Bärchak

The Bärchak, by far better known by the name Thunderbears, dwell in the northern glaciers known as the Bear Tundra after them. Rare in the extreme, they dominate that barren and frozen land like no other race anywhere. Legendary for their warriors, for their metal work, and their savagery during their wars with the far numerically superior Vargör, the Bärchak are also very unwelcoming of strangers, and mistrustful, preferring to isolate themselves in their frozen home.

Names

Bärchak (self), Thunderbears (kardesia and the ghanish states)

Potency


Visage

The Bärchak are huge creatures, close in size to a real bear, but aside from their thick shaggy brown coats there is little semblance to a bear there. Their legs are short and bowed, their feet bare, and their toes splayed to better grip onto the icy terrain of their homes. Their long trunks lead up to massive barrel chests and long arms reach down to the ground where they can run on their knuckles for greater speed. They are powerful creatures, made up of knots of bulging muscle under heavy fur to cope with life on the surface of a glacier. The head is unmistakably that of a bear, with the great jaws, the blunt muzzle, the close-set eyes, the rounded ears. Usually a tanned brown in colour, Bärchak often have black spots running up the spine like those of a plains cat. Each Bärchak's markings are different, like a fingerprint.

Aetherial

The Bärchak are creatures of raw brute strength, but are not as aggressive or wild as one might expect. They have a towering military discipline and rigid social structure that emphasizes the rule by law and order in Bärchak society. Another thing one might not expect from looking at these creatures is that they are undoubtedly the finest workers of metal and creators of weapons and armour in all of the world, and their arms and armour are the finest to be found anywhere. They have a burning, passionate, inborn hatred for the Vargör and both races will attack one another and fight to the death on sight. They are also fine swimmers, and able to survive, even thrive, in cold that would be fatal to any other race. However undoubtedly their most remarkable ability is their so called 'lightening bathing'. In thunder storms the Bärchak go out onto the ice with tall iron rods, and there they stand, dead still and wait. When the lightening licks from the sky it strikes them squarely, but they are not hurt, instead they are empowered. Able to heal from even the most heinous wounds, and invigorated to might beyond even their powerful race by the touch of the deadly lightening. These creatures are truly the mightiest to be found in Allornus, and perhaps it is a blessing that they are so few, and so isolated to their frozen homes.

Craft


Cunning

Not simple bestial creatures, Bärchak are great craftsmen, and love to make things. They find function to be the greatest form of beauty, and so all that they make is austere and severely utilitarian, however the great halls they carve from ice, and their weapons and armour and tools all have a sort of beauty in their sheer minimal functionality. Fiercely competitive in their youth, they expunge their aggression early in life, and become functioning members of society who have clear roles, and find great satisfaction in performing them.

Social

Bärchak society is dominated by the enormous alpha-females. Society is driven by these militant she-bears, and romantic relationships between alpha-females is common, leaving the smaller males for hunting and mating. Males are usually less predictable and less disciplined than females, and so they are not held up to the same standard of conduct, they are used as shock troops and are not allowed to challenge another Bärchak for position or a matter of honour. Because the Bärchak hierarchy is based on ritual combat to establish rank the males cannot participate in the ruling regime, and so mostly groups of young males range and hunt for food while the older males are kept at the settlement as breeding stock and to bolster the female’s defensive capabilities against non-bear threats. Most of the finest craftsmen are elder males too, devoting themselves to a craft in place of rank and position. Most remarkable about the Bärchak however is their affinity for storms.

Civilization

The Bärchak tend to settle in vast stone settlements built on high mountain plateaus, where they are most likely to have access to the storms that hammer the northernmost lands of Allornus. Their settlements may be small, but they are of monolithic proportion, with precisely hewn stone cut from the living rock of a mountainside creating both the structures, and the broad flat plateaus they occupy. Immense stone bears in ornate armour usually decorate the gates and feasting hall and forge, while squat pillars depict carved friezes telling the history of the clan. The forge is usually the heart of a community, not just because working metal is the thunderbear's way of life, but for the heat it produces, meaning that community meetings and even religious ceremonies are often held by the great forge, which is ever-burning, and keeps the worst of the freeze from encroaching into the heart of a Bärchak settlement.

