And the last Bearan lore topic is Values & Beliefs.
Do they value their freedom, the most? Or maybe the most valuable thing for them is Nature? Do they believe only in their "ways"? Or do they believe in the "ways" of the other races too?
Let's see what you think about the Values & Beliefs of the Bearan race.
Last edited: 2023-05-14 15:35:28Hello again, I wrote this over the weekend, and I tried to summarize it the most I could, without hurting the narrative too much. Also sorry if there are some grammar errors, I don't have time to check it all again.
I based myself on real bears behavior and
roles in nature, also on some American indigenous tribes’ beliefs and on some of
the Norse culture.
I think I have expressed several times my disagreement
with the part where Humans “tamed” and “taught” Bearan how to speak, so I would
like to offer a more HONORABLE approach (for Bearan) for the Bearan-Human relationship.
Of course, as always, feel free to disagree with
little to all you’ll read. These are just recommendations.
First of all I would like to express that Bearan are childs of Aragon, Elves are Demons that were transformed, and Demons were created by the Old Gods. Bearan are closer to nature than Elves, much more closer, I think they have to be closer to Druids that any other playable race. Elves were Demons. For me its more probable Bearan being greater Druids than Elves.
VALUES AND BELIEFS
*Bearan are a simple race, what the good earth provides
is always sufficient. They
seek to live in perpetual harmony with their world.
*Most people see nature as good; they associate it with
life and food and things like that, but there are elements associated with “evil”:
winter, floods, droughts, night, insects, diseases, plagues, undead, etc. Nature just sees these things as
things they're not good or evil, and Bearan accept this.
*The Bearan view all living things as a single
connected system to be respected and cared for. Bearan have a deep understanding of the real natural
balance. They believe that nature exists outside of civilized conceptions of
good or evil. Bearan value the pristine wilderness, accepting its cruelty and
ugliness along with its wonder and beauty.
*Bearan value balance over all things, spirituality,
strength and intelligence, they value their roots and ancestors. They don’t like extremist behaviors
because there’s no balance there.
*The Bearan revere mainly Aragon. For Bearan, Aragon is called Jord
(Norse word that means “Earth”), Bearan say that after Jord created all
creatures, and after she gave birth to all her creations, she assigned a role
to everyone that they had to fill in her creation.
*Bearan believe that they and all creatures who were
gifted with strength and intelligence were created to be the guardians of the
natural balance of their respective homes, to bring death when it is needed and
to protect life when it is needed. They
believe that after Jord finished assigning roles to all plants and creatures, she
left her physical form to be the home of all her childs and to be protected by
them, she lives in the spiritual world and she watches over them from there.
*Bearan see themselves as one of the guardians of the
natural balance of Aragon, and because of that they value loyalty and
diligence, that is to carry out the task entrusted to you with care, passion
and commitment. So they
always try to carry out their roles as guardians of the natural balance.
*Bearan all share certain key values across clans, they
believe in a globally distributed consciousness of Jord. They also believe that all creatures
and plants, have three forms: a physical, a mental, and a spiritual form and
that all creatures are connected in their three forms. At the end of one's
life, the Bearan believe that the spirits of the dead return to the spiritual realm
before being reborn as living matter to walk again over Aragon.
*Bearan also respect all the spirits, the moon, the sun
and the sky. Every
Bearan clan has to choose a spirit to guide their people. If a new Bearan clan
is created they have to seek for the favor of a spirit to be guided.
*Just as Bearan clans share some values, there are also
some divided opinions about other topics, such as the Undead and the Infernal
Demons. Some Bearan see
Undead just as sick animals that have to be cured because their affection wasn’t
caused by nature. Others think they are sick animals that have to be killed for
the sake of the balance to avoid the spreading of the illness, among others few
opinions. But if those opinions share something, is that Bearan don’t hate
Undead like Humans and the other races do, they are just trying to understand
them to figure out what actions have to be taken that will cause the less damage
to all the involved.
*Some Bearan also see the races created by the Old Gods
(Humans, Infernal Demons, Elves and Undead) like puppets of their gods, strangers
that weren’t born by Jord, invasive species that have the potential to destroy
the natural balance of Aragon if they aren’t controlled and watched closely.
*Bearan have developed a healthy respect for Orcs, they
admire their ability to survive in the harsher environments of Aragon and the
way they let the natural selection do the work on their population. They don’t waste the opportunity to
prove their strength against Orcs. They don’t have issues expressing their
respect for the Orcs, what sometimes has led to tension and minor discussions with
the races of the Sacred Order. In fact, they consider Orcs also one of the
guardians of Aragon that will fight back-to-back with them when the time to
defend Aragon from greater dangers comes.
GENERAL BEHAVIOR
*Bearan are a season driven race, they follow the cycle
of nature. They have
seasons for mating, for eating and working, and for resting and birthing.
Bearan that have passed their trial of adulthood don’t need to hibernate.
Bearan have seasons where they work and eat a lot, and seasons where they rest
and eat less to maintain the balance. A Bearan’s living space that provides
food, water, and adequate cover is called a "home range." Bearan are
excellent swimmers and will frequent nearby islands during seasonal and
climatic changes.
*Bearan are normally a reserved, distrustful, peaceful
and RETICENT race (key word). They
are inclined to be silent or uncommunicative in speech with other races. They
have little desire to interact, unless they are forced to be around other races
to be near a food source, they usually choose to avoid them.
*If you manage to gain a Bearan trust, you’ve won a
friend for all life, but that’s a difficult thing to achieve, many have
mistaken their tolerant and peaceful behavior with friendship, and they regret
it now.
*Bearan, have a “critical space”, an area around them
that they will defend. Once
you have entered a Bearan critical space, you have forced the Bearan to act, either
to run away, defend or be aggressive. The size of the critical space is
different for every individual, group, Bearan village/town and every situation.
