Ursa

Cryptologic Name: Grimm ursus
Planar Origin: Remnant
Habitat: Forest/Tundra
Diet: Omnivorous

Appearance
Ursai are large, bear-shaped creatures of the grimm genus. These large animals have a similar appearance to their fellow grimm with thick black fur, fiery red eyes, and white bone masks with distinctive red markings on them (though in rare cases grimm have markings in other hues). Adults can reach a size of up to 10ft. from snout to tail, and a shoulder height of about 6ft. Like nonmagical bears, they can stand on their hind legs, which means the larger individuals can reach a height of about 16ft. when standing upright. Despite their size, they are much lighter in weight than their nonmagical counterparts, generally weighing between 250-300 lbs. This is quite a stark difference when compared to the brown bear, which are of a similar size, but can weigh up to 1200lbs.

Magical Abilities
Ursai’s most well known magical trait is that their hides have anti-magical properties. This takes shape in several ways, but most significantly means that they are highly resistant to magical assault. In addition this means that magical barriers also have little effect on these creatures, as their coats allow them to pass through force fields, or otherwise nullify ambient effects of spells that would influence them in other ways (e.g. concealing charms would not render an object invisible to the ursa).

In addition to their natural magical resistance, ursai also have the ability to consciously travel into the dreams of sleeping/unconscious creatures in their vicinity.. While this might sound like a rather terrifying prospect, they are actually far less dangerous to encounter in dreams than they are in the physical world. In dreams, ursai manifest as bear-shaped beings of golden light and can communicate with those who are dreaming, though this communication is difficult to classify. They do not speak, per se, but they can convey and understand ideas and concepts through other methods. While travelling into dreams their bodies in the physical world become incorporeal; they do not disappear entirely but the physical form becomes translucent and mist-like, and the markings on their masks will glow brightly on their ethereal form.

Behavior
Ursai generally travel in groups, known as “sleuths,” of about 4-8 individuals. These sleuths are most commonly comprised of a single mating pair and their offspring, but sometimes ursai will “adopt” others into their sleuths when they encounter loners. While these creatures are usually rather docile towards other animals, they are fiercely protective of other members of their sleuths. Ursai have sharp claws, strong jaws, and are incredibly agile despite their size, making them exceedingly dangerous animals to approach unprepared, particularly given their natural resistance to magic. These creatures are generally very distrustful of humans and will often attack a conscious human even if unprovoked.

Field Notes

• Given the natural anti-magical properties of the ursa’s hide, it is a widely sought-after material in the magical community. The hide retains its magical resistance even after being removed from the animal, so its fur is often fashioned into expensive protective garments for mages. The hunting of ursai took a great toll on these creatures and their Terran populations dwindled considerably, but now it is illegal to hunt these incredible creatures and their populations are starting to recover. That of course doesn’t mean that there is not considerable profit to be made on the black market by poaching them, but at least protections are in place and the animals are doing better as a result.

• The fact that ursai are seemingly so intelligent gives rise to the question of why they tend to be so aggressive toward humans when encountered in the wild. It is generally believed that this stems from the above point that they were hunted nearly to extinction, and this intelligence would likely allow them to communicate this mistrust in humanity to future generations of their species in an effort to protect them from the threat.

• It does seem that by interacting with people first in dreams, ursai can safely gauge people’s intentions, and will react on the physical plane accordingly when the human in question returns to consciousness. Most people have little control over their dreams and ursai, being dreamwalkers, are likely knowledgeable in how to interpret different aspects of a person’s dreams in order to gain a true understanding of their character and intentions as they explore and interact with the dreamer, even when said dreamer is attempting to hide something.

• In my own fascination and desire to learn more about these creatures, I devised a plan to befriend a sleuth that is known to live in Yellowstone National Park. I brewed a special potion which causes the drinker to immediately lose consciousness with the intention of finding the ursai and drinking the potion in their presence such that they could meet me, and hopefully understand my intentions well enough to allow me to interact with them in the waking world (preferably without mauling me to death). While this plan overall was fairly solid, I did not anticipate the creatures’ degree of wariness, and so it took more than one try to get the creatures to trust me. Fortunately they seemed to understand that I was not a threat to them, so they didn’t kill me outright, but apparently my desire to study them was something they were tenuous about. Ultimately I ran out of potion after my third attempt, and before I had the opportunity to brew more, the sleuth found their way to my campsite. I was forced to rely on somewhat more drastic measures, recognizing the opportunity and potential that my life may be in danger if I remained conscious, and so I ended up knocking myself out by slamming my head into a picnic table. Somehow despite my possible concussion, that interaction was the final breakthrough with the ursai and upon waking I finally was granted the privilege of spending time with these amazing creatures in the waking world.

  • One new discovery I made is that they can use their abilities to half-shift into a dream state when they wish to communicate with each other. When this happens, the markings on their masks glow, but their bodies do not fade away like when they enter someone’s dreams. I was very curious about this and wanted to find a way to communicate with the creatures more easily without having to lose consciousness to do so. While I am still doing research on how I might achieve this, the time I spent with the sleuth has earned me their trust. When I’m ready I will certainly be visiting them again, and they made it clear that I will always be welcome among them.