The Cub

The Cub
"Look, can you just stop?"
Origin	Stone
Titles	The Cub, Ursa Minor
Names	Castillo and Arcas
Aspects
Owner(s)	Stone

The Cub also known as Ursa Minor is the seventeenth Hour of the House of Earth and Sky, created by Stone. It is the Bear Cop of the Mansus and Histories, providing the Marks of Eternity. It is an Hour of , , and

History

Born from the Stones of the Other Place, The Cub still holds an echo of power from what was. It burst from the den with a fresh strength that the House hadn't felt in a long time. Things Started Happening. The Cub looked first downwards, and the first fractures in history appeared. Then it looked up and saw the Glory, distant and unreachable but burning with such irresistible power. It roared in frustration, that it might never reach those impossible heights, and in doing so drew the attention of the sapling Spirarch down. In its haste to reach the Great Tree, it tore through one of the ruined walls of the other place making the Hide Gate, the First Way. The discarded masonry remembered, and took some power from The Cub's passion becoming That-Which-Remains. The Cub Climbs still, when it can, for its duties are such that it may never reach the Glory.

Worship and appearance

The Cub's first form is of a Bear with a hide of stars but it has many besides. It has appeared as many things to many peoples over its time but always as something young and powerful, from a wolf to a handsome warrior. It is worshipped by those who fight to defend what is most precious to them, family and country, and from those, it recruits a small few to serve it for eternity.

Cult

• The Ursine League: Soldiers and explorers seeking the fresh power of youth, or hoping to preserve it. The Cub welcomes all into its ranks, but for the promise of future service to the mother.

Mark

1. Temptation: Eternity - I could protect it all, make it last forever.
2. Dedication: Eternity - I have dedicated myself to the immortal pursuit of protection. Everything shall be forever, including me.
3. Ascension: Eternity - I have felt the old power that comes from the den, and the new power that seeks the glory. I see the endings in the world, and I ache to delay them. This is the Third Mark.
4. Ascension: Eternity - The Fourth Mark is growth. I am a colossus now, towering over those around me. I cannot stop myself from protecting the weak.
5. Ascension: Eternity - I grow larger still, and I sense interference from The House. I am on the hunt now, and the Mother's word is law. I know this to be the Fifth Mark.
6. Ascension: Eternity - With the Sixth Mark I see them all, every perfidious breach of the great mother's edict. They will not escape me, their power and blood is mine. They will survive to regret it.
7. The Preservation of Youth - I am more than what I was before. I will climb The Spirarch and Glimpse the Glory. The Cub awaits me. In its service, I will discover the true purpose of all that lives. My hide shall grow strong, stronger. Little will be able to stand in my way.

I care not for my own mortality, only the preservation of all that is. I will walk through the house, seeing my enemies, those that I've banished from where I was before, those who made me what I am today. My brothers in arms have welcomed me into the great legion, that we might serve Her. I see the light creeping through the boughs of The Spirarch and feel the rumbling power of The Den, it is for the preservation of this grandeur that I exist.

Under the guidance of the Cub, I have grown to be more than I was. My hide is tougher than iron and I shall not end. Nor shall anything else. I am a fragment of the power that preserves.

Servants

• Callisto: (12) (12): Heart to know her, Forge for a promise of Concord. Callisto walks into the room ignoring all trappings and rituals. They seem unimportant, now. She smiles, and it is a radiant sun. Callisto loves me. "Come now dear, there is no need for all this. I am always with you."

• Arcas (12) (12): Edge for a hunt, Heart to remind him. Arcas' Eyes are sharp. He knows all the breaches of the Mother's law. He has no mercy, save that of the captor. Arcas cannot end. "They always try to reason, at first. Then they plead. Then they succumb. All bow to the power of the great Mother."