*Bearan are very curious and will inspect odors,
noises, objects and creatures to determine if they are edible, useful, friendly
or dangerous.
*Just like their primitive cousins, Bearan stand up on their
hind legs to get more information from its senses of smell, sight and hearing,
but they have the ability to walk like this for more time to get the best of
their senses.
*A Bearan first line of defense is evasion, but they can
be amazingly aggressive towards those who they perceive as threats.
*Bearan tolerate other races at close distances. If they are not harassed, Bearan
HABITUATE and TOLERATE to other creatures the same way they do to each other.
Bearan can easily co-exist in very close proximity with other creatures and in
fact form alliances and friendships, (likely because there is strength in
numbers). This is how Bearan tolerated Humans.
SOCIAL STRUCTURE
*Bearan society reflects their beliefs of natural
balance and roles. Bearan
can look primitive for other races, but they are in fact very organized, the
Chieftain oversees assigning the role of the Bearan members that have passed
the adulthood trial, just like Cub-Mothers, Hunters, Farmers, Crafters,
Warriors, Druids, Caretakers, Witchers/es, etc.
*It is important to mention that Bearan doesn’t farm
like Humans do, they instead search for trees and plants that were born
naturally, over their “home range”, they mark them and take care of them so they
can provide food for all creatures nearby.
*Bearan also pass their story to future generations
through paintings on caves and carving totemic shapes on trees, without cutting
the trees.
*Bearan live in a clan-based society. Bearan clans are leaded by a
Chieftain and their Spirit Guide that expresses their words to a member of the
clan that the spirit choses. This Bearan is called “The Roar of the clan” and
speaks first to the Chieftain of any concern the spirit has, he is also the
spiritual guide of the Bearan Clan.
*Bearan are
not territorial. Being territorial means keeping other members of your species
away from a given area. Wolves and primates are territorial, Bearan aren’t.
Bearan, share home ranges. This mutual use of land and resources is a basis for
Bearan social behaviour.
*They have a profound connection with nature, so they
believe that their leaders have to be individuals with balanced skills, just
like nature. Bearan can
establish and maintain their social position and place in their hierarchy by
competing between them in trials that measure their physical strength, spiritual
strength, and mental strength, where only Bearan that have passed the adulthood
trial can participate. Any Bearan can challenge another Bearan for a leadership
position of any role.
*The Bearan clans of a region are usually familiar with
one another, and meetings consist of complex social and resource exchanges. Some Bearan clans like each others
and others simply tolerate between them, in their respective “home ranges”. All
clans obey The Great Chieftain.
*The Great Chieftain is chosen in a trial where Bearan
Chieftains competes to demonstrate who is the best of the of the best. This trial is a bigger version of
the trial to choose the Chieftain of a clan. Only Chieftains can participate.
*The winner of the trial not only wins the right to
lead all Bearan clans he also wins the right for their clan to live in and protect
“Bjorn’s forest”, a Bearan rare forest in the heart of the Tundra brimming with
life and ancient magic, and where eldest Bearan history is guarded.
*Bjorn’s Forest is also the place where all Bearan
clans reunite on times of great need and great danger. This is also the place
where the trial to choose the Great Chieftain is performed. The Great Chieftain
also oversees all the disputes between Bearan clans.
ADULTHOOD TRIAL
*Bearan cubs, most part of the year they must eat and train for the
winter hibernation. High
Cub Mother and Cub Mothers of Bearan clans oversee training and learning of younger
Bearan to prepare them in their childhood and youth years for the
"Great Hibernation" trial, where their skills will be evaluated.
*Bearan protect and guard the younger members of the clan that
haven’t passed the adulthood trial, because they are weak, vulnerable, and susceptible
to outside influence. Bearan
are simple people, their names are formed by using a word or phrase of their
language that describes the Bearan behavior followed by the name of their
respective clan.
*The “Great Hibernation” trial are 3 trials where younger
Bearan have to test their body, mind and spirit to prove they are useful adults
for their clans.
*Before winter begins Bearan clans prepare themselves
to march to Jord’s Forest. The
High Cub Mother of each clan prepares all young Bearan that are old or skilled
enough to take the adulthood trial. The Chieftain choses some members of the
clan to travel with him and gives instructions to the members who will stay at
home.
*Once at Bjorn’s Forest all clans are received by The
Great Chieftain Ursan with a great feast prepared mainly for younger Bearan where
all clans eat and drink together until falling asleep. Once all younger Bearan
are sleeping, all Chieftains and their bodyguards move the Bearan cubs to “Bjorn’s
Dream” a special zone of “Bjorn’s Forest”, and they will spread and leave their
bodies all over the zone, and there’s where the trial starts.
*Don’t let the name confuse you, it is a forest full of
dangers. In the moment a
Bearan wakes up he only has a paper note with the instructions of what he must
do. Three trials have to be passed, or they can find their way out of the
forest, to try the next year, if they didn’t die.
*Body trial: They have to survive and fight the dangers to find
"The Cave of the Eternal Dream" in the heart of the Forest.
*Mind trial: The Spirit Guide of The Great Chieftain Ursan clan
will be waiting for the Bearan that manage to find the cave and he will test
him with riddles, puzzles and questions about the Bearan and Aragon history.
*Spirit trial: The Spirit Guide will reward the ones that passed
their test with a beverage to quench thirst and will allow them to enter the
cave. They will have to
resist 90 days and 90 nights inside the cave. Once they are inside the cave,
they will fall asleep due to the beverage, in the cold, cold ice, they will be
under “The Great Hibernation" spell that will make them enter the Bearans'
spiritual realm where their spirit will be tested and tempted with food, drink,
fame, a warm bed among other temptations, they just have to accept to flee the
trial. All this while their bodies have to resist the really harsh environment of
the cave.
