Bearfolk

The Bearfolk, who call themselves the Urvaen, are towering, broad-shouldered beings who embody the balance of restful power and explosive force. As ancient stewards of the Vale’s deeper groves and riverlands, they stand as living reminders that true strength often lies in patient stillness.

Known for their rich spiritual traditions, they see themselves as intermediaries between the land’s spirits and the mortal races — guardians of old promises, keepers of seasonal rites, and sometimes terrifying warriors when roused.

Basic Information

Anatomy

Upright, heavily built humanoids with broad chests, massive forelimbs, and slightly forward-leaning posture.
Hands are wide with powerful retractable claws. Legs are short but immensely strong, with padded feet that move quietly despite size.
Have deep chests that produce resonant vocalizations — chants, roars, and long hums that can echo through forests.

Biological Traits

Deep Slumber: Can enter trance-like hibernations for weeks or months, during which they commune with land spirits or ancestors.
Spirit-Bonded Metabolism: During emotional or spiritual peaks, burn through stored energy to achieve bursts of near unstoppable physical might.
Scent Memory: Possess an extraordinarily developed sense of smell tied to emotional residues — can “read” the moods left by travelers or even sense lingering ancestral spirits.

Genetics and Reproduction

Families are small, usually 1–3 cubs spaced across many years.
Cubs remain under close parental care for decades, learning spiritual lore and practical survival equally.

Growth Rate & Stages

Cub: Until ~20, playful but closely protected.
Youngclaw: ~20–50, start accompanying elders on patrols, spirit rites, minor hunts.
Prime: ~50–120, take on full duties as wardens, shaman-guides, or warriors.
Elder: ~120+, often slow their bodies to near stillness, entering semi-dream states to guide through vision and story.

Ecology and Habitats

Live in river valleys, heavy glades, and sacred caves marked by old standing stones.
Construct semi-open lodges of woven branches, stone, and earth, adorned with spirit totems and protective wards.

Dietary Needs and Habits

Omnivorous. Consume fruits, nuts, honey, fish, and larger game, but never waste anything — every hunt ends with chants thanking the fallen spirit.
Store root vegetables and dried berries in communal caches for lean seasons.

Biological Cycle

Mood and energy ebb with seasons.
In cold months, many gather for long dream feasts, slipping into communal torpor to share visions and sustain body warmth.

Behaviour

Calm, deliberate, thoughtful speakers. Often silent in company, conveying much through posture, ear flicks, low hums or snorts.
When angered, transform instantly from placid stillness to ferocious force.

Additional Information

Social Structure

Organized into Circles, extended kin groups bound by shared ancestor spirits.
Each Circle maintains a Heart Lodge, a large communal hall filled with carved tokens of their line’s past and guarded by the Circle’s eldest.

Facial characteristics

Broad snouts, short rounded ears that turn constantly to catch sounds, expressive brows.
Fur around muzzle often paler or darker, marking age and lineage.

Geographic Origin and Distribution

Scattered throughout the deeper heart of the Vale, often near ley-fed rivers and old barrows.
Serve as semi-nomadic guardians of the forest, moving between sacred sites to ensure old protections remain intact.

Average Intelligence

Highly intelligent but prefer practical, symbolic, or spiritual reasoning over abstract theory.
Excellent at reading complex systems like local ecosystems or social undercurrents.

Perception and Sensory Capabilities

Extraordinary scent and hearing.
Can smell “emotion trails,” sense subtle shifts in magical tension, and sometimes hear faint whispers of ancestor voices on the wind.

Civilization and Culture

Naming Traditions

Given names are deep-throated, rolling sounds often describing nature events. Examples: Borrum (Rolling Thunder), Kaerva (River Echo), Thurran (Storm Linger).
Circle names tied to ancient animal spirits or elemental forces: Stonepaw, Emberback, Hollowtide.

Beauty Ideals

They admire heavy builds that show strength and health, thick well-kept fur, and prominent claw or bite scars from ritual contests or battles defending the Vale.

Gender Ideals

Gender roles in daily life; roles are defined more by who hears the spirits most clearly, who stands strongest against threats, or who best keeps stories alive.

Relationship Ideals

Partnerships form through shared pilgrimages to sacred sites.
Bondmates often carve paired totems from the same fallen branch or stone, keeping halves with them always.

Average Technological Level

Skilled at wood shaping, stone carving, and crafting powerful spirit wards.
Make heavy enchanted totem-poles that channel protective magics, and leather or bark armor inlaid with bone runes.

Major Language Groups and Dialects

Speak a slow, deep dialect of Sylvanelle rich with rumbles and subsonic notes, conveying complex emotional layers.

Common Etiquette Rules

Sit with legs tucked and claws displayed to show openness.
When sharing food, always leave the first bite to ancestors — pushing it toward the center of the group.

Common Dress Code

Wear minimal clothing: belts, harnesses, ritual collars, and large pendants. During ceremonies, drape themselves in capes of leaves, feathers, or heavy woven wool dyed with riverbed clays.

Culture and Cultural Heritage

Keep oral histories alive through Deep Murmurs, chanting sessions where entire Circles hum and growl to pass layered memories.
Paint cave walls with seasonal marks, ensuring spirits recognize new generations.

Common Customs, Traditions and Rituals

Spirit Feasts: Before long rests, share grand meals where they recount ancestral deeds, sometimes entering trances mid-meal.
Mark of the Claw: Scratch personal or family symbols into standing stones at sacred sites to show continued stewardship.
River Immersions: Ritual baths to cleanse spirits of sorrow or rage, performed under moonlight with chanting.
Echo Hunts: Silent cooperative hunts that test their patience and unity, reinforcing Circles’ bonds.

Common Taboos

Never lie in matters of death — to mislead about how someone died is to anger both the spirit and the land.
Killing without cause or leaving prey unhonored is the gravest disgrace.

History

Era/Event	Summary
First Waking	Rose from forest spirits mingling with primal beasts; walked from river mists as the Vale first flowered.
Oath of Still Waters	Swore ancient pacts with Vinefolk and dusk elves to guard barrows and ley pools.
Blight’s Rage	Led the physical charge against corrupted beasts, many Circles still carry scars from the war.
Current Guardians	Maintain vigil over old stone sites, ensuring the Vale remains balanced and promises are kept.

Interspecies Relations and Assumptions

Species	Bearfolk Attitudes
High Elves	Respect them but find their rigid hierarchies perplexing.
Moon Elves	Often participate in their night dances, seeing shared value in dreams and reflections.
Wild Elves	Hunt alongside them, sharing mutual respect for strength and natural cycles.
Dusk Elves	Quietly trust them to maintain shadow balances; work together to cleanse old blight spots.
Vinefolk & Leyshrooms	Deep kinship, often sleep against their warm root masses during long hibernations.
Halflings & Gnomes	Enjoy their bright songs and food, host them for story feasts.
Humans (Embergarde)	Wary of their greed but open to trade if respect for the land is shown.

Lifespan

110–160 years

Average Height

7’0” to 8’5”, heavily muscled and imposing.

Average Weight

450–800 lbs, a mix of dense muscle, protective fat for harsh seasons, and sheer primal mass.

Body Tint, Colouring and Marking

Thick fur in earthy browns, russet reds, charcoal blacks, or pale glacier hues.
Some bearfolk develop distinctive magical “spirit marks”: swirling rune-like patterns that glow faintly along shoulders and flanks, often tied to a personal ancestor or guardian spirit.
Eyes are small but luminous, in shades of gold, moss green, or storm gray.