PROFILE

Maliza was born in the Upendo pride, a little smaller than most other lionesses in her pride. However, what she lacked in size she made up for in strength, wit, and kindness. She was the second head of her hunting party as she grew up and trained to hunt, and was an accomplished lion in her pride.

When she was about 3 years old, the King of the Pride had passed away, leaving his heir as the Crown Prince. The Crown Prince, named Mwangaza, had been a friend of Maliza’s as they grew up, however obviously their trainings were far different due to his royal training and her hunting training only ever running parallel. Despite this, their mothers were friends and groomed them together when they were little, and as such they spent a lot of time together outside of training. It was a surprise to Maliza, but not quite as much of a surprise to everyone else, that when Mwangaza was crowned King, he approached Maliza with hopes she would be his mate and Queen. Shocked, but delighted, she accepted.

Being Queen of the Upendo pride was both as easy as she had hoped, and more difficult than it seemed. She spent a great deal of time brushing up on diplomatic matters between prides, and assisting Mwangaza with certain decisions regarding hunting parties and patrols. He valued her straightforward thinking and her love for the pride’s livelihood, and would tell her as much every sunset when they finished a job well done of that day. After a pawful of months, Mwangaza approached Maliza and proposed an attempt to bear a cub, at least one, so they can make sure their bloodline remains after they are gone, and to bring a life to the world with their love. Maliza accepted, and they worked to try and bear a litter.

Maliza, one day, had begun to feel increasingly more nauseous, to the point where she could barely move. Mwangaza, alerted to this and distressed about his Queen’s safety, sent for the healer to check up on Maliza and make sure she was okay and that this would pass. When the healer came to check up on her, he let them know that yes, the sickness would pass, but with the coming of a litter of cubs. Maliza was pregnant. When the two lions heard this news, they stared at each other, stunned briefly, before Mwangaza let out a bubbling, roaring laughter as he gently embraced her. She returned the embrace gently, still woozy and nauseous, but just as excited.

When the cubs finally came, it was with only minor difficulty; since it was Maliza’s first litter, and she was quite small for a lion, the cubs had a slightly difficult time making their way to the world. But with the assistance of the healer and encouragement from her King, the lioness would birth 3 healthy cubs- 2 girls and a healthy baby boy- their heir. Once Maliza was given some time to rest, Mwangaza sent for their Spiritual Guide, who would crown the cubs as the new heir and heiresses of the Upendo pride. With this, they would be blessed by their Ancestors and would be recognized as full royalty in the pride. Maliza and Mwangaza, however, needed to come up with some names for them to be blessed with and recognized by, so the two of them mulled some ideas over in their heads. Finally, just as the Guide was arriving, they decided that the two little lionesses would be named Tish and Tabia, while their son, the next Prince of the Upendo pride, would be named Makini. After the names were given to the Guide, the Blessing Ritual commenced, and Maliza watched with a heart full of love as her babies were shown to the Ancestors and the gods and given their blessing. Mwangaza bumped his large fluffy head down onto hers, and they sat there for some time.

Things seemed to start getting worse with other prides in the vicinity near their territory, as well as their own- the weather had started to become more tumultuous and they had started losing more and more of their lions to the various floods and fires that tore through their lands. Nearby prides had started to fall apart diplomatically due to some sort of sickness causing them to become several times more aggressive than they’d been in ages. It seemed strange; this never seemed to be a problem before, and yet the worsening conditions of everyone and everything around were becoming harder and harder to ignore. It became so bad at one point that Maliza and Mwangaza had to take a brief sit-down meeting in their den to make some hard decisions about their borders. They eventually came to the conclusion that Upendo would no longer take any visitors from outside prides, and would avoid members of other prides until something could be done about the aggression. This was working as well as they could possibly manage, but it still became a problem every now and again.

One day, as she watched her cubs play with some of the other pride’s cubs, the Spiritual Guide, whose name was Otesha, approached the Queen. It seemed like something was either bothering them, or that they had been drawn into a trance, but the older lion did not look good. Maliza was about to ask them what was wrong until, in a slow, methodical motion, Otesha pulled a beautiful stone out from a pouch that was hanging on their side. They set it down next to Maliza, and looked her straight in her eyes.

