The latest post over at Grand Commodore has a great number of Animal Men listed. I read it over, appreciating the Osprey Man and the Musk Ox man, among others.
Then it occurred to me that there was some overlap between the various Avian Animal Men and the Aviscaputs listed in The Terpsichorean Sodality of the Bird People, my entry for the False Machine Dungeon Poem challenge back in February 2021. These were less animalistic - and definitely more English - than HCK's Animal Men (as I even observed at the time!) But there's enough of the bird species used in TSotBP* that overlap with this new post that I feel I'd quite like to fill in the gaps.
Anyway, referring to the list of Sodality Members.
- Hoopoe Tietjens. [Hoopoe]
- Picador Vansittart. [Magpie]
- Raptora Uexkull. [Kestrel]
- Iolanthe Wrenfield. [Wren]
- Lanner Coningsby. [Lanner falcon]
- Urgulanilla Guillemot. [Guillemot]
- St. John Goldfinch. [Goldfinch]
- Clemency Yaffle. [Green woodpecker]
- Gymkhana Dabchick. [Dabchick]
- Monedulus Alleline. [Jackdaw]
- Egret Dalziel. [Great white egret]
- Hilarion Ptarmigan. [Ptarmigan]
Magpie Men already exist, as do Wren Men and Kestrel Men. For completeness, here are their entries.
Kestrel man
The animal man attack helicopters; hover and dive
A lot of people like their coats
Discourse tends to be sort of ratchet
Flying (don't need traverse to remain airborne), +d6 Damage when diving at least 15’
***
Magpie man
It’s not that you have to be a thief, it’s that skill and interest have a compelling channelizing effect
You are profoundly intelligent, however intelligence is orthogonal to impulse. Impulse may win out against reason. Desire often wins out against reason
You can sing beautifully; that’s one way to gain coins (them being shiny is less important than reputed)
Or you can do what people will expect you to do
Pica pica
Their mate-attraction is done a little bit more suavemente than most bird men
-1 Str, +3 Int, -3 Wis, +3 Cha, +3 to Bardic performance, Advantage to Pickpocket, Advantage to Lockpicking, Professional Skill: Numismatist (Int)
***
Songs appeal to dilettantes
Attracted to the caves of the Bat Men and the Cave Swallow men; often serve them as heralds, troubadours, and auxiliaries. Despite enjoying insect man flesh, wren men often serve with antman armies, as well
Small-bird Napolewren complex**
-1 Str, +2 Cha, +2 to Bardic performance
Massive crrrrresssssstLong elegant beak, which seems like it would be a bad idea to be on the wrong end ofOccasionally claims to be the king of the birds; this is amusing to eagles, offensive to swans and an affectation to most othersProbably never going to invent a religion, but pretty good at keeping one going (occasionally, one will turn out to be a particularly magnetic cult leader)
Flying, Animosity: Swan men, Advantage to Intimidate
Fly best in straight lines, and take a lot of airborne prey - if kestrels are attack helicopters, they are interceptors
Like the savannah, great on a safari
Cooperative hunters, no glory boys here (by Raptors standards)
+2 Str, Flying, Copes well with the heat
Cliff dwellers, highly fertile
Can attack water-dwellers in one-minute dives to surprising depths and swim 30' underwater
Mostly spend their time fishing and ignoring youSome are black and white, some brown and white. The abstract curves of their patterns have led guillemots to develop a form of folk-art rather like dazzle camouflageFlying, Diving, -1 Cha
***Goldfinch man
Small, with red, white and black faces like exaggerated theatrical masksExcellent singers and quick learners, frequently find a place as an artiste of some kind (sparrows are far more down-to-earth and easier to get on with backstage)They know how popular they are, and how much the powerful like to keep them around - they are almost always adopting a social persona of some kind-1 Str, +2 Cha, +2 Int, +3 to Bardic Performance
***Green woodpecker man***
Sleek, red-headed.
Thick beak, thick skull.Better joiners than lumberjacks; they pair up with Beaver men to corner the woodworking industry. Vertical integration: tree-roots and tree-trunks!Sounds like they're laughing at you, probably aren't+1 Con, Flying, Affinity: Beaver Men, Can make a d4 attack that ignores light armour or breaks a wooden shield
***
Dabchick man
Small, dumpy
Like to live by lakes and other smaller bodies of waterBetter in the water than on land, if not quite to penguin levelsBeautiful chestnut throat and cheeksHave a reputation in some circles as being really good harbourmasters and lockkeepers. Have a reputation in other circles as being good smugglers.-1 Str, Flying, Advantage to stealth in water
***Jackdaw man
Look faintly clerical and shabby, decent mimic, excellent for spy work in cosmopolitan settings
Social, but not always very talkative
Smaller than Crow men and Raven men, and less of a target for Swan men
A jackdaw man is reputed to have invented the first joke+1 Cha, Flying, Choose 1 additional language, Suffers no disadvantages in ruins and tunnels
***
Great white egret man
Long tall white streak with thin legs and manic eyes.
Will squint at you like a librarian then puncture you full of holes with a spear-sharp beak
Politely baffled by people who fish for a hobby. Utterly antisocial white fishingGood with a harpoon, thinks tridents and eelspears are for losersFlying, d8 beak attack with the reach of a polearm, Animosity: Frog men
***
Ptarmigan man
Undergo a personality shift with their winter plumage - from dowdy summer shyness to glacial winter hauteur
Not a frequent flier.They taste delicious, and they know it.Not afraid of thunderstorms+2 Cha in Winter, -2 Cha in Summer
I regret not making Urgulanilla Guillemot a Gannet.***
I suspect that the Great white egret man would serve as a heron man also.
* Pronounced 'Tsot-Bop', if you must...
** Alas, a missed opportunity to discuss London architecture.
***I'd forgotten that these turned up in the Three Mile Tree.
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