(From "Jabari's Lioness")
Nia and Nuru's mother. A shape-shifter. Sent to Jabari to fulfill an ancient compact between the children of Shu and the descendents of Taushari, she geve her life trying to protect her human family.

In an age when humans are no longer the "top" predator, Andromeda is a hunter from one of the "free" prides living in what used to be a large and secluded game park. She has no idea why her people were created, and she really doesnt care -- until her pride is hunted down and slaughtered by frightened humans and she is left for dead. Andy is not a civilized kitty. Now, she has only two things on her mind...revenge on her family's killers, and eluding a wily pursuer who is not human, but one of her own kind...

Charis was raised as, well...a pet. But when her "owner" realized that she was highly intelligent, despite her inability to speak as a human does, he taught her to read and to communicate in sign language. Cultivated and sweet, she is not prepared to meet the aggressive and bombastic Andromeda (who has nothing for contempt for the gentle, but clueless feline) or the cynical Jason, who wants to rescue her from her peaceful and orderly home...

Loosing his pride to a younger, stronger lion, Dawit is forced from the Pridelands. The ex-king has fled with his last surviving cub, Naki, to the uncertain refuge of his eccentric and foul-tempered sister's lair hidden in the Verges. Slowly recovering from his injuries, Dawit is a rather haggard looking but good-sized lion in moderately decent health, but with a noticeable limp and silver-grey strands running through his now-unkempt black mane. His soft gold-green eyes are filled with cynicism but occasionally anger hardens them to a cold, jade-green. His golden brown hide is covered with numerous scratches, dings, and faded scars from dozens of challenges. A cunning fighter, Dawit knows how to choose his battles and would rather be old and devious than young and dead...

Faraji is the tawny, russet-maned, amber-eyed son of King Taji and Queen Asha, who ruled the Pridelands before Dawit. Easily defeating Taji, the young Dawit took control of Taji’s territory and his small, isolated pride. But the victorious Dawit was an unusually gifted lion who did not see the need to kill any of Taji's cubs or to drive the elderly king away. He accepted Taji's cubs as his own, and allowed the old king to live in peace and safety under his wing. In time, however, "prince" Faraji got to be a royal pain in the butt. After one too many rounds of, 'I Just Can't Wait to Be King', Dawit had enough and kicked him out of the Pridelands to find his own way in the world. Now, on the verge of the Pridelands, the tables have turned and the bitter and resentful Faraji confronts his old nemesis, now a rogue himself, intent on extracting revenge for his years of humiliation and isolation. But the crafty old lion has other ideas & suggests an alliance with the impetuous ex-prince of Pride Rock...

When her small pride is decimated by the clan, she & her pridesister Nefret enter the desiccated Pridelands with their cubs in search of game & water. They beg refuge from King Scar & what he demands in return will tip the balance of power in the Pridelands in his favor. One of Zira's trusted lieutenants, Hawa is tough & cynical, but she also feels some sympathy towards the "trouble-makers" in Scar's pride, most notably: ex-queen Sarabi, her companion, Sarafina, & the biggest trouble-makers of all, the young lionesses Nala, Kula, Tama & Shani... Hawa is a soft ginger-gold color with pale ear rims & deep carnelian eyes.

The posthumous daughter of Mufasa by Queen Sarabi, Shani bears a striking resemblance to Simba as a cub, with a bright gold coat, dark chocolate-brown ear-rims, & deep amber eyes. Sarabi refused to name Ishana's father out of fear of what Scar would do to her, believing it was better for Shani to be the daughter of some stray rogue & an unfaithful queen, than to be Mufasa's heir... Shani spent most of her cubhood avoiding the glowering king & his plans to shorten her life, & training for the day when she might be strong and clever enough to kill him herself. Ishana is a powerfully built lioness with a quick temper & a wicked sense of humor.

(From "Jabari's Lioness")
The devious and charming descendant of Tausahri, Jabari lost his wives & children to the mindless panic of the mob. Now he must choose between exacting his revenge and protecting his final two children. The unexpected arrival of Kito, son of Zuri, clicks all of his long laid plans into place...

Jason is a careful, diciplined fighter, and a little more stable than the more agressive Andromeda -- who he freed from captivity. Now he has his hands full trying to keep her from going on an indescriminate rampage against humanity to revenge her pride and her honor.

Leader of her tiny, isolated pride, this formidable scarred lioness & her pride-sisters are on the prowl for a decent mate & new king. But won't be an easy task, considering that Kadi has already run off two "kings" & has just killed a third. She cannot afford to allow her sisters to mate with just any muscle-bound stray that blunders by. Her tiny pride is special: of all lions, only her pride can recall the past, anticipate the future, & sing these songs to their cubs. Sober & highly intelligent, Kadi's once beautiful silvery pelt is marred by many fading battle scars, the worst of which is a painful & permanent momento of the recent battle that nearly cost her one of her unusual sky-blue eyes, not to mention her life.

