* Restricted: Bear Cultists only
URSO, the Bear God, is G/C Patron of Bear Cults.
Until 7 VI 2501, He was Demigod of Bears, but on 8 VI 2501 His Hopes were
fulfilled when He achieved Godhead as OPSOR, G/C God of Hope.
OPSOR retained His association with Bears and has continued in His Aspect
as URSO, with a modified ursine Clerical Spell List for His Clerics who worship
Him as URSO.
Bear Cultists dwell in small family or tribal groups in wilderness areas where wild Bears are to be found, mostly in the Overworld. Some are nomadic, but most outwith the Grasslands or Icelands live in villages or homesteads and are farmers, fishermen and especially beekeepers (some Cults keeping Giant Bees). They are great carvers of Bear Totems.
Lycanthropy is endemic in the Bear Cults, with most Cultists being Werebears
and many of them Bearserking when angered, especially if their families are
threatened. They have Thievish
Scouting abilities and are great hunters, including through the Otherworlds.
Some, particularly in the Icelands, are fearsome Armoured
Werebearserkers.
Bear Cultists disapprove greatly of those who capture Bears
for circuses, dancing, baiting and other so-called "entertainments" of city
folk. They normally avoid towns and
cities, but will enter them to free captive Bears and take bloody vengeance upon
their captors. They also hate Orcs
and other despoilers of Nature.
JAPAL supports the Cults’ Beastmaster Druids through Her Bear Spirits. Bear Beastmasters have a specific Druidic Spell List, with Bilberry as the unique medium for their Ursine Cycle of Spells. Bear Cults tend to be Mystical and their Shamen can Enter the Land of Milk and Honey, the Dreamworld of Bears and Bees, using their Enter Power or via the Sacred Circles and Totems of their Cults.
Cultist Binders Summon ONIKUMA, G/C Demon Lady of Bears,
Who appears as a huge and powerful Bear, provides Bear Familiars, Grows Bees and
grants Powers of Lycanthropy, Shapechange to Bear, Bearserking, Scenting and
Enter the Land of Milk and Honey or Endless Icefloes to Cultists.
Bear Cultists have affinities with Cold and Water, but an
aversion to Fire (though they do not count as Fire Vulnerable).
Their Elementalists favour Cold and
Water Spells.
The Bear Cults are independent groups rather than part of larger organisations, but there are some similarities between the localised Bear Cults in particular regions:
The Polar Bear Cultists of the Icelands are nomadic wanderers across the ice caps of the Overworld and Underworld, sheltering in caves and igloos. Their Fighters are fearsome Armoured Werebearserkers. Their Druids are Readers of the Pattern and their Shamen of the Bear Totem Enter the Endless Icefloes, which is the Dreamworld of Polar Bears neighbouring the Land of Milk of Honey, in which fish and seals are plentiful.
The Mist Warrior Bear Cultists of the Grasslands are nomadic wanderers with their Sacred Circle in the Southern Plains. They are expert Scouts and include unarmoured Wearbears. Their Druids are Mist Warriors and Totem carvers.
The Morcolië are the High Elven Bear Cult, based in the Temple Tree of OPSOR at Mírlinnyrn. They are a farming Cult, keeping Giant Bees, and are expert Scouts and Mystics. Their Temple Guard is comprised of Golden Armoured Wearberserkers.
The Grawaith are the Wood Elven Bear Cult of Taur Galen. They are homesteaders and beekeepers, and expert Scouts and hunters in the woods, marking their territories with Totems and claw marks. Their Shamen rescue those who fall victim to the Trance of the Trees.
Clan Marnac of the Badlands are nomads with summer shielings along the Home River. They are expert Scouts and Fighters, including some Armoured Wearberserkers. They capture and breed Owl Bears and Control them in battle.
The Bear Cults of the North West (including The Kingdom of the North and Kyr) tend to worship THE GREAT BEAR ESCUS rather than URSO . They dwell in isolated homesteads and are (Were)Bearserkers. They hunt down stragglers and dererters from Orcish incursions.
The Bear Cult of the North East Forest dwell along the Bear River, where they fish for salmon and keep bees. They are all Werebears and engaged in a deadly struggle with the Ghosts of the Forest. They are Mystics and Binders, and prize silver and Magical armour and weapons.
The Bear Cults of the Beastmasters of the Jungle dwell mostly in the cloud forests of the foothills and on the slopes of the great Mountains of the East. Here small-scale agriculture is possible and they fish and keep their Giant Bees. They roam great distances in Werebear form, hunting Dwarvish lumberjacks in the North and Goblin tree-fellers in the South. It is said that some of the mountain Cults breed the legendary Eagle Bears.
The Bear
Cult of the Beastmasters of Kargen is made up of nomads and settlers who
dwell mostly in the Lonely Hills, from which they have ousted the Spider Cult.
They are keepers of Giant Bees, Totem carvers and Mystics.
Go to Druidic Spell List of the Bear Cults
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