Duck population distribution

[Stephen L]

Given my adventures are just to venture into the Ducklands... What is the Duck population distribution around Dragon Pass?

Here is some very tentative speculation, in anticipation of the wisdom which is hopefully to flow gushing from you, the ever-so-generous community.

Duck population in Dragon Pass: 10,000

Thanks to @Joerg’s input (but of course distorted by my own special lens of miscomprehension), perhaps 8 out of 10 Dragon Pass ducks to inhabit Duck Tribal lands (mainly Duck vale, Duck Point to Duck Ford, and extending around the Marsh, stretching a bit along the various rivers flowing into it, and also into Beast Valley, along Creekstream), one in ten further down the Creekstream, and the rest distributed, either attached to as small bands like Yozarian's or the Drakemere bunch, or individuals/pairs (presumably "adopted" into other clans, or outlaws, as in not-in-community rather than necessarily bandit).

Turning these into guesses for clans and other groupings.

Duck Tribal lands: population: 8,000, or 10-11 clans of 750 (or would Duck clans be smaller than typical Sartar Orlanthi?)

This would include Duck Point.  I can't find the figures, but I'd imagine Alone size which is only about 500, (even Swenstown is only 1000) and I'd imagine the duck population of Duck point to be only about 50% of this.

Duck Diaspora: 2,000

If we have a “village” group of 100, “bands” of about 25, and “pairs” of, well, 2, that might give:

	group size	frequency	Count
village	100	0.3	6
group	25	0.3	24
pair	2	0.3	300
Individual	1	0.1	200

There is some excellent stuff in Tales of the Reaching moon 19.

The Anas Clan, 270 ducks, living at the headwaters of the Creekstream River where it rises in Delecti’s Marsh.

It also mentions the remains of the Thunder Duck, Cabbage Duck and Rune Duck clans of the Sartar hills.

What do duck villages look like?

I’m imagining something like an Iron Age Crannog dwelling (with excellent and quick access to water, would that be more important that walls?):

[Joerg]

@Stew Stansfieldhas produced a number of distinctive duck style architecture pieces.

An alternative to the artificial island lake house would be the stilt houses, like those on neolithic Bodensee. Yet another version would be boat houses. Both these alternatives would have "cellar doors" into the water (but then artificial islands may have "sewers" allowing underwater access to the lake, too). And "lake" can be read as "open area of water inside a bog".

In your Diaspora, there might be more "nests" between "group" or "pair". But you can pull those out of those pairs, I guess.

 

Walls are used when the ducks occupy a larger piece of dry land. But even then, ditches, canals or grachts may be of greater importance, too. Other than walls, extensive thorn thickets (possibly with water-filled tunnels beneath) might make use of less solid soil for a fortification.

[Scorus]

A little on the diaspora. Some clans gave refuge to Durulz during the infamous duck hunt, so you will find anything from refugee camps to permanent villages around, depending on the time your game is set in. In some cases, the urulz have been incorporated into the clan, essentially as a new bloodline (albeit one that may not have all of the privileges). Hiording, Arnoring, and Marshedge would be good examples of this.

In the Hiording clan I put together, the Swan clan saw the Durulz as brethren and gave ca. 20 refuge and allowed to start their own stead near the end of the Swan River (which in my game is an actual river). That was basically marshland that the Durulz knew how to farm better than the humans. This proved critical to the clan's survival during the Great Winter as the effect on some water crops was not as severe as on land ones, though the humans didn't really acquire a taste for seaweed and algae! The Durulz now act as their own bloodline with an elder. The current lawgiver is a Humakt Durulz who sits on the Ring. Though there are certainly some in the clan who still resent their presence and correctly state that the Hiording gave up some of their historic status as a wealthy clan due to not taking advantage of the tax cut that came with the duck hunt on top of providing for the needs of the Durulz until they became self-sufficient.