Two views of ducks....
I'm not terribly fond of the first view; heck, as I was reminded when watching part of the "Darkwing Duck" cartoon that most Disney Ducks speak prefectly normally. But I do think that ducks living among humans and adopting human culture _will_ tend to be objects of ridicule, placed on the defensive and probably reacting a bit like Donald. It'll be a rare and exceptional duck who really is respected by humans or anybody else.
I'm inspired by Sergio's suggestion of Eurmal the Duck Friend, however. I'd suggest that among the Durulz tricksters have a higher place in society than among their Orlanthi neighbors; they aren't outcasts as such. The function is a bit like what Mark Sabulaskas suggested a few Digests back with his Trickster "accidentally" dispatching a Riddler when no one else in the tribe could; protecting the ducks from hostile outsiders.
Here the model is Daffy Duck, as portrayed in older Warner cartoons.
Our duck trickster harasses and insults and even attacks (in a bizarre
fashion) those who would harm the durulz. I'd propose that the duck trickster
is in a subcult of Eurmal; the duck trickster would never harm another duck
(except maybe an outcast) but it's open season on anybody who might mess with
the tribe.
Often the only ducks an outsider might see is a Trickster, and from this they determine that all ducks are a joke. But they may well find out otherwise; I don't think that ducks follow Humakt as a suicide cult.
(Confession: While I did read the Gold Key Duck comics as a kid, I always
found Daffy to be a whole lot funnier than Donald.)
V.S. Greene : klyfix_at_aol.com : Boston, near Arkham...
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