Umande'mfuni
Land Description:
The Mistweaver Valley lies west of the Pridelands and southwest of the Elephant Graveyard. On it's east side, the mountains are small, easily passable; but the western and northern borders rise up magnificantly against the horizon, the beginning of an immense mountain range.
The valley itself is not overly-large, but comfortable to support several herds of preybeasts and a goodly-sized pride...when there is adequete water. The jungle life of the valley depends upon it. Numerous waterfalls are spread throughout the valley, most eventually leading to the massive lake on the southwest side. On the eastern end of the valley, a hill rises above the treetops of the jungles, with only a singular, enormous old boabob tree and long, swaying grass atop it. It's a good vantage point.
The Mistweaver lion pride used to make it's home on the northern slopes of the mountains. Massive waterfalls spill down through the jungle; behind them, several secret waterfall caverns are hidden. If one is lucky enough to find their way inside, they'll see several odd symbols on the wall, seemingly painted there in berry dye. It's the history of the Mistweavers, added to every generation that passes. The stones will not forget, even if the pride may disappear.
History
The Mistweavers, like the Pridelanders and the Firekin, has been a pride that has lived in the same area for countless generations. Unlike the Firekin or Pridelands, however, they believe that a female ruler is just as capable as a male ruler - and thus, their Queens have as much, if not more, power than their Kings.
The previous generation had been born in a drought year for the pride, although none knew the cause of it. The great Mistweaver pride had dwindled down to three: Nyunya, the King, Kunge, his Queen, and Bahari, Kunge's sister. Several weeks later, Kunge gave birth to a single female...the lack of water had been hard on the pride, and all her energies had been focused into giving birth to one healthy cub.
Nyunya, however, ended up dying from disease soon after when he accidentally allowed another lioness - a biological time bomb, as it were - into the pride. She was carrying a deadly illness that she soon died from afterwards...but not before inflicting the same illness upon nearly all of the rest of the pride.
After Nyunya's death, the remaining Mistweaver lionesses tried to stay together...but Kunge fell ill from the disease. One evening, Sumba and Waka, two Firekin lionesses, stole onto the lands, killing Bahari, leaving Kunge to slowly die from illness, and stealing the young princess. The lands have since been devoid of life; it looks as if the Mistweaver pride might have seen it's last days.
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After the death of those within, new life slowly began to form. A young lion, Maji, awakened to the lonesome decaying lands. With him began a new generation of mistweavers, led by a lioness of false blood as their Queen. It wasn't long before offspring from members of old began to filter back in, having either heard of, or barely remembering the lands before they'd left as family.
As the lands deteriorated, so did the relationship between Ciyari the 'queen' and the rest of the ragtag group. Growing into themselves, love and anxiety reigned. The queen turned against her subjects and fled, pregnant with Maji's cubs, leaving him bewildered and heartbroken. Some followed the lioness, while others scattered, nervous as to what would now become of the pride.
Adulthood reached the pride, to those who were born of the last generation. Somewhere close to the borders, a princess began learning of herself and her past, and grew curious to what she'd been missing, if anything still survived. The new generation continued to get along as best it could, snapping at outsiders daring to cross into their borders and steal precious resources the pride needed so desperately to survive. Storms loomed on the borders, refusing to cross over and drop their life-giving rain, as if someone had put a clear glass wall between the lands and the sky. Dangerous heat and lightning storms threatened to reduce their lands to ash, and still the pride remained. Ever slowly, the trickle of former members continued to drift in, although they were often met with animosity as to the reasons of their return.
It wasn't long before the princess, long ago taken by the firekin, returned home where she knew she belonged. Her presence was not welcome within the lands at first, along with those who accompanied her, and though her features recognised by some, she could not prove her existance except by a single image on the cavern wall. Maji, who'd taken up the leadership after Ciyari's disappearance was not pleased by the appearance of another, and yet Masika had lions he'd known all his life accepting her claims of royalty. His half-sister had indeed returned, but to what? A dying pride, that even he couldn't seem to save. The lands crackled and turned to dust at every step, surely there was no life left to their home, and yet they stayed.
Religion
The Umande'mfuni's god is the Storm God; he who brings the life-giving rain. They also worship the moon and have an affinity with the nighttime. They believe drought years are the result of some sin on their part, while bountiful, lush years are the result of following the god's ways. While tolerant of other beliefs, they still tend to remain in their own valley, prefering little contact with outsiders. They are often looked upon as mysterious and almost magical by the Pridelanders, whom they share a border with, and are disdained and loathed by the Firekin, their natural enemies.
Night-time is when most prefer to roam, taking advantage of the mists that rise from the ground as the heat and humidity slowly dissapate in the dark hours of the night. It has been said that the mistweavers seem like ghosts of the past, prowling through the lands in a forever state of unrest.
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