Name: Otieno    

Nicknames and Titles: Prince of Darkness, Prince of the Exiles, Otyo (by close friends)

Relations and Affiliations: Exiled Outlander (mother) wandering male (father) Deka (mate), Sutar (sister in law) ; The Exiles (originally), The Pride Landers (later) 

Personality: Quick witted and ill tempered, Otieno grew up as prickly as the environment he was raised in. He has great instincts and is a survivor through and through. Otyo, despite his prickly demeanour, is somewhat of a coward. He is often all bark and no bite. To add to this, Otieno is often bashful and shy around lionesses, as he never interacted with any besides his mother for nearly all his life. He is known to become red faced in their presence. 

Story: Otieno was born to an outlander, one of the few lions who didn’t join with Simba after the near battle. He was raised in a land of exiles, filled with hyenas, wild dogs and all the other animals that the pride landers found undesirable. 

As he grew, Otieno became very loyal to his home and the animals that dwelt therein. He even went so far as to defend the little patch of hunting grounds the animals had from wandering rogues. With those actions, Otieno cemented himself as worthy in the eyes of the exiles, and even the hyenas came to respect him. When two lions from the pride lands came to visit the exiles, Otieno was wary and devised a test by which to gauge their legitimacy. When he found them to be true, he heard their plea of reuniting the animals out and then went on to convince the other exiles to fall in line with the plans of the pride landers. Entering the pride lands for the first time, Otieno met with the King and Queen (Kovu and Kiara) and with the help of their youngest son Khan was able to procure a home for the other exiles and himself. For the most part, Otieno kept away from the other lions and their affairs, but because of the debt he now felt he owed, Otyo became a supporter for Khan in the battle for the throne. When the prince was exiled, Otieno followed after him in order to keep the other exiles as part of the pridelands, a deal offered to him by the new ruling king, Gainell. Otieno helped the followers of Khan survive the outlands and there he met Deka, a beautiful lioness whom he found enchanting. The two began courtship in their shared exile, and upon their return to the pride lands when a new king was instated, continued their courting despite the disapproval of Deka’s traditionalist parents. While most lions continued to be wary of Otieno due to his origins, he and Deka later went on to be mates in the peaceful years of Lapin’s reign. 

Relation to TLK: Raised in the outlands and ruled over the exiled animals (including the hyenas) ; When he takes his exiles back to the pride lands, he deals directly with Kovu and Kiara in order to procure a home for himself and his followers. 

Special thanks goes out to NightRose for the beautiful design. Thank you so much!

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