts would exit from the bases of those nests to descend here.
In those nests, all of them were like her: winged Thanagarians. Though there were some down here as well. Even they lived separately from the Off-Worlders. She once lived in one of those pockets with her parents when they were alive.
"There's never a morning when you are not up here." The winged little girl turns to see S'ri Crespa climb up to the top of the Children's Home. Which he runs with his wife Valeorin, and their three daughters.
She then turns her gaze back to the sun as the older man sits next to her. "What are you thinking about, little one? Probably not to just look at the sunrise as usual."
Crespa wasn't wrong. There was a reason she was paying more attention to those floating cities.
"I turned eight two Aquil ago," she answered. Every year, each Thanagarian who reached the age of eight is shipped off to the Academies this time of year. Every year she'd see the hovercrafts leave the base of one of those floating cities to the dilapidated streets below to gather up the young Thanagarians.
It was this time of year too. It could be anytime this week she'd be taken up there.
"Ah, do you want to go to the one of those Academies or no?" he had asked.
Shayera didn't know how to answer that one. Part of her wanted to stay down here, as she couldn't imagine her life anywhere but the Downside. She heard that a lot of soldiers from here don't last too long. She knew a lot of winged kids like her who lost both parents or at least one of them.
There was that other part that wanted to go. To train to be that soldier that would be part of the reason the Gordanians are defeated. To make a difference. To be that generation that sees to it that the war would end.
"I don't know," Shayera answers. "I want to stay. I want to go."
"You know that when they come down here, you won't have a choice," Crespa points out. No, she won't. None of them did. Her life was laid out for her the moment she was born. But did it have to be the bad thing, when she keeps hearing that her generation might be the last to fight in this war?
Crespa removes a pendant from his neck. The figure of Kalmoran glinting in the morning light. Kalmoran, who was said to lead Thanagar's liberation from first the Polarans' and later from Icthulhu. The first High Mor of Thanagar.
"This belonged to my mother," he began. "She gave it to me before she passed. Now, I am giving it to you. To remind yourself where you came from if you need it."
The young girl holds out her hand, and watches as the pendant and it's chain falls into her palm. Shayera swallows, gazing at the white figure in her hand. It's so small but that didn't mean that it's weight wasn't great. They didn't believe in any higher power after Icthulhu, but with the legacy Kalmoran carried, it would be a insult to not refuse this offering from a man who had been more a father to her than the one she hailed from.
"He had to be about seven feet. Maybe close to eight."
"As high as they can go, Sul."
"Anyways, the only reason why his blade missed my head was because his fellow Gordanians began arguing with him about what they were going to do with me."
"And that's how you got out of it, right?" Private Katar Hol had asked Janus Sul.
"Didn't leave without taking a few down," Janus had replied. "One has got to take advantage of the moment their enemies are distracted."
At this point, Katar had tuned out any conversations of his friends and fellow soldiers. In a few hours, his father would be at the spire owned by Thal Porvis for dinner. It was not long ago that he had become Promised to Private Shayera Thal, and it was customary for the two families to dine with each other during a time window when both parties weren't on a battlefield.
It wasn't the dinner that was troubling Katar. He had wanted to spend some time with his idh-yaa, his Yera that wasn't battle related. What was bothering Katar was the prospect of returning to Thalandar's opulent Upside after doing a extraction of future Cadets from the Thalandar district of the dilapidated slums of the Downside. Where most of Thanagar's casualties of this war hail from….
"Hol!"
Hro Talak's voice and the slap of his hand against his helmet is what brings Katar out of his reverie.
"Everything alright, Katar?" Hro asked, and Katar looks around to see the other soldiers gazing at him. "You seemed to be drifting in your own world there."
"Oh." Katar adjusts his helmet. "I was thinking about tonight. My father and I are having dinner with Private Thal and her father."
That was only part of the truth. As much as he liked his friend, Hro wasn't the kind of person to talk the extent of his feelings on the matter. For he had seen the Sergeant roll his eyes when he felt Katar's father had gone on too long about how the Downsiders get the short end of the stick during functions held by Thanaldar's elite. Even if he didn't vocalize his discontent like his grandfather.
"Say, Talak, weren't you originally Promised to Shayera Thal?" Pul Soren asked him.
