Tyrsedae II's Den

History

The area in which the Pride of Winter resides was once a normal. As most other places, it was a lush grassland teeming with life of all kinds. Among these creatures were the cave lions-- solitary felines that resemble bigger, bulkier African lions found in the world today, though they did not live on the same continent and grew protruding canines.
And then the ice age came, forcing these wide spread primal lions to hunker down in prides to keep themselves alive.

The first snow of the season turned quickly to blizzard and two lions found shelter in the same cave. Alexander Lionblood, banished from the territory of his family and looking for a place to call home, and a lioness calling herself Cassandra, and her newborn cub, made this cave their home as they waited out the storm. They would quickly become the king, queen, and young prince of the Pride of Winter.
It didn't take long for more and more lions to gravitate towards this shelter, desperate to survive, forming the pride as the summer came and went, leaving behind only moments of warmth between harsh hail storms and impenetrable blizzards.

Coeur, Cassandra's son, became to Alexander as his own and became king of the Pride of Winter after his passing. Coeur, unlike his predecessor, made expansion and deceleration of territory his main goal outside of keeping the pride alive. Other groups of lions were forming and fighting for resources, providing new challenges for the Pride of Winter. Unfortunately, Coeur's reign did not last long. He was challenged and defeated by an albino lion claiming the name Yggdrasil.

Yggdrasil was cruel and forced his pride to hunt and fight for him to the point of exhaustion. His punishments were harsh and feared by everyone. The prey had become more scarce than ever and after a failed hunt, Yggdrasil killed one of the lionesses as punishment. This was the turning point of his reign as the pride began to rebel against his wishes and his own repercussions chipped away at the Pride of Winter's numbers. Not long after the unjust murder, the lioness's cub, Vladimir, killed Yggdrasil and took the crown himself.

Vladimir's reign was a much needed break after the living hell that Yggdrasil had brought to the pride. The snow began to let up after years of falling endlessly and prey came back to the mountains. The lions that Yggdrasil killed during his time as king were soon replaced as cubs were born and making it into adulthood.

Near the end of Vladimir's peaceful reign, the Lionblood family line came back to take the throne. Alexei Lionblood, the cub of many cubs down from his Great Great Grandpaw Alexander Lionblood, rose to challenge Vladimir. The king did not resist in his old age and the Lionblood family once again ruled over the Pride of Winter.

Alexei's reign was strange in many ways-- the shape of the lions began to change. Mutations previously undiscovered popped up in the cubs that were born. The snow came back even worse than before and yet, somehow, the strange cubs that sprang up during the summer months survived. With few males left in the Pride of Winter as Alexei grew old, one such lion became king, or rather kings. Brothers, a dwarf lion and a lion with folded ears like that of a dog, shared the throne and ruled the pride together.

Finally, the winter made life unbearable. The prey was migrating south, the other prides had abandoned the desolate mountains, but the Pride of Winter remained. The shamans begged the two kings to lead the pride away, but they were comfortable in their mountain caves, so Árævi, the lead huntress, left them behind to die.

Árævi took up the crown of queen and led the pride south. Many cubs had seen the ground free of snow and felt warm wind on their faces for the very first time. In this new place, new creatures showed themselves. Wolves and bears were fierce competitors, but the prey flowed in great numbers. Árævi's time as king was the most prosperous, but was interrupted by a new leader coming to take over.

Fenrisulfr, raised by wolves, destroyed Árævi and her supporters easily. His thick coat spread to his offspring, allowing the lions to travel back up north away from the increasing intensity of wolves. Despite this, the new king was not a kind one and ordered wars to be started between the prides, which by now are far and few between. As expected, Fenrisulfr came to a bloody end at the hands of Muspelheim the Red.

Muspelheim made the lions do strange rituals using the blood of their prey and their pride mates. They wrote runes that they could not read and Muspelheim's power seemed to increase after every successful hunt. His red fur seemed to glow as if containing a fire and he blew flames from his mouth. His fire scorched the land, taking both the forests and the king himself with them as they were banished by the rain.

The Pride of Winter was without a leader, wandering between the mountains and the scorched forest in search of food and shelter. From across the high mountain pass came a lion called Jötunheim, offering to lead them to a haven. Both desperate for safety and weary of strange lions coming from impossible places, the pride split in two. Half went with the stranger Jötunheim, and the other half stayed in the scorched forest.

Those who traveled with Jötunheim kept the name of the Pride of Winter and were lead away to a hidden valley in the mountains, the birthplace of Jötunheim, for Jötunheim came from the stars themselves. They reflected in his pelt and the pride believed him when he said he was sent by Alexander Lionblood.

The reign of Jötunheim seemed to last for ages. Food was plentiful in the valley and the summer sun somehow reached even the deepest recess. One morning, Jötunheim was simply gone. The grass around his nest undisturbed and the night was cloudless.

Valaskjalf, one of the many lionesses that have happened upon the Valley of Winter and its pride, slipped into a leadership role with no hesitation, though she did not last long when a new contender entered the valley. Tyrsedae, bearing the name of Lionblood, came to the valley as if guided by a spirit. With him he brought the lions who stayed behind in the scorched forest, who had grown in color over the generations to match their burning surroundings.