Saranya

Saranya was the mother of Akili, who in his storyline on [http://www.tlkmuck.org TLKMuck] died bringing him away from his far-away homeland and the life-threatening treatment from his father, Matego.

Gifted with an exceptional memory, Akili eventually remembered her name as he was growing up, and during a particularly traumatic time, called upon her for assistance with a matter he felt no one else could help him with. The sequence that followed was not witnessed by anyone else, and he convinced himself that what had happened was mostly a dream.

However, she appeared in a more trademark Lion King fashion (in reference to Mufasa's later appearance to Simba, although not quite so dramatic) to warn him of Matego's approach, as he had arrived in the Pridelands, looking for his son.

Saranya's role was soon expanded, as so many players - including Akili - were fascinated by the mystery of her character. Her appearances were very infrequent, but she always presented herself as an ordinary lioness, save for one in exceptionally good condition for her apparent age. Indeed, aside from Akili revealing who she was, other players had only his word, and her acknowledgment of what he claimed, as proof. She never gave any demonstrations to prove otherwise. Even her appearances and disappearances were never done in plain sight.

Thus far, it is definitively known only to Akili and ["Nafse"] - a far-from-ordinary lioness herself - that Saranya is a being with undetermined powers, except that she can visit other worlds as she pleases, as long as she follows the rules of visiting those worlds. How she came to be such a being after originally dying as Akili's paternal mother, or if she was an ordinary lioness to begin with, has never been explained, as she always found ways to avoid such direct questions. As of this time, she left Akili and Nafse for unclear reasons following their arrival in the Astral Realm on FlipSide, and has been out of contact.

While completely unknown to the player at her naming (a combination of the names Sara and Enya), Saranya is the name of the Goddess of the Dawn in Hindu mythology [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saranya (Saranya on the Wikipedia)]. It's an intriguing coincidence, if that is indeed all it is.