Hro shrugged. "Yes, but I filed a forfeiture along with postponement. I'd rather wait until I'm up in the ranks. When I'm sure of my odds of survival. By Polaris, I'd rather be assigned to some garbage scow before I allow my grandfather and the OMINAR to determine my future spouse."
There were three ways to be Promised in Thanagar: first was where the fathers of both parties sign a contract for their children. That was the old way, though nowadays, they had to send a copy of a Promise Contract to their Province Council to bypass the Promising Ceremony. Secondly, those who weren't under such contracts or filed a forfeiture and/or postponements had to have their matches done according to the OMINAR Algorithm. One had to fill out a litmus test which the Province Council would run through the algorithm. The AI determines who gets matched with who before the Promising Ceremony. Though Katar had a feeling that even there, strings were pulled anyway for one to get matched with a certain person.
The third way was for the male party to go to the father of the female party to see if he could be Promised with her, not all of them needing to be emotionally attached their mate of choice beforehand. Signing a contract with her father to avoid the Promising Ceremony. Katar had done the third, and he could remember how his throat tightened with nervousness when approaching Thal Porvis if he could be Promised with Porvis' daughter.
Janus Sul then clears his throat. "Anyway, as I was saying," Janus Sul started before the doors slid open. All of them stand up in attention as First Lieutenant Commander Byth Rok strolls into the room. The dark eyes behind his brass helmet never failed to send a chill down Katar's spine.
"Alright, you bunch of mer'narkths, we'll be going for the Downside to oversee the extraction of the new cadets." Lieutenant Rok's eyes roved around the room. "This should be a simple extraction, and don't let the off-worlders distract you. We don't want to be getting our wings clipped because one got distracted from their task."
It did not take long for the hovercraft to deploy. Nor did it take long to notice the difference as they descended farther to the Downside, for the rain pounded on the windows of the hovercraft. The floating cities only got a shadow of whatever inclement weather was occurring during the day while the Downside would get the brunt of it. Of course, they were all told to put their wings in casings before this trip.
"Someone down there should be casing their wings," Sul mentioned in jest. "No one wants to smell wet feathers."
Some of the soldiers laughed in response when Katar took sight of the aged green statue on the main street they were descending upon. The statue becomes larger with each descent. Wasn't it written that one of the major battles occurred in this part of Thanaldar?
"Kalmoran," he couldn't help but mutter out loud. Except it was not quiet enough, for some of those around him turned towards him.
"I strongly suggest you leave all this fabled nonsense Upside, Private Hol," Lieutenant Rok barked. "I can't afford to have one of you losing sight of today's task because one of you kakashes has their mind clouded in myth."
"He has a upcoming dinner with his Promised One, Lieutenant. So forgive him if his mind is clouded."
Katar could feel the blood reach his face and had half the mind to slug whichever Private said that. Hro puts his hand on his shoulder to keep him from getting up. "Private Hol was merely pointing out a statue of a figure central to Thanagarian folklore. He's not one to cloud his mind when the situation calls for it. Otherwise, he'd wouldn't be standing here today."
"But Kalmoran was real," Katar had murmured. Pulling out the golden figure that was hidden inside the chestplate of his armor. As much as he appreciated his friend speaking on his behalf, that his mind isn't clouded, it bothered Katar how much shrouded in myth Kalmoran is to his contemporaries.
As he felt the hovercraft touch the ground, did he put the figure back behind his chestplate.
"How many men did Kalmoran gather for his army? Five thousand?" Rab asked as they sat around at a table. The rain pounding on the dirty window next to them. Smearing whatever view they had of the outside.
"Three thousand," Tarkoll answered.
"The battle between Kalmoran's army and the Polaran Empire lasted for three days," Shayera pitched in. Taking a bite of that lukewarm, beige-grey grub that they are usually given for lunch. A concoction of all leftovers from the Upside.
"He fought the Polaran King last. The fight almost killed him, but Kalmoran was the one who gave the final blow."
"After the Polarans fell, Kalmoran also led the fight to drive out Icthulhu and the Old Ones," Tarkoll noted, scooping his food up with his spoon.