*Those who flee or pass the Spirit trial will awake and
will be allowed to leave the cave and forest safe, just to find out that only have
passed a pair of days since they arrived at Bjorn’s Forest. The time flows in a different way
inside the Bjorn’s Dream and it’s a sacred place for Bearan.
*All Bearan will be received with joy at the end of the
trial, there’s no shame on failing the trial. No one leaves with empty hands, Bearan find what are
their weaknesses and what they must work on, to balance their life and try the
next year.
*After the trial ends, the Bearan clans have another
great feast and great sleep before coming back to their respective homes, some
like adults and others with more to learn.
======================================================================
*As I’ve said in other posts, most of first encounters
between 2 different civilizations end up in conflict.
*So I would like to offer a different approach to the
Bearan-Human story, more complex that Bearan being treated like circus animals
by the Humans. They
should have their own cultural identity; they are a very promising race.
*I would like to clarify that these are just
recommendations, I’m not saying that devs have to do it in the same way, but I
would like to offer a different point of view that may serve as inspiration to
change the Bearan lore.
A TALE OF BEARAN – HUMAN FIRST CONTACT
*After being defeated by Queen Nepherimas, Humans were
forced to leave Whitestone. After
their defeat Humans were weak and disorganized for some time, exploring without
direction new lands to find a new home.
*Bearan were unknown for the Humans, but Humans weren’t
for Bearan. As
guardians of Aragon Bearan were already aware of Humans, but they were avoiding
all contact with them because they consider Humans, problematic, extremist, and
greedy beings that must be watched closely.
*In one of their desperate expeditions to find a new
home, King Venuin Stonehill sent an expedition through the sea to the unknown Tundra
lands where Humans reached the Bearan’s main territory. The Humans settled some camps along
the coast to start exploring these new cold lands. Bearan being a peaceful and
tolerant race, had no problem with this, Jord provides food and home for
everyone, they said. At first Bearan scouts were just looking from the woods
without being noticed to find if they had peaceful or aggressive intentions.
*We have Bearan in all sizes and shapes, to put Bearan
size in perspective, Bearan are similar in size to their primitive cousins, Polar
Bears, that are the taller race of bears, average Polar Bear males can reach 3m
while standing on their hind legs. According
to Guinness, the largest Polar Bear registered stood 3.5m tall. For Bearan
adult males 3.5m is the average height.
*Bearan scouts and patrols are chosen because they are fast,
intelligent, and they don’t use weapons or armor to defend their selves, they are
excellent at close combat with their natural weapons and camouflage. Bearan scouts have learned to
imitate to perfection their primitive cousins, to look like normal adult Bears
to the eyes of other races while exploring and investigating. Humans already
knew Bears, and Bearan prefer to avoid verbal communication with other races, so
Humans didn’t suspect anything.
*Just after a few weeks Humans already were taking resources
and hunting without measurement, they also started expanding their camps, what
started worrying some Bearan clans that expressed their concerns and asked Great
Chieftain Ursan permission for preventive actions, Great Chieftain Ursan decided
that it was time to take more defensive actions, so he gave instructions to Bearan
clans of a more aggressive mood to scare Humans and to start marking boundaries.
*Human explorers started disappearing without leaving
trail and “Bears” (Bearan) started acting aggressively. Explorers informed about the abrupt change
of mood of the “Bears (Bearan)”, that confused and intrigued the leader of the
Human expedition. Let’s call this Human John Clayton, for storytelling purposes,
(yeah that John Clayton from Tarzan movies). Clayton was
located at the main human camp
*Clayton was an impatient and greedy individual, and he
was known between Humans for his obsession of hunting rare creatures and his aggressive
methods. Clayton had
direct orders from Venuin Stonehill to avoid any conflict as possible and to
inform him of any valuable resources found to personally evaluate the situation
and take the best actions possible. As you already know, John Clayton ignored these
orders and started taking all resources he could for his own benefit and lying
on their written reports.
*Clayton had experience in exploring, hunting, and piracy,
so he thought that the sudden change of mood in the “Bears” (Bearan) was
because they were protecting areas valuable in resources and food. Clayton ordered explorers to kill
any aggressive Bear and animal they found, and there is where all started.
*Next day in the morning, Clayton sent one of their trusted
four hunters to the zone where the Bears were more aggressive and ordered them
to kill everything in the way. These
ones settled a camp near a beautiful river that crossed the forest nearby.
*These hunters didn’t know they were at the boundaries
of the home range of the “Blackclaw” Bearan clan, one of the most powerful and
fierce Bearan clans. Chieftain
Einar Blackclaw already had scouts and centinels over all his territory and
ordered them to not hesitate in defending and expulsing Humans.
*Astrid Blackclaw, a Bearan female with a beautiful golden
fur, was starting her patrol, when some sounds like thunders were heard near
the river, she looked to the sky and there were no torment clouds, all the sky
was clean. She already
heard those sounds, and Astrid knew what those sounds meant, Human Hunters.
*Astrid went to investigate the sounds, carefully, walking
on her four legs, to avoid being detected, she found the hunter’s camp near the
river, it was empty, got closer to have a better look. Astrid knew Humans were still close,
the fire was still warm, and there was an strong alcohol odor trail, so she
started tracking them.
*Just a few minutes after she started tracking the
Hunters, she noticed an intense blood odor, then another round of “Human
Thunders” were heard close, one following another. After hearing them, Astrid speeded
up the pace, just to start finding corpses of dead animals on the trail of the
hunters, what started turning her mad.
*There they were, Astrid got paralyzed some moments by
the rage she was feeling. The
four hunters, drank, posing and playing with the body of a dying young black
bear, while their assistant was drawing a portrait of the scene. “Look, it
seems like the bigger one also wants to play with us” they said between laughs.
