Urtre (Er-tray)
Ursan that dwell on the high peaks of Kirru, the urtre resemble spectacled bears, and can instead focus their roar power into a more potent psychic strike to a single creature instead of affecting all creatures in an area. All urtre have patterns on their fur, which range in color and form, but most appear around their eyes.
Culture
Major language groups and dialects
The urtre are slightly more likely to learn a new language, and they often try to pick up Auran or Halfling due to the the proximity of those who speak such languages.
Shared customary codes and values
The urtre extol learning, but prefer to focus on acquiring knowledge through personal experience rather than intense study. Many urtre are always attempting new things in the hope of finding things that spark for them, and thus often have a large range of experience.
Average technological level
The urtre are more willing to embrace new technologies than other ursan, but due to their negative experiences with the technologically experimental Svanti Empire, many have soured on technology that can be easily adapted for war and oppression.
Common Etiquette rules
The urtre are very defensive when it comes to defending the freedom of their homelands, and the rights of all creatures to be free and to experience life in their own way, thus they rarely try to intervene heavily in the lives and traditions of others.
Common Dress code
The fur of the urtre is slightly less thick then the other ursan, and due to this and the chill of the higher altitudes of Kirru, the urtre are much more likely to wear prominent clothing. They often wear long cloaks that are able to help conceal them from air born enemies.
Art & Architecture
The urtre carve cave structures into the sides of mountains, although few travel far from their ancestral home of Aibaēa. Such cave-buildings, often grow and expand over time, as the urtre learns more about the world and its own desires. These burrows often become connected with other tunneling urtres, and while conflicts do emerge over them, most urtre are willing to work together to find a compromise.
Common Customs, traditions and rituals
Like most ursan, the urtre hibernate in the cold winter months, however due to the pressures of the Svanti Empire, many urtre must remain awake to work as guards for their homeland during the winter. These guards must alternate hibernation every other years, and doing so for long periods of time often have negative impacts on both their mental and physicals states.
Birth & Baptismal Rites
Many urtre believe that the opportunity of birth as a ritual all in to its own, and many families have their own personal touches that they might add to the birth of their young.
Coming of Age Rites
Many urtre either follow a family profession that they clicked with from a young age, or go on a journey in an attempt to see the world and find themselves. These journeys have become more and more difficult as time as gone by, as the Svanti Empire heavily restricts the travel of the urtre due to their unwillingness to submit to their rule.
Funerary and Memorial customs
Many urtre wish to be interred in their ancestral mountain of Aibaēa, but when that is not an option, the urtre cremate their dead and let their ashes ride the wind in hopes of finding its way home.
Common Taboos
Destroying or hiding knowledge or purposely denying others of chances to have their own, unique experiences is a grave sin for the urtre, although hiding knowledge that might do much more harm than good, such as knowledge on the Dark Tapestry, is not forbidden. Many urtre view any urtre who choose to live in Svanti Empire or work with them willingly as traitors to their own kind.
Common Myths and Legends
A majority of the urtre worship Tre, the Wise Bear, the ursan goddess of Learning and Experience. They believed that when An was ascending, she meet a minor servant of the wind goddess, who lacked form and was tasked with menial tasks. Sensing that the spirit was dissatisfied with its existence, An convinced the spirit to guide her through the realm in exchange for teaching it some small things about the mortal world. This kindled the spirits desire to learn, and when An became a true goddess at the end of her ascention, it sought her out. An breathed a new form into it, an gave it a name as her daughter, and Tre was born.
Ideals
Beauty Ideals
The urtre are attracted to patterned skin and fur, and are often attracted to ones that are vastly different to their own. This often leads them to form platonic affections for non-ursan races with strange skin or many tattoos, as they find them quite exciting.
Gender Ideals
Like most ursan, the urtre are equal in gender, with the only expectation of that the mother raises the cubs. Due to many more urtre permanently moving into Aibaēa and the surrounding areas, many male ursan have began to spend much more time with their cubs and take on more leadership roles.
Courtship Ideals
The urtre find joy in bringing each others experiences to their mates, and love to combine their experiences and try new things. They often play games, try working together, and even fighting together to get the most out of the time the spend with each other.
Relationship Ideals
The urtre are very close with each other, loving to share their knowledges and their experiences, and this closeness is only compounded by the threat of annexation from the Svanti Empire. They have poor relationships with most of the rest of the Kirru, as most of it is under the thrall of the Empire. They often receive secret aid from the Dowa of the Dowan Hold, and get along extremely well with the Skylings of the Cosmic Valley.
Major organizations
While the urtre's ancestral mountain of Aibaēa technically lies within the territory of the Svanti Empire, and the Empire claims ownership of the land, all of their annexation attempts have been repelled by the urtre so far. Thus, the urtre are heavily opposed to the Svanti Empire and the races who serve it.
Random Urtre Homelands
| % Rolled | Homeland | Trait Gained |
|---|---|---|
| 01- | Cave-City | Mountain Guide |
| Mountain | Imperfect Recall | |
| Valley | Inspiring Rush | |
| Forest | Focused Mind | |
| Unusual Homeland | (Roll on Unusual Homeland table) |
An urtre replaces the standard Ursan trait of Roar with the following trait:
Psychic Ursan: Instead of unleashing a roar, an urtre can focus on a single creature it can see that is within 30 feet. That creature must make a Will saving throw or be affected by the affects of a normal ursans roar, but with a duration of 1 minute instead of 1 round. This psychic attack is still a mind-affecting fear effect, and all Ursan are still immune to its effects.
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