Player Character Secrets: Quakaloo

Quakaloo

But are not the dreams of poets and the tales of travellers notoriously false?
―H.P Lovecraft

Character Profile: Quakaloo

Quakaloo’s only goal is to walk the Spiral Path and discover his destiny.

Hidden Correspondences with Other Characters
Quakaloo has no connections to the other player characters, but there is a hidden correspondence with William Pynchon. The island where Pynchon first discovered the Green Flame was inhabited by exiled Nukavokoans, Quakaloo’s ancestral enemies who killed his blood brother Robert Thompson. Pynchon can speak a corrupted dialect of the Vokoan tongue, but the chief mate is too cagey to divulge this information without a compelling reason.

Call of Dagon
Quakaloo begins the campaign suffering from Stage 2 Call of Dagon. The player should not know this. If Quakaloo loses too much Sanity during the first few chapters, the Keeper may advance him to Stage 3 by the time the Quiddity departs Kith Kohr. Quakaloo’s lapses into madness may involve doubts about the Spital Path, the wandering shaman, or anxieties about his “unknown” tattoos.

The Tattoos
Quakaloo’s tattoos are a creative tabula rasa, and may be developed in any number of interesting directions. They are the source of Quakaloo’s magic, and required for casting his spells. However, if Quakaloo succumbs to the Call of Dagon or goes insane, they may acquire deeper—or darker—significance. It’s up to the player and Keeper.

Endgame: Quakaloo’s Destiny
Quakaloo’s character profile suggest that some great destiny awaits at the end of his Spiral Path. Only the Keeper should know the truth: there is no “great destiny!” Only the culmination and consequences of Quakaloo’s decisions and actions—like every other character in the game. In a sense, Quakaloo’s character represents the insatiable urge for human beings to project meaning upon chaos. On one hand, Quakaloo may be seen as the son of a chieftain, initiated into the mysteries of shamanism and propelled towards some mystical fate. A series of visions guides him to the End of the World, where instead of questioning the Invisible White God or meeting the Puzzle Maker, Quakaloo has to opportunity to become the creator. On the other hand, one can interpret Quakaloo’s narrative quite differently: Born into privilege, Quakaloo learns magic from an insane cultist. Through a series of random events, he cannibalizes his best friend and assimilates with the colonizers. Falling prey to the Call of Dagon, he arrives at the Abyss in time to inflict his own provincial views upon an entire planet.

A canny Keeper may exploit Quakaloo’s “otherness” as a blind for this bleak, existential message. Quakaloo may subtly disrupt the stereotype of the “noble savage,” devised the century before Melville and probably still perpetuated by modern players, who may view Quakaloo as possessing some inherent, experiential wisdom derived from his very “otherness.” In reality, he’s no different than his Yankee counterparts: just another traveler who may or may not be crazy, and may or may not trigger the Apocalypse.

White Leviathan > Keeper’s Information > PC Secrets
[Beckett | Coffin | Dixon | Lowell | Morgan | Quakaloo | Redburn | Ward]
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Author: A. Buell Ruch
Last Modified: 21 October 2021
Email: quail (at) shipwrecklibrary (dot) com
White Leviathan PDF: [TBD]