“Something is coming. You must take this. It will aid you in the trouble ahead, this I am certain.”

Maliza couldn’t help but just give them an understanding nod, pulling the gem close to her. Once she’d touched it, she felt a warmth in it, or rather in her paw. It was a deep blueish-purple in the vague shape of a heart, with a cleanly etched circle on one side of it. She told herself she would fashion it into a necklace when she was able, if it was truly so important.

The night before the world ended, Maliza was tucked tightly in the crook of Mwangaza’s loving embrace, with Tish, Tabia, and Makini, curled up together at her belly. They were old enough to eat meat now, but they found themselves still wanting to spend their nights with their parents, and who was Maliza to object? She stared up to the dark sky, her dual-colored eyes glittering with the starlight and the glow from the moon, wondering how she managed to get so lucky with such a lovely family.

When she woke up the next morning, the only thing in her den was her and the mysterious stone Otesha gave her. It was nowhere near the time that Mwangaza would have taken Makini to his royal duties, nor were the girls supposed to be awake yet for hunting patrol. Maliza was distressed as she left the den, leaving behind the gem. Once she left her den, however, everything seemed to come crashing down all at once. It wasn’t just her family who had vanished.

The Upendo pride was gone. Except for her.

With this realization collapsing on her at mach speeds, as she was forced to process everything all at once, she could hardly contain the grief that bubbled and pooled in her heart. She cried out, calling the names of her husband, her children, the lions she’d been ruling over for the last year or so. Desperate for any voices to call back to her as tears streamed down her face in buckets, the lioness could only hear the sounds of bugs scuttling across the ground. The air blew no breath, and the rivers did not run. The world was still, it was cold, and she was completely, utterly, tragically alone.

She went back to her den, found the gem as she cried, crudely wrapped a rope around it as securely as she could manage, slipped it on, and she would carry the heavy stone heart with her as a reminder of the love she had lost in the blink of an eye, and left the pridelands to wander. She had barely noticed that at the end of the world, her once thick tail had split into two.

PERSONALITY

+ Resilient, Nurturing, Intuitive

= Maternal, Emotional, Formal

- Secretive, Delicate, Gloomy

Maliza has always had a kind, gentle heart. It’s why her pride’s King fell in love with her. Growing up as a lioness in a Pride where she would quickly become the Queen, her sharp intuition and proper manner made her an excellent right-paw to her husband. He deeply appreciated her insight. She was strong, smart, and kind, everything that could be asked for in a Queen.

And then the world ended, and she broke down. She became a deeply emotional lion, an aura of gloom following her for as long as she remembered from that moment on. She doesn’t talk to others anymore, and if she is ever reminded, even a little bit, of her family, she breaks like a sheet of ice.

SOUL, STATS, AND STRENGTHS

Soul Class: Unknown

Soul Level: 0

Soul Shade: X

Soul Partner(s): X

Constitution: 4

Strength: 5

Dexterity: 5

Intelligence: 3

Wisdom: 8

Charisma: 5

APPEARANCE AND OTHER

Height: 2 feet shoulder to toe

Appearance: A thick-bodied, smaller than average lioness with dark caramel fur, a fluffy cream chest/throat, and two tufted tails. Has an orange eye and a blue eye

Accessories: Ceremonial Stone: dark iolite in the shape of a heart, fashioned with rope into a necklace. Has a ring etched into the back. Given by Otesha

Health: Fair, physically. Mental health is depleting rapidly.

Disabilities: None

Notable mutations: Two tails

RELATIONSHIPS

Mwangaza - Husband, King, Father of Children “My heart aches for you, love. I hope you are with our children wherever you are” Tish, Tabia, Makini - Children, Heirs “My beautiful sproutlings. I need you back so badly it hurts.” Otesha - Spiritual Guide “I will take this stone with me wherever it will take me. I trusted your judgment. I hope it brings you all back.” Upendo Pride - Home, Family, Subjects “Why did you all have to leave me?”