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# The Worlds of Squawk

wallpaper and 3D models extracted from Quake by id Software and used without permission

# Contents

| Overview Animals Player-Controlled Character Races

# Overview

Squawk is a science-fiction role-playing game (RPG.) It combines elements of strategy games and games of chance with storytelling and/or acting set in the Worlds of Squawk.
There are many Squawk worlds but they are too far apart to travel between them on foot, by ship or even by travelling through space. Instead they are connected by Displacers. These are gates that tunnel through and around three-dimensional space, reducing light-years and parsecs to inches and centimeters. They are constructed of nearly indestructible materials which can not be analyzed by any of the modern residents of the squawk worlds.

# Animals

Visible animal life on most Squawk worlds is primarily archosaurian. Crocodilians rule the seas instead of fish and whales. Dinosaurs roam these earths in the place of our mammals, and the skys are filled not only with birds but also fleshy-winged pterosaurs. Many squawk worlds resemble the worlds preserved in our Mesozoic fossils, while others are steamy jungles dominated by cold-blooded scaly monsters. Still other worlds, separated by Displacers high in the mountains or on islands at sea are populated by infinite varieties of birds.
It is important to answer one question right now: are dinosaurs warm or cold blooded? The answer is more complicated than just yes or no. Crocodilians are cold-blooded, for instance, and medium and small crocodilian body temperatures increase and decrease to match their surroundings quite quickly, but crocodilians have four chambered hearts and are fairly active creatures. Birds are warm-blooded and need to maintain a constant body temperature to survive. Birds also have a one-up on mammals because they have special air sacs to increase oxygen absorbtion which is needed for thei intensely energetic flying styles of some birds.
Pterosaurs are also warm-blooded like birds, but they have smaller body cavities and lack the air sacs that birds have. Many pterosaurs are actually more like bats than birds and can drop their metabolism to a cold blooded level when they rest. Most dinosaurs also have similarly variable metabolisms. They remain warm blooded full time for a couple of years after hatching which is how they grow so large and so fast. small dinosaurs can often raise and lower their metabolisms at will. Others change their metabolism in response to food, water supplies or weather, but the largest dinosaurs only generate enough internal heat to make up for the relatively tiny amount which escapes from their naturally insulated bodies during the coldest months of the year. Actually dinosaurs have more trouble getting rid of excess heat than staying warm. Since they do not usually have external ears or other big flaps of skin they often have tall fins on their backs (which are usually fairly stiff anyway.)
Dinosaurs can lay many small eggs at one time. They grow to full size very quickly and are sometimes protected by their parents. Older dinosaurs often have reptilian metabolisms and grow vey slowly but live very long. Herds of dinosaurs can become very large very fast. This leads to the main problem with dinosaurian metabolism: overpopulation. An overpopulated area can quickly become a desert full of herds broken up into rampaging clans and angry old loners. Male dinosaurs (often called bulls or drakes,) are particularly sensitive to population changes and often react with destructive and unpredictable behavior.

## Dragons

As there are no true serpents in the worlds of Squawk, the Squawk dragon is, like the chinese dragon, a crocodile. These amphibious monsters can be up to fifity feet long and are more than a match for even the most fearsome dinosaurs, but dragons come in all sizes down to the tiny lizard-like creatures which have built up many a knights reputation. All true dragons have armor and can move very quickly in water or on land. The dragon's famous 'fiery breath' is a combination of it's internal body heat that it maintains through shear bulk, and the fact that dragons only eat meat and digest it very slowly. A bite by a large dragon, if not immediately fatal can become poisonously infected.
Guivres are legless dragons. They act very much like snakes killing prey by constriction or poisonous bites. Small guivres can be found throughout rural areas preying on the avian and dinosaurian pests that feed on the crops that grow there. Larger poisonous guivres can be found anywhere far from large populations of creatures clever and organized enough to exterminate them. Some of the huge constricting guivres live in jungles and freshwater like boas and anacondas, while others hide among the rocks and reefs to hunt like eels. The Sand Wyrm is the largest crocodilian that lives entirely on land: covered with impenetrable armor, this horrific creature has an uncanny ability to detect water from miles away including the water within other animals. But even that monster is dwarfed by the Leviathan an unfathomably huge and long sea serpent whose bites have been found on the humongous whale-like crocodilians that roam the deepest oceans.
Lindworms are giant dinosaurian pedators. They have two legs but tiny arms, sometimes with only one or two fingers. There are many types of lindworms that are not closely related from almost crocodilian bipeds and waddling megalosaurs, to the great horned minotaur, the graceful allosaur, and the birdlike tyranousaurs. many lindworms have serated teeth that harbor toxic bacteria. Sometimes a single bite can take down the largest quarry if the lindworm is large enough. The lindworms size is it's Achilles' heel. if a lindworms can be tripped during a full charge of 25 to 35 mph, they can easily snap their neck or spine or break a hollow bone.