The Bärchak worship the massive northern Great-Horned Bears, towering white bears growing up to forty feet in height, Bärchak often make their homes around one of these creature’s caves. The Great-Horned Bear is an exceptionally placid creature, usually exclusively hunting the great white whales of the north sea and gorging themselves only two or three times in a year, so the Bärchak have dubbed themselves the defenders of the bear, and consider the gentle creature both their charge, an example to them, and a divine ancestor.

Language


Places

Alfsnes, Arnarholt, Auosstaoir, Beruhomm, Bjarlhomm, Breiohomm, Einarshomm, Eiriksfjoror, Galdrahagi, Gnupr, Gunnbjarnarsker, Herjolfsfjoror, Hrutafjoror, Kjarhomm, Kolbeinsstaoir, Miofelhomm, Nautahomm, Norvegr, Ofeigsstaoir, Ormsdalr, Uvlyrr.

Names

Female: Astra, Asvor, Bergljot, Borghild, Geirhildr, Geirlaug, Gunnhildr, Guobjorg, Hallvor, Heior, Herthruor, Hlif, Hungeror, Ingeborg, Ingri, Ingvoldr, Joreior, Kolfinna, Malin, Marta, Oddfrior, Rannveig, Snaelaug, Solveig, Thjoohildr, Thorelfr, Thorodda, Urna, Yrr.
Male: Beokrum, Burgren, Crommegel, Cwenhrunco, Drargreya, Drytbarcro, Eanan, Garhil, Gifustan, Guthstan, Guthwine, Hruncro, Kanan, Krommtheod, Krugren, Mandhrun, Tyslaug, Ulfkromm, Varathryth.

Statistics


Talents
Female Strong +5 | Tough +3 | Hale +2 | Wilful +2 | Graceful -4 | Fast -2 | Insightful -2 | Clever -1 | Persuasive -1
Male Strong +3 | Tough +2 | Hale +2 | Wilful +2 | Graceful -3 | Fast -1 | Insightful -2 | Clever -1 | Persuasive -1
Unique Abilities
Claw and Fang | Thunder Bathers | Vargör Bloodfeud
Ageing
Infant 0-3 years -5 to all Talents except Lucky
Child 4-11 years -3 to all Talents except Lucky
Adolescent 12-16 years -1 to Tough, Clever and Knowledgeable
Adult 17-45 years none
Middle-aged 46-64 years -1 to Fast, Hale and Strong
Old 65-74 years -2 to all Physical Talents, -1 to Knowledgeable
Venerable 75+ years -3 to all Physical Talents, -2 to all Mental Talents
Basics Variables
Morphology Bipedal Height 5'4" + Size' + 1d3' - 1d3'
Diet Omnivorous Weight 250lbs + (Sizelbs x5) + (Brawnlbs x3) + 1d10lbs - 1d10lbs
Cycle Diurnal Gender standard with smaller males
Prime Sense Vision

Claw and Fang

The Bärchak's heavy paws, and their savage maws jaws are weapons on their own, perhaps it is these that drove them to better the axes and picks of their forging. When they use their hands to attack unarmed they can Wounding Damage, and when they bite, though it comes at great risk in conventional combat, they do Wounding Damage and have a Damage Threshold of 4.

Thunder Bathers

When struck by lightening Bärchak do not take damage, but instead can take a Healing action to reduce their accumulated Physical or Exhaustion Damage and relieve associated statuses.

Vargör Bloodfeud

The Bärchak and Vargör have hated one another so long that their hatered is born in the very marrow of the myr. The fight with reckless fury, and even when they must be civil the tension is most always palpable.