Tygra was born into a family of great renown and import within the Tiger Clan, known for its academics. The heads of this family were Rajan & Syra, his father and mother. Who would bear two sons, Tygra, then four years later, his younger brother Bengali. The elder of the two brothers born at the tail end of the Mutants’ occupation of Thundera. Remembering little of it except for dark tales and shadows on his elders’ faces when it came time to speak of it.
He and his brother were raised away from the worst scars of Plundarrian rule. With the best tutors and a well connected family, Tygra’s natural intelligence thrived beyond his parents’ wildest dreams. Mathematics, chemistry, botany, and especially architecture were among his favored subjects. Though he was not neglected in physical training matters either, the Tiger Clan’s unique martial arts, dances and most uncommonly among Thunderians, swimming were among his parents’ strict regiment for him as well.
The bar was raised ever higher, and his desire for heightened skill to the point of perfection ever deepening in his heart. His only respite being the times he spent outside of training with Bengali, who was in some ways less burdened by their parents’ expectations than he was, younger and in some ways freer. Bengali’s talents appeared to land outside the narrow lines of their parents’ expectations and desires. Unbeknownst to Tygra, this cast a dark shadow on his little brother, despite Tygra's innocent desire to simply enjoy the company of the only other child he knew.
(The rest of Tygra's origin & art WIPs under the cut! Feel free to ask questions!)
Imagine then his utter confusion and dismay at being bestowed a gift he could not comprehend or control instantaneously, the mystic power of illusion. Unintentionally wreaking havoc upon his parents, tutors and the staff of his family’s estate, finding himself stricken and exhausted between bouts of false reality that not even he who created it could fully detangle. Only getting so much of a handle on it as to disappear out of an instinct of fear and embarrassment. He would be sent away from all that was familiar to him to the Hall of Mystics, his parents hearts full of joy, Bengali’s of abandonment and jealousy, and his own full of fear.
However, he would come to reflect on his time in the Hall of Mystics as one of the better times of his life, though it certainly did not begin that way. Sheltered from other ways of life beyond the Tiger Clan’s, and ceasing to be the smartest child in any given room, he grew withdrawn and bitter. Were it not for stumbling into a fellow outsider in the form of Cheetara, he would never have opened his heart or mind to more novel ways of thinking. Here, in no small part due to Cheetara & Tygra’s mutual fondness for one another Tygra began to find a path independent from that which was laid out before him by his parents.
Here he developed a taste for philosophy and history and a deep appreciation of ways that deviated from his own, learning from the most distant of his Thunderian kin to even various outworlder cultures. Finding no more reason to stay within the Hall of Mystics once Cheetara abandoned her own training, he graduated from the Hall of Mystics an accomplished illusionist. Continuously devouring knowledge into his adulthood, not however, in the lands of the Tiger Clan, but the Thunderian capital of Thazera, where he would learn and teach in equal part. A place where he would come to meet another dear friend, the war-hero Panthro.
This friendship would lead to the invention of Tygra’s bolo whip, a weapon that could near seamlessly blend his own mysticism (particularly his invisibility), ancient Thunderian weaponry, and modern technology. Leading Tygra, somewhat reluctantly, into the path of spy work. As the looming threat of Mutants and the Fanged Cabal lurked in the shadows of an oh-so-recently liberated Thundera. This work began to take greater and greater precedence over his educational pursuits after the death of Lady Seka, Lion-O’s mother.
His last mission while Thundera still stood would be the acquisition of war machine blueprints that confirmed what Jaga and Lord Claudus had long suspected and feared, the Mutants had plans to once again lay siege against their world under the rule of Ratilla’s heir and successor, Ratar-O. Thundera of course, would not survive to see another war, rogue Mutants exploiting this vulnerability to put an end to the lives of many a Thunderian who tried to escape. Among them, by all appearances, Tygra’s younger brother Bengali. With whom he had not spoken since leaving for the Hall of Mystics, much to his devastation and regret in the aftermath.
It would not be long afterwards Jaga would bestow upon him yet more new responsibilities. Though for reasons yet unknown, the Sword of Omens had chosen the child Lion-O to wield it, and thus by magic & tradition would shoulder the burden of Lord of the ThunderCats, he was still a child. That should anything befall him, Tygra would be the one to lead the precious few surviving Thunderians until Lion-O reached maturity. To further complicate matters, due to Mutant ambush, unplanned trajectories, and a damaged suspension pod. The ThunderCats would emerge on an alien world, with Lion-O, while still a boy of twelve internally, bearing the face and form of an adult.
Stranded with two dear friends, a domestically inclined Snarf, and a small gaggle of cubs. He must lead them to safety and tantamount to their survival, mentor the young Lord Lion-O to lead when the time was right. None of which he felt inclined or prepared for. Tygra would of course, accept this duty, as he did with all expectations of him, however high, but he took no solace in it.
