Realm: Midgard
Typical Height Range: 6'0" to 7'0"
Typical Weight Range: 270 to 450 lbs
Center of population: Small clusters in peninsula mountains
Estimated population: 100,000 native / 220,000 former human
At the very most basic, pykkr are anthro bears, plantigrade and superficially similar to eurasian brown bears.
Compared to most races, they are physically imposing, standing both taller and broader than most, with significant bone and muscle bulk. Their stance is very close to human, with feet flat on the ground, and a very upright posture. However, their torso is somewhat deeper than that of a human, and their shoulders broader and sloped. Their heads resemble that of a eurasian brown bear and do not grow longer hair in the fashion of humans. Their muzzle is marginally shorter than that of real bears, and their faces more expressive, with more human dome than ursine pan to the cranium shape.
Their thick fur and "loose" skin makes their legs look shorter than they actually are, and many people mistakenly believe that they can travel rapidly on all fours. Each hand and foot is broad and thick, with fingers that are shorter than human equivalent, but home to thick claws up to two inches long on the hands, and up to a full inch on their feet. Their fur colour has some room for variation, ranging from tan to chestnut, but most are of the familiar dirt-brown. Colour seems to have very little practical significance, and can vary even within a single family. They're able to voluntarily enter a hibernating state, though the practice is fairly rare among forcemarks, given modern time requirements and constant food availability.
Pykkr have superficially ursine genitalia, and a pregnancy lasts about 4 months, plus or minus 10 days. The pykkr cub is born weighing about 1 pound, and is very underdeveloped compared to human newborns. Litters of one or two are equally likely, while triplets may occur once every 800 pregnancies, and quads are virtually unheard of. Pykkr women have two breasts, in standard human configuration. Pykkr lifespan is currently estimated to be about 1.2 times that of a human with comparable standard of living, and so there are a few native realmie pykkr centenarians.
The pykkr diet is omnivorous and robust. They cannot process wood or most leafy greens, but everything else is fair game. Meats (cooked, raw, or spoiling... Obviously they generally prefer cooked), seafoods, starches, vegetables, insects, sugars... They'll often even eat the bones, shells, rinds and gristle that would otherwise be wasted.
Their sensory suite is not surprising. Their hearing is marginally superior in range and sensitivity to that of a human (though lesser than that of their anthro-canid counterparts), while their olfactory is amongst the best of any realmie species. Vision is dichromatic and averages 12/20, with superb night-vision.
-Pykkr in realm receive what feels like 'martial drill muscle memory' that simply surfaces from a spiritual source in times of need. In a sort of 'other side of the coin' to the sannrjarfr war-dance, the pykkr will open a spiritual gateway, and allow their muscle memory to be guided by the honourable warrior-scholars of the pykkrs' past, faster than thought. This has the drawback that a skilled warrior will know /exactly/ how an unskilled pykkr will fight, and what combat rituals they will be bound within, so it is to their best interest to hone their own skills in conjunction with this. The more natural skill and divine favour the pykkr has, the wider and more advanced are the combat maneuvers that will be available to them in this way. In practical terms, this simply means that every Pykkr has at least a rudimentary on-board skill in handling himself in unarmed or in low-tech combat.
Pykkr enjoy a good deal of prestige because of their historical heavyweight status, no pun intended. They are favoured warriors for Thor, Mimir, Frigg, and Forseti, and have cultivated a martial and industrious culture of honour within their insular settlements.
For many, native Pykkr are something of a mystery, since they tend to cluster in Pykkr-only settlements in the mountains, and are highly defensive of the purity of those settlements. They may take on guests and pupils who are not pykkr for a time, but none are true residents. These Pykkr settlements are fiercely independant, and range in size from 50 to 5,000 individuals. Their focus is on community and martial learning, and in some ways resemble the samurai villages of feudal Japan. It is possible to hire on entire villages, or elite companies of the best of many villages, as mercenaries. To do so does not come cheaply, but has previously been used to great effect, since such a group is virtually impossible to buy off, shatter, or rout. They are well-trained, well-equipped, highly disciplined, with their own integrated medics and priests, and are resolutely driven by honour and reputation. In this way, the native pykkr are able to fund their way through categories in which they are deficient, such as hiring dedicated teachers and journeymen and doctors as needed.
Amongst themselves, esteem in their societies is held through a combination of strength, wisdom, prior acheivements, family standing, honourable action, martial proficiency, humility, and community significance. The last point is to say that despite their relative isolation from other races, they consider it very important to be involved with one another.
