Homebrew Durulz Species Details

gods fought amongst
themselves, Vadrus the Ill Wind, son of Umath, became
angry at Eurmal for giving Death to his younger
brothers first and not him. Vadrus decided to teach
Eurmal a lesson he would not forget. Calling forth his
cold winds, Vadrus froze Eurmal into a solid block of
ice. “Try and escape from that!” the storm god roared.
Vadrus took his great pointed hammer, called Rammer,
and smashed the frozen trickster into a thousand
thousand pieces. “See how you can put yourself together
now!” Vadrus called upon his cold winds again and
blew the pieces clean off the mountain top where they
rained down in the primeval forests that surrounded
Kero Fin. “Good riddance!” rumbled the god and went
off to bully something else.
The shattered fragments of Eurmal floated down,
down, down and covered the forest floor like snow.
Velhara, who lived in the wild woods and protected the
wild things, saw the pieces and thinking that they were
crumbs brushed from the Storm God’s table, called the
wild fowl to feast on this unexpected windfall. Of all
the birds of the forest called to the unexpected feast by
Velhara, the rambunctious ducks, who were bigger and
hungrier than the others, gobbled up as much as they
could. But the more they ate of the Eurmal fragments, the
bigger they grew and the stranger they looked. Eventually
the ducks looked less like birds and more like men.
Velhara knew all the wild animals in her forest,
many of whom called her mother. But these man/
duck beasts were something new and frightening.
Now in the wild forest there lived a great spirit called
the White Spider, who knew all the spirits of the
wild places. Velhara gathered the new things and
took them to the White Spider’s home in a spiral of
stones to see if she knew what the new things were.
The great White Spider looked at the new things
with her magic and told Velhara the new things
were harmless, but that inside each was part of an
unpredictable spirit and that might be trouble.
White Spider offered to use her skills to draw out the
pieces of the stranger spirit for Velhara. Both agreed that
putting it into something safe would be a good idea. At least
until they could work out if it was a friendly or malignant
spirit. So White Spider spun a silk sack to hold the spirit
and slowly pulled each fragment of Eurmal from the new
things, placing them carefully in the magic bag. When the
last piece was put into the bag the trickster was reborn, but
trapped by White Spider’s magical sack.
Eurmal pushed and fought against the sack but
could not escape its silky bonds. The trickster hated
being bound by anything. He whined, begged and
threatened his captors to be released, and even used his
lord Orlanth’s name as a covenant for his freedom. Now
Velhara was the half-sister of Orlanth and knew her halfbrother had made oaths of responsibility for the trickster
and his actions. Even though she knew Eurmal would say
and promise anything to secure his freedom, Velhara also
knew that Orlanth would honor any agreement made by
his bondsman. Orlanth was always breaking things and
then having to fix them so Velhara made Eurmal agree to
put back the new things back to how they were. Of course
Eurmal agreed and as soon as White Spider opened the
sack Eurmal leaped out and ran away laughing.
A trick is not a good trick unless you can savor it.
Eurmal looked back, wanting to see the look on the
faces of his captors but his eyes fell on the misshapen
forms of the new things. For the second time that
day the trickster felt uncomfortable. This was a new
sensation, one which he did not like one bit. It was
something called Pathos and his laughter turned hollow.
Perhaps it was because he had been helplessly bound
in White Spider's bag, or perhaps because he thought it
was funnier to do the opposite of what Velhara and White
Spider expected, whatever the reason was, Eurmal stopped.
He looked at the sad new things and agreed to use his
magic to help them. But not before he had found Pathos
and thrown it into White Spider's silk sack with a shudder.
Eurmal broke apart the new things and put them back
together. He moved parts around and slowly the new
things became their old shapes. Well most of them. Some
looked like they had before but had lost something. It was
their ‘wildness’. These Velhara put in the care of her niece,
Isbarn. A handful of them Eurmal could not change as he
had used them to hold all the bits he had not needed. “I
have done my best and that is all anyone can ask,” Eurmal
proclaimed and shrugged, looking at the half bird, half
man creatures. “There are always bits left over. Besides,”
he laughed, “I think they look better that way!”
Velhara said, “Then as you made them, you must care
for them.” Eurmal’s eyes grew as big as shields. “No, no,
no! I did not make them. I just tried to fix them. They are
yours, I am not a responsible parent!” Velhara replied,
“But they are not wild things any more. They do not belong
to me. They walk, talk and think like men. There is no
place in the wild woods for them and they will surely die.”
“In that case,” said Eurmal, “send them back to
Vadrus. After all, it was he that caused the whole mess
in the first place.” White Spider called for silence and
looked again upon the new things. “What you say is true
trickster. They carry the mark of the violent storm and of
death. Velhara, what you say is true. Without guidance
they will become dangerous. Has not Orlanth sent word
calling all to his side? Well then mischief-maker, you must
take the new things to your master and see if he will take
them into the Vingkotlings to serve him.”
“I am not going back up the mountain with those
things. Everyone will think they are funnier than me!”
Eurmal cried. “Besides, Vadrus might still be hanging
around and may try and kill me again.” Velhara smiled
widely at this, exposing her fangs. “That may be,” said
White Spider. “You must take on the form of the new
things and introduce yourself as their emissary. Surely
you can make a simple disguise, tell a good story, and
persuade your lord? Velhara, set apart a place close to
my home where the new things can live safe from the
wild things. I will keep an eye on them and make sure
they do not get lost.”
Velhara agreed and made a clearing east of White
Spider’s home for the new things to live. Eurmal’s
pride was stung and he agreed that he would wear
the shape of the new things and seek a boon for them
from his master. White Spider added a new stone
to her house so that the new things would always
have a place to return to should they wander too far
from their home.
And so it was.
At least that is what the Durulz say, but no one ever
listens to the ducks…

Durulz Traits

Duck rememberance

Fire vulnerability

Fire + Feathers = Bad

Duck remembrance

Much like Kunku Durulz remember.