*The laughs soon were replaced by the loud screams of
the assistant being ripped apart by the enraged claws of Astrid Blackclaw, it
all happened so fast.
*The first of the hunters tried to reach his riffle just
to lose his right arm in the fangs of the Bearan and die bleeding
*The second hunter managed to climb a tree and started
shooting at the Bearan, “Die beast!” he was screaming, “No human!” the Bearan
answered, the hunter was so frightened when he heard words coming out the “Bear’s
mouth”, that he didn’t notice Astrid fell the tree in a few seconds, he died crushed
by the tree.
*While their partners were being killed by the talking
bear, the third and fourth hunters started running to their camp and shooting without
believing what they just heard. There
were just a few meters to reach the camp and the ground below their feet
started trembling, the third hunter looked back and the last image he saw was the
giant bear running behind him.
*The fourth hunter watched all while he was trying to
reach the river, his partner tried to take a great axe from the camp to hurt
the bear, and he couldn’t believe when the bear killed his partner with his own
axe.
*
“Leave!... Leave!...
Leave!...” Astrid was roaring while looking to the eyes of the fourth hunter
that was being dragged down river.
*The survivor told Clayton and the settlement the tale
of the ferocious gold talking bear, “It must be a spirit, the spirit that
protects these forests!” he said, “Did the bear bleed?” Clayton asked, “I don’t remember,
everything happened too fast” the survivor answered, “Let’s go find it out”,
Clayton said with his face covered with a smile and big eyes.
*Chieftain Einar Blackclaw was already expecting some trouble
after Astrid told him what happened , so he ordered to patrol in pairs. Chieftain Einar Blackclaw sent a scout
with a message to Great Chieftain Ursan informing about the recent events and
asking for permission to expel all the humans from their land.
*Three days after the fight, first hour in the morning,
Astrid was patrolling with Sven, a young brown Bearan, who just had passed the
adulthood trial. Everything
was looking normal, it was looking like Humans got the message, until three-gun
shots followed by the loud moans of a Bear broke the silence.
*Astrid and Sven started running towards the screams
just to find a mother bear and her two cubs trapped in cages and being lashed
by a group of five Humans while they were laughing and drinking. Astrid started running so fast and
was so frenzied that she didn’t notice all the humans hiding in the woods and
the ground. “Wait!” Sven screamed, but she didn’t listen. “Leave
Humans!” she was roaring.
*One… two… three… four humans killed by Astrid’s frenzied
claws. The mother and
the cubs were freed by Sven. Then who knows how many Humans came out of everywhere.
*When Astrid realized it was a trap, she ordered Sven
to escape and protect the bears. Clayton
wasn’t caring about the bears, not even about Sven, he was too obsessed with
the golden talking bear that he didn’t notice that Sven also talked.
*Astrid got herself surrounded by humans inside a green
smoke cloud that wasn’t allowing her to see or smell, rope nets started falling
over her, she charged forward to get out of the smoke, two more man died in the
act. ”Don’t ruin the fur!” Clayton
screamed. Astrid started feeling weak and sleepy, bolas were falling from
everywhere, she was pulling with all her strength managing to reach the river,
when a glass bottle broke in her head creating another green smoke cloud, she
couldn’t see anything, she couldn’t move more, she fell asleep, Sven was
looking scared from the woods.
*Clayton got what he was looking for, a rare specimen
that will sell for a lot of gold and will lead him to the rich resources of the
zone. Humans were
celebrating, they thought their problems had finish.
*The sun was setting, the humans were drinking and
having a feast around the trapped Bearan who didn’t say a word after being
captured. Clayton was
bluffing about how much he will make by selling all the resources they found
there when a loud roar was heard outside the wooden walls of the settlement.
*The doors fell down, and a giant armored Black Bear with
a huge stone axe in hand entered the Human settlement screaming “Where’s my
daughter?!”. Armored
bears walking on two legs started appearing from everywhere, humans couldn’t
believe what they were seeing and they barely could defend their selves. The night
was filled with the screams and chaos of the human camp. Chieftain Einar
Blackclaw took Clayton with both hands and teared him apart, he rescued his
daughter and killed most of the humans, those who weren’t killed, managed to
escape in boats to the other human camps.
*After the recent events where the clan Blackclaw was
involved, reached the ears of Great Chieftain Ursan, he ordered all Bearan
clans to make contact with the rest of the human camps and inform them that
they had three days to leave their lands or they would suffer the same fate
that John Clayton.
*Some human camps left immediately, others refused and
fought against the Bearan clans, what didn’t end up well for humans. Once the news about how John Clayton
lied, and about this race of talking bears, reached Venuin Stonehill, he decided
to attend the matter personally. Venuin Stonehill knew that humans couldn’t
afford another war or enemy, they were too weak, they needed to find a new home
to rebuild their kingdom.
*Venuin Stonehill sailed the seas to the Bearan lands
prepared for a hostile welcome. After
demonstrating he wasn’t looking for a battle, he asked for a meeting with their
leader. Great Chieftain Ursan was informed and luckily for humans, Bearan prefer
peace than war, and he accepted.
*Human and Bearan leaders reunited. Venuin apologized for what John
Clayton had caused, he explained that humans just were looking for a new home
and offered their best Mages and Paladins to repair the damage the first
expedition caused.
*Great Chieftain Ursan wasn’t a fool, war isn’t good
for natural balance, he accepted the apologize and the help, also allowed a few
human settlements to stay in their lands under strict vigilance, humans had to
prove their intentions again, the rest of the humans had to leave. Venuin accepted, some Humans and
Bearan were agree, other weren’t.
*And that’s how the relationship between Humans and
Bearan started, now, how they became allies as part of the Sacred Order is a story
for another day.
