More lion! I've been asked some questions regarding Romelle lately so uh idk let me answer them all in one post?
Romelle is a character from mine and Frank's novel. In our lore, every body inherits a soul. There are two types of souls; souls for sapient minds and souls for non-sapient minds. Sometimes, however, all that magic can get a bit muddled, and an animal will inherent a soul that was intended for a sapient creature, be it a human or coroko, or other hominid-like intelligence. It's not an incredibly rare occurrence, but it results in creatures like Romelle. Romelle is a lion that is (relatively) intelligent. He can talk, problem solve, form relationships etc. He's no Aslan, but compared to normal lions he's a smart cookie. In 1202, he was born into captivity and shipped to Russia to live as the household prize of a wealthy family. All was well until the growing cub coughed up his first words. Animals with human souls were seen as an omen of death or bad luck in many parts of the world, and he became neglected, muzzled and locked away, as is it is seen as even worse luck to kill or hurt said creatures. Romelle soon outgrew his enclosure and became too expensive to keep fed and well, and was sold into a local romani fighting rink, who are all considerably less superstitious in regards to animals like Romelle. Only then did Romelle learn to talk, though already into adolescence he struggled picking up language, due to missing education in vital times of brain development. Nevertheless, he learned and grew on his own with the help of a friend, despite the violence and poverty that surrounded him. He is kind hearted, though skittish. He forgets his own size and strength, and is far brighter than he has the capability to communicate; Russian not only being his first language in a story that eventually takes place in france and wales, but he also has a big dopey lion mouth. A thick russian accent, broken english, and a dinner plate sized tongue, don't tend to go hand in hand!