So, it's been brought to my attention that the July Storyline is VERY controversial; Whether you lean to the good or evil side of karma you probably had difficultly and discomfort with this series of events. I for one choosing the best out of the three being Menhit and was even tempted to select that on my evil side. The problem being what the event started on, we met Ape on goodish terms. He was slated as a god, the only lioden god we've ever met. Thing is it was innocent; He was mad because he didn't like his daughter's choice in boys something parents can agree with and teenagers can fight on or if you're a kid go eww. Right? So we eventually find the murder stone, and can sacrifice our lions. Not something currently done these days, but with the history of gods we can link that as understandable as gods often asked/demanded/were gifted sacrafices for their favor or appeasement. However, this last year everything went completely out of control with the storyline.

You see, as we were given a peak more into ape's realm things got really weird without really any explanation or subtext to go on. We go from a loving protective father, to a hellbent sexual predator. So lets list a few things WRONG with this storyline.

Tefnut is killed viciously, and not mourned over by anyone else but menhit and apolly and us. I would assume Tefnut has been with Ape for a long long time as gods often live long lifetimes, with his wife likely his ONLY companion for many millenia. Even if say he had a harem of females, Tefnut was the queen and therefore the favorite and partner of Ape. You never see any other lionesses or spawn of Ape. A lion would deeply mourn the loss of his queen. in the wild and definitely in an un-realistic setting such as lioden. Tefnut was loyal to her husband, and most of his beliefs right up until she died when she wanted nothing more for their daughter then to be happy as she once was with Ape.

When Tefnut fails, Ape sets his sights on Menhit; His own flesh and blood. So yeah, this isn't real life and inbreeding doesn't effect the game and while many users practice it to obtain their ideal lions they generally aren't going out and telling people they are inbreeding. Because Inbreeding is taboo, it's bad. And when it comes to Menhit and Ape is definitely not consentual. She doesn't want it at all and granted I think that if our own lions reacted that way most of us would probably not inbreed. In the wild, inbreeding is a rare occurance because males and females often leave the natal pride they start out in. Assuming their father isn't kicked out already and a new male installed on the females part. There's also natures method of trying to disable inbreeding which is making the scent of a familial member smell terrible compared to the sweet seductive scent of an unrelated partner.

Really the whole inbreeding and suggestion of rape is distasteful, and harmful to lioden. There are many family predators who have preyed on younger trusting members, some don't always make it out alive like I did. There should be a warning at the very least for this event if nothing changes. As for someone like me, it can be extremely upsetting to have to think about on a daily basis in July. It drudges up old painful memories, and if I hadn't been to counciling and faced my abuser I would've been at risk to entirely shut down on this game.

Why do I think the storyline should be re-worked besides the above? Well, I'm glad you asked! We're given extremely limited content on why all of a sudden Ape changed from what we knew. So lets start there; Ape is a god, sure ok but its not really suggested what type of god he maybe "based off of" like for example the greek gods were all related and married. But There's tons of history around that and its centuries old. Where as with Ape we're not sure how long he's been around and celebrated or what his entire lore is. It's quite possible he could even be killed or die naturally like Tefnut.

b) Fill in more of the Celestial, Skyward and etc Lore. What's acceptable, what's not acceptable to the lions of this age. Give us some Depth to go with that cringe.
Like how exactly old is Ape to think that marrying his daughter and spawning with her is ok? Is this a common thing with gods of Lioden? How Inbred is Ape himself? Why'd he all of a sudden become obsessed with breeding the perfect heir instead of continuing to be the good over protective father we all came to know and love. As well as the flirty sleeze ball, that had soul rocks pelted at him.

c) Rework the storyline entirely.
The storyline needs to be redone and refilled in with depth and well... STORY. I found myself wanting to choose Menhit and Apolly just from the sheer cringe when I figured out where the storyline was going. Having the one and only revealed Lioden God so far, is a HUGE chance to write an amazing story and to be honest I think you failed in that part. You can really make people enamoured with Ape, Apolly, Menhit and Tefnut with better writing and story telling. People often look forward to the story events compared to others, and I think it's about time we start getting more of what we're looking for. Give us a story we can believe in and get behind! Make us believe in the resolve of the lion we are supporting.

✘ I'll be more than happy to answer questions and add in suggestions! Thank you for your time! ✘