Cool.

Quote from: altfritz;967504Personally, I treat Feshenga as crocodiles. IIRC the rules state they attack on sight, but to me that is a very simplistic, even juvenile, way of running things. In MY TEKUMEL they swim about just like Nile crocodiles or Australian Salties do in the present day. They like to lie on the banks of the rivers and soak up the sun, the lazy beasts!

Perfect. I never have a creature attack, just because. Never made sense to me either.
In mine too. The Feshenga are great ambush predators for those foolish enough to take a leisurely walk by the river bank and not pay attention to what's going on. They are lazy aren't they?
 

Quote from: altfritz;967506I also freely add other creatures. As everything I do is more miniature based and more wargame than RPG, I like to have miniatures for everything including the physical manifestations of spells. Barzoomian creatures and D&D monsters - many of which often seem like imitations of, or inspired by, Tekumel monsters. (Just as many Tekumel monsters are inspired by earlier D&D creatures.) Call of Cthulhu also provides many flora as well as fauna. :-)

No question about this. I also have done the same over the years. "My Tekumel" has Ankhegs, Bullettes, Carrion Crawlers, and Gibbering Mouthers, to name just a few. If it feels right for Tekumel I will include it.
CoC has been an endless source of inspiration for me. Even the Pariah Gods in "My Tekumel" fear the Great Old Ones, and in the rare case when their servants manifest upon the Tekumel Plane of Reality bad things happen.

Quote from: altfritz;967507I should add that the Dodo, is alive and well on MY TEKUMEL. Several species of, actually, b/c of different manufacturers making miniatures in different sizes! The Freebooter Dodos are what the Tsolyani call the Kaika. :-)
YMMV.

And so they should be! As should the Tasmanian Tiger, Carrier Pigeon, etc.


Shemek

Quote from: chirine ba kal;967509And I have both, courtesy of IKEA and the Coca-Cola Company. I'll bring them, next Saturday.

Oh, Oh, can I come too? I'll make the trip from Pechano.

Quote from: chirine ba kal;967511I personally don't know, never having been chased by them in my long career. Having said that, given that the Lords of Humanspace were Not Nice People, and given to indulging themselves in the slightest whims, it would not surprise me that some of this fauna made it to some jaded lord's garden menagerie - and that the things eventually got loose. Phil himself noted that Tekumel is a big planet, with lots of room - and that while we don't have horses in the Five Empires, they were found over on the other side of the planet by the party at one point. See also my reply to Gronan, which reflects years of gamin with Phil.

This is what I felt was the siuation.
I have always thought of the Lords of Humanspace like the Harkonnens from Dune, but with the volume set to 11. It is precisely for this reason that I thought that there might be descendants of other types of Terran creatures, which were not described in the Sourcebooks and other writings. I was just curious if you had encountered them with Phil.
I know in that in "My Tekumel" there are the descendants of the crocs, in out of the way places where the hunting is good. And I can tell you that they are damn big brutes! If any Terran creature could survive Tekumel's indigenous flora and fauna it would be a crocodile or shark, IMO.

Quote from: chirine ba kal;967516Agreed; they are sapient, and not stupid. They make for very formidable foes, if you rile them up. Miniatures by Reaper, but I don't know if you can still get them.

Do Reaper make a miniature that is a good proxy for the Feshenga?

Quote from: Shemek hiTankolel;967541If any Terran creature could survive Tekumel's indigenous flora and fauna it would be a crocodile or shark, IMO.

Or humans.

Quote from: AsenRG;967543Or humans.

Taka Brachko!:D:D

Quote from: chirine ba kal;967511(...) Having said that, given that the Lords of Humanspace were Not Nice People, and given to indulging themselves in the slightest whims, (...)

I'm surprised to see the Ancients characterized that way, as I never realized they were such a nuisance from reading the source material. Tekumel was a leisure planet, which the Ancient humans shared with many of the intelligent species of Human Space. They may have been capricious, but why say that they were "Not Nice People"? Because of the way they treated Tekumel natives?

Quote from: altfritz;967506I also freely add other creatures. As everything I do is more miniature based and more wargame than RPG, I like to have miniatures for everything including the physical manifestations of spells. Barzoomian creatures and D&D monsters - many of which often seem like imitations of, or inspired by, Tekumel monsters. (Just as many Tekumel monsters are inspired by earlier D&D creatures.) Call of Cthulhu also provides many flora as well as fauna. :-)

That's rad.

