The Journal of Aerin Fletcher, Werebear Barbarian

Prologue: Some Background

Hello! Goose here. Before getting into the real story, I thought that I should give you a little info on my character. I put a pretty accurate portrait of him that I made on a picrew.

The character we will be following is Aerin Fletcher. He's a 10-year-old barbarian with a strange ability: he can turn into a bear! That's right. This youngin' is a werebear. He only shifts into bear form, however, as a defense mechanism. When he feels threatened, in danger, or overwhelmed with the need to protect those around him, watch out. His bear form looks like a Kodiak Bear; around 8 feet tall, 1300 lbs, and riddled with scars and has a dead eye. This unsuspecting child can do some damage.

Onto the backstory!

Aerin was orphaned as a young child, as his parents were afraid of taking on the responsibility of raising a baby with such a curse. His frightful parents dropped him off in a far-away forest as a toddler, with the hope of some druid or woodland inhabitant picking him up and raising him as their own. For a couple years, he had to fend for himself, shifting into his bear form often with how afraid and defensive he was. He learned how to live off the land and traverse through the large forest he now calls home.

At around 8 years old, his territory was stumbled upon by two huge, bipedal bears. They quickly ushered Aerin to follow them and after much hesitation, gathered some rations and headed off with the bears deeper into the woodlands. It was about a 5 day trek through dense woods until they reached a village with small wooden cabins surrounding a large gathering area, all connected by a small dirt path riddled with stones. This was a werebear village.

He's never seen so many of his kind before. All his life, he felt alone, like an outcast and a monster; so horrendous that even his own parents didn't want him. There were werebears of all sorts of races and classes. It was pretty bustling despite how open the paths between the houses were. Aerin was utterly amazed. After much talk with the leader of this bear clan, dubbed the Artaois (pronounced art-a-wa), Aerin decided it would be best to reside here. He would finally have a home. Somewhere he belongs, and where he will be loved, protected, and cared for.

He and his tribe are very distant from any other civilization, so he's not really a people-person. All he knows is how to defend himself, which can get him into danger. He's very protective of his found family and has trained with the strongest bearfolk to become a powerful fighter. His weapon of choice is a warhammer, with a couple of hand axes for throwing. He's quite reserved and awkward around others, bearfolk or not. He dislikes confrontation and can be rather optimistic, despite his upbringing. He's got a good heart; he's neutral good, but sometimes he can be a little chaotic. Aerin and the rest of the bear people are seen as outcasts and many people are afraid of them, fearing they might act like the evil werewolves and wererats when shifted into their animal forms. Regardless, he tries his best to be good natured, kind, and respectful to those he meets, even if it doesn't come across that way.

That's my boy! Aerin has been fun to play as so far. I'll give some brief descriptions of the other players' characters as well when I start the first entry. There's only 3 of us, so it's a rather small party, but we have good chemistry. There's already been some pretty epic moments in our first session together. Anyways. I'll leave you with this for now. I will try and start writing the first entry ASAP! Or at least before the next session. See ya for now!