Thanks for reading!
It's just great storytelling, THANKS!
Hello again, I wrote this over the weekend, and I tried to summarize it the most I could, without hurting the narrative too much. Also sorry if there are some grammar errors, I don't have time to check it all again.
I based myself on real bears behavior and
roles in nature, also on some American indigenous tribes’ beliefs and on some of
the Norse culture.
I think I have expressed several times my disagreement
with the part where Humans “tamed” and “taught” Bearan how to speak, so I would
like to offer a more HONORABLE approach (for Bearan) for the Bearan-Human relationship.
Of course, as always, feel free to disagree with
little to all you’ll read. These are just recommendations.
First of all I would like to express that Bearan are childs of Aragon, Elves are Demons that were transformed, and Demons were created by the Old Gods. Bearan are closer to nature than Elves, much more closer, I think they have to be closer to Druids that any other playable race. Elves were Demons. For me its more probable Bearan being greater Druids than Elves.
VALUES AND BELIEFS
*Bearan are a simple race, what the good earth provides
is always sufficient. They
seek to live in perpetual harmony with their world.
*Most people see nature as good; they associate it with
life and food and things like that, but there are elements associated with “evil”:
winter, floods, droughts, night, insects, diseases, plagues, undead, etc. Nature just sees these things as
things they're not good or evil, and Bearan accept this.
*The Bearan view all living things as a single
connected system to be respected and cared for. Bearan have a deep understanding of the real natural
balance. They believe that nature exists outside of civilized conceptions of
good or evil. Bearan value the pristine wilderness, accepting its cruelty and
ugliness along with its wonder and beauty.
*Bearan value balance over all things, spirituality,
strength and intelligence, they value their roots and ancestors. They don’t like extremist behaviors
because there’s no balance there.
*The Bearan revere mainly Aragon. For Bearan, Aragon is called Jord
(Norse word that means “Earth”), Bearan say that after Jord created all
creatures, and after she gave birth to all her creations, she assigned a role
to everyone that they had to fill in her creation.
*Bearan believe that they and all creatures who were
gifted with strength and intelligence were created to be the guardians of the
natural balance of their respective homes, to bring death when it is needed and
to protect life when it is needed. They
believe that after Jord finished assigning roles to all plants and creatures, she
left her physical form to be the home of all her childs and to be protected by
them, she lives in the spiritual world and she watches over them from there.
*Bearan see themselves as one of the guardians of the
natural balance of Aragon, and because of that they value loyalty and
diligence, that is to carry out the task entrusted to you with care, passion
and commitment. So they
always try to carry out their roles as guardians of the natural balance.
*Bearan all share certain key values across clans, they
believe in a globally distributed consciousness of Jord. They also believe that all creatures
and plants, have three forms: a physical, a mental, and a spiritual form and
that all creatures are connected in their three forms. At the end of one's
life, the Bearan believe that the spirits of the dead return to the spiritual realm
before being reborn as living matter to walk again over Aragon.
*Bearan also respect all the spirits, the moon, the sun
and the sky. Every
Bearan clan has to choose a spirit to guide their people. If a new Bearan clan
is created they have to seek for the favor of a spirit to be guided.
*Just as Bearan clans share some values, there are also
some divided opinions about other topics, such as the Undead and the Infernal
Demons. Some Bearan see
Undead just as sick animals that have to be cured because their affection wasn’t
caused by nature. Others think they are sick animals that have to be killed for
the sake of the balance to avoid the spreading of the illness, among others few
opinions. But if those opinions share something, is that Bearan don’t hate
Undead like Humans and the other races do, they are just trying to understand
them to figure out what actions have to be taken that will cause the less damage
to all the involved.
*Some Bearan also see the races created by the Old Gods
(Humans, Infernal Demons, Elves and Undead) like puppets of their gods, strangers
that weren’t born by Jord, invasive species that have the potential to destroy
the natural balance of Aragon if they aren’t controlled and watched closely.
*Bearan have developed a healthy respect for Orcs, they
admire their ability to survive in the harsher environments of Aragon and the
way they let the natural selection do the work on their population. They don’t waste the opportunity to
prove their strength against Orcs. They don’t have issues expressing their
respect for the Orcs, what sometimes has led to tension and minor discussions with
the races of the Sacred Order. In fact, they consider Orcs also one of the
guardians of Aragon that will fight back-to-back with them when the time to
defend Aragon from greater dangers comes.
GENERAL BEHAVIOR
*Bearan are a season driven race, they follow the cycle
of nature. They have
seasons for mating, for eating and working, and for resting and birthing.
Bearan that have passed their trial of adulthood don’t need to hibernate.
Bearan have seasons where they work and eat a lot, and seasons where they rest
and eat less to maintain the balance. A Bearan’s living space that provides
food, water, and adequate cover is called a "home range." Bearan are
excellent swimmers and will frequent nearby islands during seasonal and
climatic changes.
*Bearan are normally a reserved, distrustful, peaceful
and RETICENT race (key word). They
are inclined to be silent or uncommunicative in speech with other races. They
have little desire to interact, unless they are forced to be around other races
to be near a food source, they usually choose to avoid them.
*If you manage to gain a Bearan trust, you’ve won a
friend for all life, but that’s a difficult thing to achieve, many have
mistaken their tolerant and peaceful behavior with friendship, and they regret
it now.
*Bearan, have a “critical space”, an area around them
that they will defend. Once
you have entered a Bearan critical space, you have forced the Bearan to act, either
to run away, defend or be aggressive. The size of the critical space is
different for every individual, group, Bearan village/town and every situation.
*Bearan are very curious and will inspect odors,
noises, objects and creatures to determine if they are edible, useful, friendly
or dangerous.
