The best durulz reference is still John Castellucci's 'What the Beak Quacks' at
http://www.ibar.com/rqa/beak.html
where you can learn all about Hueymakt Deathdrake, Ducka Fowl and the Storm Bill.
And for a slightly more serious (sure.....) summary, see my own post at
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HeroQuest-RPG/message/12072
>It's a lot easier for people to laugh at them and treat them as a joke if they're just a transparent >comedy race. Sure funny is fine, and good for the game, but we want to include communities and >characters which/whom are a little more appreciated. There, I managed to say that with a straight >face.
Glorantha has a history of taking fairly one-dimensional ideas and turning them into fully developed, three dimensional descriptions, with pathos, nobility, and depth as well as humour. Trolls are probably the best example - they started out as ever-hungry villains to hit, but evolved via the trollkin curse and some depth description into something truly beautiful to avoid. Trollpak features perhaps the the finest fantasy roleplaying evocation of an alien culture for **any** game system, and folk like James Frusetta continue the high standards.
Storm Bulls also spring to mind as an example of one-dimensional ideas given unexpected and poignant depth.
The best way to keep Glorantha pure of course is to get rid of the humans - after all, they are stupid, one-dimensional creations that were derived from a comic book. In a (dwead) no-hooman Glorantha, Lunar geese, eagles and herons fight against rebel Sartarite ducks and hawks. We loyalists are few, but we are pure, and dwead Hueymakt keeps us free from error. :) Failing that, then of course we should round out ducks to take them beyond comedy stereotyping. At least a little bit.
Ducks, after all are twagic. I mean tragic. No seriously... The entire world is against them, and misunderstands them. Ducks are social, loving and gregarious, at least among themselves. Just stick to your part of the pond, or else.
To give but one example, the duck love of plain speaking is a prime source of misunderstanding with other races. Widespread worship of dwead Hueymakt, Loueymakt and Dueymakt means the ducks value truth much more than most other races. Their worship of Canarda also means that their language is earthy. Combining the two gives ducks an unparalleled beauty of expression, but outsiders typically misunderstand and think that ducks are simply fowl-mouthed. (Didn't see that one coming, did ya?)
>The title is a point in question. Do all ducks 'quack'? Surprisingly, not all do. For example, the Long->Tailed Duck (Clangula hyemalis) emits a 'yodelling whistle'*.
Mating yodels. Well it works for me. But how can I yodel with a cigar in my mouth?, as one poetic though exaspewating durultz epic so poignantly puts it?
>Beyond considerations of species, what about sex? Whoah!... not like that! I mean differences >between ducks and drakes? Male mallards possess a rather nice dark green head. Which is a lot >cooler than the first image which players generally first jump to, which is Daffy or Donald.
Gloranthan ducks bear live young. (I call non-intelligent species 'teals' to avoid confusion). So I suspect in some ways the may be closer to platypuses than teals. 'Platypus spurred ducks?' Do they have pouches? I've never had the courage to ask...
Seriously, thanks for your post. As a long-term tealophile working on some durultz keywords for a scenario to be run later this year, so I'd love to hear more of what you come up with.
Dwead Hueymakt will wise again!
John
>Best wishes,
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>Stu.
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>* Ah, yodelling ducks, there's an idea...
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