Ursians

Where the Odovhar carry the sea's cold indifference in their blood, the Ursians carry the deep forest's patience—and, when roused, its fury. These are bear-like humanoids, massive through the chest and shoulders, standing upright on legs built as much for a powerful, rolling charge as for the slow, deliberate walk they favor in ordinary times. Thick fur covers them from crown to claw, ranging through the deep browns, blacks, and rare frosted greys one might expect of true bears, though a scattered few are born pale as winter itself, a coloring many Ursian communities regard as a mark of particular favor or fortune. Their hands, broad and tipped with claws thick enough to strip bark from a tree in a single motion, manage tools and weapons with more dexterity than their size would suggest, and a hunched, low-set posture can unfold in a heartbeat into a height that rivals even the sturdier Ogre bloodlines.

The Ursians are a people of contrasts the tome finds worth recording carefully, for a single observer's account of them can vary wildly depending entirely on when that observer happened to look. In their ordinary state, Ursians are famously unhurried—slow to anger, slow to judge, and content to let a season pass before making a decision that another race might rush into within the hour. They are, by most accounts, thoughtful company: deliberate speakers, careful listeners, and possessed of a dry, patient humor that catches outsiders off guard given their imposing frames. Yet this patience conceals a temper that, once fully roused, transforms an Ursian into something closer to a natural disaster than a combatant—strength unleashed all at once, without the slow build most other races' anger requires, and just as difficult to reason with as it is to withstand.

Den and Season

Ursian society organizes around the den, a term the tome borrows directly from the Ursians' own tongue, denoting both a physical dwelling and the extended family unit that occupies it. Dens are typically built into hillsides, hollowed groves, or the deep lee of mountain ranges, sturdy and built to last generations, and it is not uncommon for a single den to house grandparent, parent, and cub together under one roof for the whole of the elder's long life. Ursian lifespans, while not rivaling the elves, run considerably longer than a human's, lending Ursian dens a settled, unhurried permanence that echoes the temperament of their inhabitants.

Ursian life follows the turning of the seasons with a devotion other races find almost religious in its consistency. The warmer months are given over to gathering, building, and the slow work of trade and craft for which Ursian artisans—particularly their woodworkers and stoneworkers—have earned quiet respect even among more insular neighbors. As the cold months draw near, however, Ursian dens withdraw inward, activity slowing to a deliberate crawl, and it is considered a serious breach of custom, bordering on genuine offense, to disturb a den during this quiet season without grave and pressing cause. More than one hapless traveler has learned this lesson from an Ursian roused early from its winter stillness, and the tome is compelled to note that few such travelers cared to repeat the experience.

Governance Among the Dens

Ursians are not isolationist by temperament so much as simply unhurried about the wider world's affairs, and their relations with other peoples tend to reflect this: cordial where contact is calm and patient, catastrophic where it is not. Human settlements bordering Ursian territory have, over generations, learned the value of clear boundaries, advance notice, and a healthy respect for the winter quiet, and those who observe such courtesies often find Ursian neighbors to be reliable, if reserved, allies. The elves, and the Athàn-Garrow in particular, are said to hold a longstanding and genuine mutual respect with several Ursian dens, born from a shared patience the two peoples recognize easily in one another, whatever else separates them.

Where that patience is tested, however, the tome's authors council all readers to exercise considerable caution. An Ursian's temper, once fully spent, does not distinguish neatly between the party that caused offense and those merely standing nearby, and more than one border conflict in Dúnamhar's long history has ended not in a negotiated peace but in the simple, exhausted silence that follows an Ursian's fury finally burning itself out.

Ursian Subgroups by Territory

Blackroot Ursians (deep Coill-Spine forest) The most numerous of the Ursian groupings, dark-furred and forest-dwelling, the Blackroot maintain the closest ties to the Athàn-Garrow elves of any Ursian den-cluster, sharing forest territory in a long and largely undisturbed peace built on mutual patience and mutual disinterest in disturbing the other's affairs.

Frostpelt Ursians (Choróin Mountains, high slopes) Pale, thick-coated, and suited to genuine cold, the Frostpelt occupy the same forbidding heights claimed in part by the Choróin Jutons, and have developed a wary but workable coexistence with their giant neighbors, each generally content to let the mountain provide enough territory for both.

Hollowvale Ursians (Wyrm-Tooth foothills) Somewhat smaller and notably quicker-tempered than other Ursian groupings, the Hollowvale have taken the brunt of pressure from expanding human settlement along the eastern valley's edge, and relations there remain the most strained of any Ursian territory—cordial in quiet years, and considerably less so when boundaries are pressed.

Duskhollow Ursians (southern borderlands, near Duskmere territory) The most sociable and least reclusive of the Ursian groupings, having grown accustomed to the greater mixing of peoples along the southern borderlands, the Duskhollow are known to trade more freely and travel further from their dens than Ursian custom typically favors, much to the quiet consternation of more traditional dens elsewhere.

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• SIZE +1: Ursians are tall and broad, adding +1 to their Toughness.
• VERY STRONG: Ursians start with Strength d8, increasing their maximum Strength to d12+2.
• TOUGH: Ursians’ starting Vigor is d6, increasing the limit to d12+1.
• BIG: Their muscular frame causes Ursians to subtract two when using equipment designed for smaller beings, and they cannot wear humanoid armor or clothing. Equipment, armor, food and clothing cost double the listed price.
• MEAN: Taught that might makes right, Ursians struggle with diplomacy and tact. They have the Mean Hindrance.