Anima's Origins
(What the heck *is* that cat *really?*)

In the time surrounding the events recorded during King Arthur's reign, there lived a mage by the name of Prismith. It would be pointless to name a place of residence for the wizard, for he could move from continent to continent as you would step from the bedroom to the washroom. This sorceror never made it into the history books, albeit in the form of the unspeakable acts he and his power commited. No, this was no friend of Merlin. He was a traffiker with demons, a drinker of blood and souls, a murderer and a glutton. But he was also cunning in a way few ever bother to be nowadays. Prismith knew how to lurk in the shadows and pull all the right strings to accomplish his goals. The few who learned of the mage's machinations never lived long enough to get the word out at large. Yet even the most powerful being on earth must perish, eventually. And Prismith was indeed powerful! The forces at his command were those that drove the clockwork machine that is the universe.
His death came about as an accident, while he was performing one of the routine power gatherings that kept him at full strength. As the magic dripped from the stars into the rune circle traced in the sand of a white beach, a star went nova. Even the smallest imbalance in this kind of large-scale drawing can result in a domino effect. Think of it as a power surge. Prismith's body was vaporized as the power coursing over and through his body became too much for the flesh to withstand. You could almost hear the earth sigh in relief as this unimaginable evil drifted on the night breeze as harmless molecules... But though the container was gone, the power remained.
A shapeless, thoughtless, mass of force, Prismith's energy was nearly as dangerous without a directing force as it was with one. Astoundingly, this mass did not exist for long as a dumb force of nature; it soon began forming a matrix that one could call a mind. Once this happened, everything changed. Like an infant, the Power began to learn and make mistakes. It drifted over the world, observing and interacting, gathering more power in the form of knowledge. It even gained the ability to mimic the forms of physical creatures, learning more in the shape of an Indian servant, a griaffe on the dry plains of Africa, or an Italian street peddler than it could as a nebulous cloud of energy. Slowly a personality emerged from the matrix, becoming more dominant and complex every day. Ultimately, a physical form became evident. Anima. A name that holds great meaning and potential. Drawn from countless blood sacrifices, solar flares, cosmic winds and stellar radiation, the Power chose the sleek lithe form of a male black panther as its earthly frame. And in this shape, Anima learned yet more.
He learned of his old incarnation, of the mind-numbing atrocities he had spawned. Anima was sickened to realize he was the result of some of those atrocities. But just as the child of a rape exhibits none of the evil of the forced act that created it, Anima showed none of the tendencies of Prismith. He was his own person, just one that happened to be composed of a monolithic amount of dark energy. Hey, everyone starts somewhere!
In his travels, Anima disovered a society he could function well in, as his chosen form. There were others there, others with pasts as dark as his own. Others who were still learning, beings he could learn from and teach at once. Anima decided to seal off the majority of his power, bottling it up in a fifth-dimensional compartment. (Don't even ask, he couldn't explain it himself.) Now, the panther might as well be as normal as anyone can be. With the bulk of his power absent unless called upon, he functions on the same level as the average creature.
Well...purrhaps not so average. He's still a rather tempremental being, and shape-changing is one of his hobbies. Not just his own form, however. Some of Anima's friends have been changed as well, just for kicks.
Continuing to learn, and now to enjoy himself, Anima slipped into a convenient niche in the Furry community. He has been accepted by this society, though they had little knowledge of his origins. They have just been informed. We shall see if they remain so amiable.

:KD :K) :K| :K( |K) :K9 :KP :K0 ;KD ;K) ;K9 :K)~ o,O = ^ ^ = 8) :>-<