Ulaya

Ulaya is a role-playing message board based on The Lion King. It takes place several generations after the rule of King Kovu and Queen Kiara. While the Pridelanders and Outlanders are still focused on in the storyline, Ulaya has branched out to include other families and groups. The major terrains of the board consist of the areas from the films, with a few creative tweaks here and there in some places. Major locations within them, such as the watering hole, the elephant graveyard, and etc are included, of course. In addition to the RP sections, Ulaya also contains discussion, games, and trivia areas.


 * Address: Ulaya 4.0
 * Ran from/to: 2003 - present (dormant off and on throughout existence)

November 2003 - 'Heart Of The Savannah'
As how many stories come to life, this particular one started with an idea, and two friends. Feeling that they didn't fit in at another TLK-based site, they left it and decided to create their own Lion King roleplay. This site, originally called 'Heart Of The Savannah', would, unknown to them at the time, grow into the 'Ulaya' we know today.

It's story took place during the reign of Kiara and Kovu's daughter, Katiti, and her mate, Randa. Using the basic format found in the 1st movie, it focused on their son, a young prince destined to become King. The difference? The prince had a tag-a-long sister, too. Also present was his young best friend, who would partake in all of his adventures, and a 'villain', a lioness named Grace. She simply wanted the Pridelands in order to make a better the life of her pride, the Outlanders.

The roleplay lasted until January of the following year. Then, it started slowly declining in February, until there wasn't much action at all. Before dying off completely, it was revived with a 'timeskip' and its activity lasted until April.

December 2004 - 'Ulaya: Meesha's Quest'
In another attempt to revive it again, the administration of the 'HotS' site decided to try something new, this time using the forum RPG system of Invisionfree. From their efforts, 'Ulaya: Meesha's Quest' was born.

It carried over from the last story, during the young prince, now King, Vash's reign. He and his mate, the best friend from those previous adventures (Noyana), ruled the Pridelands in a way that some compared to the glorious reign of Mufasa and Sarabi. Even after experiencing the tragic lost of their own cub (Kohaku) in a freak accident, the royal couple remained able to take care of their responsibilities and show others kindness. Meanwhile, in the Outlands, a rogue lioness (Shetani the Devil) had arrived, challenging the battleworn Grace and gaining control the pride from her after a vicious fight. Her presence made promises of revenge and streaks of unmerciful violence to come.

The new roleplay thrived even more-so than the original had...

June 2005 - 'Ulaya: Pridelands Vs. Outlands'
By February, the site had moved down to one administrator and, due to personal matters, she could not manage the site anymore either. Activity in Ulaya dramatically sank in her absence, causing it to die eventually. However, Kat returned to the internet in June, determined to revive the site to it's former glory.

Shetani, by this point, had gained allies, in the form of sneaky caracal (Erevu) and the hyenas of the Elephant Graveyard. With the Prideland King weakened after a long journey, she lunged at the opportunity to attack the fragile pride.

August 2005 - 'Ulaya: Time Of The Shadowlands'
In August, the Outlanders attacked the Pridelands. Unlike the familiar 'good triumphs over evil' stories portrayed in the Lion King films, this ended with Shetani winning the royal duel, claiming the Pridelands for herself and her pride.

With this turn of events, the title of the site was also changed, now becoming 'Ulaya: Time Of The Shadowlands'. Minus a King and Queen, the remaining Pridelanders were banished and led by the sister of the King (Ibana) into the sandy desert. There, a lone cheetah name Zeke, allowed them to settle into his family's valley home of Nekura. No longer occupants of the great Pride Rock or defenders of it's fields, the ex-Pridelanders were now called "the Outcasts".

February 2006 - 'Ulaya: Into The Desert'
Though other responsibilities kept members busy outside the forum, there was still plenty of activity on it. Later on in February 2006, to keep the plot running, the adminstration issued another timeskip. This progressed things a year in the story. Unlike previous Februarys of hiatus and no activity, there was lots of action in this one.

All the cubs from the war era were now of adolescent age. Chion, an adopted halfa cub of the now late Noyana, took charge and proceeded, with a group from the Outcast pride, to win back the lands of their ancestors. With the help of some mountain-based relatives of the former Pridelander Queen and members of the neighboring Msakaji wolf pack, their numbers and strength had grown considerably. The hyenas had also severed their previous alliances with the Outlanders and the devil queen Shetani met her end. What was left of her followers were banished once more to the harsh outskirts of the lands.

