Durulz Spirit Cults of Wenelia

The durulz people of Genertela, otherwise known as ducks, wereducks, nuisances, etc. are generally assumed to be entirely local to the Dragon Pass region, and any durulz encountered outside of said region are thus travelers or refugees. There is, however, a population native to western and central Maniria. 

It is also a truism that durulz do not have religion of their own- they follow the religious ways of the people around them, mainly the Heortling people of Sartar (though persistent rumors continue of a brief and spectacularly unsuccessful effort by a clan of durulz to adopt the ways of the Grazeland Pony Breeders). This truism is mostly right but in some critical ways wrong, for the durulz of Maniria have knowledge of certain spirits that their neighbors do not. The following presents a selection of said spirits, with such information as could be gathered about their names, habits, contexts, imposed taboos, etc. 

Great Uncle

Great Uncle is an ancestral spirit to all ducks, I was told. In the days of the Ganderland, one duck grew so fabulously wealthy it is said that he had entire ponds of gold and gems to swim in, so much so that everyone addressed him as "uncle" in the (usually vain) hopes of gaining some small portion of his wealth. While somewhat of a miser, Great Uncle was nevertheless always willing to help out his nephews and nieces. 

Great Uncle, again I was told, grants those people who follow him the charms "Tougher than the Toughies" and "Smarter than the Smarties", which I was unable to see demonstrated. They must obey a taboo wherein the first item of real value they acquire after joining the spirit society must be retained by them forever to retain the powers of the spirit. If it is lost, it must be recovered within a season, or else the process of initiation must be repeated and the taboo reimposed. 

It is customary to give a newly-initiated member of the spirit society a coin or gemstone to at least ensure that their taboo object is at least something that they are unlikely to use for a practical purpose and which can be both protected and carried around without exciting much comment.

Great Uncle has several enemy spirits: Flint Heart and the Rock Duck are chief among them, as are the Bad Dogs (enemies of the durulz generally), and he cannot abide beagles specifically. 

Dark Wing

Dark Wing is a spirit of the dark and night who is said to be an avenger of wrongs, who inspires a thirst for justice or revenge in even the most amiable people. Dark Wing is well-known from other contexts, but usually as a bird of the night- an owl, or perhaps a night-jar. The durulz insist, though, that "Dark Wing is a duck!"

Dark Wing offers charms associated with sneaking, cunning, and fistfighting. (Many of them seem of dubious effectiveness.) Taboos for these involve requiring you to declare your presence dramatically before directly engaging in conflict with your enemy, requiring you to refrain from killing anyone other than the targets of your revenge, requiring you to refrain from fighting anyone other than the targets of your revenge, requiring you to disguise yourself when about the work of your revenge. The sheer diversity of said taboos has prompted some suggestions (admittedly entirely confined to the tiny world of durulz studies) that Dark Wing is associated with the familiar Humakt and the geases his followers must abide by. 

Durulz themselves loudly (and incoherently) disclaim any such affiliation with "Hueymakt". 

Dark Wing claims many enemy spirits, but few have ever shown their faces among the Durulz, bar perhaps his "opposite" (is this a manifestation of Sun Hawk?).

Horrible Goose

Horrible Goose has no name. They have no titles. They have no gender. They are simply a horrible goose. 

Horrible Goose offers charms for thieving and stealing. The price that Horrible Goose demands for this is that whatever you steal must be tossed into a pond after you steal it. This is normally interpreted as "you must make an offering, ideally some part of what was stolen", which might explain why said charms normally are used to steal via walking right up to someone and grabbing the item out of their hand. 

Horrible Goose also is blamed for an illness durulz claim to suffer occasionally from, wherein "melodious quacking is replaced by appalling honking". This vocal condition often requires shamanic or Trickster intervention to effectively treat, though I could never be sure if anyone in the clans I visited was suffering from it or not. 

As the durulz of Kerofinela do not appear to suffer from this ailment, and as Horrible Goose is clearly a manifestation of Trickster, it seems possible that Horrible Goose's ubiquity among the durulz of Maniria is due to the Middle Sea Empire's experiments with Trickster worship. The durulz themselves suggested that Kerofinelan durulz universally suffer from it, and to a very advanced degree, as their speech is barely comprehensible. I give this little credibility. 

Loony

When the ducks were expelled from the skies, the durulz, huddled together for warmth as the Flood rose, felt sure that this was the end. And then Loony descended from the skies and plowed awkwardly into the waters. When he swam ashore, he began to teach them how to live. 

The ways of life he taught them were not easy. They have brought the durulz into conflict often. And yet they are the right ways for durulz to live. No other way seems fitting.

Loony has a consistent appearance: a tall, thin durulz with dark feathers save for a thin ring of light around his neck. That is where Humakt beheaded him. And so Loony made the path down into the Underworld that ducks follow. 

Loony is respected but few join his spirit society, as the taboo requires you to lose all contests against rabbits. This worries the durulz I spoke to so much in its implications that it outweighs the power the member gains over pigs, always beneficial in Mralot and Entru's country. 

Nevertheless, Loony is typically seen whenever the ancestral spirits are summoned, and his traditional mode of worship is truly ecstatic in nature- the worshippers fling themselves about, leaping and jumping as if trying to propel themselves into the sky, seeming to mimic the loons that are such a common sight in Manirian lakes and rivers. The cries they make are almost musical. 

Mocking Hunter

Mocking Hunter is a spirit that is frequently called upon by ducks who are being hunted, chased, or threatened with violence. As such, his spirit society may be one of the most prevalent among durulz. 

Mocking Hunter will bedevil those who assail you. His laughter will disrupt their every action, and he will guffaw even louder when they make a mistake. He appears in the form of a hunting animal common to the region, bright orange in color with black ears. The taboo he imposes is that he will laugh at you in turn whenever you make mistakes.

Mocking Hunter, according to my friends from Duck Point, was summoned by the Lunar Empire during the Duck Hunt as one of the spirits used to aid in tracking down fugitive ducks. After Fazzur's fall from grace, he was ungraciously exorcised by Lunar shamans and so as a result he hates Moon-days. He is thus ineffectual on days when the Red Moon is full.

Fill Me Up

Fill Me Up is one of the more despicable spirits the ducks know of. They endlessly debate whether he's a spirit of Communication, and thus perhaps a curse of Issaries on the durulz for some ancient wrongdoing, or a spirit of Disease and thus Mallia at work. 

Nevertheless, his effects are real. Those possessed are filled with the urge to drink heavily, impulsive rages against bizarre targets, and worship of Stasis. Some have even been known to quack furiously about how Orlanth is inferior to Molanni because the Emperor was right and Orlanth was wrong. 

Fill Me Up appears as a durulz of solid green with a nauseatingly bright yellow bill. He is easily exorcised by the possessed individual hearing a genuine joke in his presence. It is normally advised to do this after getting the possessed individual good and drunk to the point of being unable to stand up and fight anyone clearly in the early stages of telling a joke. 

Fill Me Up is, according once again to Dragon Pass ducks, their equivalent of Bad King Urgrain. A legendarily terrible king from the deep mists of time, who was pulled back to the world of the living by Delecti the Necromancer out of annoyance at duck insolence. The diminutive hero, bright yellow feathers and smiling face always present, who overthrew Fill Me Up before appears on icons stored in many duck temples and houses. 

This appears to have been part of a larger scroll or possibly even a codex on the durulz people. The copy I found had been rolled up inside a scroll on fortification construction methods used in early Vingkotling societies, deep in the stacks of the Rhigos Lhankor Mhy temple. I can only presume that it was placed there to protect it, as no one goes to Rhigos to learn about fortifications.