I hadn’t been particularly curious about Lundor until this year, and I was fascinated by the prospect of what could have happened to the leopards. In this version I imagine every Tribe to be composed of smaller clans, in accordance with subspecies or related species—Raven Tribe for example would generally include most corvids such as crowd and magpies, and not just ravens; Eagles would contain other raptors; etc. And the same is for the Leopards.
Here I depict Lundor as the heir apparent to the Amure Clan, the main base of which was completely wiped out by Fangar *because* the Leopards were a special threat to him in the tunnels and acted as guides for the other Tunnel Cats. This eventually leads to the extinction of the rest of the tribe as well.
There are two pieces of literature for this, each one corresponding to one of the images.
image one:
“Tormak regarded the young prince with the same silence as he had been greeted with.
Words couldn’t have filled the silence anyway; they would have only made it more burdensome.
It wasn’t the first time he had witnessed the soundless grief of orphans displaced by war. The entire east wing of the Crescent Court had been turned into a refugee camp for those poor souls whose lives had been upended by Fangar’s icy threats, and now it was so full that the cracks in the walls had become makeshift cradles and every window ledge a cramped bed for three. Every day as he walked around the fortress a new arrival would enter the walls with shaking paws and red shot eyes that could cry no more.
Still, he couldn’t help feeling an extra twinge of pity for Lundor now as he glanced over the scraggly fur and the gaunt eyes that appeared more grey than green. The leopard was only a boy, after all; not to mention it was one thing to lose your family, but another thing entirely to survive the wholesale slaughter of your kin.
Wordlessly he dismissed the guards and reached out to guide the boy into the temple. Lundor’s feet shuffled heavily and slowly across the marble floors, but Tormak only prodded him gently along through the hall without any force. There was nothing but the sound of the hollow *shfff, shfff* of paws echoing off the smooth distant ceiling of a fire temple that had never seemed so cold.”
image two:
“Lundor insisted on joining the Tunnel Cats.
He insisted on being called by name, and being treated like a common foot soldier rather than the royalty he was. He addressed the generals by their titles with candid reverence. He sat with the soldiers and ate in their barracks and went to meetings as they reviewed their plans. He rejected the title of prince, and yet he acted more like a prince than anyone Tormak had ever met—even Fluminox.
It was a fitting role for the son of the night chief; the Amure Clan had, after all, been the head of the Coalition and pioneered the Tunnel Cats, and they had mastered and trained all the cats in the labyrinth martial arts. Lundor himself embodied all the skills they taught, from the smooth quiet tone of his voice to the inaudible movement of his feet. Tormak more often than not had been startled by the young leopard’s sudden appearances in random dark corners during meetings. Having him among their leopards would aid greatly against the Hunters.
But he still hesitated. To send the last Amure into battle, their prince no less, would almost guarantee the final extinction of the clan. And Lundor, for Chima’s sake, hadn’t even come of age.
Yet Lundor had shaken his head when Tormak told him to stay home. “I’ll just be the last trophy for Fangar to claim if I stay back,” he said in his clear, melancholy voice, eyes flickering in the firelight. “I know the pathways. I know the darkest shadows my father navigated. And I can’t dishonor my clan by sitting here when all of them were sacrificed for me.”
His voice was quieter when he continued. “I need to fight because I can’t lose anyone else.”
(everything i’ve ever posted here was first posted on the wiki discord LMAO)
(second note i know technically everyone in chima basically has yellow eyes but i lowkey forgot that when i was drawing and gave Lundor green eyes instead 🫣 but i think it works)