In order to get everyone's creative muses flowing and allow for a broader spectrum of plots, pride creation on Aess is very member driven! Pride leaders will have a lot of liberty over how they run their prides and the structure of their pride, with only a very loose outline to be set by the staff team. As a base, the site will always have a minimum of 3 prides, with more becoming available dependent upon active population. For starters, a pride "slot" once claimed will will come with a few basic things.

• Freedom to name it whatever you like (barring anything inappropiate or offensive)
• Freedom to create your own hierarchy so long as it follows the loose outline we provide
• 6 Ranks including 2 primary, 2 secondary, and 2 tertiary. Each pride expansion purchased will also add more ranks (see below)
• Their own forum with their own pride thread for stats, news, and rules etc.
• Dedicated ranks to differentiate them on the member list
• Will "claim" a portion of any neutral territory that doesn't already have a pride. They will not own the entire territory, just the portion they claim and their board will be separate from the territory.
• Prides may have a maximum of 10 adult members to start. Pride expansions may be purchased to expand the pride population by 10 adults per expansion, any character in the pride can contribute their points towards pride expansions.
• If a pride has max members and also has young cubs, those cubs may remain part of the pride until they mature, at which point they will be relegated to rogue unless an expansion is purchased.
• Prides at maximum capacity may not accept new members, leaders are always allowed to cast out members to fall below the maximum, this is to encourage prides remaining active.

If a new pride slot is available or opens up via disbandment, a qualified lion may claim the slot. Qualifications include paying 100 feathers, having 50 posts minimum on the claiming character (or per character, if two are choosing to jointly lead a pride), and having 3 other lions - all with different roleplayers from one another and yourself - that have ic-ly agreed to follow said lion by founding a pride with them. Threads where leading lion(s) solicit followers that qualify are valid for 3 ooc months from when they happen so long as the characters are not placed inactive or part of another pride. If a founding follower is part of another pride, they must have permission to leave their existing pride or fight for their freedom to join the new pride. Every character that claims a pride or is a founding follower must be at least one year of age. All characters are able to claim a slot or challenge for pride leadership, they may designate themselves whatever title makes them comfortable ic-ly, and are only constrained to the physical limitations of their bodies in fights or reproduction (see fighting & modifiers).

Please note that any prides that are disbanded due to inactivity or failing requirements reset the pride completely. Any additional ranks or membership slots will default back to the base ten for whoever claims that pride slot and all members that were in the pride before the disbandment will be relegated to rogue.

Any qualified lion that has 50 posts minimum and has paid 100 feathers may challenge for a pride, so long as they are over 1 year in of age. Lions that wish to challenge and steal a pride do not need to have the 3 additional followers that claiming lions do. Prides that are stolen or otherwise go under new leadership are able to be altered by the new leader(s). New leaders under this method may move their prides to a different terrain, so long as no other pride resides there, rename the pride, change all of the pride rules, and change all of the ranks. If a challenger successfully wins a pride they will also inherit all expansions purchased up to that point for the pride, this is one benefit to stealing a pride vs. claiming an open slot.

As a fun little twist, if a pride has two primary leader positions filled, whether they are truly co-ruling or not, any challengers who wish to do a dual challenge may face off against both leaders. The fights will take place at the same time during the same thread, with two combatants facing off against once another in simultaneous fights. This is not a multiple lion fight in the sense that it's a free-for-all, simply both leaders will fight to win their place. The pair with the overall highest score will be victorious (regardless of who won or lost their individual battle). If two lions wish to challenge for a pride and that pride only has one primary leader, they must follow the traditional 1 vs. 1, alternatively if two leaders are being challenged by one lion, it must also be 1 vs. 1, the 2 vs. 2 is only offered in instances where both sides have 2 combatants and where the challenging pair has opted into it. A ruling pair that is challenged by a pair cannot opt-out, they must both fight.

As with all good things there are some caveats. In order to make sure that all prides are active, leaders must meet certain requirements lest they risk disbandment of the pride. Primary leaders of prides must make no less than 3 posts per rolling week, so you cannot go more than 7 consecutive days without 3 posts within that timeline. If the primary person that claimed the slot fails the pride is subject to disband, if another primary leader (not main ruler of pride) fails their requirement they will lose their rank and be subject to a one month cooldown. Every leader will be tasked for making their own ranks and making sure their top ranked members are active and their pride pages are updated in a timely manner. If leaders fail an activity check a qualified diplomat in the pride may take it over within 24 hours, first come first serve, if they are a member of the pride and not within the top 3 ranks they pay a reduced price for the challenge/takeover of the pride. This is open to outside challenge, which must still pay full price.

Failing leadership requirements and losing the pride will subject the ooc player to a 1 month cooldown before they can take over a pride again.

Leaders may choose to structure their pride however they want, so long as it falls within the constraints of the appropriate rank tiers provided. Leaders can also set their own rules, pride name, rank name. For example, though Aesseldar is all inclusive, if a lion was to claim a pride and have all male ranks only, or create gender specific rules (such as females can't claim ranks or ranked females can't lay claim to any characters under 1 year of age) they are welcome to do so. The rules for the pride must be completed within one week of a pride being claimed or taken over via diplomatic takeover or successful challenge.

As a starting point every pride will have 6 ranks. Two primary ranks, such as the traditional King and Queen, or Heir, two secondary ranks, such as Lord and Lady or Prince and Princess, and two tertiary ranks such as Duke and Duchess. Every ten member expansion purchased will add two tertiary ranks to the pride, to be decided by the leader(s).