Yaddan "Bear" Longstride's page

Bear (as folks call him) is a large man. Ulfen in heritage, he stands taller than most, wider than most, and hairier than most. Long brown hair stands wild and unkempt, small twigs and needles continually caught in it as well as his massive beard. Obviously more at home in the wild than the stone of the city, you wonder what could have brought this man so far from his home.

Bear is a short tempered man, who tries to abide by the tenets of his druidic faith but doesn't seem to succeed as often as he'd like. He's most comfortable outside of civilization, with his bear companion that has the same personality. A brown bear named Kuma. Bear rarely tries to talk things out, preferring action to reaction, fists to words. However, he's fiercely loyal to those friends who demonstrate an appreciation for the natural order and refuse to judge others based on what they look like.

Yaddan had a hard time grasping the finer points of paladinhood, which was somewhat of a disappointment to his parents who were retired crusaders. His size and stamina would have made a fine paladin, but his temper always seemed to set him back in his training. He fought with his parents frequently, and during his 15th year became increasingly belligerent to their desires. That all ended when Untamaketh found them. A babau demon sent past the wardstones to retrieve something from Bear's retired parents, the demons spent 3 days torturing the family, slowly feasting on the living child before the parent’s eyes. Eventually tiring of his sport, Untamaketh killed Bear's parents before leaving the child for dead and returning to his superiors deep in the Worldwound. Days later, as Yaddan somehow clung to the border between life and death he was found by a looter. Not a man capitalizing on the empty house, but a bear who could smell the cured beef over the fading scent of human habitation. The bear knew the youth was alive, and by the luck of the gods the bear was also a companion to Hyglak Vargson, the current leader of a druid cabal. Nursed back to health over many months, Bear eventually grew close to the druids. Here his natural size was also a benefit, but his love of the wilds and winter could blossom without the driven discipline of his paladinic upbringing. Still, lingering guilt over his parents last moments seemed to hold him back. Eventually, Hyglak knew that Bear could learn no more without coming to terms with his childhood. Sending the cub of his own companion (the same one who rescued Bear so many years ago) to keep him safe, Hyglak sent Bear to the Worldwound. Thoughts of revenge bubbled to the surface of Bears mind, but deeper down was the need to see and understand why his parents were so adamant about Yaddan's paladinic training. Maybe by seeing and experiencing what they did he could become a bit closer to what they wanted without becoming someone he wasn't. Eventually he plans to push deeper into the Worldwound, but for now there appears to be a festival of some sort…