The massive influx of forcemarks in 2001 threatened to overwhelm this culture with individualist westerners. Some communities refused forcemark pykkr outright, while others imposed policies allowing them into the fold if they agreed to be married to a natural pykkr and pledge loyalty to the community. Suffice to say, an overwhelming majority of pykkr forcemarks have remained mixed into western society, and if you meet one in the cities, odds are they are a former human or the child of one.
Forcemark Pykkr culture, since they have been rejected, by and large, by the natives, is simply that of whatever city they happen to be in or from.
Forcemark pykkr often have difficulty adjusting to their new size and strength, as well as the 'sharper' structure of their hands, since their new instincts on how to grasp and manipulate don't really take the durability of what they're grabbing into account until they retrain themselves. Before-and-after personality testing of forcemark pykkr reveals elevated suspicion of strangers, increased response to physical intimidation, reduced regard for sexual and cultural differences. Pykkr are not conflict-avoidant, particularly when they perceive themselves as able to take down their opponent as a viable Plan B. Or Plan A. This isn't to say that they are inherently violent, only that it is very difficult to get them to back down from a potential fight or argument without physical advantage. Pykkr have a tendency to be very passionate about their feelings and beliefs, and will generally act in accordance with their values ahead of acting in accordance with what is wise. To some, this appears courageous. To others, it is reckless, since it is effectively a "Damn the consequences" approach to dealing with problems or advancing a cause. Forcemark Pykkr do report some related positives, however, since they experience reduced self-doubt and the sorts of stress that go with such. They find that their feelings are clearer, which makes the path to action seem more logical, and committing to their decisions a simple matter. They do not generally see it as a negative that they are now difficult to sway from a set course of action upon which they have made a decision.
http://darknatasha.deviantart.com/art/Medicine-Bear-52482597
http://cunningfox.deviantart.com/art/Longing-for-summer-s-touch-201022097
http://aureath.deviantart.com/art/Feathered-Friends-13312399
Typical Height Range: 6'0" to 7'0"
Typical Weight Range: 270 to 450 lbs
Center of population: Small clusters in peninsula mountains
Estimated population: 100,000 native / 220,000 former human
Physiology
At the very most basic, pykkr are anthro bears, plantigrade and superficially similar to eurasian brown bears.
Compared to most races, they are physically imposing, standing both taller and broader than most, with significant bone and muscle bulk. Their stance is very close to human, with feet flat on the ground, and a very upright posture. However, their torso is somewhat deeper than that of a human, and their shoulders broader and sloped. Their heads resemble that of a eurasian brown bear and do not grow longer hair in the fashion of humans. Their muzzle is marginally shorter than that of real bears, and their faces more expressive, with more human dome than ursine pan to the cranium shape.
Their thick fur and "loose" skin makes their legs look shorter than they actually are, and many people mistakenly believe that they can travel rapidly on all fours. Each hand and foot is broad and thick, with fingers that are shorter than human equivalent, but home to thick claws up to two inches long on the hands, and up to a full inch on their feet. Their fur colour has some room for variation, ranging from tan to chestnut, but most are of the familiar dirt-brown. Colour seems to have very little practical significance, and can vary even within a single family. They're able to voluntarily enter a hibernating state, though the practice is fairly rare among forcemarks, given modern time requirements and constant food availability.
Pykkr have superficially ursine genitalia, and a pregnancy lasts about 4 months, plus or minus 10 days. The pykkr cub is born weighing about 1 pound, and is very underdeveloped compared to human newborns. Litters of one or two are equally likely, while triplets may occur once every 800 pregnancies, and quads are virtually unheard of. Pykkr women have two breasts, in standard human configuration. Pykkr lifespan is currently estimated to be about 1.2 times that of a human with comparable standard of living, and so there are a few native realmie pykkr centenarians.
The pykkr diet is omnivorous and robust. They cannot process wood or most leafy greens, but everything else is fair game. Meats (cooked, raw, or spoiling... Obviously they generally prefer cooked), seafoods, starches, vegetables, insects, sugars... They'll often even eat the bones, shells, rinds and gristle that would otherwise be wasted.
Their sensory suite is not surprising. Their hearing is marginally superior in range and sensitivity to that of a human (though lesser than that of their anthro-canid counterparts), while their olfactory is amongst the best of any realmie species. Vision is dichromatic and averages 12/20, with superb night-vision.
