Thicketbear
Berinu lowland omnivore
The Thicketbear is a heavy, bear-like omnivore of Berinu's forested lowlands and valley edges, and one of the few large wild animals left in the Berinese forest. It eats almost anything, from roots and fruit to fish taken from flooded streams and carrion, and it will raid fields, grain stores, and young livestock when the forest runs short.
It is broad in the shoulder and skull, with short powerful legs, long digging claws, and a shaggy coat that sheds the constant rain. It walks on all fours and rises onto its hind legs to look or to fight. It dens in the caverns along Berinu's valley walls and spends the heaviest rains there.
It is solitary and avoids people when it can. A Thicketbear that is cornered, surprised at close range, or guarding cubs will charge, and its weight alone is enough to kill.
Berinu's old hunting societies took Thicketbears for meat and hide long before the Empire arrived, and its hide is still prized for rain gear. Farms along the forest edge keep their Furrowback calves and grain stores close for the same reason their grandparents did.