"And with the might of six thousand, they forced him and the Old Ones off of the planet," Shayera continued excitedly, slashing her fork as if it were a sword. The tale of Kalmoran leading the fight to drive out Icthultu was the most favorite of Shayera's stories. They had given so much to him in exchange during their slavery under the Polarans.
"I wish he killed the tentacle monster," one of her friends, Phyla Vell, brought up.
The four of them were so immersed in talking about the stories of Kalmoran that they didn't hear that Imperial Ship descend from the Upside. It took hearing the surrounding conversations fading into silence for Shayera and her friends to look up from their half-eaten grub.
Standing in the center of the room was a officer wearing the red armor and helmet worn by most of the soldiers of their military. With Crespa standing by the door.
"This is Sergeant Hro Talak," the officer introduces. "Half of you in this room have been expecting this day to come, though I should give you fair warning: once your names are called, you are no longer wards of this institution but future soldiers of the Thanagarian Empire. When your name is called, you are to leave this room and board the hovercraft outside."
It was happening then. She knew this day would come. Where she'd have to leave the Downside for her training. Did Crespa have a feeling that it was going to be today? He gave her the pendant, the figure hidden in her blue shirt.
Sergeant Talak's eyes move to the tablet he's holding. "Adur, Tarkoll."
"See you later," Tarkoll says with confidence before bouncing out of his chair. As names were called, Shayera watched as one by one, her winged peers left the others. Most practically bouncing out of their seats like Tark. Some didn't seem to want to go, the way they looked back at the others in the room before filing out of the room. Looking at Crespa, she saw that his eyes were glassy. As if he was trying not to cry.
Shayera herself could feel the tears, though she had to blink them away.
Soldiers don't cry, were the words of her birth father.
When the Sergeant had gotten to the H's, did it feel like Shayera's heart might burst from her chest.
"Hol, Shayera."
She could feel Domet's scaly hands grab hers. Almost as if he didn't want her to go. Part of her didn't want to go either. To not lose some of her friends but what choice did she have? There was a war going on. A war that she was obligated to fight.
She hoped to see him again.
Guilty knowing the next time she'd probably see him, he be serving those in the Upside or putting together the food for their military.
She just hopes that she'd live long enough to see Thanagar win.
"I'll see you again someday," she tried to assure her friend. "Maybe I can come visit you if I can."
Domet pauses before nodding and releasing his hand. "I hope so," he said, as if he feared this would be the last time he see her. Though she wished it wouldn't be.
Shayera rubs her eyes to remove all evidence of crying as she makes her way to the door. After all, she will be a soldier one day. And soldiers don't cry, according to father.
"Good luck, Shayera," says Crespa as she makes her way to the door.
"Thanks," Shayera returned as he pats her on the shoulder. She wants nothing more than to launch in his arms, but hearing the name of the person after her, she has to keep moving. She couldn't help but feel Crespa's eyes on the back of her head as she departed the room. On the way out of the building, one of the red clad soldiers – this one with dark brown eyes under his helmet – stares at her in bewilderment.
She was in no hurry to linger.
Especially where her future awaited her in the form of the hovercraft sitting outside the Children's Home.
She just didn't know whether it would be one containing victory or death in one of her first battles.
After a grueling day at the main base, Private Shayera Thal was looking forward for a dinner with her Promised One. To spend some time with Katar that didn't involve going to the battlefield. Of course, her mother would have reservations.
"I swear Lelkae and Yarael Hro are turning in their graves," she could hear mother say to father as she went to her room. "Their son has no idea what he lost when he filed that forfeiture."
It was a understatement that Yera was relieved that Hro Talak filed the forfeiture to end the Promise between them. It wasn't that Yera hated Hro. From what she'd seen, he was a honorable man and probably would have been a good husband. It was just that she didn't feel that connection with him that she heard that others her unit had said about their Promised Ones.
But she felt that connection in Katar Hol. His father, Paran Katar, was one of the esteemed scientists of their military. Renowned for making the serum that helped regenerate a soldier's wings should they lose them in battle. That was good enough for at least her father, but it wasn't his status that attracted her.
It was the way his brown eyes gazed at her own green eyes with such warmth. How he had her back on the battlefield just as she had his. She couldn't be any happier when he presented her with the white earrings at the Veil of Valmorra….
