#133 The Ursine Dream

Age: As Old As Sleep

Hidden or Lost?: Hidden

History: Each year the bears of the world return to their caves to sleep, hibernating to conserve energy during the cold winter months. Unbeknownst to most, they dream deeply during this period, and they are not alone. During this time they join the collective consciousness of all bearkind as they access a shared psychic landscape known as the Ursine Dream.

The Ursine Dream is an endless recursive forest teeming with prey and crisscrossed with clear river streams exploding with fat, eager fish. Many of those who are aware of the ancient bestial dream, believe that bearkind was born of this primal plane and that they will return there when they leave the world.

Amongst the wild wonderland groves are many ancient and sacred sites where the dreaming creatures congregate. There is the Forum of Logs, a wide clearing that has been converted to a speakers amphitheater where the dreaming souls of hibernating ursids tell endless tales of what they've seen in the world, how it is changing, and how they're kind can survive another year. There is the Dam of Offering, a massive wall of special items and gifts that each bear must add to each year as payment to the Great Den Mother. This ramshackle barrier is said to hold back the Wilding Force, a primal energy that courses through all beasts, at the cost of their memory. By cutting it off from the Ursine Dream, the bearkind are able to share instinct amongst all of their kind, who then carry this higher knowledge to their subconscious upon waking.

There are also locations in the Ursine Dream that are, well, more dreamy. Like the Glade of Filled Jaws, a hunting ground where the game never runs out and hungers are always sated, or the Clawgrounds where bearkind can sharpen their talons on hard, iron-like trees.

The caretaker of the Ursine Dream is the Grey Kodiak, a titanic beast that resides in the perfectly musty cavern known as The First Cave. Visitors to the Ursine Dream must petition this ancient spirit for secret knowledge or direction, and should they transgress while there, its claws will be the last thing they see.

For those not of bearkind that wish to visit the Ursine Dream, there are many secret and bloody ways to access the realm. But be sure to obey the customs and manners of the place, lest you risk becoming the new target of every waking bear.

1. Psychic Homestone

2. Symphony of Claws

3. The Epiphany of Scent

4. One-Eyed Bear’s Lair

5. The Battlegrounds

6. Forum of Logs

7. Clawgrounds

8. Glade of Filled Jaws

9. Grizzly Thicket

10. The First Cave

11. Gray Den Mother’s Respite

12. Frozen Lake

13. Crowded Fin River

14. Roaring Hollows

15. Cave of the Old Truth

16. Dam of Offering