species: Thankitar (human name) or Khashkitan (Na'Vi name)
gender: male
pride: none
personality: loyal to rider, protective of rider, magnificent, aggressive when he has to be, never leaves his rider's side
description: large, even bigger than a Thanator (black panther like animal that Neytiri rides) has six legs, two antennae for bonding, is only other animal on Pandora besides the Na'Vi that has hair. main color is black, stripes and mane appear mostly black but turn magnificent blue when hit by sunlight. has yellow eyes.
other: Shakta. Ta'Lu's rider, was born with a rare birth deffect: her skin is black instead of blue. the Na'Vi see this as a sign of a cursed soul. and they believe that the curse only appears when the Na'Vi comes of age. and they believe that any animal they have bonded with previously must be slaughtered when the Na'Vi comes of age because they will have passed the curse through the bond. and the Na'Vi member must be banished to try and avoid the curse inside from doing any damage. of course, this is not true. the black color just comes from a mutated gene, but the Na'Vi remains the same as any other. so, Shakta (female) was banished, her Ikran slain. she wandered alone for many weeks throughout the remote Pandoran jungles. then, she met Ta'Lu. the lions of Pandora are much less social than ours on Earth, and they are nearly impossible to bond with. it's even more rare to bond with a Khashkitan than with a Toruk (Last Shadow) and the Na'Vi see that any Lion Rider as a direct descendant of Eywa (their goddess) and therefore bare many powers and offer greatness. but, Shakta somehow bonded with Ta'Lu. she found that when bonded to him, she could understand the other animals like Ta'Lu could, but only while making the Halu (bond) with him. one day, while riding (this is just a few months before Neytiri and Jake) some humans saw her unusual coloring, and they had rarely ever seen a lion, none the less one with a rider. they wanted to study them in a controlled environment, so they captures Shakta and Ta'Lu and brought them to Earth. they had a secret lab on Madagascar (one of the last places on earth that wasn't heavily populated by humans) but while flying over Africa, Shakta escaped her holding cell and killed the pilots. the plane crashed in the Outlands. (the outlands and Pridelands by this time were now held as a Nature Preserve). Shakta and Ta'Lu were greeted by the king of Pride Rock who was a direct descendant of Simba. His name was Kopa (as his father had learned of Simba's forgotten and murdered son and wanted everyone to remember Kopa by naming his son the same). Kopa decided that these two were to big and ferocious to take on, so decided to befriend them instead. he offered Ta'Lu a place in his pride, but when Ta'Lu declined, he decided to offer both Ta'Lu and Shakta a place. they accepted. many years passed, and Shakta and Ta'Lu became great members of the Pride. but, Kopa was very old, and had no heir yet. his mate was just barely pregnant, but she was old too. Kopa feared she would die before bearing a cub. While on his death bed, Kopa asked Ta'Lu to lead as King until his heir was born, and when he was, try to rear the cub as his own. especially since Kopa's mate was so old and probably wouldn't live much longer than the birth. Ta'Lu accepted, and said he would lead the Pridelands as King until Kopa's heir was old enough to lead. and Shakta agreed to raise it as her own as well. Kopa died a week before his son was born. moments after his birth, Kopa's mate died, but just before she did, she named him Ta'Lu, to honor the lion of Pandora. Ta'Lu and Shakta kept their promise. and because they were so threatening to enemies, the Pridelands saw a great time of peace in their reign. then, Ta'Lu passed the crown to Kopa's son when he was of age. Shakta and Ta'Lu lived their the rest of their lives. and they wouldn't have chosen to return to Pandora if they could, for they had found true happiness, here in the Pridelands.
i love the uniqueness behind these to characters. job well done
