This is a preview of the sub-species of Duck, that referees and players will encounter in the upcoming The Feathers and the Fury. Expect more in the coming months as I prepare this book for release.
River Ducks.They live in the Land of the Five Rivers, which they say is the primordial birthing ground of Duckkind, where the Great Ancestors stepped out from the Cosmic Egg and diverged into the four main sub-species of duck. They live in small settlements along the rivers, and beside large ponds, fishing and hunting in the marshes that is their home. Reown for smoking swamp-weed in the form of cig-ars.
Lake Ducks. Descended from River Ducks who “stepped up from the swamp” and have settled around the edges of the Great Lakes. There they build towns on stilts. Unlike the River Ducks, they are civilised and smoke pikes -which their civilisation crafts.
River & Lake Ducks are the most numerous types of Duck Kind because they have thrived in their marshy, wet homeland, known as Duck Coast, a largely untamed wilderness with lots of room to expand. Human sages consider them closely related cousins in the duck family of sub-species.
Tober Ones. Pyramid Ducks who build a step-pyramid, called Tobers, with their nests (the basic family unit in all duck cultures) on its tiers to be closer to the gods. Every 10 to 50 years, burn the city pyramid to the ground after an orgy of sacrifice and destruction and then start again from scratch on another site.
Serpentines.They split off from Tober Ones after falling out over destroying the home pyramid and starting again. After they left their mountain homeland, they went south into deserts and then settled around the Great River -which they call the “Great Snake”. Even in modern times, they will happily embrace disgruntled ex-Tober Ones who decide to leave that culture and head south, calling them “Enlightened Ones”. Worship lots of animal-headed gods derived from desert creatures. While an early period of building magnificent pyramids with smooth sides and crystal tops is well behind them, they are master builders of giant stone temples and organised urban cities. This is just as well since fierce desert storms periodically bury their cities. Named after their fearsome snake-headed god, Sek-Em.
Tober Ones and Serpentines are less numerous and confined to their homelands, the mountains which define the northern border of Duck Coast, and the flood plain around the Great Snake River to the East, respectively.
The following duck types are rare, numbering less than five hundred.
Aerial Ducks.A recent offshoot from Lake Ducks, where a mix of crafting and buoyant (but tragically explosive) marsh gas, has created a whole group of explorer ducks rumoured to have their own flying city called Liberty.
Crusader Ducks.Originally from Tober One’s civilisation, made up of an underclass group who escaped the orgy of violence that saw the end of the first pyramid. Later joined by similar escapees after the end of the second and third pyramids. They travelled north and established an advanced utopian civilisation in an especially fertile area known as Green Lakes. Their hopes and dreams were crushed by the towering terror lizard known as Godzilla, whose corrupting breath turned the land into a toxic wasteland known as the Groglands. The survivors took refuge in the nearby land of Gatan, where they absorbed the local culture, reforming themselves as a Warrior Order modelled on Gatan’s Knightly Orders. [Note: this group is detailed in the out-of-print zine The Duck Crusade]
Beast Riders. An offshoot of the Serpentines, desert nomads who learnt the secrets of riding the giant animals found on the fringes of the settled lands. Have spread throughout the Duck Coast.
Here’s Jon Hodgson’s cover for the book. From the top Left, an Aerial Duck Navigator looks down on a group of explorers sponsored by Duck Coast Merchant League. From Left to Right, a River Duck Scout, a Lake Duck Scholar fishing from an egg-shell boat, and a Serpentine Overseer naturally taking charge of this great undertaking. They believe they have discovered a “Womb Tomb” from the days of the first Duck Civilisation, which will possibly have a prized Cosmic Egg within.
