With help from Stonebound.
The Old World
The sun grew angry and hostile. The herds died in empty riverbeds. We cast our fate to distant lands and left behind the cracked ground. A new world. A fresh start.
Stone
The stone of this land has been called sacred ever since your people were able to shelter in its caves at their arrival.
Legacies
Another human walks this land. They speak a different languages and are shorter and stronger than us. We have taken to calling them the “bearfolk”. Some of them tolerate us, trade with us, or even live with us. Others have decided we are no longer welcome here.
Communities
We live in communities called circles. These are groups ranging in size from a single families to around 40 individuals. Some powerful circles might include a cluster of groups over a range, up to 800 people. We trade (and sometimes feud) with other circles.
Leaders
Leadership is as varied as the people. Some communities are governed by the head of a powerful family. Or, they have a council of elders who make decisions and settle disputes. In others, the priests hold sway. For some, it is duels in the circle that decide.
Beliefs
Our gods are of the land. They take many shapes and forms: animals, beasts, to other aspects of the natural world. They make themselves known through manifestations and miracles. Some say they even secretly walk among us.
Defense
Supplies are too precious, and the lands are too sparsely populated, to support organized fighting forces. When a community is threatened, the people stand together to protect their own.
Mysticism
Magic courses through this land as the rivers flow through the hills. We call on mystics to divine the fortune of our newborns, or ask them to perform rituals to invoke a bountiful hunt. Others act out of fear against those who they suspect of having power.
Horrors
We are wary of dark forests and deep waterways, for monsters lurk in those places. In the depths of the long-night, when all is wreathed in darkness, only fools venture.