Overview
The Frost-Bear is the largest thing that walks the frostfield in the cold months. It is a bear the way a wall is a wall — brown, shaggy, and the size of a problem. It does not hunt the way the wolf hunts, and it does not need to. It keeps the winter stores, and the winter stores are its, and anyone who wants them may take them.
Habitat
The Frost-Bear keeps the frostfield — the wide, cold ground of The Nameless Tundra and the deeper frost-country where the snow does not lift and the ice does not move. It is the winter's own, and the winter is the bear's, and the bear keeps the frostfield the way the frostfield keeps its stores. It does not fly, and it does not leave the cold ground, and the cold ground is the whole of the range, because the bear that has left the frostfield has left the winter, and the winter is the bear's own. The den is on the high ground — the drift, the rock that rises out of the snow — and the den is the whole of the home, and the home is the frostfield.
Appearance
The Frost-Bear is the size of a problem, and the body is the colour of the shaggy brown, and the brown is the colour of the winter's own. The boar is ten hands at the shoulder — about 1.02 m at the withers — with the great hump of muscle over the forequarters, and the sow is eight hands — about 0.81 m — smaller, the same hump, and the same claws. The coat is shaggy brown, longer on the shoulders and the haunches, and the shag is the whole of the coat, because the shag that is long on the shoulder is the shag that keeps the cold out, and the keeping is the whole of the bear's own. The claws are the mark — black, curved, and longer than any other land beast's, and they reach a hand and a half, and they are for digging as much as for fighting, and the digging is the whole of the answer. The head is broad, the muzzle dark, and the eye is small and dark and set far back, so the bear sees wide and close and not at all the way a man expects. It walks on the whole foot, not the toe, and it puts its weight down the way a thing of its size must. The boar in the thaw is a different animal than a boar in the deep cold, and the thaw one is the one to meet. A sow with cubs is the frostfield's only true wall.
Behaviour
The Frost-Bear is the wall, and the wall is the whole of the behaviour. It does not hunt the way the wolf hunts, and it does not need to. It does not run, and it does not chase, and it does not come back for the second bite, which is more than the first bite. It digs with the forelegs the way a thing digs that has decided. By the thaw the bear is the one to meet, and the meeting is the whole of the law, because the bear that is in the thaw is the bear that is hungry, and the hungry is the whole of the warning. The sow with cubs is the frostfield's only true wall, and the wall is the whole of the law, because the sow that has cubs is the sow that does not move, and the not-moving is the whole of the frostfield's own.
Natural Weapons & Defenses
The claw is the whole of the answer, and the claw is the digging, and the digging is the whole of the hunt. The claw is black and curved, and it is longer than any other land beast's, and it digs the winter stores out of the snow — the buried stores, the fallen beast, the fish under the ice — and the digging is the whole of the taking. The shoulder is the defense, and the hump is the muscle, and the muscle is the whole of the defense, because the bear that has the hump is the bear that does not move, and the not-moving is the whole of the wall. The shag is the defense, and the shag is long on the shoulder, and the long shag is the whole of the cold-keeping. The bear does not fight the small thing, and the small thing does not find the bear, and the not-finding is the whole of the defense, because the bear that is the size of a problem is not the bear the eye can measure.
Magic Alignment
Innate only — no school. The Frost-Bear has the Cold-Keep — the shag that keeps the cold out, and the keeping is the whole of the winter's own. It has the Deep-Dig — the claw that digs the winter stores out of the snow, and the digging is the whole of the hunt. The bear has no word, and the word is not the bear's, and the not-being is the whole of the bear's own.
Society
The Frost-Bear is the lone thing, and the lone is the whole of the family. The boar keeps the frostfield, and the frostfield keeps the boar, and the sow keeps the cub, and the cub is the whole of the next bear. There is no pack, and the not-being is the whole of the bear's own, because the bear that is the lone is the bear that is the frostfield's own, and the frostfield's own is the lone. The sow with cubs is the only company the bear keeps, and the keeping is the whole of the law.
Culture & Lore
The frostfield's folk count the bear by the dug patch. A dug patch in the snow means a bear has been here and found what it wanted. A dug patch with no meat means a bear has been here and found what it wanted, and the wanting has not finished. Tracks are wide and heavy and the toe prints are deep, and the frostfield is wide, and the bear is the widest thing in it. The old ones say the bear is the winter's own, and the winter's own is the winter's store, and the store is the bear's, and the bear keeps it the way the frostfield keeps it. The hunter does not take the bear, and the not-taking is the whole of the law, because the bear that is taken is the winter's own, and the winter's own is the frostfield.
Home
They keep The Nameless Tundra, the wide, cold ground where the snow does not lift and the ice does not move. The frostfield is the bear's own, and the bear's own is the frostfield.
Relations
The Frost-Bear is the keeper of the winter stores — the buried stores, the fallen beast, the fish under the ice. It is the predator of the small thing of the frostfield, and the small thing does not find the bear, and the not-finding is the whole of the law. The frostfield's folk keep their distance at the dug patch, and the distance is the whole of the law, because the bear that is the winter's own is the frostfield's own, and the frostfield's own is the bear. The Forgotten of the frostfield keep the bear as the winter's wall, and the keeping is the whole of the bond, because the bear that is the winter's own is the one the frostfield keeps.
In the Story
In the current story, the Frost-Bear is the wall on the frostfield — the tundra Uaellaen writes about when the store is the bear's. The Forgotten keep their distance at the dug-patch line, and the distance has held for two seasons. This season the bear came up the drift with a dig that was not in the dig — a dig that is not in the snow, and the not-listing is the whole of the warning, because the frostfield keeps its store, and the store has started to move. The bear is keeping the den, and the keeping is the page the camp has not been shown.