Benroy

* Biography
* Threat Assessment
* Trivia and Notes
* Gallery

### Benroy: Once Upon a Time...

There was a lion with a silver mane and blue eyes. His peculiarity made him an outsider in his own pride, so he exiled himself and ultimately left the wilderness where his pride had dwelled. This choice put him in contact with many other beasts and men. He became the subject of many, many stories — gaining quite a legend around him, which afforded him abilities apart from other lions. In the Homelands, it was not uncommon to find animals capable of speech, but a lion that walked upright and used weapons and tools was quite exceptional.

Before long, the famous lion began to think of himself as more man than beast. When he settled in the Avon Valley, he was given the name "Benroy" and it was there that he reaped the benefits of his fame. He was afforded a great deal of status in exchange for his assurances that he would watch over the fertile valley. The noble family of Brightspire Hall even named their great noble house in honor of Benroy. Rumors got that Benroy had even sired children with some noble women of the Brightspire Hall, but this is likely a relic of the smear campaign that came about with the Avon Valley's absorption into the Toscane Empire following the ruling family's sudden disappearance (and reports of a savage beast ravaging the population).

A beast of his word, when the evil faerie Carabosse came to the Avon Valley and left a curse on Brightspire Hall, Benroy gave the chase to the fleeing sorceress. He tracked her across Europa to the steppes of the Rus where he was captured by the Wicked Witches of the Baba Yaga. Benroy was tortured until he became a fearful mess that no longer resembled the proud creature he once was.

Benroy was kept locked up, forced to walk on all fours, and made to amuse the Baba Yaga at their gatherings. He was beaten, burned, cursed, or worse if he ever dared to speak, make eye contact, or otherwise earn the ire of Carabosse, Gothel, Tsaritsa, Rigby, Lumi, or any other member of the dreaded coven of fabled witches. This torture persisted for over a thousand years until the Sheeda invasion afforded Benroy an opportunity to escape. As the Baba Yaga transported their mobile castle to the magical land of Oz, not willing to not protect their interests against possible betrayal of their Sheeda allies, there was some turbulence that broke the lock on Benroy's cage and gave him a chance to leap from a window

Benroy was drastically injured, but he would recover from his injuries by resting in the Wild Forest of the Eastern Region of Oz. There he had to contend with fantastical creatures he had never seen before, such as the Kalidahs. However, fortunately, such beasts were more frightened of Benroy so if he could muster a savage roar, that was all that needed more to allow him to become the King of the Wild Forest. Though his wounds had healed, his trauma was a matter of contention for many more years.

Benroy became fearful of humans, paranoid any bipedal being walking through his forest by way of the Yellow Brick Road could be an agent of the Baba Yaga sent to find him. He generally avoided people, only interacting when he was hungry, and would frighten travelers in hopes of abandoning food to keep the lion off their trail.

This behavior is what brought him into the company of Dorothy Gale. Hearing from the other beasts of the forest that there was a little girl with a picnic basket and a little dog, Benroy leapt out onto the road and unleashed a fearsome roar in hopes the girl would drop her basket, only to be confronted by the fact the girl had two other companions, both of which radiated the scent of the Baba Yaga magic (as did the girl's shoes). Though tremendously afraid, Benroy tried to bluff his way through the bold girl swatted Benroy on the nose, which immediately triggered the lion to beg for her forgiveness and surrender himself to her, fearing her to be Baba Yaga.

Much to Benroy's surprise, the girl was not Baba Yaga, but was Dorothy Gale, a girl from Americana who had been a victim of the Baba Yaga and had managed to slay one of the witches. Hearing that a girl so young and small could stand up to the Baba Yaga, Benroy felt ashamed of his hiding in the forest and immediately wanted to help this girl. The adventures he would undertake with this girl would ultimately inspire the lion to find his courage and he went to other lands to liberate them from the tyranny of witches before the Sheeda would reunite him with Dorothy in Fabletown.

