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Description
Apunda was born within a small band within the Red Sands Pride. While not much is known about her family's past, Apunda's upbringing however was not an easy going one at that. As mentioned the Red Sands Lions were a combatant type of lion, skilled in the arts of combat and war. They were large and bulky in body type which enabled them to withstand more hits from their opponents as well as tolerate higher levels of pain and make them more difficult to bringing down. Their pelt colours ranged in shades of tans, browns and sometimes even shades of black.

Apunda's life was difficult as her father was a well renowned lion amongst the combatants who trained and fought in the Ring of Kings. He married a lioness whom remains unnamed for the time being after he failed repeatedly to take the crown from the current King at the time. After settling, Apunda was born, but her troubles began shortly after she started walking. Apunda was the only cub known to the couple and thus had no siblings in which she could fall to for support. Being as it may, with the way her pride's culture was is cubs learn to fight at a young age, the fighting mainly existed for males but did not object for females either. Lions who birthed daughters also so did for their offspring to become skilled in defending themselves, should intruders invade their lands. Sparring for cubs mostly was between siblings, but this was hard for Apunda as she was knowingly an only child.

So, having to make do Apunda's father would toss her against cubs from other families, often resulting in being outmatched or outnumbered. When Apunda sought refuge in her parents care or even fought to escape the abuse, her father would punish her for her weakness before throwing her back into the ring. It felt futile and she was enforced to learn from her situation as combat will not always be fair, to win it she must out-smart and out-manoeuvre her opponents as more often than not they will attack her in numbers. This harsh lifestyle sent Apunda into severe trauma as she was forced to face the onslaught of other cubs beatings and bruising day in and day out with little to no protection from her parents.

Time went by and Apunda had withdrawn mentally from her peers and parents, after excelling in the skills she needed to perfect in order to survive the ring. Once graduated she was drafted to the bachelorettes category in which gladiators would fight for the hands of lionesses deemed worthy of marrying champions. Apunda was not in favour of this ritual of courtship and thus made her escape the night before her ceremony. Apunda was not about to be married to a tyrant whom she didn't even know, only to mother cubs who'd be forced meet the same fate that was destined for her. It was not the life she wanted for her children.

During her solitary travels, she'd met Roka, a young lion who'd inherit a throne to a pride not far from their meeting place. Apunda was very withdrawn and timid at first and was reluctant to open herself to this strange lion. Fearing for her life, she was defensive of Roka and he knew that her life had not been a kind one. Roka was gentle with Apunda and took things day by day, keeping her in secret and helping her heal. Eventually Apunda was able to trust Roka as he cared and nurtured her physical and mental scarring. They bonded strongly as they matured and Apunda had learned compassion and kindness from Roka which could be rewarded to those who opened their hearts, thus she was convinced she had found a belonging with Roka, deciding that there wasn't any other place she was meant to be but beside him and life at this moment would only get better for her.

It wasn't long before they matured into young adult lions and to Apunda's surprise Roka had chosen her to be his queen. Her sadness had been soothed and he saw she was ready to lead with an open mind and heart despite the hardships she had endured. Apunda had learnt so much and sometimes thinks about her past, though she feels it has made her stronger and more passionate to provide a complete and eventful life for her children to be. She promised to be a gentle and nurturing mother, showing her cubs the proper way in leading and living so that their lives and their childrens lives could remain peaceful and painless. Though life sometimes threw troubles her way, Apunda was able to face them with knowledge and experience to bring those who followed her through.

Out of the darkness however, Apunda birthed two beautiful daughters, Sahara and Alba. Proud of her accomplishments, she cherished this moment and worshipped her children, giving them the best life they could possibly have growing up. But this happiness was not made to last and darkness again would soon find Apunda and now her new family again...

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

After dealing with some art block as well as real life struggles, I've been motivated to come back and finish some works in progress. A new MTL being one of them. I really love drawing Sahara's mother Apunda and I think she's absolutely beautiful. This is a rough draft of her backstory and I plan to elaborate a little bit more on it as I develop some prologues for a project I'm working on. I can't wait to share more with you all.

