Overview
Beliefs
Because they come from the same line as lions do, leopards have similar beliefs, possessing three spiritual beings. Like the lions, every leopard has an "Emi" in their heart, fed by wind through the nostrils. This spirit allows them to breathe, run, hunt, speak, hear, see and mate. However, while they also possess the spirits Ojiji and Eleda, their beliefs regarding them is very different.
Leopards do not trust their Eleda, believing that it will not only distract them with its incessant warnings, but will remember only the bad they've done in their lives. If they went to confess before Shujaa, the first lion, they would be thrown to the Shadowlands before they could blink. Although they are born with the Eleda, when they cross the threshold into adulthood, they embark on a journey that takes them through the acacia forests of the Kalahari and into the mountains before they return. The mountains, as a gateway to the Shadowlands, are a dangerous place, and this journey serves not only to help them refine their hunting skills, but also to confuse their Eleda so that it becomes lost in the mountains and will not return with them.
Conversely, they place great importance on their spirit Ojiji, their shadow. Besides giving them strength and comfort when they most need it, their shadow holds a deep connection with darkness and with the hidden, because of Adui, the first leopard's constant presence in the Shadowlands as he hunts the spirit of death, Kifo. The leopard's Ojiji tells them where to find the best hiding places, and while, like their lost Eleda, it remembers everything they have done in their life, it is forever loyal and never says a word to anyone but them. Leopards with extremely dark or even black coats are considered to have an exceptionally strong Ojiji, and are held up as the mightiest of hunters. Because they are uncommon, they fill a specific role in their belief system. In turn, they have an exceptionally tenacious Eleda, and can only hope to confuse it by traveling through the mountains to the very border of the Shadowlands.
Because of their distrust of their Eleda, they seek to avoid interacting with other leopards. Sometimes, an errant Eleda will find its way back to the leopard it was lost from and, if this can happen, who's to say that another Eleda hasn't come with it in hopes of finding who it belongs to? Because of their exceptionally bothersome Eleda, leopards with dark or black coats are avoided even more so, and often have more difficulty finding a mate. A mother will care for her young, whose Eledas will not care about her, but beyond this, leopards come together only to mate and then quickly move on. As a final precaution against their disloyal Eleda, leopards never go before Shujaa when they die, but instead their spirits wander the Kalahari while they wait for Adui to finally catch the spirit of death. Those who are brave enough may even go to the Shadowlands to aid Adui, or even in hopes of catching Kifo themselves. Leopards with dark or black coats do not stay in the Kalahari upon death; they are expected to go to the Shadowlands without hesitation. When Kifo finally is caught, it will prove that leopards are favored over the lions, and they will then become the defenders, and therefore the rulers, of the Kalahari.