Re: Jumping Bears.

From: Simon Bray <101635.32_at_CompuServe.COM>
Date: 23 May 97 12:52:38 EDT

 "...the Jumping Bear, it loiters within the darkness, just beyond the light of the campfire. It has the bulk of a bison, huge and hulking, but can stand like an ape to leap and grab its prey. It is a creature of the night, things left over from the time of the giants. It is said that it is born by the darkness to test our wits. It preys upon the herds when they roam to near to the Old Places and Spirit Places, it is not Chaos Herd and cannot be sensed by the Bull, but can only be found by the shaman. Beware it's mouth, beware it's teeth, beware it's belly, for as quick as this is said it will have you within it!..."

      An excerpt from the "Wild Foes Song", canted by Whistling Diamond, shaman of the Prancing Man, Impala tribe.  

 Okay, so I made this up for my campaign, but it sure scared my players. In fact they didn't sleep for a week. I pictured the Jumping Bear as being a spirit animal, somthing like the Nandi Bear of terrestial mythology. I don't think that they like the light, I think that they only attack at night, but do so by semi physical means. Their hides are shaggy and black, and their bodies are a cross between a bear and an ape. Their mouths and eyes burn deep red, like hot coals. In my campaign they were only seen as shadows on the plain, but there tracks were often found the next day, and a herd beast would be lost. I think they probably eat fools and children aswell.

 Coincidentally, the myth above must be very old as no great apes have been seen in Prax, since the fall of the Monkey City.

 ALL IMHO  Simon Bray.

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