Leonin

The Leonin, proud humanoid creatures that share many traits with their lesser cousins, lions, are a race native to the moors of central Anterra, inhabiting a mixture of rural and urban environments. They live in strong, traditional societies, based around hierarchical extended family groups, or prides.

Basic Information

Anatomy

Leonin command attention wherever they go, their impressive forms standing out in crowds and their loud roars marking them on the battlefield. Although there is a good deal of variation in leonin, all are larger and taller than humans. The colour of their fur and manes varies by bloodline and individual, ranging from creamy white to gold to grey or brown. Like humans, their clothing varies greatly by environment, both in terms of practicality for weather but also dependent on the surrounding culture.
A proud race, leonin tend to place a great deal of importance on tradition, ceremony, and maintaining appearances. Fortitude in the face of adversity is praised and admired, even if it comes at significant personal cost. For leonin living in the traditional pride structure (more common in rural and wild areas than urban ones), the individual is a secondary concern, and the well-being of the pride is the primary consideration.

Biological Traits

The Leonin come in three main subraces:

Royal Leonin

Descended from an ancient line of now-forgotten kings, royal leonin retain an innate connection to the stately ways of their forbearers. Many of them prefer more urban environments, and their natural grace and presence make them well-suited to politics.
Royal leonin have creamy white fur; males sport a rich mane of the same colour, and females have a shorter ridge of hair that begins between the ears and runs down the neck. They typically have bright golden eyes, although blue eyes are not uncommon. Wearing gold jewellery or braiding it into their manes is a common practice.

Wild Leonin

Wild leonin, less acclimatised to urban life, have sharp survival instincts and are well suited to survival upon their native savannahs. Wild leonin, more than their royal or grey cousins, tend to be dedicated to the concept of the pride, often traveling long distances and making or breaking their fortunes together. Others, however, have broken with those traditions over generations, and primarily retain the physical attributes of their kind.
Wild leonin tend to have rich golden fur (but brown and tan are not uncommon) with males maintaining large manes and females having no mane whatsoever. Piercing golden eyes are dominant, and other colours are rare anomalies. They often dress in looser clothing appropriate for warm climates, and many dye these articles in bright colours.

Grey Leonin

Grey leonin are an oddity, rumoured to be descended from an ancient pride that were affected by a planar disturbance, giving them a range of particular properties that continue to be passed down from one generation to the next. Unlike their royal or wild cousins, grey leonin tend to mingle less with those not of their kind, preferring the company of themselves and those just like them.
Grey leonin, aptly, have ashen grey fur; males have dark grey, black, or rarely even blue manes, while females have one dark stripe of black fur that runs along their entire spine. Many still possess golden eyes, but others exhibit stronger signs of their extraplanar history, displaying silver or even red eyes.

Additional Information

Social Structure

The traditional social structure of leonin is built around the concept of the pride, which is often viewed as tribal by outsiders. It is, essentially, an extended family, composed of perhaps a dozen adult couples, their children, and a patriarch and matriarch that are typically the oldest of the group. A pride normally consists of between 50 and 100 leonin. Membership in a pride only changes via births, deaths, and marriages, with unrelated outsiders being accepted into the group only very rarely and usually under unique circumstances.
Traditionally, prides are nomadic and do nearly everything as a unit—traveling, hunting, crafting, and trading together. Over time, these traditions have been held to less and less strictly, with many prides leaving behind the transient lifestyle to establish their own villages, or even join an existing one built by other races. This is particularly notable in the sprawling cities of Coreleao.

Lifespan

100-150 years

Average Height

5'10" - 7'0"

Average Weight

200-330 lbs

Geographic Distribution

• Anterra