Borr

Mother Bear, Bear Spirit, or simply 'Bear'. These are Borr's many names and titles. She primarily embodies strength and ferocity in body, heart, and mind, and encourages her followers to practice strength of will, both in the person and the people. Borr is strict and preaches aggressive watchfulness, but only to react to aggression. She doesn't support starting conflicts unless it is done to stop evil practices. She is seen as both a mother who protects her cubs and an older sister who helps people find their inner strength. With that strength comes the wisdom to use it; Borr never attacks first, and much like a bear protects her cubs in defense, Borr teaches her followers to always react defensively, especially to protect the most vulnerable.

Depiction

Borr, the bear spirit, is often depicted in carved totems of wood and stone as a massive brown bear standing over three cubs in a protective stance. The species of bear she is portrayed as varies from black bears to brown bears, to even polar bears and dire bears.

Tenets of Faith

Borr's teaches her followers to always uphold the highest ideals of strength, honor, and protection; to be constantly vigilant against those who wish to do harm to the tribe's most weak and vulnerable, and to oppose them from all fronts. She likes to reward feats of strength and selflessness.
Protect the Vulnerable as your Cubs. Borr stands as the foremost champion in the fight against those who would seek to do harm to the vulnerable, such as the young, the sick, and the old. Those who would do so must be confronted and eliminated but commit no harm in the process; the ends do not justify the means. Always take into consideration innocent bystanders and the defenseless, for the innocent's needs come first.
Cultivate Strength in the Heart, Body, and Mind. Borr expects her followers to keep fit and to rely on their physical prowess to overcome any difficulties they might encounter. She promotes physical challenges as a method for resolving disputes among his followers. Such challenges might include wrestling matches between two people having an argument. Strength in the heart and mind is also necessary, as a cold heart denotes a lack of wisdom and a degree of cruelty from which strength can be misused to harm those who must be protected.
Offer mercy but once. Do not extend further mercy to those who spit on it the first time. If an individual receives mercy and then proceeds to commit an evil deed against the vulnerable, they do not receive a third chance to repent. Any person who harms the innocent after receiving mercy deserves full and swift punishment. Like a mother bear, Borr's clerics and shamans can go from caring and compassionate individuals to creatures of unbridled, righteous anger when those they protect are threatened.
Bring aid to those in need. Those who revere the Bear Mother focus on more than simply protecting the weak. Along the way, a cleric of the Bear Spirit is expected to heal the injured, cure the sick, feed the hungry, and shelter the homeless as much as is possible, much as a mother might care for her own children. In the frigid wilderness, if the cleric possesses a blanket yet his neighbor has none, the cleric should surrender his blanket to the less fortunate individual. Among the numerous nomads and wanderers of the wild, clerics of the Bear Spirit are held to an extremely high standard of generosity and mercy to the innocent.

Followers of Borr

As with most individuals who revere the Pantheon of the Wild, it is extremely rare to find a truly dedicated church or temple to the Bear Spirit within civilized societies. More often than not, the most widespread places of worship to Borr are isolated stone cairns or structures located along the sides of rarely-used roads and pathways, or near the entrances to caves. These places are usually constructed as areas of rest, often used as campsites for travelers. It is not uncommon to find offerings to Borr at such places, usually in the forms of raw meat for local bear populations, or small carved totems of the Bear Spirit herself.
The most established places of worship to the Bear Mother are located in Vaskyr, where many shrines and lodges are built by the Vaskarr people to honor her.
Those who follow her teachings argue that the purpose of the hunt is not just to kill but also to protect; one must kill defensively to protect one's offspring, particularly when such an attacker is a hungry predator looking for a meal.
Many believe her to be the mightiest of all the Pantheon's spirits, and some followers of Borr claim to have received guidance from her in their dreams; to give them the power to face all odds. Her most dedicated shamans, her Wildspeakers, are granted the ability to strike with surprising speed or to even transform through lycanthropy into mighty humanoid bears of incredible strength.
The elusive Urson who roam the White Wastes believe Borr to be the mother of their species, and worship her as their sole deity. Every so often, one of their people, typically a soothsayer or shaman, will journey to Vaskyr and impart their wisdom on Vaskan Wildspeakers of the Bear Spirit, teaching them how to utilize and control their gifts.

Portfolio
Ferocity, Motherhood, Power, Protection, Bears

Divine Classification

Wild Spirit

Religions

• Pantheon of the Wild

Alignment

Neutral Good

Species

Dire Bear

Realm

Eternal Hunting Grounds