Lions

races

Height- M: 180 cm F: 185 cm Weight- M: 95 kg F: 100kg

Lions are known as the death dealers. Individually they are no match for a tiger, or even many leopard or jaguars, and of course a cheetah could easily outpace a lion over the short of long distance. However, lions tend to band automatically from a very young age into small groups that are known, both in childhood and within the military world as ambushes. Ambushes are the focal point of lion society, more important in many ways than families.

Lions tend to be born in litters of 4-6. This is often the core of the cubhood ambush. It may be joined by others from smaller litters, the occasional orphan¹⁾, and very, very occasionally by a cub of one of the other Banbutsunoreichou. A non-Feline can not fit into an ambush. These cubs will play together, eat together and sleep in a sandy pile of bodies. Experience has taught that an ambush can not be split up without a great disruption to the lives and health of all the cubs involved, so the young of servants, lessers and even slaves can gain honour and position by becoming part of an ambush with the young of high-ranked lions.

One of the primary activities of cubs of all species is to practice hunting and fighting, but lion cubs approach it in a unique fashion which has long been allowed for in common law. A lion cub acting in a foolish, or even dangerous fashion will be excused, as will the family that might otherwise suffer a loss of honour, if the actions are part of ambush play. An ambush starts very young, working together as a unit to learn to hunt and kill. The parents of lion cubs become accustomed to seeing their young treating them and the servants and slaves as prey. It is not uncommon for the individuals that comprise an ambush using a range of stalking and disinformation tactics to drive their prey, including parents and other relatives, into an ambush. A wise parent will excuse these activities, but will not make life too easy for the would-be hunters.

The great Lion families have large estates in which the Ambushes can hunt, travel and in general practice techniques as they get older. Of course, as the cubs get a little older, they may find themselves the target of older groups practicing on them. Actual bullying is frowned upon, and the disappearance of a cub is grounds for a very serious investigation and great loss of honour to the individual who caused it. Lions are very socially oriented and the loss of a single individual can have great effects.

Every Lion will serve in the military for at least half a year. Ambushes tend to join on the same day, although military service starts from eighteen years, and individuals are starting to create their adult groups and connections around this time. There are pros and cons to a cubhood Ambush that joins the military and stays together to become a combat unit. On the upside, such units have the cability to act like a single mind, with nearly, and occasionally literally, telephatic levels of intra-group communication. On the other hand, they can be very resistant to orders from outside the group that run counter to the Ambush's opinion. Assuming sufficient military prowess such units will often become independent special forces and can easily destroy forces five times their size.

Lions have been known to breed with their close counterparts, tigers, to create interesting mixes. It is however exceptionally rare, and constitutes a great dishonour to both individuals involved, more if one is unknown and their families. In recent years, these cubs have occasionally been allowed to survive. These two breeds are called ligers and tigons.

The liger originates from mating a male lion and a tigress. Because the lion passes on a growth-promoting gene, but the corresponding growth-inhibiting gene from the female lion is not present, ligers are larger than either parent. It is said that ligers do not stop growing and will grow constantly through their lifespan, until their bodies cannot sustain their huge size any longer, reaching up to half a tonne. Ligers share some qualities of both their parents (spots and stripes) however they enjoy swimming, a purely tiger activity, and they are always a sandy colour like the lion. Male ligers are sterile, but female ligers are often fertile.

Female ligers are fertile and can produce offspring if mated to either a pure-bred lion or a pure-bred tiger.

The tigon is a cross between the lioness and the male tiger. Because the male tiger does not pass on a growth-promoting gene and the lioness passes on a growth inhibiting gene, tigons are often relatively small, only weighing up to 60 kilograms which is about 20% smaller than lions. Like male ligers, male tigons are sterile, and they all have both spots and stripes, with yellow eyes.

Female ligers and female tigons are fertile and can produce offspring if mated to either a pure-bred lion or a pure-bred tiger.