## Flying Creatures

Wyverns are large tailless pterosaurs. They have long heads and necks. The easiest way to recognize a type of wyvern is by its head. some wyverns have teeth that point outward to spear fish, baleen to sift algae like a flamingos, or just a pouch hangig from their neck to hold food for their young, while the giant wyverns--perhaps the largest flying creatures that every lived--have huge crests that not only identify their species but also help them steer as they soar, wating like a vulture for some hapless traveller to fall from exhaustion.
Instead of bats, the Squawk worlds have imps, which are small, long tailed pterosaurs. some imps are harmless insect eaters, others are vegetarian pests. The most infamous imp which gives all others the nickname 'goblins with wings' is the Vampyre which only comes out at night, biting little holes in sleeping animals and lapping up the blood that oozes out.

## Raptors and Raptors

Two types of animals are often called raptors: sickle clawed predatory dinosaurs and large predatory birds. Both creatures have much in common. They both have large hooked razor sharp claws, and can take down prey much heavier than themselves or, just as easily snatch smaller agile quarry. Both raptors and raptors have been known to hunt in packs using tactics that betray their formidible intelligence. Even the fighting styles of these two animals are similar. Using cat-like scratching, biting, and kicking their opponents are overcome by powerful, lethal strikes from a hundred different directions. The experienced traveller is always more watchful for these lightweight hunters than the larger, more obvious monsters like dragons and lindworms. Both animals are particularly deadly when trained as weapons for hunting or war.

## Land Animals

Terror cranes are flightless predatory birds, they are a common wolf-like predator on worlds that lack such animals. Their ten foot tall bipedal posture and pin-and-strike hunting tactics make them arch enemies of serpent and lizard-like creatures that can't launch an effective counter attack against the dancing, squawking terror crane.
Ratites are flightless running birds, this group includes giant elephant birds, eleven foot tall moas, high velocity ostriches, and crested sickle-clawed cassowaries. Many ratites can be domesticated and are often used as a lightweight riding animal or in teams to pull chariots.

## Rare Animals

The catoplebas or devourer is a guardian of the land of the dead, it is also found in tropical climates. This monster has a tyrannosaur's head attached to a short crocodilian body with four stubby legs that hold the animal upright like a hippopotamus, and a short thick tail. In other words, it is all mouth. This overequipped carnivore may at first seem less horrific than the tall and majestic lindworms whose head it has stolen, but you should never forget that the devourer could be waiting for you at any time concealed by tall reeds, thick brush or your neighbors hedge.
The eating habits of the bizarre reclusive cockatrice, a crested cassowary-like dinosaur with long arms, are a mystery. Scholars tell us that the cockatrice is a vegetarian, but a more commonly believed theory is that the cockatrices ugly face can stun, paralyze, petrify, kill or outright vaporize a foe, leaving the monster free to make a meal of its victims eggs or hatchling. It has also been claimed that cockatrices are half cassowary and half guivre. Care should be taken not to arouse cockatrices and cassowaries as they can easily shed their usually shy persona for a straightforward leaping attack, the cockatrice striking with its massive clawed forelegs and the cassowary with its sickle clawed feet.
Basilisks can also supposedly petrify their prey. Sometimes they have been accused of spitting poison or even fire. They are actually a variety of long thin lindworm that come in several varieties of markedly different sizes. All of them can be recognized by the double crests or small horns on their heads, if the sight of them doesn't turn you to stone.
Another dubious mystery animal is the bunyip, a huge biped with a crocodillian tail and a massive deep toothy head. This animal is such a stealthy hunter that some claim that it can turn invisible at will. It is believed that this strange cross between crocodilians and dinosaurs will eat anything that moves, so it is probably a good idea to avoid areas where bunyips have been sighted.
Unicorns are best known from their horns, a popular regent in potions, spells, and laxatives. Most of thes horns are fakes made from ceratopsian horns. The true unicorn horn has a core of bone and is part of the head crest of the unicorn which is a duckbilled dinosaur. Male unicorns are easily spotted by their purple heads, and therefore are rare in areas where intelligent armed hunters are found.

