Forenoon Fog

Fog's original pride was once a large group living along the edge of the affected droughtlands. Prior to Fog's birth, when her mother was expecting, the court of the pride convened to discuss how to move forward as the lands they were currently on were becoming unsustainable and dangerous. Fog's father, a viscount in the pride's court, suggested that the pride move to the nearby mountains, where the weather was colder and the land rockier; the proximity to snow and ice would ensure the pride had water. The pride agreed with this proposal.

Unfortunately, this proved to be a grave mistake. The droughts were more severe than anyone had anticipated, and the merciless rays of the sun heated even the mid to lower areas of the mountains that the pride had settled into. Flooding, rockfalls, and mudslides occurred, resulting in much catastrophe and loss of life within the pride. Though the rest of the court had agreed at the time, the blame for these instances fell upon the viscount's shoulders, and – when Fog was born in the midst of things – this negative opinion transferred to her shoulders, too.

Fog was given the same rations and resources as her peers, but was rarely listened to by her superiors nor accommodated for any of the ways she differed from her peers. She was given the same lessons as her peers in group settings, and she was expected to figure things out, whether she understood the first time or not. To this day, Fog carries with her the initial expectation that she is on her own in any endeavor she undertakes, having to remind herself or be reminded that her new pride will help her and is willing to answer questions rather than let her do things alone.

As numbers in her old pride dwindled, the remaining nobility – her father had been stripped of his title long ago – began breaking off to seek out new territories of their own, selecting members of the pride to accompany them to their new kingdoms as they went. Fog, unwilling to sit and endure the long buildup to being the last picked for the baoball team, so to speak, struck out on her own.

Outside of the mountains, she found herself having a much more difficult time than she anticipated. While it was fairly common in her old pride to see lions speckled with swaths of white like she was, it proved difficult to look after herself in less gray lands, struggling to hunt or evade the notice of other, more aggressive animals. She was saved from a run-in with a pack of hyenas by the arrival of First Light and Misty Morning, who helped to drive the pack away and took Fog back with them to the pride to rest and recover from the wound left on her hip.

Exposure to the Sun Kingdom's lions and the beliefs of their Sun King, Vast of the Endless Sun, made her curious. The Sun had not been kind to the mountains, and her old pride had insisted she hide from its rays and shrink herself for this oversight... but here, she could learn how to be, boldly and without restriction. She took the name Forenoon Fog in accordance with the pride's naming traditions, and has found a niche for herself being a chaser and a diversion in hunts, using her unusual coat to draw the eye of prey before they can notice the rest of the party closing in on them. It works out better for her, anyway – she isn't much a fan of the actual taking down the prey part.

Quiet but not shy, Forenoon Fog approaches life in the Sun Kingdom cautiously. She usually has intelligent insight to offer to any conversation of strategy or politics that occurs, but doesn't always share these unprompted. She is still learning to accept and believe in the benevolence of those around her, but the encouragement of her fellow lionesses and the unwavering kindness – and strangeness – of Vast, the Sun King, are allowing her to relax bit by bit. When she is not hunting, she seems greatly interested in the growth of various plants in the slowly healing lands of the Sun Kingdom, and it's not uncommon to find her rooting around in the dirt or admiring the fresh shoots or young blossoms of various flora.