Sunday, July 05, 2020

Corsair Critters

The rule book has 2 animals specifically described, along with their own character sheets to show how to do animals. These are the fire imps, which have a habit of actually bursting into flame when enraged, and dragonets, a smaller cousin of the larger dragon species. We've also introduced 3 other beasts that are unique to this setting but not part of the core book. Well, the core book being all of 36 pages I don't see having a bestiary is going to fit as well as not being the main point of this game. Corsairs is all about the sky ships and booty! Although the group that is gathering seems less about the booty and more about exploring the world of Teboa.

But as I just got the excellent Welsh Monsters and Mythical Beasts Kickstarter book by CCJ Ellis, there was a postcard with what can be a dragonet. So here is the dragonet as drawn by CCCJ Ellis
Welsh, getting it translated looks like it says thank you! Though this was a year or so late, there have been a lot of things happening and well worth the wait.

Anyway, on to the various creatures and their habitats. 

As noted, there are two detailed in the book, the fire imp and the dragonet. Both have similar character blocks to how the player characters work, which gives us the info we need for opposing rolls and hits points. We can see that they fire imp only has 4 hit points, has a 3d roll for acrobatics (so if you were trying to shoot it and it was dodging, there would be 3 opposing rolls to your hits. Cool thing in this game is that the player rolls all the dice - hope you bring your six sided dice! and several of different colors to have the opposing rolls as well). The fire imp is a bit of a fighter as well, with 4 dice for its attacks (Might - 3d6 + 1d6 for its skill). So it can cause some significant damage! Finally you can see it is not overly observant with its wits at 1d6 + 1d6 for observation. So if you are trying to sneak up on one to use, say, as a fireball should you be able to throw across to the next ship, you may well be able to do so, I would not advise juggling them, despite one player's constant desire for a juggling character of ill-repute. 

So using that as a base, we can extrapolate our larger sky-faring beasts.

Sky whales

Hunted for the same reasons they were hunted here: blubber, oils, meat, bones are all useful. Additionally, their air bladders are often used as wind socks are used here: a long line with a sky whale air bladder aids sky ships in docking, knowing which way and how hard the wind blows. They would have a significant number of hit points, depending on the specific species and size. The smaller ones probably at least 12-15 plinked, 6-8 injured and 2-4 maimed. The larger ones may well double those amounts. 

Farther to the north, the Ironbound have actually trained the Sky Diver whales as both steeds and battlemounts. Fortunately for the Alderin Empire and those farther south, the great Sky Divers do not tolerate the warmer southern airs. Canons have been mounted on these great animals, though usually the range is limited and the canons smaller as they have found that the larger canons can flip the whales, and once flipped they almost always die as they plunge into the Molten Sea far below, unable to right themselves.

There are several species of sky whales throughout the world of Teboa. Beyond humans, their major foes are the dragons, who eat the whales. Most whales themselves seem to absorb the repellium gases that burst up from the Molten Sea, as well as air mites. They are grazers. 

Cresters

Cresters may be related to the sky whales and jus tbe a very different species. They are actually carnivorous and eat flying fish and birds. There are two major breeds, the Red Cresters and the Great White Cresters which are a larger breed. They too are hunted for the same reasons as the sky whales, with the additional bonus of their teeth. Cresters teeth are used as weapons for ship harpoons, as well as scrimshawed into ornate dioramas. Their hit points are similar to the sky whales, but they are significantly faster and more difficult to hunt. 

Note: These come from the Windward game that I am anticipating. I like to cross-pollinate my worlds.

Dragons

Dragons are also here on the world of Corsairs. Going with the Drifting Dragons anime, there are more dragon species than you can throw a stick at apparently. They range in size from smaller than the sky whales to beasts that dwarf the largest of sky ships. They too are hunted but with a lot less success. As a result, dragon meat costs significantly more on the market. And tastes a lot better.

Unlike most of the other flying species of Teboa that use air bags for buoyancy, dragon bones are embedded with repellium. When caught, dragon bones are often used to replace the repellium in ship lift lugs. While not as effective as mined repellium, and much more difficult to come by, sailors also swear it is more reactive than mined repellium and allows for faster transitions. 

Some dragons have significant defense mechanisms. The charred pit that was Peford On The Keyles is proof that some dragons just should not be hunted. 

Smaller animals

Teboa has the normal run of other animals: birds, cows, sheep and fish. A kind of steer is raised in the vast Cahill Grasslands, herded by land-based nomads who traverse the plains in their carts. The grasslands allow for sledges to be a fairly effective and easier to maintain mode of transportation than wheeled carts, though not as fast. But as with many nomads, speed is not the point, the journey is the point and life is, as Sleve puts it (and now with feeling everyone! You know the words):
*Liiiiiiiiiiiife is a journey. Don’t let it get you down. Liiiiiiiiiiiife is a journey. Don’t miss it for the crowd. All you need to do is feeeeeeeel the loooooooooove in your heart.* You can never truly get lost brother, because the love is always in your heart.


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