Gazelle175's Den

The Player
Hey there! I'm Sol. Female. I'm 8 hours ahead of LD time, so I might be online at weird times.
Currently rolling pretty regularly again, so I should answer your stud request/message pretty quickly! I've been on this site for nearly three years so I do know my way around quite well. Feel free to PM me if you need any help!

Pride Lore
The pride has existed for generations upon generations, and very little is known about its original members anymore. All that is left can be described as rumor at best and plain old fairy tale at worst.

While the tales are certainly ridiculous and terribly far-fetched, the elders enjoy telling them to cubs, if merely as a way to threaten them into following orders, telling them that Sigma Octantis himself will exercise his wrath if they don’t.

Similarly, those interested in history will claim any old, musty bone that they find to be one of Sigma Octantis’.

Ah, yes. Sigma Octantis.
The Shadow King. The first king of the pride.
It is said that when the shadows grew tired of inspiring fear only when there was light to cause them, they became corporeal and formed a lion so that they could plunge the lands in darkness and be all the more fearsome despite it.

And so, Sigma Octantis was born. At first, he ruled alone, and was alone. But soon enough, more shadows learned of him, and from them were born his three queens.
Until then, he had been nameless, known only as the Shadow King. But, with company, names became a necessity. And so, he named himself after the South Star: Sigma Octantis.

Why a star? Well, so the tale goes, he chose Sigma Octantis specifically because the South Star was far too dim to be useful for navigation, and instead perhaps represented a false hope: Hope, because stars are meant to be bright, and instead, it was not.

It is said that his three Queens named themselves after the dimmest stars known, and similarly, their children were named after stars as well.

The tradition has carried on to this day, albeit not exactly the way it was: Many lions, nowadays, are named after bright stars; The current king, Procyon, is named after one of the brightest stars in existence.

But it is not Procyon’s story, at least, not yet.
Sigma Octantis ruled for a long time - far past the normal lifetime of a lion, and lived to see his children and grandchildren pass before him. They were born of flesh and blood and therefore mortal; Sigma was shadow made corporeal and immortal.
Finally, he grew tired of his rule and retired to let his heirs rule, returning back into the shadows he came from, and with him, his queens.
It is said that to this day, he watches over his pride and descendants and makes sure none stray from the path he has set for them.

The names of any kings since him are long forgotten, and besides that, deemed unimportant to the pride’s history, as they did nothing to further what Sigma Octantis had wrought, but also did not stray from his path.

The most recent anyone can remember is Eltanin, but this is not because he did something positive for the pride, no. Quite the opposite.

Originally, Eltanin did have a positive impact on the pride. He assumed the throne upon the death of the old king, and immediately started bringing around changes.
Where the pride had grown old and decrepit, weak and full of those that wouldn’t have lived if not for the kindness of the old king, he weeded the sickly and elderly out.
He expanded the territory, using the might of the whole pride to chase away those that had stolen territory.

He struck fear in the hearts of all lions who knew his name and many who didn’t. In the pride, it was whispered that Sigma Octantis had finally come to save them, reborn into the form of Eltanin.

But Eltanin grew complacent and arrogant in his achievements. He stopped striving for advancements, instead falling into the habits of the old king. His pride grew weak before his eyes yet he did not act, and the pride languished.

He grew arrogant, denying all claims that he was Sigma Octantis reborn, insisting that Sigma Octantis was only a fairy tale and that he, Eltanin, was the true and destined ruler of the lands and would live forever.

He grew so arrogant, in fact, that he allowed a male who openly contested him and criticized him to become his heir, claiming that as he would not die, it did not matter who was his heir.

He was shortly proven wrong. Not long after his son became heir, for that was what he was, was he killed in cold blood as he slept.

It was obvious to all that it had been his son, but what could they do? They feared, or perhaps hoped, that Sigma Octantis would rain wrath upon the pride.

But this did not happen. The morning after his father’s death, his son, whose original name is unknown, proclaimed to all that he would be known, from then on, as Sigma Octantis. Later, he would become known only as the King of Weaklings. But that was later, and this is now

And if the pride believed that Eltanin was evil before, they certainly would not afterwards.

Sigma Octantis tolerated no weakness. Those ill or with mutations were culled mercilessly, similarly those that were sick or otherwise disabled. In his madness and attempts to create a pride without weakness, he disregarded his borders, and did not realize he was decimating his pride until only few members were left.
Once he did realize, it was too late, really. To undo his mistakes, he changed drastically.