## Threat Assessment

### Resources

* **Fabled Lion Physiology:** Benroy is a lion, quite similar to the African Lions of Earth. However, due to being compromised of organic vorpal energy and being the subject of many fabled legends, Benroy has become considerably anthropomorphic.
	+ ***Bestial Speech:*** Benroy can understand and be understood by animals. He also has a degree of psychic influence when dealing with such creatures, making his commands able to carry a certain psychic authority. It is worth noting that canines generally find this psychic impression to be unsettling and usually respond unfavorably.
	+ ***Enhanced Durability:*** Benroy has been known to take considerable damage and keep on fighting. While much of this durability comes from his immense physique and his regular use of powerful intoxicants, it is also worth noting that Benroy's legend is not limited to his time in Oz. This lion is also the titular lion featured in many of Aesop's Fables as well as the godlike lion featured in a successful literature series, which means his tales' popularity spread for thousands of years, lending him an immeasurable amount of esoteric power.
	+ ***Enhanced Senses:*** Benroy has the incredibly sharp senses of an apex predator, generally more potent than those of a human. His eyes are particularly well-adapted to nocturnal vision. His movable ears can hear a conversation from a mile away. And his nose can smell freshly spilled blood from a half-mile or more (and he can track the stink of Baba Yaga magic from a similar distance).
	+ ***Enhanced Strength:*** Benroy is incredibly strong and ferocious.
	+ ***Fabled Claws:*** Benroy's claws are powerful enough to rend stone and metal.
	+ ***Immortality:*** Benroy does not suffer the rigors of age and illness.
	+ ***Resurrection:*** Benroy has died so many times. Due to his immense legendary status, his resurrections and excessively quick, usually taking place within twenty-four hours of his death and restoring him to nearly full strength upon his return.
	+ ***Tail:*** Benroy's tail is somewhat prehensile, allowing him to use it as a fifth limb for simple and crude tasks, such as picking up his spear or holding his gourd flask.
* **Wilderness Survival:** Known as the King of the Wild Forest and often regarded as the King of the Beasts, Benroy has incredible survival and animal handling skills and talents.
	+ ***Tracking:*** Benroy is an incredible tracker, thanks to his incredible senses.
* **Ceaseless Courage:** Known as the Cowardly Lion, many falsely believed that Benroy lacks courage (even Benroy himself believed he lacked such a trait). However, Benroy has shown that he has the power to confront his deepest fears without hesitation if properly motivated, such as when he led his companions to rescue Dorothy from the clutches of Gothel. Granted, the lion believed he was still under the effects of the Wizard's "potion" of "Liquid Courage" at the time, but he still charged into that castle with a sober mind. Courage is resistance to fear; mastery of fear, not absence of fear.

### Weaknesses

* **Liquid Courage:** The gift the Wizard of Oz gave Benroy was nothing more some homemade moonshine. However, while drunk, the lion felt a relief from psychological scars, and he was able to confront the Wicked Witch of the West despite her direct involvement in Benroy's torture. Following his first adventure with Dorothy, Benroy went on a series of walkabouts with the mystics of Oz. During which he continued to use alcohol and potent narcotics as a means to bypass his trauma.
* **Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder:** Benroy continues to suffer from a lingering fear of the Baba Yaga which extends to witches in general. If he suspects a person in his presence is a witch or witnesses something he believes to be witchcraft, Benroy will panic and become visibly uncomfortable, usually resulting in him fleeing if he is not restrained or comforted in a timely manner. However, when drunk or otherwise inebriated, Benroy has an opposite reaction to witches and witchcraft, becoming eager to find and kill the witch without the slightest regard for fear or cowardice.
* **Wiccaphobia:** Benroy has a lingering fear of witches and witchcraft.

### Analytics

* **Physicality:** 5 — Master / Remarkable
* **Occult:** 3 — Trained / Exceptional
* **Weaponry:** 6 — World-Class / Superb
* **Expertise:** 4 — Expert / Enhanced
* **Range:** 4 — Expert / Enhanced
* **Strategy:** 4 — Expert / Enhanced
	+ **TOTAL:** 75
	+ **RANKING:** Moderate Threat

## Trivia and Notes

### Trivia

* The power of the Silver Shoes worn by Dorothy Gale drew him into her way.

### Notes

* The Cowardly Lion is a character from *Fables* who originated from *The Wonderful Wizard of Oz* stories by L. Frank Baum.
* The literature series mentioned in his resources is the *Chronicles of Narnia*. The characters from the series were implied to exist in the *Fables*, but due to copyright reasons, weren't openly mentioned.
* The name Benroy means "Son of a lion".

## Links and References

* Appearances of Benroy

1. ↑ Network Files: Benroy
2. ↑ Network Files: Dorothy Gale