*Just like their primitive cousins, Bearan stand up on their
hind legs to get more information from its senses of smell, sight and hearing,
but they have the ability to walk like this for more time to get the best of
their senses.
*A Bearan first line of defense is evasion, but they can
be amazingly aggressive towards those who they perceive as threats.
*Bearan tolerate other races at close distances. If they are not harassed, Bearan
HABITUATE and TOLERATE to other creatures the same way they do to each other.
Bearan can easily co-exist in very close proximity with other creatures and in
fact form alliances and friendships, (likely because there is strength in
numbers). This is how Bearan tolerated Humans.
SOCIAL STRUCTURE
*Bearan society reflects their beliefs of natural
balance and roles. Bearan
can look primitive for other races, but they are in fact very organized, the
Chieftain oversees assigning the role of the Bearan members that have passed
the adulthood trial, just like Cub-Mothers, Hunters, Farmers, Crafters,
Warriors, Druids, Caretakers, Witchers/es, etc.
*It is important to mention that Bearan doesn’t farm
like Humans do, they instead search for trees and plants that were born
naturally, over their “home range”, they mark them and take care of them so they
can provide food for all creatures nearby.
*Bearan also pass their story to future generations
through paintings on caves and carving totemic shapes on trees, without cutting
the trees.
*Bearan live in a clan-based society. Bearan clans are leaded by a
Chieftain and their Spirit Guide that expresses their words to a member of the
clan that the spirit choses. This Bearan is called “The Roar of the clan” and
speaks first to the Chieftain of any concern the spirit has, he is also the
spiritual guide of the Bearan Clan.
*Bearan are
not territorial. Being territorial means keeping other members of your species
away from a given area. Wolves and primates are territorial, Bearan aren’t.
Bearan, share home ranges. This mutual use of land and resources is a basis for
Bearan social behaviour.
*They have a profound connection with nature, so they
believe that their leaders have to be individuals with balanced skills, just
like nature. Bearan can
establish and maintain their social position and place in their hierarchy by
competing between them in trials that measure their physical strength, spiritual
strength, and mental strength, where only Bearan that have passed the adulthood
trial can participate. Any Bearan can challenge another Bearan for a leadership
position of any role.
*The Bearan clans of a region are usually familiar with
one another, and meetings consist of complex social and resource exchanges. Some Bearan clans like each others
and others simply tolerate between them, in their respective “home ranges”. All
clans obey The Great Chieftain.
*The Great Chieftain is chosen in a trial where Bearan
Chieftains competes to demonstrate who is the best of the of the best. This trial is a bigger version of
the trial to choose the Chieftain of a clan. Only Chieftains can participate.
*The winner of the trial not only wins the right to
lead all Bearan clans he also wins the right for their clan to live in and protect
“Bjorn’s forest”, a Bearan rare forest in the heart of the Tundra brimming with
life and ancient magic, and where eldest Bearan history is guarded.
*Bjorn’s Forest is also the place where all Bearan
clans reunite on times of great need and great danger. This is also the place
where the trial to choose the Great Chieftain is performed. The Great Chieftain
also oversees all the disputes between Bearan clans.
ADULTHOOD TRIAL
*Bearan cubs, most part of the year they must eat and train for the
winter hibernation. High
Cub Mother and Cub Mothers of Bearan clans oversee training and learning of younger
Bearan to prepare them in their childhood and youth years for the
"Great Hibernation" trial, where their skills will be evaluated.
*Bearan protect and guard the younger members of the clan that
haven’t passed the adulthood trial, because they are weak, vulnerable, and susceptible
to outside influence. Bearan
are simple people, their names are formed by using a word or phrase of their
language that describes the Bearan behavior followed by the name of their
respective clan.
*The “Great Hibernation” trial are 3 trials where younger
Bearan have to test their body, mind and spirit to prove they are useful adults
for their clans.
*Before winter begins Bearan clans prepare themselves
to march to Jord’s Forest. The
High Cub Mother of each clan prepares all young Bearan that are old or skilled
enough to take the adulthood trial. The Chieftain choses some members of the
clan to travel with him and gives instructions to the members who will stay at
home.
*Once at Bjorn’s Forest all clans are received by The
Great Chieftain Ursan with a great feast prepared mainly for younger Bearan where
all clans eat and drink together until falling asleep. Once all younger Bearan
are sleeping, all Chieftains and their bodyguards move the Bearan cubs to “Bjorn’s
Dream” a special zone of “Bjorn’s Forest”, and they will spread and leave their
bodies all over the zone, and there’s where the trial starts.
*Don’t let the name confuse you, it is a forest full of
dangers. In the moment a
Bearan wakes up he only has a paper note with the instructions of what he must
do. Three trials have to be passed, or they can find their way out of the
forest, to try the next year, if they didn’t die.
*Body trial: They have to survive and fight the dangers to find
"The Cave of the Eternal Dream" in the heart of the Forest.
*Mind trial: The Spirit Guide of The Great Chieftain Ursan clan
will be waiting for the Bearan that manage to find the cave and he will test
him with riddles, puzzles and questions about the Bearan and Aragon history.
*Spirit trial: The Spirit Guide will reward the ones that passed
their test with a beverage to quench thirst and will allow them to enter the
cave. They will have to
resist 90 days and 90 nights inside the cave. Once they are inside the cave,
they will fall asleep due to the beverage, in the cold, cold ice, they will be
under “The Great Hibernation" spell that will make them enter the Bearans'
spiritual realm where their spirit will be tested and tempted with food, drink,
fame, a warm bed among other temptations, they just have to accept to flee the
trial. All this while their bodies have to resist the really harsh environment of
the cave.
*Those who flee or pass the Spirit trial will awake and
will be allowed to leave the cave and forest safe, just to find out that only have
passed a pair of days since they arrived at Bjorn’s Forest. The time flows in a different way
inside the Bjorn’s Dream and it’s a sacred place for Bearan.