(From "Jabari's Lioness")
Kito, son of Zuri, is not sure what he is. He wears his human shape because he doesn't know any other way. It is not until he returns home to his father's village and marries Nia, that his true nature begins to assert itself. But his newfound confidence and his slowly unfolding freindship with Nia, may not be enough to save them both from the wrath of N'dila, whose place he usurped.

Mahli, daughter of Naja by Dawit: Mahli inherited not only her father's deep golden brown pelt and luminous green eyes, but also his piercing intellect and cynical nature. On the terrible day of her first solo hunt, she and her pride-sisters returned home to find an arrogant stranger strutting down the spar. Her father was missing, injured by Uba and driven away. The bloody remains of her younger brother lay at the base of Pride Rock, & her little sister, Naki was missing. Her pride-sisters did their best to protect Mahli, but with the death of her brother, Mahli was suddenly elevated to the status of royal heiress. The new king, Uba, saw her as his path to legitimacy & started actively courting her. Queen Razi saw her as competition and began to consider possible “accidents” that would rid her of this unwelcomed rival. Rather than endure Uba's unwanted advances or Razi's vindictive jealousy, and haunted by her failure to protect her siblings, Mahli fled, tracking her defeated father to the Verges.

When Dawit became king, “Mad” Mara, his hard-bitten, sarcastic littermate & sister got bored & retreated to the Cleft on the Verges, where she indulged in her passion for poetry & annoying the other animals that lived in the Pridelands. Mara is an unkempt, solitary sourpuss with deep amber eyes, sharp teeth & ever-present claws, a lean & lanky frame, and dark golden fur with pale tan muzzle and belly fur. She has an unpleasant disposition, but her passion for poetry is nothing short of terrifying. When she isn't busy running off intruders or killing some creature for lunch, she spends her time bullying great literature out of other animals. This disagreeable lioness likes poetry and music so much that she will spare the life of any animal she catches if they can tell her a story or sing her a song she hasn't heard before. She especially likes birdsong, and is annoyed that the birds won’t stay around and sing for her. Additionally, she has a collection of bones that she hides in her den. Some of these bones are very, very old, and Mara claims that they whisper secrets to her. Other than these minor quirks, one could say she was perfectly normal...

Naja reluctantly accepted the rogue lion, Dawit, as her mate when he defeated her elder brother and became the Lion King. Dawit fell in love with her and in time, Naja returned that love with all her heart. Dawit always felt as if he had cheated his way to power, and that he did not really deserve the gracious and sensible lioness. When Queen Asha followed old Taji to the stars, the wise and thoughtful Naja became the matriarch of her pride and ruled beside Dawit for years, the perfect foil for his razor-sharp intellect and often-Machiavellian personality. Over the years, Naja gave him four cubs. Ade, who died while he was still a cub; Mali, a lovely and sensible young lioness; Dawit’s a delightful and mischievous son and heir, Kendi; and Naki, a little lioness full of talkative exuberance. But after Naki’s birth, Naja contracted a rare illness and died – living only long enough to see her final cub weaned. Dawit was devastated and (against his better judgment) accepted the clever but ambitious Razi as his new queen. But this proved to a deadly miscalculation, as Razi had already decided to replace him with her younger, stronger, and easier to control lover, Uba. Dawit misses her gentle advice and guidence. Sometimes he can almost hear her voice calling to him from the stars...

Naki, daughter of Naja by Dawit: Naki is a talkative, friendly, snuggly, annoying, careless, inquisitive, sweet-tempered and exasperating scrawny ball of tawny gold fur with a fluffy brown tail tuft and deep amber-gold eyes. Of his three living cubs, the injured Dawit could only save Naki, who had hidden in terror when her elder brother was ruthlessly slaughtered. Naki won't talk about the horrible night, but she will talk INCESSANTLY about everything else, seemingly bent on driving her bad-tempered aunt over the brink. She has befriended a cute little mouse who calls herself Badu, whom Mara has threatened to eat if she ever catches her.

A survivor of the clan’s assault on Rhadi's Pride. Nefret enters the Pridelands with Hawa, her half-sister, & their pride's remaining cubs. She develops a sincere admiration for Queen Zira who saved their lives by defending them before an unsympathetic King Scar. But because she & Hawa have both suffered the loss of their beloved mate, Rhadi, she finds herself feeling some sympathy for the isolated ex-queen, Sarabi. Preferring to follow while Hawa takes the lead, Nefret & her pridesister quickly become Zira's faithful lieutenants & reliable enforcers of Scar’s draconian rule... Nefret has a cinnamon coat with pale ear-rims, & grey-green eyes.

