Perehelion

Law is fixed and the world needs rules.

Judge Pyrite, known among his kin simply as Judge, understands the world is wild. That doesn't mean it has to be lawless, though. He has seen the results of humans overstepping their boundaries for personal gain. He's seen other lions with bleeding hearts defy nature to befriend prey or natural enemies. He grew up watching these injustices, even observing his father falling victim to the weakness. So he waited.

When the time came, Judge began his first act of judgement. He gathered lionesses that agreed with his philosophy and they launched an attack on his own father, brutally mauling him and opening his throne to the heartless son. Come morning, Judge was the new king and gained an unshakable grip on his pride. The group relocated to land that was rife with what he deemed to be "lawless creatures" and set up their den in a place where the sun rarely touched the stone.

From this base, he has gone forth and executed his judgement and dark sense of law upon all who cross his path. His teeth are the gavel. And they are coming down.

Something has changed recently, though. Perhaps it is old age getting to him, or the weariness of a lifetime of cruelty (and seeing the consequences affect his pride). His thoughts have become contemplative, especially after meeting a particularly kind lioness that he claimed. Perhaps it is time he has tried looking at the world in another way. If anything, for the sake of his pride and his heir.