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Mwezi'o Ninelives is a spiritual rebirth of Moon Pride's first king, sometimes referred to as Mwezi'o the Elder or The First. His name refers to this trait of being reborn. In some ways, he isn't quite identical in appearance to the old King, but the resemblance is close enough that other lions easily accept him as the old king reborn. As it happens, this isn't merely a pride legend or tradition about their rulers always being the same reincarnated soul. No, in this case, it's literally true, and the whole pride participated in helping it happen.
When the first King Mwezi'o knew his time to die was approaching, he sought the wisdom of Moon Pride's best sangoma, who advised him to find a new young body for his soul to inhabit after he dies. This way he could cheat death and continue to guide his pride for another full lifetime. Although somewhat disquieted by this idea, the sangoma eventually talked him into it by telling him that some cubs are born without souls, and this is part of why so many cubs die young - other predators are attracted to the soulless ones just as they are to the sick and weak. Having encountered zombies and other soulless abominations in the past, the old king was willing to believe this information.
So he scoured the lands with his sangoma until they located a suitable cub. She happened to be female, but that was of no matter. She was of good, royal lineage, and she was strong and capable physically - but she had no name, and her mind seemed blank. The king immediately realized that he had found a soulless cub suitable for the ritual, but he asked the sangoma to examine her to be certain he wasn't making a mistake. The sangoma agreed. Even the king of the cub's pride admitted that this cub had always seemed strange, more like an empty vessel than a mind of her own.
So the old king traded with the king of the faraway pride and acquired the soulless cub. The cub showed no interest or reaction to anything, not being traded off nor being taken away from her pride by two strangers. Indeed, she seemed more like a meat puppet than a real lioness-child. The old lion observed her closely on the long trip back to Moon Pride's territory but saw nothing whatsoever to indicate that there was a soul in the cub.
For a while, he was unsure, but this observation reassured the elder Mwezi'o that he would not be robbing another lion of a meaningful life. He could not imagine such a cub surviving to adulthood. She had no personality, no drive, no spark of real life in her. In fact, he found the cub downright eerie and was glad that he had never noticed any soulless cubs among his own pride. (It did, of course, occur to him that there must have been some that he just never noticed... but he tried not to think about that.)
By the time the Elder Mwezi'o and his sangoma returned to Moon Pride's territory, the old King had reached the age of fifteen and was ready to retire. So they conducted the ritual immediately, witnessed by the rest of the pride. They called down many lion-spirits, including ancestors of the Elder Mwezi'o and of the cub. They called for the blessing of the Moon on this endeavor, that the Elder King may set only to rise again, that his light may dim only to brighten again, just like the Moon. The whole pride spent an entire night from dusk 'til dawn performing the great ritual. When it was over at dawn, the pride rested.
The following night, when the Moon first rose above the horizon and its first rays touched the soulless cub, she underwent a shocking transformation. First, she became a male. Then she - now he - swelled and grew, becoming a three-year-old adult within a matter of moments. At the same time, his coloration and markings changed, until he was nearly the spitting image of the old King. The specific markings changed in some cases, but the overall look was very much the same - rainy, stormy, lunar.
More importantly to the other lions, his voice sounded exactly like the old King's, and his scent was almost identical. He was young and strong rather than old and tired, and his skin was free of any scars. The perfect healthy new vessel for the old King's soul.
Immediately, the vessel began to behave like the elder king, and Moon Pride bowed to him, acknowledging him as their ruler. Though, if asked, the vessel clearly and unemotionally acknowledges that he is still "empty" (soulless), he now has a connection to the old king that allows him to behave as if he really were the same being in almost all ways. Certainly all the ways that are important to the pride.
For a time, the original Mwezi'o lived with his Pride as a Grandpaw, helping them ease into the new regime.
However, during that time, Ninelives' personality was nothing but a magical "copy-paste" of the older lion's, and his style was therefore almost the same. He is much younger, of course, and quite inexperienced; he had Mwezi'o's personality and could access his knowledge if he consciously tried to, but didn't actually have the same memories, understanding, or experience. In many ways, he was still a new king. But for the rest of the pride, continuity of rulership was maintained, and they found this consistency reassuring.
And in time, at the advanced age of 17 years, The First One died, and his soul moved into the younger body for good. He has now been fully reborn in fact as well as intention. Seeing this all work out has been a great morale booster for Moon Pride. Just like the Moon, their King waxes and wanes, rises and sets. They now feel secure in the knowledge that their King may wane, but he will wax again; he may set, but he will rise again.
Technically, this makes Ninelives a form of lich, but he is fully alive rather than undead. Still, his presence is eerie to some spiritually sensitive individuals, though others find him fascinating, and many kings and sangomas travel to Moon Pride's territory to learn his secret of persisting for more than one lifetime. A number of sangomas and other spiritually/magically sensitive lions have claimed that they can actually see the old lion's soul within or close to his new young body.
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