(From "Jabari's Lioness")
A shape-shifter, Nia wears a human form, but she is not human. She loves her human father, and although she longs to follow her feral twin to the red hills and her dead mother’s people, her fierce loyalty binds her to him. Lately however, it has become harder and harder to retain her form, especially with the irritating N’dila pressing her for marriage. As her father’s only heir, she represents the power and authority of an ancient bloodline, and N’dila has decided that this power and authority should be his.

(From "Jabari's Lioness")
Nuru surrendered to his non-human heritage after his mother, Aja, was killed trying to protect her human family. He distrusts and hates the two-legged ones and has fully embraced his leonine nature. But even thought he is happily mated to the golden eyed Asira, and now has a family of his own, he feels compelled to look in on his unhappy sister, Nia, who has stayed behind with their human father. When Kito is coerced into kidnapping Nia, Nuru moves in to slay the offending "human" and save her; but somthing very familiar about Kito stops him.

Razi: After the birth of her last cub, Naki, Queen Naja fell ill and died. Devastated, Dawit accepted the lovely, but deceitful Razi as his new queen, hoping to cure her of her ambitions. But this proved to be a fatal miscalculation for the normally clever monarch, as she had already set her sights on replacing him with a younger, stronger, and more easily manipulated lion. After Uba ruthlessly murdered Dawit’s terrified cubs, Razi helped her lover corner and defeat the anguished king, now mad with grief and careless. Razi's angry pride sisters, who liked and respected Dawit, could barely contain their contempt for her and the muscle-bound Uba, and actively protected Dawit’s remaining daughter, Mali. Now Razi must contend with her infuriated pride-sisters and the grieving Mali, who has unintentionally attracted Uba’s roving eye.

Taken into the human world by the lion-hunters who slaughtered his pride, Sekhemre (Sekhi) knows nothing of being a "real" lion. Adopted by Tausheri, the headstrong daughter of the regional governor, Sekhi learned to put his past behind him and forget what he was and where he came from, and just concentrate on having as much fun as he possibly could. As a cub, he was cute, but as an adult he is becoming dangerous, jealous, and frustrated. With maturity and the pending wedding of his beloved 'Sheri, Sekhi is becoming painfully aware that things are about to change drastically for him -- again. He knows that he doesn't really belong in this world of palaces and kings, but where does he belong?
Sekhi has a sandy gold pelt, a soft medium-brown mane, & honey-gold eyes. He is a little vain and spends a great deal of time grooming his velvety fur and silky mane. He enjoys hunting, swiming, and tormenting the palace dogs.

simbamarasa

a rather generic lioness, based on my pictures of mad mara and ishana, (or rather, they are based on her...) and seems to be the lioness that i draw whenever i need to represent myself, (the lioness i see in the dark mirror) so i guess that makes her my "fursona".

"simbamarasa" is a kiswahili term for a kind of spirit-lion that can walk through shadows and that cannot be stopped or killed.

this image was created for the lilymud poster project.

Daughter of Queen Sarabi by Scar. After Ishana’s birth, Scar punishes Sarabi for preferring an unnamed stray to him, a king, by forcing a cub on her, & then taking that cub away & giving her to the more compliant Zira to be raised with his own cub, Nuka. Sumai is taught to loathe & distrust her own mother. After Simba’s return & the murder of the young prince, the vain & petulant Sumai is exiled with Zira's loyal ones. But when her own cub dies under suspicious circumstances, she finally begins to understand the true depths of Zira’s madness & she flees the outlands. Sumai resembles Scar, right down to his green eyes & lean features. The only features she takes from Sarabi are her dark ear-rims & her emerging courage...

Heir to Sekhemre's regal bloodline, King Taji ruled the Pridelands before he was deposed by the young upstart, Dawit. But instead of running the old lion off, Dawit allowed him and his cubs to stay. In time, Taji became Dawit's mentor and taught the younger lion to become a true king...

Taushari. Daughter of Governer Pakhety, 'Shari befriended an orphaned lion cub with terrifying intelligence. But when she was forced to choose between the cub, now grown, and the prince who wished to marry her, she set in motion a series of events that would affect and transform, not only her own children's children, but Sekhi's, for untold generations.

Ubu is a tyrant and a bully, Ubu is a powerful, old fashioned sort of lion: long on aggression and short on the ol' grey matter. This is the lion that dethroned Dawit...