Originating somewhere in Oklahoma, the Demon Rider Gang is well known for both its lawlessness and brutality. According to folklore, the gang was started by a denizen of the Netherworld, who possessed the minds of his followers and spread across the West leaving anarchy, misery and murder in his wake.

Reality is likely much more mundane. It is well believed that the members of the Demon Riders are much too interested in garnering as much wealth as possible to have truly Infernal origins. It is true that they flippantly engage in activities such as rape, burglary and arson, but the members that have been brought to justice to date have been only too mortal. Still, the stories surrounding them persist and several dime novels have been written about their exploits.

For all their infamy, none of the actions of the Demon Riders has come close to rivaling the legendary status of the robbery of the Otters Bank & Trust by the Dragon-Rabbit hybrid, Sona Asoka (also known as the "Hybrid Bandit").

No one knows the true origins of Asoka, but the most popular theory is that he came over on a ship bearing Railroad workers from the Orient. The story goes that the ship left port somewhere near Hong Kong with 90 souls on board. By the time it drifted to a stop on a sandbar just off Baja, California, only Asoka survived. From there, according to the legend, the Hybrid Bandit wandered across the Frontier leaving a string of mysterious robberies and disappearances behind him.

One particularly well-known story regarding the custom-made 8-shot revolving pistols he carries, has Asoka seducing the son a wealthy gunsmith, trysting in secret with the young man for several months before finally devouring the boy as soon as he gave up the combination to his father's secret safe. The Bandit then robbed the gunsmith of all his possessions (including said pistols which he now famously wields).

Another version of the story has Asoka and the gunsmith's son becoming lovers, the gunsmith going into a blind rage and killing his boy when he attempted to run off to the Wilds with the Dragon-Rabbit. The story ends with the Hybrid Bandit avenging the death of his lover and stealing the pistols from the gunsmith's corpse before fleeing for parts unknown.

Yet another telling of the story has Asoka and the gunsmith's son attempting to free a group of illegally captured slaves (mostly rabbits and mice). The Gunsmith (trading in illicit slaves in the free Western Territories) tried to fight them off, but was overrun and killed by the newly freed slaves. The boy, overcome with grief at the actions and death of his father, took his own life. Asoka, it is said, took the youth's pistols as a token of remembrance of the good deeds of the gunsmith's son.

The stories surrounding him grow more and more far-fetched as time goes by. What is known for fact about the outlaw is that he is the product of relations between a Dragon and a Rabbit. He also possesses incredible strength. He appears, more or less, like an average rabbit, but with soft blue fur and deep red scales on the tips of his tail and ears (the result of the dragon blood he carries).

The Otters Bank & Trust was an extremely successful bank at the center of Redemption. The Sons of Liberty were regularly employed by the Otter brothers after three shipments of gold bound for the bank were intercepted by gangs (most likely the Demon Riders). Until one afternoon in the autumn of 1857, however, the bank had never been directly robbed.

Striding through the front doors in broad daylight, Sona Asoka brazenly drew his guns and gleefully demanded the contents of the vault be turned over to him. A bank clerk quickly closed and locked the vault before being gunned down. Undettered, the Hybrid Bandit then somehow ripped open the bank vault without the keys or the use of dynamite. The delay, however, allowed the sherriff and his deputies to arrive on the scene. Asoka showed no sign of worry at the arrival of the law, instead calmly taking four young lads hostage and sequestering himself inside the vault.

The standoff lasted eight hours, the sun slowly lowering on the horizon by the time the sherriff and his deputies made the decision to storm the bank. Once inside, the terrified occupants of the bank rushed the lawmen in gratitude causing a scene of some confusion. Mysteriously, no sign of Asoka, several hundred thousand bank notes or his hostages was ever found.

How he somehow engineered his escape from within the vault of a bank has yet to be discovered. The most popular theory is that the four hostages were, in fact, Asoka's cohorts. This particular version of the legend has the bandit and his companions mingling with the remaining civilians in the bank and escaping in the panicked aftermath. The reality of the situation may never be known, but the stories surrounding the robbery have become larger and larger with each telling and have spread all the way across the Atlantic ocean, told in periodicals in Britain, France and several European countries, spreading the legend of the Hybrid Bandit.

The current whereabouts of Sona Asoka remain unknown. Even with a $50,000 reward placed on his head by the city of Redemption and the Otter brothers and the combined efforts of the local law enforcement and the Sons of Liberty, the outlaw remains at large.

Meanwhile, the stories around him continue to grow more fanciful. The latest rumor has the Hybrid Bandit living within the borders of the Sioux Nation, where he is considered a hero for battling the "scourge from the East". The only officially sanctioned fact about the dragon-rabbit is that he is currently considered wanted, dead or alive.

All rights and priveleges of the original character and fursona of Sona Asoka is copyright to  sona_asoka

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Some of these old drawings were just fail. Still, at the time, it was the best version of some of my friends that I had done.

I know the storyline to this sort of involves several couples that are no longer together. I am keeping it intact as it was, though. Hopefully, we can all look back at it as a memory of a time that was.