©Lion King - Disney
©Artwork - Me

©Character - Me

P.S. If you would like to read brief histories of mine and BaihuTigress26 character's, check out the links below;

(Some more);

Hercules Redesign - Concept Art and Reference
Meet the lions: Conan and Achilles

Link to Apunda's Colour Reference; Apunda Reference

Description
Apunda was born within a small band within the Red Sands Pride. While not much is known about her family's past, Apunda's upbringing however was not an easy going one at that. As mentioned the Red Sands Lions were a combatant type of lion, skilled in the arts of combat and war. They were large and bulky in body type which enabled them to withstand more hits from their opponents as well as tolerate higher levels of pain and make them more difficult to bringing down. Their pelt colours ranged in shades of tans, browns and sometimes even shades of black.

Apunda's life was difficult as her father was a well renowned lion amongst the combatants who trained and fought in the Ring of Kings. He married a lioness whom remains unnamed for the time being after he failed repeatedly to take the crown from the current King at the time. After settling, Apunda was born, but her troubles began shortly after she started walking. Apunda was the only cub known to the couple and thus had no siblings in which she could fall to for support. Being as it may, with the way her pride's culture was is cubs learn to fight at a young age, the fighting mainly existed for males but did not object for females either. Lions who birthed daughters also so did for their offspring to become skilled in defending themselves, should intruders invade their lands. Sparring for cubs mostly was between siblings, but this was hard for Apunda as she was knowingly an only child.

So, having to make do Apunda's father would toss her against cubs from other families, often resulting in being outmatched or outnumbered. When Apunda sought refuge in her parents care or even fought to escape the abuse, her father would punish her for her weakness before throwing her back into the ring. It felt futile and she was enforced to learn from her situation as combat will not always be fair, to win it she must out-smart and out-manoeuvre her opponents as more often than not they will attack her in numbers. This harsh lifestyle sent Apunda into severe trauma as she was forced to face the onslaught of other cubs beatings and bruising day in and day out with little to no protection from her parents.

Time went by and Apunda had withdrawn mentally from her peers and parents, after excelling in the skills she needed to perfect in order to survive the ring. Once graduated she was drafted to the bachelorettes category in which gladiators would fight for the hands of lionesses deemed worthy of marrying champions. Apunda was not in favour of this ritual of courtship and thus made her escape the night before her ceremony. Apunda was not about to be married to a tyrant whom she didn't even know, only to mother cubs who'd be forced meet the same fate that was destined for her. It was not the life she wanted for her children.

During her solitary travels, she'd met Roka, a young lion who'd inherit a throne to a pride not far from their meeting place. Apunda was very withdrawn and timid at first and was reluctant to open herself to this strange lion. Fearing for her life, she was defensive of Roka and he knew that her life had not been a kind one. Roka was gentle with Apunda and took things day by day, keeping her in secret and helping her heal. Eventually Apunda was able to trust Roka as he cared and nurtured her physical and mental scarring. They bonded strongly as they matured and Apunda had learned compassion and kindness from Roka which could be rewarded to those who opened their hearts, thus she was convinced she had found a belonging with Roka, deciding that there wasn't any other place she was meant to be but beside him and life at this moment would only get better for her.

It wasn't long before they matured into young adult lions and to Apunda's surprise Roka had chosen her to be his queen. Her sadness had been soothed and he saw she was ready to lead with an open mind and heart despite the hardships she had endured. Apunda had learnt so much and sometimes thinks about her past, though she feels it has made her stronger and more passionate to provide a complete and eventful life for her children to be. She promised to be a gentle and nurturing mother, showing her cubs the proper way in leading and living so that their lives and their childrens lives could remain peaceful and painless. Though life sometimes threw troubles her way, Apunda was able to face them with knowledge and experience to bring those who followed her through.

Out of the darkness however, Apunda birthed two beautiful daughters, Sahara and Alba. Proud of her accomplishments, she cherished this moment and worshipped her children, giving them the best life they could possibly have growing up. But this happiness was not made to last and darkness again would soon find Apunda and now her new family again...

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

After dealing with some art block as well as real life struggles, I've been motivated to come back and finish some works in progress. A new MTL being one of them. I really love drawing Sahara's mother Apunda and I think she's absolutely beautiful. This is a rough draft of her backstory and I plan to elaborate a little bit more on it as I develop some prologues for a project I'm working on. I can't wait to share more with you all.

©Lion King - Disney
©Artwork - Me

©Character - Me

P.S. If you would like to read brief histories of mine and BaihuTigress26 character's, check out the links below;

(Some more);

Hercules Redesign - Concept Art and Reference
Meet the lions: Conan and Achilles

Link to Apunda's Colour Reference; Apunda Reference