However, that elation was also tinged with dread when she thinks about him going to the Downside. There was the chance that he would meet her, and should that little girl resemble her, will he connect the two.
Shayera sighed as she removed her red helmet and took off her red uniform. Running her hands through her dark, red locks. Nothing happened to Admiral Andar Pul when it was found out what he did to her. Ruining her with his touch and doing things that no one should do a twelve-year-old girl. Making her do things that she didn't want to do but had do.
They covered up her pregnancy. As for the parents, like the High Council, were more interested in protecting Pul then her. Not long after the High Council sworn her to secrecy, her parents had told her not to speak of it. She even had a feeling her father had his reputation in mind when he ensured that no one knew it was his daughter that this happened to. After all, being the Commissioner of the Wingmen, he couldn't risk being attached to scandal.
Sometimes she wondered what became of that baby she had to give up. All she knew was that they sent that child to the Downside to a lower-class pair of Thanagarians who were unable to have children. It was after she completed training at eighteen when she used her connections to check out the records of future cadets for the coming years.
Her daughter was named Ursa Shayera. Renamed to Shayera Hol after being sent to the care of Hol and Mon Ipha. Two Thanagarians living in the Hawks Row at the Downside. She could assume that they loved the girl's surname enough to keep it as her first name. There were rare moments that she wondered what she looked like before trying to shove it away.
She wasn't supposed to feel this way for a child was sent to the Downside. Especially here on Thanagar where children spent most of their time in special homes before being sent off to the Academies for their ten-year training to become Thanagar's soldiers.
Though today, Katar might see her. If she looked like her, he might say something when the two of them would be alone. She'd have to tell him, and she was afraid that he too would file a forfeiture like his friend before him. She hoped he'd love her just the same, but she'd feared the disgust in his eyes when she tells him what Pul did to her. Even if she spared him from the gory details.
Yera waves away one of their servants. Telling her that she could get dressed herself. Yera placed her pearl laden formal helmet over her eyes before putting on her green formal attire. The one that complimented her eyes.
She had soon joined her parents and her brother, Porvis Corsar, in the living area when Katar and his father entered. Oh, how Yera liked it when those brown eyes of his lit up when he saw her. How she hoped that light wouldn't turn to a disgusted gleam when she tells him what happened years ago.
During the course of the dinner, she noticed that Katar had avoided any of the off-world foods being offered. Only sticking to the native Thanagarian dishes. As if whatever his experience was down there soured his appetite for them. It didn't surprise her, though, as father would say, "Paran is a brilliant mind, yet sometimes I think he's touched in the head when it comes to the Downside."
In her early seven years, Yera thought nothing of the Downside off-world servants that had came and went in her family's ancestral spire. Though, sometimes, she wonders if Paran Katar was right. That the Downsiders were getting the short end of the stick. It didn't help that Thanagarians from the Downside made up most of the frontline casualties.
And that little girl was going to be one when she gets out of the Academy. A new horror filling Yera at the thought. Of course, she wouldn't put it past the Admiral to put their daughter on the frontlines as a way to ensure that no trace of what he had done to her was present.
"It's a shame, really," mother vocalized. Breaking Shayera out of her thoughts. Sergeant Talak doesn't know what he gave away."
"Some things are not meant to be," Paran reminded her. "Some aren't ready until they are sure."
"I'm sure Hro will go to the father of someone more suited for him for a Promise contract," Yera thought to pitch in. "As ambitious as he is."
Perhaps someone close to rank as he is. Maybe another woman who'd grew up in one of these spires.
"He'll probably be a Commander by the time he gets Promised again," said Porvis. "Perhaps his grandfather will have him Promised by then."
She thought she could see Katar hiding a snort as he drinks from his goblet. As if he thinks otherwise. Hro was stubborn enough to want to find his own bride. He wouldn't want his grandfather to choose for him. Nor would he want OMINAR to determine who was his best compatible match. However, he wasn't that rebellious to the point of marrying someone under his stature.
Father waves his hand dismissively. "You never know with this generation. They seem to believe they know better than the elders before them."
"I think it will be a while for you to worry," said Porvis. "Most families in these parts still make Promise contracts."
It was after dessert when she and Katar decided to seclude themselves from their families. To her small sitting room adjacent to her bedroom. She swallowed as she took a quivering breath.
