Nuclear Beasts

Hounds?

I've currently got a lot of cat-based races (Panthers, Lions and Cheetahs), but only one canine race. It might be worthwhile to do another canine or two, probably as third generation Beasts.

Some possibilities:

• Wolves again, just that this time they walk upright. Since I'm trying to remove the same-breed-different-types bit, I'll probably skip this.
• Hounds. Basically a nicer way of saying Dogs. These would probably be like the "Barks" I've seen depicted on VCL.
• Coyotes.
• Foxes.

Let's see... what types do I currently have?

Herbivores: one 1st and one 2nd (Musk-ox and Elephant).
Canines: one 1st (Wolves).
Mustelids: one 2nd, sort of (Otters are close). Weasels could be added without much difficulty.
Rodents: two 2nd (Mice and Squirrels).
Fliers: one 2nd (Bats).
Felines: one 1st and two 2nd (Panthers, Lions and Cheetahs).
Ursine: one 1st (Bears).
Whatevers: one 3rd (Hyenas).

Heh. Checking online, the Ethiopian Wolves are sometimes called Jackals. Better than that, there are Jackals all over Africa, so that would work well with the whole "All 3rd generation Beasts are from Africa" theme I have going. And no one will have trouble distinguishing between Wolf and Jackal.

Jackals could even get Small 1. They're actually about Fox-sized. I'm not sure I want a 3rd gen Beast with Small 1, but it wouldn't be inconceivable. Hm. Also, "Panther" usually refers to Leopards, not Pumas/Mountain Lions. I might want to change the 1st gen cats to Pumas, just to be clear. They don't have spots. Well, actually, looking online, they're known as Panthers, Pumas, Cougars and Mountain Lions, variously. So Panther does work if I prefer that word. Jenn prefers Cougar. I might go with that, too.

So, let's see... that would give us Jackals as a new 3rd Gen Beast. I could do Tigers as new 1st Gen if I wanted to. I could justify stuff like Foxes or Coyotes as 2nd Gen, but Raccoons fit the theme better. Give them an opposable thumb, and they're set to take over your house.

Tigers would be like Cougars, but bigger... and with Swimming instead of Acrobatics.

Raccoons are like a combo of Squirrels and Mice with Night Vision and size -1.

Jackals would be a bit like Hyenas... and might get size -1. They'd probably need a speed-boost of some sort, though, otherwise that would make them the slowest of all Beasts (if I assume that Size affects your movement rate). Let's see... they'd be omnivores... might even qualify for the Scavenger gift, dunno. I found one site that claims that they can climb well, but I haven't found any collaboration of that.

Posted by Kiz at July 2, 2004 11:25 PM