Ukware - Destroyed by Her Greed

Ukware ("to share" or "lust" in Swahili) is the sister of Kushinikiza, the semi-mate of Taabu, and the mother of Dubwana. 

Long ago, when the concepts of lion kingdoms were still fairly new to the world, there was a newly formed lion kingdom that has since became lost to time. This kingdom was ruled by a King and his Queen, of which they had plenty of children and a strong, male heir, but the King also had many concubines of whom he also had children with, for the Old Ways had yet to fully give way to the New. Amongst the King's many illegitimate children was one young lioness by the name of Ukware. Ukware showed an uncanny ability in shamanism from a young age, and thus the King decided that Ukware would train under the kingdom's current shaman priestess to become the next shaman after her. 

Most lionesses would be thrilled with such a prospect, especially an illegitimate cub of the King, as they aren't normally allowed to inherit anything unless the King himself has no heirs from his legitamate Queen, thus regulating them to become normal huntresses and boarder guards amongst the pride. Being a shaman priestess meant that the lioness in question would have very high standing in the pride, being under only the royal family themselves in status. 

But Ukware was not happy.

From a young age she had shown to be a haughty, greedy thing, always looking down on others and wanting what she could never have - to be declared a legitimate cub of her father's and become Queen after him. She fought constantly with her father, demanding to be recognized by him offically as his daughter, but he refused. She always argued that she would be twice the monarch her eldest half-brother could be, while her father argued that she was already given a place of high status as a shaman priestess and that she should be grateful, nevermind the fact that she was female and could never rule as well as a male could. Eventually, it became so heated that he barred her from the main den, stating that he would only allow her to return when she has finished her training and shown some humility and gratefulness. 

Furious, Ukware does as she's told. But as she trains with her aging mentor, she manages to learn not only the good magics and medicines, but also the dark magics as well. 

It's with her mentor she learns patience, and she learns to play her part as the humble, ever-grateful shaman priestess for her family while she silently plans revenge against them. By the time the old King dies and her half-brother takes his place, none of them believe her to be a threat. They think she's learned her lesson, that she truly is humble and kind and grateful. 

They are wrong. So very, very wrong. 

When the King's own Queen is pregnant with his heirs, Ukware makes her move. She summons an evil, demonic spirit from the void, demanding that it help her destroy the royal family so she can take her rightful place as Queen. The spirit, calling itself Taabu, agrees on one condition - it's been so long since it's been free from the dark emptiness of the void, and even more so since it's taken part in any sort of...carnal pleasures. Ukware frowns at this; she had taken a vow of celibacy when becoming the shaman priestess of the land, but then again, if she's going to become Queen, she'll need an heir eventually...

Ukware agrees, and once the deed is done, the demonic creature takes off to wreak havoc amongst the unsuspecting pride. Ukware laughs and laughs as Taabu slaughters all in his way. She laughs when the royal guard falls one by one. She laughs as the Queen wails in agony and grief for her lost mate and King.

She does not laugh when one of the Queen's handmaidens, a lioness by the name of Kushinikiza (who is also her half-sister) takes her by surprise and pins her to the ground with claws on her throat. Kushinikiza demands that Ukware return Taabu to the void from whence it came, or else she'll kill her and dispel the demonic spirit herself, as the two are connected; should Ukware die, Taabu will be forced to return to the void as she is it's link to the world of the living. Ukware does not want to die quite yet, as she's well aware that since she's preformed dark magic to summon an evil spirit from the void, her own soul is now destined to reside there for eternity as well. So, reluctantly, she uses her magic to force Taabu back into the void before he can finish the job. With that done, Ukware is taken prisioner, and Kushinikiza is forced to take her half-sister's place as the pride's new shaman priestess, requiring her to go to the Grass Walls to receive training from the shaman mandrills. 

It soon becomes obvious that Ukware's trist with Taabu has actually resulted in cubs, much to her shock and horror. As the cubs grow inside her, she grows ever weaker, and though the pride despise her for what she has done to their King and to many of their people, they do not wish harm on innocent cubs. So, they do their best to care for her and keep her alive until Kushinikiza can return from her training and heal Ukware and help her give birth. But Ukware knows all of this is pointless. She can feel it in the depths of her very soul - these cubs will be the death of her, perhaps rightfully so. 

When the time comes, Ukware gives birth to four cubs before dying painfully from childbirth complications. Her soul is then damned to the dark, empty void for the rest of eternity for her crimes, causing her to become one of the very creatures she summoned that damned her soul in the first place. 

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

NOTES: With all the talk of bad spirits and demons and shamans, I thought I'd give an example of a shaman who used her spirital powers for evil instead of good like we see in TLK and what happens to her because of that. It's not good.

Base: 
Base (c)
TLK and TLG (c)