047 - The Gull-mind of San Francisco

Unnatural Entity: The Gull-mind of San Francisco

20th century multiple murderer and self-taught ornithologist Robert Stroud tread a line between fame and infamy. “The Birdman of Alcatraz” who was lauded as a poster child for reform developed the cure for avian hemorrhagic septicaemia from scratch, he also shot and stabbed several people and was a diagnosed psychopath. In between these pursuits he independently developed the adept school of Oiseauphagy during his incarceration, the arcane practice of devouring birds to breach the boundary of their dizzying sky-world (fully detailed in Nimrod Tzarking’s “Paris, TX vs. The 333rd Reich”). That’s the real reason he was transferred from Leavenworth to Alcatraz in 1942 and denied further access to his "pets", the prison authorities secretly deemed his proclivity for eating them alive too sensational for public record.

By then it was too late. True their actions put a crimp in things but he would not be deterred. Tabooed by being locked away in seclusion, Robert secretly fostered a nest of seagull eggs to hatch and realise his plan of escape. Twice more he was thwarted (once in a chance discovery by prison hospital staff and a second time by ill-advised bragging to another inmate) before finally succeeding in 1959. The man that was transferred to Springfield, MO later that year and died in 1963 was not entirely the same person.

You could be excused for not realising that there’s something wrong with the Bay Area gull population, gulls are notoriously aggressive and noxious scavengers anywhere. But in large packs the local variety take on strange behaviours, they seem organised and intelligent. One will lure a grocer out of a store by making a mess before a swarm of them flash mob the place and grab whatever they can carry. There’s videos on YouTube and news articles about urban environments and junk food diets causing aberrant behaviour. Then there’s the rumours people have been finding dead cats and dogs with their insides pecked out.

One person knows the full truth, Ben “Waggy” Wagner a homeless man who can talk to birds. Quiet and gentle, he’s not cut out to be the human spokesperson for a bird-obsessed murderer reincarnated as a flock of seagulls but they aren't giving him a choice. He’s destitute and fragile - mostly because being mistakenly treated like you’re mentally ill all your life and subjected to antipsychotics you don’t need isn’t great for your brain - so they have him firmly in hand, er, wing. Currently they’ve got him working on publishing several books. A complete version of Stroud’s history of the penal system and a purportedly true account of the well-known Alcatraz prison escape. That one ends with an improvised raft being pecked to pieces.

The Gull-mind of San Francisco, Winged Menace
Wound Threshold: 1 per gull in the swarm. Individually? Any successful attack (at -10%, they’re hard to hit) will smack down a gull, dealing a single wound. You’d need a shotgun full of birdshot or a flamethrower to bring down more than one at a time, unless it’s especially effective such measures do hand-to-hand damage. The gull population in SF has exploded over the years so violence is only a temporary relief.
Mine! 1% per gull: Substitutes for Struggle, Substitutes for Notice, Substitutes for Pursuit, Substitutes for Knowledge. The more gulls in the immediate area the greater their collective intelligence and power, scattered they’re little different to wild gulls. Maybe a little crankier.
Eye in the Sky 40%: Specific Information: Bird’s-eye view. This is the chance that the gull-mind can find something in the Bay Area, provided it’s in a spot where a seagull might have seen it.