He started accepting outsiders, becoming, almost, a nice king. He made alliances with kings that had neighboring territories, whether they were kind or evil.
He fed stray lions instead of chasing them from his territory, hoping they would join his pride.

His heir, whose name is lost to history, vocally contested this, time and time again. He warned him, time and time again, that he was straying from the path that he had to follow.

Unrest grew in the pride. They feared the Shadow King’s wrath, and not only that, the behavior that their king expected from them went against the entire core of their being. They were evil through and through, and were now being expected to be kind and giving to outsiders.

It was no surprise to anyone when he was found dead one morning, body already cold, where he had been hale and healthy the previous day and young besides that.

His heir immediately assumed the throne. It had been to his benefit, too, that the King of Weaklings had accepted lions of all types into the pride, as he was a primal brute.

How, exactly, he looked exactly like the northern lions that were so feared was unclear, as he was presumed to be the king’s son. But, it was speculated, hadn’t there been a big primal brute nearby around the time when he had been conceived? It was as plausible an explanation as any.

Following the day he was kinged, the new ruler went on a run at night, supposedly to patrol the territory. However, he came back a changed lion. No one knows what happened, but it seemed as if he had matured ten years in ten minutes. And not only that had changed. He insisted that from then on, he be called Sigma Octantis, as his father and ancestor before him.

This, of course, only sparked rumors about the truth of the Shadow King’s existence. However, the new king never gave any indication as to his existence. Still, where before the stories had been around mainly to scare young cubs and the belief of a scarce few considered fanatics, some form of belief could now be found in every pride member.

Now, this new king, young as he had been when he was kinged, was the first in many generations to grow old and die solely due to this and no intervention at hands of the Shadow King. As a matter of fact, his reign was so peaceful that the became known in later life as the Dove King. He accepted those with mutations or defects into his pride so long as they were still useful or were beloved members that had gained injuries later in life. The elderly and weak were cared for, so long as they had been of use to the pride. He reinforced his borders with iron claws but made sure to keep the peace with those that would keep it as well. He made sure the pride was organized and well able to care for it even once he was gone. He was, in fact, so well-organized that he had determined a heir years before he passed, just in case something happened so that the pride was not thrown into turmoil.

Despite all this planning, though, there was one huge surprise. One day, not many months before he passed, when he was already old and his claws not as eager to meet a new target, he went on a midnight run the likes of which he had last run thirteen years ago the night he had been kinged.

And when he returned, he brought a new lion with him that he proclaimed his heir. This lion was curious in many ways. The first was that it was simply impossible that this lion had come from outside the pride’s territory, but the territory was patrolled regularly and there was no chance this lion had been within it either. Secondly, he spoke with a strange accent to his words that could not be placed, and he sounded far too grave for his young years when he did. Thirdly, and most importantly, his pelt was the color of a setting sun.

This, the tribe elders said, was the son of Sigma Octantis himself. He had come to set them on the right path, to bring the old ways back.

And, indeed. Upon Sigma Octantis’ death, Procyon (for that is his name) took the throne, and immediately started overthrowing the ways that had been in place for years. It was not, he told those who complained, that these rules were wrong or had been negative for the pride in a huge way. But it was time for change.

Among comparatively simple changes like pride structure, there were more complicated ones as well: Procyon took no queens. He did not name an heir, though he allowed the previous heir to remain in the pride as his advisor. He reintroduced the old ways. All lions, now, were once more named after stars and those few deviants that hadn’t already chose a new name. Tales of Sigma Octantis changed from fairy tales to the truth. The pride learned of their true purpose. And, though Procyon never confirmed it, it was clear to almost all that he was the Shadow King’s son. Certainly, the path he followed was not identical to the one that had been rumored, but this could easily be explained away due to tales changing over time. And certainly, he was not pitch black and made of shadows, but did the sunset in his pelt not bring darkness to the lands? And yes, he was named after a bright star, not a dim one, but he was young and brought change for the pride. Did this, too, not mean change?

And this is what has lead the pride to the way it is now. Procyon, though seemingly young, wise beyond his years. No queens, and yet, a prosperous pride. No heir, and yet, no power struggle. Nobody dares question Procyon’s power. Not even the rumors of an affair with a neighboring king makes the pride’s loyalty to him waver - though it does arouse curiosity. Could this be the explanation for his never taking queens? His entire disinterest in romance? Or is it simply that he is a god and has no interest in mortals? This remains to be seen.

Buying/Selling:
The lions in my sales cave are all available to buy, even if they aren't up for sale; Should you be interested in one, don't hesitate to offer!

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