The "Kilimanjaro Mountain Range" was also added as an addition to the roleplay sections during this period. Here, the remaining relatives of the deceased Pridelander Queen lived in a small pride known as the Majabali.

April 2007 - 'Ulaya: Winds of Change'
'Winds of Change', the new title of April 2007, began with the aftermath of the second war. Ibana was secretly training a new heir for the throne, having no real desire to inherit it after her brother. Princess Lainika, the oldest and only surviving of Shetani's two offspring, began to show resemblance to her devil mother, vowing to reclaim the lands for her own. These and other hints, such as the rainy season that blessed the lands with health again, brought a popular saying, by its members anyways, to Ulaya...'A New Era'.

September 2007 - 'Ulaya: Endless Round'
With life restored to the lands, the Pridelands at least, everything seemed refreshed and somewhat back to the way it was before. The new leaders of Pride Rock, King Chion and Queen Amina, stepped into the their roles proudly, but they were also nervous about the pawprints they had to fill. Tension also still lingered beneath the surface between the two neighboring prides. Spies slipped through the lines on each side in an attempt to sabotage each other.

Unfortunately, this was not the only unpleasantry happening throughout the roleplay. In real life, the members were growing bored of the constant battle between the prides and enthusiasm was low -- critically low.

April 2008 - 'Ulaya: Apocalypse'
By April 2008, the progression of a new plot was being planned. 'Ulaya: Apocalypse' was hoping to force the two prides to finally end the war between them and work together in order to survive. Sadly, and surprisingly, it didn't catch on as hoped, but did bring a boost back to the site, too. So the few members left pressed on, trying to continue the long-lived storyline.

September 2009 - 'Ulaya: Prince of the Pridelands'
Continuation with 'Ulaya: Prince of the Pridelands' hoped to, once again, try to breathe life back into the wonderful, Lion King based roleplay game. A new board, new additions to the staff, and the drive to push forward their legacy for a new generation of roleplayers rolled on. However, lack of member participation blocked the planned plots from progressing further.

Spring 2010 to 2011 - 'Ulaya 3.0: Kings and Vagabonds'
The staff tried, yet again, to resurrect Ulaya. This time it decided to focus on a storyline surrounding the idea of rogues vs. group-oriented animals. Again, it seemed promising, but didn't work out. What was the problem?

In truth, new members found it difficult to jump into rp that, honestly, was top-heavy with history. The board had been running so long that breaking into the story seemed intimidating and basically impossible. It literally had a lot of information behind and within it. Newcomers just couldn't get into the swing of things, feeling out of place and ultimately left out of the plotlines altogether.

However, that was the appeal to its veterans, that it had lasted so long and their characters had literally grown inside it. On the other end, older members were outgrowing or bored with the genre and wanted to try new things that were not Lion King related or specific. With this realization, their numbers had decreased severely, too. What was to become of Ulaya?

Summer 2011 - "Ulaya 4.0"
The staff was left with a tough decision. Either keep things the way they were, probably letting the site fall into permanent inactivity, or wipe the slate clean and begin anew?

They choose to start fresh. Along with moving to yet another location, they updated the storyline, creating a whole new backstory. Now, the newcomers and remaining veterans would be mostly on the same page, entering an unknown landscape of potential yet still ready to make this version of Ulaya as successful as its predecessors.

It still begins a couple generations after the rule of King Kovu and Queen Kiara, but was formed by a collaborative effort from the six existing staff members together, using new and referenced characters to tie a masterpiece together. The Pridelands and Outlands are no longer the center of focus, but are, of course, a part of the tale. Instead, power has been distributed across the existing lands, including the mountains, forest, elephant graveyard, and the desert groups.

Staff

 * Kat - Admin
 * Hiraka - Admin
 * Juffy - Moderator
 * Kazani - Moderator
 * Kita - Moderator
 * Vivu - Moderator

Past staff

 * Amaurea - Admin
 * Azrayell - Admin
 * Liena - Moderator
 * Sheinka - Moderator