Here goes…
"I have a question to ask about your visit to the Downside." She removes her helmet, placing it on the end table next to chaise. Only family, close friends or someone like Katar was supposed to see her face. To reveal her face to anyone outside that circle was considered a breach of privacy. "But it might only make sense if I tell you a story. But you might hate me for it before I could ask that question."
"Let me hear it, then." Shayera watches him closely as he removes his own helmet. Revealing his classically beautiful features. Yet, as nonchalant as Katar tried to sound, there was a part of him that seemed uneasy. As if he felt her uneasiness.
His hands clammy like hers as she guided him to the chaise. Sitting close to him.
She could feel her feathers bristle as that knot clenches in her stomach. Closing her eyes as she takes a deep exhale. "There was once a girl," she opens her eyes. This was the best way to tell it. To personally dissociate from this gruesome tale. "A girl who lived in one of the high spires. Her father being the Commissioner of the Wingmen.
"She was a cadet that had shown a lot of promise. Upon graduating to a senior cadet, she was one of those who joined the fast track program. She be perfect for the Harksh, they said. She had the potential for taking her flying to the next level. The Admiral himself had taken special interest in her."
Yera could see the realization start to dawn in those brown eyes of his. Of course, he'd hear the whispers around Thanaldar of Admiral Pul's depravity. Only he probably didn't know that it was her that Admiral forced himself on due to her father covering that part up.
Shayera averts her eyes away from his. Not wanting to see the disgust that will come. "He takes her under his wing. Trains her what he knows. Yet, she already trusted him, for he was friends with her father. A trust that he used to his advantage. Using that trust to make their encounters slowly more intimate then the next." She shivers as she feels the goosebumps sprawl over her skin over the memory of his slimy touch. "He told this girl not to tell anyone. That no one would understand the bond that they had."
Admiral Pul told her that she was special. Special for being chosen for a opportunity like this. That every girl could wish she would spend time with Thanagar's Admiral like her. And other dreadful, terrible things.
"Their secret was compromised when she had gotten pregnant. There was no way to 'take care' of the problem before it was noticeable. She was carrying a future soldier of Thanagar. She was sent away for a year. Her peers not allowed to ask questions on her absence."
It was eight years ago, but that day felt like yesterday. The pain of feeling emotionally isolated was just as painful as the delivery process. How when she came back, she felt disconnected from her friends and fellow cadets. How Admiral Pul's selfish desires resulted in her removal from the fast-track program and Harksh training.
"She gave birth to a girl, and sent her to the Downside. Giving her to a couple unable to have children because of a accident that befell them in one of their battles. The adopted father had a name like yours except it was his first name rather than his surname. The adopted mother liking the baby's birth surname so much that she kept it for the baby's first name."
Katar was silent for a moment. At first, she thought it was what she had feared. That he would call off their Promise between each other.
"I saw her, Yera," he said finally. Only it lacked the disgust that she thought would be there. "I didn't connect it right then. She had your eyes. Your brother's fiery red hair. She looked like a miniature of you."
So, he did see her.
And at that moment, she feels his fingers touch her chin. Lifting her face up so she could meet his eyes. "Shayera, if there's any disgust I feel, it's not towards you. It's towards the man that did this to you."
6257 (Earth Year 1998)
Seventy Years Later
"You have requested this meeting, Admiral Pom?"
"Indeed, I have, my lords, your excellency."
It was at this very hour that Admiral Samoth Pom stood in the conference room of the High Council's Spire. Not breaking her gray eyed gaze from High Mor Krandor Vat to the five Councilors. Some of them – Therian Andar, Xemer Lelkae, and Auzik Okte especially – appearing as if they'd rather be elsewhere then here.
They'd probably be more attentive had I been a man, she thinks with a wry smirk. She was after all, the first woman to hold the top rank in the Thanagarian Imperial Armada. Having succeeded Andar Pul when he took a seat in the Administration of Protection. Paving the way for women to ascend the ranks when they couldn't before.
"What you have to offer, I have no doubt it is of utmost importance," vocalized High Mor Vat. Gripping the bottom of his withered battle ax which he seemed to use more for mobile support than combat. A signifier of his old age. It wouldn't be long before he became one with the wind, and Samoth dreaded the day he passed. For his successor would no doubt try to undo everything she ever worked for.