## Beasts of Burden

Giants, titans, and behemoths are enormous land animals that can be very useful draft animals or deadly natural disasters. Their long necks and tails can be used as natural cranes or as gargantuan whips that level cities. These animals are notoriously stupid but millenia of training and breeding have made them one of the most valuable creatures of the squawk worlds. giant multiple-hulled landships are often slung the backs of these mightiest of draft animals while a drummer commands the animal in the low-pitched tones that the creatures use to talk to each other. Despite tall tales of man eating behemoths lurking in deep lakes with their nostrils just above water, it is likely that such a submersion would create such a pressure difference between the animals massive body and its tiny head that the head would pop like a fleshy balloon spewing blood and gore everywhere.
Duckbills and other ornithopods are usually herd animals that crop low-growing plants like natural lawn-mowers. When these animals are frightened they can break into a sudden stampede crushing everything in their path. The many varieties of ornate duckbill head ornaments make these creatures skulls valuable as trophies and musical instruments, Duckbills tall back humps and tails make them useful as steeds on long journeys through sparsely vegetated terrain, while their dangerous unsanitary bite and thumb spikes combined with their fairly high intelligence make them the mount of choice for many knights.
Hounds can be any of several types of small predatory dinosaurs or birds. They all have a good sense of smell and are smart enough to be trained trackers. Most breeds of hound are also good fighters, sometimes they are even used for pit fighting. While many types of hound make great pets and some have screaches worse than their bites, others are trained to be vicious killers and should be treated with great caution.

# Player-Controlled Character Races

There are many intelligent species that make the Squawk worlds their home. Few of them live only on one planet. Some are avian or reptilian while others are almost humanoid. Most intelligent creatures have great manual dexterity and some form of speech, while a few make due with sign language and other compensations. There is no sharp distinction between merely 'clever' animals and 'intelligent' beings and the intelligence of the most clever races varies quite a bit.

## Anthrosaurs

| Anthrosaurs are humanoid dinosaurs. They stand upright and have no tails. Their hands have four fingers (including a thumb) and their feet have four toes. Their least humanoid features are their toothy snout and scaly skin. They have a thick main of hair growing out from their dome-like skulls which can grow very long or be cut very short. Their tall, erect walking posture gives them advantages in marksmanship and exploration. Because anthrosaurs have explored many worlds they are the one of the most populous civilized races. Their good manual dexterity also makes them valuable as scribes.

## Elves

| The Elves are a very intelligent Avian race with highly acute senses of sight and hearing. They are strong and quick with long arms and legs, but they are have hollow bones which make them lighter but slightly more fragile. They are also very tall but hunch over somewhat like birds and dinosaurs making them look much shorter than they are. Their main disadvantage is thier hands which are a bit too large, have only three fingers and end in sharp claws which interfere with their manual dexterity. Elves can generate great amounts of energy internally and it is commonly believed that they can use powerful magic.

## Goblins

Goblins are a relatively intelligent race of sickle-clawed dinosaur. They look something like raptors with bulging dome-heads and forward-facing eyes. They are almost completely uncivilized and rarely make any kind of tool but their animal ferocity and firepower combined with their intelligence makes them the nemesis of every civilization they come in contact with.

## Gargoyles

| Gargoyles are reptiles but are unusually intelligent. They are typically used by other species as sentries and bodyguards because of their uncanny ability to change their skin color to match their surroundings and move silently. The many varieties of gargoyles are recognized by their horns, neck frills spinal fins, and various other projections of horn and scale. Being cold-blooded makes gargoyles very temperature sensitive, but it allows them to breath more slowly, move silently, and swim or stay perfectly still for long periods of time. Gargoyles have five fingers or toes per limb making them naturally good at climbing and swimming.

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