Usually, when people post their breeding projects here, it's because they succeeded. And I mean, who doesn't want to celebrate after completing a project? I know I sure would want to. If I had a completed project to post.
In order to combat this unrealistic expectation people ended up with about breeding projects, allow me to introduce you to Witchwood. Witchwood, also known as Bitchwood, Jester's Least Favorite King, The Devil Herself, or, simply, Witchy, is the first ever Bushveld Stud on site, and has been on site since April 16th, 2021. While I did take a year long hiatus from late 2021 to late 2022, likely the only reason she's still here to this day, this doesn't change the fact that she's been going strong since the fateful day her RL was drawn and cloned...

...And that was the last time I've ever felt RNG smiling down upon me, all those years ago. I'm not sure what horrific crime against lion-ity I must have committed for the treatment I receive from my beloved moldy girl, but I'm sure I deserve it. Perhaps it's my hatred for Bushveld markings, perhaps it's the audacity of me to plan kings for after her, but alas, it has resulted in what seems to be an eternity of suffering.

You see, lost to the endless march of time is Witchwood's RL, Artemis. Unfortunately, both the account she is stored on, and the original winner's account, has been inactive since August 2021 and June 2021 respectively. In fact, looking at the clone search, you can see that poor Witchwood is the only surviving clone. The rest of the lions there are NRLCs, some infuriatingly close, some not, and all but one owned by myself or one of my project partners, katie 🍃. But that's just breedable females, why don't we check the king search? After all, a lot of RLCs are kinged rather than kept as female, especially if they're so rare... where we see Witchwood is, indeed, the only full clone. The other king, at the time of writing this thread, is a 14/15 NRLC that I myself sold, because it was born super mega inbred right as I was switching my project cave from inbred to being as clean as possible.

And now, allow me to introduce the final piece of this puzzle. What my friends and I are calling Operation Witchcraft. Operation Witchcraft is our funny little name for breeding a clone of Witchwood, originally called Build-A-Witch, but the name was changed because I stopped finding Build-A-Witch funny. Operation Witchcraft has been ongoing since October 11th, 2022, the literal day I returned from my hiatus. Given how this is an RL recreation, but I already had the clone we would need to recreate as my stud, I figured it couldn't take that long, especially not with katie helping me! We mathed it out, based on some other similar projects, and then divided that between our prides, with nearly 100 lions dedicated to it on each of our accounts, and our final number?
We assumed we would be done in about six to eight months.
Six months came and went. No bother, RNG is a fickle creature and is very rarely smiling down upon us. Then eight. Then ten. Then a full year.
And here we are, month thirteen, and I'm typing out this warning to those who will come after me and consider a project of this scope. Heed all ye who enter here, for there is nothing but anguish to be found this deep into lion hell.

Before we get into these numbers, I will note that I count slot 10 as part of the total always for the lions I keep, regardless of what marking they have/if they have no marking in it. This is because Witchwood's slot 10 marking is applicable, so if I do get a clone missing just that, I am able to apply the marking and have the project completed. I do not count the lack of a slot 10 for cubs I sell, however.

Total Cubs: 933
Total Witchwood Reps: Currently on #9

14/15s Born: 24, 4 have been Bushvelds
Bushveld NRLCs Born: 15

For the numbers that are estimated, I will add the estimate to the total. This thread will likely be updated with each time Witchwood is replaced. If you are reading it after Feb 2024, the numbers are up to date unless they have the 'will start counting in detail' notice after them. That means I likely neglected the thread. I'm busy irl, so I wouldn't be surprised if this happens. And, finally, for wishful thinking:

PROJECT END DATE:
TOTAL PROJECT TIME:
TOTAL CUBS:

You are also welcome to reply to this, ask questions, etc. on this thread! I welcome any and all discussion about Witchwood, I understand she's very well loved by so many people on Lioden, and I am so honored to be the owner of a lion so beloved by so many different people. Every time I see someone talk about her, talk about the cubs they have from her, or just share the love makes my heart melt. She really is a piece of Lioden history, being what she is, and, as far as I'm aware, the only 'first' of a raffle base to still be alive and active. Thank you all for reading, and hopefully you find my suffering to be amusing, or at least a cautionary tale of how brutal projects can really be.