*All Bearan will be received with joy at the end of the
trial, there’s no shame on failing the trial. No one leaves with empty hands, Bearan find what are
their weaknesses and what they must work on, to balance their life and try the
next year.
*After the trial ends, the Bearan clans have another
great feast and great sleep before coming back to their respective homes, some
like adults and others with more to learn.
======================================================================
*As I’ve said in other posts, most of first encounters
between 2 different civilizations end up in conflict.
*So I would like to offer a different approach to the
Bearan-Human story, more complex that Bearan being treated like circus animals
by the Humans. They
should have their own cultural identity; they are a very promising race.
*I would like to clarify that these are just
recommendations, I’m not saying that devs have to do it in the same way, but I
would like to offer a different point of view that may serve as inspiration to
change the Bearan lore.
A TALE OF BEARAN – HUMAN FIRST CONTACT
*After being defeated by Queen Nepherimas, Humans were
forced to leave Whitestone. After
their defeat Humans were weak and disorganized for some time, exploring without
direction new lands to find a new home.
*Bearan were unknown for the Humans, but Humans weren’t
for Bearan. As
guardians of Aragon Bearan were already aware of Humans, but they were avoiding
all contact with them because they consider Humans, problematic, extremist, and
greedy beings that must be watched closely.
*In one of their desperate expeditions to find a new
home, King Venuin Stonehill sent an expedition through the sea to the unknown Tundra
lands where Humans reached the Bearan’s main territory. The Humans settled some camps along
the coast to start exploring these new cold lands. Bearan being a peaceful and
tolerant race, had no problem with this, Jord provides food and home for
everyone, they said. At first Bearan scouts were just looking from the woods
without being noticed to find if they had peaceful or aggressive intentions.
*We have Bearan in all sizes and shapes, to put Bearan
size in perspective, Bearan are similar in size to their primitive cousins, Polar
Bears, that are the taller race of bears, average Polar Bear males can reach 3m
while standing on their hind legs. According
to Guinness, the largest Polar Bear registered stood 3.5m tall. For Bearan
adult males 3.5m is the average height.
*Bearan scouts and patrols are chosen because they are fast,
intelligent, and they don’t use weapons or armor to defend their selves, they are
excellent at close combat with their natural weapons and camouflage. Bearan scouts have learned to
imitate to perfection their primitive cousins, to look like normal adult Bears
to the eyes of other races while exploring and investigating. Humans already
knew Bears, and Bearan prefer to avoid verbal communication with other races, so
Humans didn’t suspect anything.
*Just after a few weeks Humans already were taking resources
and hunting without measurement, they also started expanding their camps, what
started worrying some Bearan clans that expressed their concerns and asked Great
Chieftain Ursan permission for preventive actions, Great Chieftain Ursan decided
that it was time to take more defensive actions, so he gave instructions to Bearan
clans of a more aggressive mood to scare Humans and to start marking boundaries.
*Human explorers started disappearing without leaving
trail and “Bears” (Bearan) started acting aggressively. Explorers informed about the abrupt change
of mood of the “Bears (Bearan)”, that confused and intrigued the leader of the
Human expedition. Let’s call this Human John Clayton, for storytelling purposes,
(yeah that John Clayton from Tarzan movies). Clayton was
located at the main human camp
*Clayton was an impatient and greedy individual, and he
was known between Humans for his obsession of hunting rare creatures and his aggressive
methods. Clayton had
direct orders from Venuin Stonehill to avoid any conflict as possible and to
inform him of any valuable resources found to personally evaluate the situation
and take the best actions possible. As you already know, John Clayton ignored these
orders and started taking all resources he could for his own benefit and lying
on their written reports.
*Clayton had experience in exploring, hunting, and piracy,
so he thought that the sudden change of mood in the “Bears” (Bearan) was
because they were protecting areas valuable in resources and food. Clayton ordered explorers to kill
any aggressive Bear and animal they found, and there is where all started.
*Next day in the morning, Clayton sent one of their trusted
four hunters to the zone where the Bears were more aggressive and ordered them
to kill everything in the way. These
ones settled a camp near a beautiful river that crossed the forest nearby.
*These hunters didn’t know they were at the boundaries
of the home range of the “Blackclaw” Bearan clan, one of the most powerful and
fierce Bearan clans. Chieftain
Einar Blackclaw already had scouts and centinels over all his territory and
ordered them to not hesitate in defending and expulsing Humans.
*Astrid Blackclaw, a Bearan female with a beautiful golden
fur, was starting her patrol, when some sounds like thunders were heard near
the river, she looked to the sky and there were no torment clouds, all the sky
was clean. She already
heard those sounds, and Astrid knew what those sounds meant, Human Hunters.
*Astrid went to investigate the sounds, carefully, walking
on her four legs, to avoid being detected, she found the hunter’s camp near the
river, it was empty, got closer to have a better look. Astrid knew Humans were still close,
the fire was still warm, and there was an strong alcohol odor trail, so she
started tracking them.
*Just a few minutes after she started tracking the
Hunters, she noticed an intense blood odor, then another round of “Human
Thunders” were heard close, one following another. After hearing them, Astrid speeded
up the pace, just to start finding corpses of dead animals on the trail of the
hunters, what started turning her mad.
*There they were, Astrid got paralyzed some moments by
the rage she was feeling. The
four hunters, drank, posing and playing with the body of a dying young black
bear, while their assistant was drawing a portrait of the scene. “Look, it
seems like the bigger one also wants to play with us” they said between laughs.
*The laughs soon were replaced by the loud screams of
the assistant being ripped apart by the enraged claws of Astrid Blackclaw, it
all happened so fast.
