Urmal (Er-mal)
Ursan that dwell in the jungles of Ixuil, the urmal resemble sun bears and are resistant to fire. Instead of the mighty roars of other ursan, the urmal can shoot out pulses of flame that ignites creatures and objects around them.
Culture
Major language groups and dialects
Like most ursan, the urmal struggle to learn new languages, but often choose to learn Ignan when attempting to master a dialect.
Shared customary codes and values
Urmal are natural pranksters, especially loving to swipe objects from others and hide them in various places.
Average technological level
Like most ursan, the urmal have little desire to build and advance technology, but they are fascinated with new and shiny items. If they see people traveling through their territory with an item they have never seen before, they often wait until their targets are asleep, before swiping the item so they can examine it all night. Most ursan return the item in the morning, so that they don't have angry adventurers combing their territory looking for it, but often put it back in a different area (and often upside down) to further confuse the wanderers.
Common Etiquette rules
The urmal hate those who are overly uptight, and believe that they should try to prank them even harder in the attempt to loosen them up.
Common Dress code
Like most Beastmen who dwell in Ixuil, the urmal have little need for clothes, as their dark fur and the realms natural heat keeps them plenty warm.
Art & Architecture
Like most ursan, the urmal build little in the way of permanent structures. They often lounge on top of trees, and their territory is often marked by scorched branches and rocks that have been scarred by their flame pulses.
Common Customs, traditions and rituals
Unlike most ursan, the urmal do not need to hibernate, as even in the winter Ixuil remains relatively warm and food is still plentiful.
Birth & Baptismal Rites
Urmal down and hollow out large trees to make temporary dens to birth their cubs in, and stay in those dens until their cubs can move on their own.
Coming of Age Rites
Young urmal are constantly trying to prank their mothers, and when a young urmal finally succeeds in an elaborate prank that truly "gets" their mother, the mother plays one final prank on them: kicking them out of the nest.
Funerary and Memorial customs
Urmal cremate their deceased, usually with their nearest relative utilizing its flame pulse ability on the departed's corpse.
Common Taboos
Being the most mischievous of the ursan, the urmal as a whole have little taboos. Individual families have their own personal values on how far to take their pranks and jokes, with more evil inclined ramping their "jokes" to the level of filling their territories with deathtraps, such as spiked pits or luring people to an angry bear, in the name of good fun.
Common Myths and Legends
A majority of urmal worship Mal, the Sticky Bear, the ursan god of tricksters and thieves.
Ideals
Beauty Ideals
Due to their more lanky forms, the urmal view the other, larger ursan as strange and unattractive, preferring skinnier and light builds.
Gender Ideals
Like most ursan, the mother raises the cubs while the father leaves after their birth. The father always tells their cubs that they are going out to retrieve something, and then never returns.
Courtship Ideals
Courting urmal often tell jokes and give each other gifts (although such gifts are often stolen from other creatures), but are otherwise very serious with their potential mates.
Relationship Ideals
Major organizations
Like most ursan, the urmal are solitary creatures, and prefer to remain alone rather than join another orginization.
Random Urmal Tables
| % Rolled | Homeland | Trait Gained |
|---|---|---|
| 01-35 | Cave-City | Undaunted |
| 31-65 | Jungle | Jungle Walker |
| 67-83 | Non-Urmal Settlement | Wanderlust |
| 84-94 | Blasted Plains | Planar Escapee |
| 95-00 | Unusual Homeland | (Roll on Unusual Homeland table) |
An urmal replaces the standard ursan trait of Roar with the the following traits:
Fire Resistance: An urmal has fire resistance 5.
Sun Ursan: 1/day, as a standard action, an urmal can shoot out a pulse of flame in a 30 foot radius from themselves. Each creature within the area, other than the urmal itself, must make a Reflex saving throw or catch fire (DC = 10 + 1/2 the ursans hit dice + the ursan's constitution modifier). At 3rd racial level, this fire bypasses fire resistance of non-urmal creatures, and at 5th racial level, it bypasses fire immunities.
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