Quote from: altfritz;967504Personally, I treat Feshenga as crocodiles. IIRC the rules state they attack on sight, but to me that is a very simplistic, even juvenile, way of running things. In MY TEKUMEL they swim about just like Nile crocodiles or Australian Salties do in the present day. They like to lie on the banks of the rivers and soak up the sun, the lazy beasts!

I like that. Very cool, and quirky too. Feels more realistic, for sure.

Quote from: chirine ba kal;967511(...) Having said that, given that the Lords of Humanspace were Not Nice People, and given to indulging themselves in the slightest whims, (...)

I'm surprised to see the Ancients characterized that way, as I never realized they were such a nuisance from reading the source material. Tekumel was a leisure planet, which the Ancient humans shared with many of the intelligent species of Human Space. They may have been capricious, but why say that they were "Not Nice People"? Because of the way they treated Tekumel natives?

Quote from: Shemek hiTankolel;967542Do Reaper make a miniature that is a good proxy for the Feshenga?

Reaper's 'Dark Havens' #2730, "Cavern Crawler" was the one that I got (I have a pair, actually; the Feshenga Brothers, Jake and Elwood. I couldn't stop myself, sorry.) to annoy my players. I don't know if they made the transition over to the plastic 'bones' material or not, but you can get them on-line from a number of places. I'd also suggest that nice man, Howard Fielding of The Tekumel Project; he might have a little something in the pipeline...

Quote from: Neshm hiKumala;967559I'm surprised to see the Ancients characterized that way, as I never realized they were such a nuisance from reading the source material. Tekumel was a leisure planet, which the Ancient humans shared with many of the intelligent species of Human Space. They may have been capricious, but why say that they were "Not Nice People"? Because of the way they treated Tekumel natives?

That - they destroyed a civilization to build a resort world, remember - and some of their other little projects, like using selective breeding to produce deckhands, flight engineers, communicators, and soldiers to support their empire. They were masters of energy and matter, and had - as near as we can tell - very little concern for their subjects. Might also want to research the Syndics of Dlash, who may just be the last holdouts of Humanspace on Tekumel. I'd also refer back to the Arisia / Boskone series; keep in mind that Phil thought that it was hysterically funny that we were all working for Boskone, and fighting to keep the Arisians out of our little pocket dimension. Sure, individuals may he been nice people, but as a culture they sort of tended to not fit that description.

Yes, as was mentioned, the Harkonnens and the rest of the Great Houses, and with the dial nailed in place on 11. Phil loved the Dune books, and you can't go far wrong following in his footsteps.

Quote from: chirine ba kal;967566Reaper's 'Dark Havens' #2730, "Cavern Crawler" was the one that I got (I have a pair, actually; the Feshenga Brothers, Jake and Elwood. I couldn't stop myself, sorry.) to annoy my players. I don't know if they made the transition over to the plastic 'bones' material or not, but you can get them on-line from a number of places. I'd also suggest that nice man, Howard Fielding of The Tekumel Project; he might have a little something in the pipeline...

How the heck did I never see this before? Must, purchase, now!

Chirine,

What miniature would you suggest as a proxy for a Tinaliya?

Quote from: Shemek hiTankolel;967574How the heck did I never see this before? Must, purchase, now!

I haven't communicated with Howard in some time. I need get some Ssu, and I'd like to know if he can steer me in the right direction, or perhaps he has some for sale.

Quote from: Shemek hiTankolel;967575Chirine,

What miniature would you suggest as a proxy for a Tinaliya?

Howard Fielding's Tekumel Project 'Tinaliya'.

Resin and metal castings, with various poses for the arms, and just too much fun to pass up. I don't know if he's got them in his catalog, yet, so I'd ask...

Quote from: Shemek hiTankolel;967574How the heck did I never see this before? Must, purchase, now!

Be fair; it's a huge line, and unless you're a sad, pathetic old man like me who looks in at the lines on sale at his FLGS on a weekly basis you could very well miss something. I like to look at miniatures, so I check the shop walls and peruse the Internet in search of ideas. I think I have links to some of these good folks on my blog, as well as photos of the miniatures when I can remember to take them...