*The first of the hunters tried to reach his riffle just
to lose his right arm in the fangs of the Bearan and die bleeding
*The second hunter managed to climb a tree and started
shooting at the Bearan, “Die beast!” he was screaming, “No human!” the Bearan
answered, the hunter was so frightened when he heard words coming out the “Bear’s
mouth”, that he didn’t notice Astrid fell the tree in a few seconds, he died crushed
by the tree.
*While their partners were being killed by the talking
bear, the third and fourth hunters started running to their camp and shooting without
believing what they just heard. There
were just a few meters to reach the camp and the ground below their feet
started trembling, the third hunter looked back and the last image he saw was the
giant bear running behind him.
*The fourth hunter watched all while he was trying to
reach the river, his partner tried to take a great axe from the camp to hurt
the bear, and he couldn’t believe when the bear killed his partner with his own
axe.
*
“Leave!... Leave!...
Leave!...” Astrid was roaring while looking to the eyes of the fourth hunter
that was being dragged down river.
*The survivor told Clayton and the settlement the tale
of the ferocious gold talking bear, “It must be a spirit, the spirit that
protects these forests!” he said, “Did the bear bleed?” Clayton asked, “I don’t remember,
everything happened too fast” the survivor answered, “Let’s go find it out”,
Clayton said with his face covered with a smile and big eyes.
*Chieftain Einar Blackclaw was already expecting some trouble
after Astrid told him what happened , so he ordered to patrol in pairs. Chieftain Einar Blackclaw sent a scout
with a message to Great Chieftain Ursan informing about the recent events and
asking for permission to expel all the humans from their land.
*Three days after the fight, first hour in the morning,
Astrid was patrolling with Sven, a young brown Bearan, who just had passed the
adulthood trial. Everything
was looking normal, it was looking like Humans got the message, until three-gun
shots followed by the loud moans of a Bear broke the silence.
*Astrid and Sven started running towards the screams
just to find a mother bear and her two cubs trapped in cages and being lashed
by a group of five Humans while they were laughing and drinking. Astrid started running so fast and
was so frenzied that she didn’t notice all the humans hiding in the woods and
the ground. “Wait!” Sven screamed, but she didn’t listen. “Leave
Humans!” she was roaring.
*One… two… three… four humans killed by Astrid’s frenzied
claws. The mother and
the cubs were freed by Sven. Then who knows how many Humans came out of everywhere.
*When Astrid realized it was a trap, she ordered Sven
to escape and protect the bears. Clayton
wasn’t caring about the bears, not even about Sven, he was too obsessed with
the golden talking bear that he didn’t notice that Sven also talked.
*Astrid got herself surrounded by humans inside a green
smoke cloud that wasn’t allowing her to see or smell, rope nets started falling
over her, she charged forward to get out of the smoke, two more man died in the
act. ”Don’t ruin the fur!” Clayton
screamed. Astrid started feeling weak and sleepy, bolas were falling from
everywhere, she was pulling with all her strength managing to reach the river,
when a glass bottle broke in her head creating another green smoke cloud, she
couldn’t see anything, she couldn’t move more, she fell asleep, Sven was
looking scared from the woods.
*Clayton got what he was looking for, a rare specimen
that will sell for a lot of gold and will lead him to the rich resources of the
zone. Humans were
celebrating, they thought their problems had finish.
*The sun was setting, the humans were drinking and
having a feast around the trapped Bearan who didn’t say a word after being
captured. Clayton was
bluffing about how much he will make by selling all the resources they found
there when a loud roar was heard outside the wooden walls of the settlement.
*The doors fell down, and a giant armored Black Bear with
a huge stone axe in hand entered the Human settlement screaming “Where’s my
daughter?!”. Armored
bears walking on two legs started appearing from everywhere, humans couldn’t
believe what they were seeing and they barely could defend their selves. The night
was filled with the screams and chaos of the human camp. Chieftain Einar
Blackclaw took Clayton with both hands and teared him apart, he rescued his
daughter and killed most of the humans, those who weren’t killed, managed to
escape in boats to the other human camps.
*After the recent events where the clan Blackclaw was
involved, reached the ears of Great Chieftain Ursan, he ordered all Bearan
clans to make contact with the rest of the human camps and inform them that
they had three days to leave their lands or they would suffer the same fate
that John Clayton.
*Some human camps left immediately, others refused and
fought against the Bearan clans, what didn’t end up well for humans. Once the news about how John Clayton
lied, and about this race of talking bears, reached Venuin Stonehill, he decided
to attend the matter personally. Venuin Stonehill knew that humans couldn’t
afford another war or enemy, they were too weak, they needed to find a new home
to rebuild their kingdom.
*Venuin Stonehill sailed the seas to the Bearan lands
prepared for a hostile welcome. After
demonstrating he wasn’t looking for a battle, he asked for a meeting with their
leader. Great Chieftain Ursan was informed and luckily for humans, Bearan prefer
peace than war, and he accepted.
*Human and Bearan leaders reunited. Venuin apologized for what John
Clayton had caused, he explained that humans just were looking for a new home
and offered their best Mages and Paladins to repair the damage the first
expedition caused.
*Great Chieftain Ursan wasn’t a fool, war isn’t good
for natural balance, he accepted the apologize and the help, also allowed a few
human settlements to stay in their lands under strict vigilance, humans had to
prove their intentions again, the rest of the humans had to leave. Venuin accepted, some Humans and
Bearan were agree, other weren’t.
*And that’s how the relationship between Humans and
Bearan started, now, how they became allies as part of the Sacred Order is a story
for another day.
Thanks for reading!
Thats amazing! Is It official Lore? Because if not It have to be.
It is not "official" lore but all the ideas and suggestions from the forum are taken into account and implemented into the lore as much as possible, one way or another.
Thats amazing! Is It official Lore? Because if not It have to be.