Name: Bwana Nnamani

The Nnamanis were not a typical Zesastean lion pride. Most prides were aggressive units focused on growth and power. Bwana Nnamani’s father was the king of their pride in title alone. He cared little about being known as the strong alpha, and rare in lions, he was known as a caring, affectionate husband and father. This did not make him popular with the other families of lions, who felt this non-aggressive creature was a shame on the lion’s name. Bwana’s mother was often the target, as the alpha males of those other prides would often try to convince her, sometimes very aggressively, of how better she would be with a real lion. She had no interest in their basic ways. She convinced her husband to immigrate to Laruta, the capital planet of the galaxy, which would hopefully be a more civilized place.

Bwana soon forgot his birthplace, quickly becoming enthralled in the ways of Laruta. He threw himself into his schooling like a famished child at a banquet. On Zesastea he had been homeschooled as most other lions had, and while his mother was the smartest animal he knew, she could not compare to the myriad of different teachers he now had and, most importantly, to the epic horde of books freely available to him in the many Larutan libraries.

As the years went by, Bwana learned more and wanted to do more. Every piece of information he got gave him new ideas. He started to badger his teachers with questions on everything, soon exhausting them. They put up with him until his curiosity one day awoke his creativity. A simple assignment would take his classmates a few minutes, while Bwana would take the weekend, creating something grand and expressive. When assigned a simple book report, Bwana wrote an extra chapter mimicking the author’s style while also summarizing the book. When assigned to write about ancient human inventions, the other students took pictures from online and blandly described them, while Bwana made his own invention with the tools and techniques commonly believed to be used in that far-off age.

While the teachers were impressed with the time he spent on their assignments and the obvious passion he had for their classes, they just didn’t know how to grade him with their standardized testing, and it took too long for most of them to even understand what he was doing. After working harder than any student around him, he failed multiple classes and had to deal with his teachers pleading for him to just do the work normally like an average child. If it wasn’t for the support of his parents, Mr. and Mrs. Nnamani, he might have given in and let them break him into a form fitting the mold that society had planned for him. Their support never wavered, and teachers soon dared not ask for those lions’ help changing this child.

Bwana somehow jumped through enough of their hoops to graduate, and one of his inventions wowed the University of Laruta enough to offer him a scholarship. He entered his next stage in life excited, believing university would be the place where his curiosity and creativity would be nurtured. He was soon disappointed when he realized the system here may claim to be about opening the minds of the next generation, while still, in fact, the goal was the same as the schools he’d warred with growing up, total conformation.

He soon dropped out and opened his own workshop, where he was finally free to fly. He lost himself in learning and creating, soon making a name for himself when his small experiments were found by savvy entrepreneurs who bought up the copyrights and made fortunes of them. Bwana cared not that he only made a fraction of the profits, happy to have the financial freedom to feed and pursue his creative inspirations. After his biggest fan, his mother became sick, Bwana became obsessed with using his abilities for health care. He realized that almost all innovation in the medical sector had been profit-focused and that someone with non-material goals like him could revolutionize the medical field, though potentially destroying many profitable business models.

Years later, Bwana, now replacing his father as the one called Mr. Nnamani, finally achieved his goal. Working at the Laruta Medical Center with the famed surgeon Valerie Seaside he created a device that while not ending sickness, would drastically reduce it. He joined Valerie on a tour of the galaxy, promoting this new device with pride as they watched their device bring health to so many. The medical industry soon put up their defense, and the dreams of his device were quickly becoming nightmares.

Mr. Nnamani would have fallen into despair if not for what he learned on the tour of the galaxy. In fact, the galaxy was sick, but the sickness ran much deeper than the physical. This sickness was greed, a deep spiritual illness which no medical treatment would heal. He knew if he really wanted to save people, he would have to go deeper. On that trip, he also learned of the prophet, the one who saw the sickness first and had a plan to save it. If Mr. Nnamani could use his talents in service to this prophet and his mission, he would save many more lives in a much deeper way.

He had left with Valarie to return to his homeworld of Zesastea where he prepared for this day. He had successfully saved/kidnapped the prophet, though he had got him along with his would-be assassins. Thankfully he was prepared with a kind of comfortable prison with separate rooms for all of them while he worked out a solution to bring them together or end the threats to the prophet if necessary. Valerie Seaside had successfully patched them all upon their arrival, and they were now recovering in their independent cells.