"If so, get on with it," Therian Andar said. "The lot of us have important things to do."
High Councilors Lelkae and Okte chuckle in response. Samoth swallowed hard as she felt the heat lick her throat. It did not help that she felt the apprehension of Second Lieutenant Captain Paran Dul a few meters behind her. Though Samoth decided to hide her anger in a cool smile. "I'm certain that you'll be able to get to whatever you have planned." She cleared her throat. "This isn't new knowledge to you, I will acknowledge. The interplanetary drones have recently confirmed to us that the defense outside of Karna is still impregnable."
"As you say, it is still impregnable," High Councilor Xemer Lelkae bought up rather forcefully. "Why do you have to bring this up if we already know?"
At this, the Admiral curls her scarred lips into a smile. "I have been in clandestine discussions with research and development of engineering in the past year. Of course, the Commanders do not know of this as of yet. You'll see why as we discuss."
At this, she nods to Second Lieutenant Dul. Who had been watching the dialogue in silence and apprehension. The Lieutenant clears her throat as she stands from her seat. Placing her tablet on the hologram counsel. "Even with the impregnable defenses in front of Karna, we have determined a time window where there will be vulnerabilities. However, such vulnerabilities will require a sneak attack via wormhole rather than a full-frontal assault. In order to bypass through a wormhole, we'd have to generate one ourselves. According to my calculations, we have determined seven planets closet for the viable Hyperspace Bypass route," she explained further as a line links seven orbs together. "The gate would only be opened after building the last generator on the planet of the Solar System in the Alpha Quadrant: Earth."
"When is this time window, may I ask, Lieutenant Dul?" asked High Councilor Delnis Bhis'ath.
"Five years from now," she answered, "which matches the timeline of the construction of the bypasses. Any alteration to the course would set us back for more than five years, missing our window."
The Elders glance at each other and murmur as the High Mor sits in silence. From the thoughtfulness in his clouded eyes, Samoth could see the cogs working in his head.
"Is this why you haven't told the nine Commanders about this?" he finally asks. "Commanders Hol and Thal have a sixteen-year history on the last planet in that chain."
Samoth nods, "Regrettable, but practical, your excellency. We can't afford complications if two out of nine of our best Commanders decide to intervene on the planet's behalf. Only select Commanders, especially those whose subordinates will be scouting some of these planets, will be aware of this project. After they have sent them, of course."
Samoth could hear nothing but her own breath as the High Mor and the Council seem to consider her words with silence.
"We did lose too much to the Gordanians in the past six hundred years," Councilor Bhis'ath. "We can't afford to lose more to them."
"I am more interested in what the High Mor has to say," said Councilor Lelkae.
"How will you go about choosing the scouts for these planets?" asked High Mor Vat without hesitation.
Yes!
"With forty billion lives on the line, I trust this Council has best judgement to send for these missions," Samoth had answered with a cool smile. "I shall send the list of candidates for you to choose from in two days' time."
In the end, one of these scouts will determine whether Thanagar emerges triumphant in this war or suffers a devastating defeat at the hands of their enemies.
In the prequel issue of the Hawkworld comics, Katar Hol, Byth Rok, and Kragger were members of the Wingmen Corps with Andar Pul as the commissioner (he was a commissioner in the Silver Age, where he wasn't a disgusting PoS). Due to DCAU retconning Kragger as military, I decided to make Katar Hol (well, he originally was going to be a Thanagarian Commander anyway in Starcrossed before DC put their foot down), and Byth Rok military as well with Andar Pul being a former top ranking officer in the armada instead of Wingmen Commisoner, giving that to Thal Porvis instead. Then again, the DCAU was known for it's retcons of DC Comic canon so this fic shouldn't be any different.
And yeah, according to New Earth DC Canon, Thanagar is a very sexist society. With it only being a recent thing for women to join the Wingmen Corps. Seeing that we only saw men in the High Council when Hro Talak had his conference call in the first part of Starcrossed, I can assume that it is like that in the DCAU as well. That they only conscripted women to increase their numbers, and that women couldn't ascend the ranks until less then a hundred years before the events of Justice League.