One thing I always found strange about Lioden is the attacking system; Lions with territory, simply put, do not attack other lions with territories unless they're neighbors and have some sort of beef. Attacks come from Rogue Males, generally looking to steal territory. The idea I propose is both in keeping to that and gives a bit more a reason for people to bother with Submales.

As I once saw someone say, Submales that aren't heirs are basically useless. However! If there were rogue males around, looking to cause trouble, they could actually be worth spending GB on slots. My idea is as follows:

-A territory has an overall security rate that ranges from Poorly Guarded, Well Guarded, Heavily Guarded. Your King as the (presumably) strongest Lion provides the majority of the pride's protection. Submales provide additional protection. The security of a territory is determined overally by how strong the males are and how vigilant they are.
-Aside from a "Territory Security" meter, there would also be a "Intimidation" meter. In keeping with real lions, males with darker colored manes (Black, Onyx, Brown, Dark Brown, ect.) would add a few extra points of intimidation to the overall meters. If the intimidation rate is high, the chance of attack is low.
-Players who are new or who don't have much territory to spare will be safe from attack until they reach a certain level or territory size.
-Submales have a health bar which replenishes overtime but only if their hunger is above a certain percentage. Submales can be kept as active territory guards regardless of health, however once they drop below 50%, the player will receive a message urging them to deactivate that male. If a Submale's health reaches 0%, they will be automatically deactivated and placed in a state called "Death's Doorstep". A Lion on death's doorstep has a chance of dying on the next rollover. Perhaps males have a extra stat called "Tenacity". A Lion with high tenacity has a greater chance of surviving this state. Other things that can help are having 0% hunger, items could be implemented, Lionesses could have a new class as "Healers" (similar to broodmothers), ect.
-Submales who have a loyalty meter which interacts with the mood meter. If a King is the strongest lion in pride (has the highest stats overall) it generally stays at or around 100%. However, if a Submale is stronger than the King, there is a chance the loyalty may drop. A Lion with low loyalty may eventually leave the pride. He will also preform poorly (sleep on the job, be generally apathetic, not give his all in a fight, ect.) A lion with low loyalty AND low mood will try and usurp your King by fighting you. If you win, you get a hefty sum of EXP, but if you lose, you lose impression (Being defeated by a Submale doesn't look good for your image) and your other submales lose loyalty has well.
-Rogues come in several kinds:
*Cheeky Upstart - A young adolescent that's in over his head.
*Double Trouble - A pair of young upstarts looking to start trouble.
*Three's a Crowd - A Trio of young upstarts looking to cause trouble.
*A Couple of Kids - An Adolescent Male and his like-aged mate. (Alt: An Adolescent Male and his like-aged sister.). If your submales defeat the male, they also take the female. If the female is a sister, she will not join the pride unless her defeated brother does (who would take a male slot).
*Wanderer - Average rogue male.
*Blustering Fool - Weaker rogue male looking to cause trouble.
*Border Stalker - A lion who scavenges off the kills of your kingdom. He is an experienced fighter used to deal with prides and kings.
*Challenger - A rogue looking to test your might.
*Wandering Warrior - A battle-hardened male looking to pit himself against your lions.
*Twosome - A pair of average males.
*Thieving Rogue - A male looking to poach in your lands.
*Ambitious Rogues - A pair of ambitious lions.
*Troubling Trio - Three wandering males.
*Pair of Thugs - Two no-good bastards with foul agendas.
*Traitor - A male that was once part of the pride, who left. One occurs if a pride has a disloyal lion who leaves. If encountered, Submales will drag him before the King. Players are given the option to Spare him or Kill Him.
*Brute - An enormous male lion looking for a fight.
*King Slayer - A storied rogue lion known for defeating Kings and their males. Defeating a Kingslayer gets one an achievement. Kingslayers can also be adopted into the pride, but their loyalty is very finicky.
*Hail of Paws - A Sextet of rogues looking to make war with your males. Hail of Paws automatically uses the joint effort of all Submales instead of any of them alone.

- Players would receive a message when attacked detailing the event. It would include what Kind of rogue attack, which submale dealt with it, if they won or lost and how much damage was done. The message would also include any items acquired along the way (Lion Skulls, Skin of the Unworthy, Lion Pelt, ect. and [much more rarely] Lion Meat and Lion Testicles.)
-Submales would each have a count of how many battles they won or lost. They would also deal with the rogues based on their own personalities. Evil submales will kill rogues, Good submales spare them, and Neutral rogues may do either or. Territories prone to killing rogues will be labeled as "Infamous" and will attract more dangerous opponents while repelling weaker ones. "Famous" territories will unlock the option of talking a rogue out of an attacking.
- Could work in tandem with this idea: http://www.lioden.com/topic.php?id=304429245982&page=2 . Kings could toughen up their submales by having them spar with each other.
-Submales could be pair or divided and set to guard certain areas of the Kingdom (north, east, west, south).

-If a rogue wins a fight, a Submale is badly injured. Food from the Pride's hoard may also disappear. Cubs that are not adequately protected by a Lioness or Majordomo have a chance of being killed. Rogue can also slip by submales, but can only steal food if they do, not kill. In both cases, a male slipping by will damage the overall mood of the pride. A male may also mate with any lioness he finds to be in heat.

Hmmm...That's all I got for now. Tell me what you think and feel free to suggest some things!
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AMENDMENTS TO THE ABOVE:


-Males with higher stats than the King may not listen to the King. His vigilance will be lower than normal, he may sleep on the job, he may reject guarding fullstop. The loyalty is a sub-bar to the mood bar. Low/no loyalty doesn't result in a lion leaving, just not cooperating.
-Rogue males can only mate with lionesses that have low mood. If they try will a lioness with high mood, she will fight him off and gain a stat bonus to her skill/strength. Rogues will not steal whole food, only uses of food (1 use of an item vs. the whole item)
-Famous prides are ones with good Karma. They can talk their way out of fights. Males may also ask the King to breed with a lioness, giving the player the chance to look over their marks/stats/base/ect before saying yes or no.
-Infamous prides attract less competition, but the ones they do attract tend to be more dangerous (Mod-High<)
-Rogues will sometimes drop items such as poached kills. Base drop rate is 30%, increases 10% with each high difficulty.
-Submales can gain quirks. (i.e Submale with the "Finagler" quirk has an extra 10% chance of getting an item drop from a rogue attack.)
-If Male is not exploring when an attack happens, he also gains EXP and Impression points.
-Group sparring raises the EXP and IMP of all lions who participate.

*I maintain the Death's doorstep idea. Your lion would only get to this place because of EXTREME neglect on your part.

On the subject of healer lions, I'm thinking they can either be a jack of all trades, master of none (so ok in a bunch of areas, but the best at nothing-- general healers) or they can have one thing they excel at while other things are average or even low.

-Setting bones
-Wound Care
-Infection Prevention
-Infection Treatment
-Venom Treatment
-Poison Treatment
-Emergency Care (Death's doorstep specialist, excels at getting lions off death's doorstep. Longest type to train.)