The Tanaina Den

Written by Jack Silva

The Tanaina have long been a spiritual people attuned to the pulse of the earth and sea. Perhaps this is why they have survived so long when other tribes fell or were swallowed whole by the advancing times and tides. Perhaps, too, their survival is due to the spiritual warriors that have long stood watch over the Tanaina, silent guardians through the ages. They assume the totem of the mighty bear to defend and safe-keep the tribe. Though their mystic prowess is as yet poorly understood, their origins are well documented in clan history and fable, primarily because several of the fabled characters still live today.

As is often the case, the Tanaina defenders arose from a singular threat to their way of life and the response of a single, heroic man. The Succubus sisters, now known as the Denali vampire coven, descended on Alaska. The sisters, for reasons known only to them, seduced and fed on exclusively men. They foraged widely for their meals, and many tribes began to notice suspicious deaths. The Tanaina experienced the hunger of the Succubus Sisters especially violently. Men began to vanish with startling regularity. The sky was filled with the keening of their widowed lovers and dismayed children. The elders were at a complete loss, unable to stem the flow of blood from the arteries of the tribe. It was in this state of desperation that their deliverance found them in the form of Ursus, the Bear Shaman.

The Tanaina had long been a spiritual people, following the subtle signs and shifts in the world around them and taking them as messages from their totem guardians. Each generation, one man was selected and trained to be the Shaman of the people, the tribe’s spiritual core and liaison to the totem spirits. He was expected to be a pious man, a wise man, and a good man. He was supposed to represent everything that the Tanaina valued most in their culture, and Ursus was all that and more. He was, perhaps, the greatest Shaman they had ever been blessed with. The elders are quick to point out that perhaps it was always his destiny to shoulder the responsibilities placed on him. He was physically strong and quick, the better to hunt and provide for his tribe. He was hale and hearty, the better to survive the chill waters and hard tundra. He was gentle to young and harsh to enemies, knowing always that family must be safeguarded at all cost. When the nightly terror struck the Tanaina, Ursus went to commune with nature, vowing to return and safeguard his people. He set out in a single canoe, allowing the currents to carry him seaward.

It is unclear how far he traveled, but after three nights, just as dawn broke the horizon, a vicious storm of supernatural proportions struck, upending the canoe and tipping Ursus into the frigid waters. Now, he thought, I will surely die, and my people will die with me. As the cold enveloped him, Ursus felt the presence of the spiritual. He had heard stories of spirit animals saving men and women from almost certain death. He wondered if, perhaps, this would happen to him, but no, it was not the case. In his near-death state, Ursus felt the spiritual essence came not from somewhere nearby, but from within himself, as if he were the spirit totem that was supposed to come rescue him. Suddenly reinvigorated, Ursus swam mightily and broke the surface of the water. Somehow, the chill of the surf did not trouble him any longer. He climbed ashore and took stock of himself. He was changed, by the grace of the spirit totems, into a new form. Without looking in the reflection of the water, Ursus knew what form the totems had given him. Ursus was now the Bear, the mightiest of all totems.

He ran then, covering ground much more quickly than was previously conceivable. He arrived home just in time to catch the Succubi, the women of unnatural beauty, as they stole into the village, black eyes hungry and sultry with lust. He opened wide his new jaws and roared a challenge before falling upon them and striking with claw and fang. Never in their centuries of life had the sisters beheld such a primal fury. Dismayed and thoroughly confused, the sisters fell back, melting into the night. Ursus stood in the center of the village, and slowly, gradually, the villagers crept out to marvel at their savior, a Totem given flesh. Though it would be many years before the Denali sisters ceased feasting on human blood, they never did return to the Tanaina village, for fear that Ursus the Bear Shaman would be waiting. Ursus, though now more spirit than man, did marry, and produced three heirs. These demi-totems, half human and half spirit, seemed to cease aging shortly after becoming grown men. Like their father, they possessed the ability to take on the spiritual form of the Bear. Eventually, Ursus grew old and died, and his eldest son assumed his role as the leader of the tribe. He in turn married and produced many children, all of whom carried the mark of their grandfather’s divine blood. Though Ursus’ eldest son eventually grew old and died, his younger brothers remained youthful, and have since stood watch over their tribe as spiritual leaders and cultural anchors.