Haida Gwaii Mod (This round of beta closed)

[Foodstamp]

XiahouDun said:
How about a magic Killer Whale that loses its fins and gains short stubby legs on land, like the mer people of Oceana?

That's probably the way it will be implemented if I include a 3rd pretender. A shapeshifting killer whale with a land form and a water form. Although the air whales in "The Maxx" were pretty wicked

[danm]

A good (and thematic) solution for the whale Pretender is to set it up as a shapeshifter (like dragons) with a weak human form on land, and SC whale form in the water. The animal/people distinction is very blurry in Haida myths, and most animals show up in human form fairly regularly.

If you can force the transform based on location, it'd be cool -- if not, having the human form amphibious, and the whale water-only should work fine.

I'd also suggest using the Grey Whale, as that is more culturally appropriate (though a grey spermwhale definatly will LOOK more "SCish")

[HoneyBadger]

I considered other whales, including the grey whale and the Narwhal, but as the Moby might show up in other nations as a SC, I'd rather it be an "iconic" figure, which the distinctive spermwhale definitely is. Besides, I like the name "Moby" and it's nice to slip a Melville reference into Dom3.
I'll probably use your shapeshifter idea though, danm, thank you.

[danm]

If you end up calling him "Moby", then the human form has to be a geeky little bald vegetarian musician-type.

hehe

[HoneyBadger]

Actually, I'm thinking of calling him "Frog". In certain Aboriginal American legends, it was Frog who, at the behest of Raven, swam to the bottom of the ocean to recover land which Raven then put onto the back of a giant turtle to form the land portion of the World. I'm thinking that being able to transform into a spermwhale would be an appropriate and fitting reward, because ofcourse spermwhales are known for deep diving.

Frog would have three forms, the first would be a human shaman, the second would be a giant aquatic frog, and the third would be the Moby.

Speaking of Pretenders: is there any way we could get Raven to have an extra form or two? Since he's known for changing his shape, and I don't believe he currently has more than one form.

[Shovah32]

I think shapechanging is definitely the way to go with the moby. Even if haida started with a land+water province how would the aquatic whale move?

[Foodstamp]

What kind of form would you want for the Raven?