One of the things I absolutely adore about the furry fandom is how each sona is created based on many things; sometimes it can be as straight forward as "I loved huskies as a boy, my grandpa owned a husky named Rex and since I loved both of them and both have passed away therefore my sona is a husky named Rex" to having layers as to why the sona is the way it is. Regardless of how simple or complex a sona is, there is always one major element that stands out no matter what; how personal it is to the sona creator.
I feel like starting a thread explaining how we all got our sonas, what inspired them, and why we gravitated towards them as our personal avatar. And who better person to start this off than me! Drohan as a sona is an interesting one as it has just as much of a backstory as he has as a character in his lore. It's a mix of everything significant I have lived in my life and he means a lot to me as my sona and my personal avatar for everything I do in life.
First, why a bear; This dates ALL THE WAY back to the early-to-mid 2000s. I used to visit my friends in New Hampshire to spend the summer with them and be roommates. One day in 2006, my friend went on a blind date and as an ice breaker question, he was asked the furriest question a normie could ask; If you could be an animal, what animal would you be and why? That question was profound enough that my friend returned home and wrote a whole blog post about it and choosing the wolf, because he felt that the majority of his life he was a lone wolf surviving by himself, but later realizing that he became stronger when part of a pack. So he dubbed himself "The Wolf of the Tower". Now my best friend was dubbed "The Gorilla of the Tower" because he was a big, tall hairy man with a deep voice. Out of curiosity, I asked what my animal would be and without hesitation, my friend says "You are the Cuddly Bear of the Tower!". At first I was like "Huh...ALRIGHT!'. The answer, though, left me curious, so I started to read more about bears, like the different species, their survival instincts, what makes each species unique and found them not just fascinating creatures but I identify with them being creatures that are misunderstood, big, silly, very protective of family and very curious about the world. So afterwards I fully accepted that I was the bear, but didn't think much about it since.
Second, why a cinnamon bear; Out of all the species of bear my favorite is the American Black Bear. I just find them to be adorable in that they have rounder features and look generally cuddlier and fluffier. Plus even though they are large bears, compared to other species they are relatively small. In my case, I had always been the biggest and tallest in my family, but then I moved to the US where I was dwarfed so I felt being a black bear fit me best. But why a cinnamon bear? A cinnamon bear is the subspecies/color variation of the black bear. The color cinnamon is often associated with latino skin color so by choosing cinnamon I felt I was both going through a different path by choosing the subspecies of a bear and choosing a color that represented my latino roots.
Third, why the name is "Drohan": This one is simple and to the point; back in the day, my best friend and I adored the Comedy Central show "Drawn Together" (very problematic show BTW). Captain Hero's running gag is that he kept calling everyone "Hey bro-han! How you doin' bro-han?". My friend thought that was funny so he took the last three letters of my real name, Pedro, and added the han so it became "Drohan". I liked the name but never really used it. It wasn't till I became a furry that I decided that Drohan would be a very unique and fun name for a sona because it sounds unique and fits the character; it has a cosmic element to it while having some Down-to-Earth humility to it.
Fourth, and most importantly, the shooting star theme; Not only is Disney's Aladdin tied with Beauty and the Beast as my favorite animated classic, "A Whole New World" is my favorite Disney song and just song in general. I loved it as a kid, but it wasn't till I became an adult in which the themes and message of the world truly resonated with it. In 2004, I visited the US for the first time and it was truly an experience because it really WAS a whole new world after years of living in a poor mountain town in an island. Each yeah the song gained strength in my heart, and by 2012 it had been cemented as my comfort song, and the lyric that tells my life story till then is "I'm like a shooting star, I've come so far, I can't go back to where I used to be". That lyric beautifully represents my own personal journey from birth today till right now, that every day that passes I move into new horizons and I keep growing so much of mind, heart and soul that I can't go back to being in a small, conservative village with restrictions for absolutely everything. I can't go back to my mental trap when I had seen and learned so many things where I am right now.
And that, my friends, is Drohan's creation story. How he is as a character, though, that's a story for another time.