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The earliest namesigns stem from a period around the end of the first trek. During this period a change in body took place.
Regular forepaws grew longer digits and thumbs allowing the use of tools but also gave the lions the dexterity to carve more precisely
with a single digit.
The need for namesigns came when during the travels several important leaders sought to distinguish themselves from regular lions but
also to keep track of members of their respective Pride. In the chaos of the trek it wasn’t uncommon for low ranking members to have a fling
with a different Pride. Since open hostility was banned at the time and bonds of loyalty at an all time low many a leader saw power slipping through their claws.
The leader of the Spear-Pride was the first to act. After collecting of few bowls of blood from their latest kill she stood in front of her entire Pride
and a few who weren’t hers and claimed all lions in her presence as hers. She then called all of them to her and made each one swear an oath of loyalty.
When they’d done that she painted her mark, the mark of the spear, on their chest. Legends say that one of the flingers hesitated
when it was her time to swear the oath.
The Pride-leader then speared her through the heart stating that there is no place in her Pride for those whose heart didn’t beat for her.
This is considered the birth of the bloodsigns. Shortly after these events other Pride leaders followed suit and soon no lion was unsigned.
The practise of flinging was cut short by this method but it also sparked new rivalries between prides. However the personal namesign didn’t evolve until after the crossing of the middle sea across the land bridge past the monkey-bone hill. The age of survival began as new blood was needed to revitalise the various tribes in the new lands of plenty. Many an unsung hero was made in this time but unlike most the one responsible for namesigns was a male. Three sisters of the Dawn-pride had set up a common nursery away from the main settlement due to some infighting. When a rival pride found them they fended off the first attack but soon saw that enemy reinforcements weren’t far away. Their territorial defender, a young male, heard their cries and jumped into the fray. This was a little uncommon since none of the cubs were his. He turned back three waves of lionesses before the rival pride sent in their male muscle, two experienced warriors. He engaged them as he told the females to grab their cubs and run. The fight lasted for close to an hour with neither side willing to back down. The young male then threw a final punch against the strongest warrior which, thanks to a glass muzzle, was knocked out. With the cubs out of reach and his mate unconscious the other warrior decided there was no honour to be gained here. As the young male returned to his pride he found that the sisters were being praised for saving the future of the pride. The leader also claimed to be the most important in this victory, but when the male asked for a little credit (as well as some attention for his efforts). He was told to go sit somewhere out of sight where they couldn’t smell him bleed. Males at the time were used to this kind of treatment but for this one it was enough. He stated that those cubs would be dead without him, that the pride would be dead without him and that today’s victory belonged to him. The pride leader said that no victory could belong to someone without name and he scribed a namesign in front of her. He named himself SuphFarr(“LifeGuard”) of the Dawn pride. The leader killed him for daring to raise himself, a male, to a level before only held by leaders. The Dawn pride was attacked and assimilated by a rival pride within a moons cycle. But the legend didn’t die and all who heard it crafed names and namesigns (at first in secret) in hopes to be remembered by future generations. This was also seen as the first incident to lead to the male uprising.
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