Natural Magics
-Pykkr receive a strength boost on top of their inclination to be thick of muscle, while in realm. It is hypothesized that this is /actually/ a boost to their structural integrity, allowing them to use their true strength more freely. In terms of raw lifting capacity, an unenhanced pykkr may lift 30% more weight inrealm than they can outrealm. When enhanced by divine favour, this ability has extended as far as to double their capacity.-Pykkr in realm receive what feels like 'martial drill muscle memory' that simply surfaces from a spiritual source in times of need. In a sort of 'other side of the coin' to the sannrjarfr war-dance, the pykkr will open a spiritual gateway, and allow their muscle memory to be guided by the honourable warrior-scholars of the pykkrs' past, faster than thought. This has the drawback that a skilled warrior will know /exactly/ how an unskilled pykkr will fight, and what combat rituals they will be bound within, so it is to their best interest to hone their own skills in conjunction with this. The more natural skill and divine favour the pykkr has, the wider and more advanced are the combat maneuvers that will be available to them in this way. In practical terms, this simply means that every Pykkr has at least a rudimentary on-board skill in handling himself in unarmed or in low-tech combat.
Culture
Pykkr enjoy a good deal of prestige because of their historical heavyweight status, no pun intended. They are favoured warriors for Thor, Mimir, Frigg, and Forseti, and have cultivated a martial and industrious culture of honour within their insular settlements.
For many, native Pykkr are something of a mystery, since they tend to cluster in Pykkr-only settlements in the mountains, and are highly defensive of the purity of those settlements. They may take on guests and pupils who are not pykkr for a time, but none are true residents. These Pykkr settlements are fiercely independant, and range in size from 50 to 5,000 individuals. Their focus is on community and martial learning, and in some ways resemble the samurai villages of feudal Japan. It is possible to hire on entire villages, or elite companies of the best of many villages, as mercenaries. To do so does not come cheaply, but has previously been used to great effect, since such a group is virtually impossible to buy off, shatter, or rout. They are well-trained, well-equipped, highly disciplined, with their own integrated medics and priests, and are resolutely driven by honour and reputation. In this way, the native pykkr are able to fund their way through categories in which they are deficient, such as hiring dedicated teachers and journeymen and doctors as needed.
Amongst themselves, esteem in their societies is held through a combination of strength, wisdom, prior acheivements, family standing, honourable action, martial proficiency, humility, and community significance. The last point is to say that despite their relative isolation from other races, they consider it very important to be involved with one another.
The massive influx of forcemarks in 2001 threatened to overwhelm this culture with individualist westerners. Some communities refused forcemark pykkr outright, while others imposed policies allowing them into the fold if they agreed to be married to a natural pykkr and pledge loyalty to the community. Suffice to say, an overwhelming majority of pykkr forcemarks have remained mixed into western society, and if you meet one in the cities, odds are they are a former human or the child of one.
Forcemark Pykkr culture, since they have been rejected, by and large, by the natives, is simply that of whatever city they happen to be in or from.
Roleplay Notes
Forcemark pykkr often have difficulty adjusting to their new size and strength, as well as the 'sharper' structure of their hands, since their new instincts on how to grasp and manipulate don't really take the durability of what they're grabbing into account until they retrain themselves. Before-and-after personality testing of forcemark pykkr reveals elevated suspicion of strangers, increased response to physical intimidation, reduced regard for sexual and cultural differences. Pykkr are not conflict-avoidant, particularly when they perceive themselves as able to take down their opponent as a viable Plan B. Or Plan A. This isn't to say that they are inherently violent, only that it is very difficult to get them to back down from a potential fight or argument without physical advantage. Pykkr have a tendency to be very passionate about their feelings and beliefs, and will generally act in accordance with their values ahead of acting in accordance with what is wise. To some, this appears courageous. To others, it is reckless, since it is effectively a "Damn the consequences" approach to dealing with problems or advancing a cause. Forcemark Pykkr do report some related positives, however, since they experience reduced self-doubt and the sorts of stress that go with such. They find that their feelings are clearer, which makes the path to action seem more logical, and committing to their decisions a simple matter. They do not generally see it as a negative that they are now difficult to sway from a set course of action upon which they have made a decision.
http://darknatasha.deviantart.com/art/Medicine-Bear-52482597
http://cunningfox.deviantart.com/art/Longing-for-summer-s-touch-201022097
http://aureath.deviantart.com/art/Feathered-Friends-13312399
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