Pkunk

Pkunk

PkunkComm.png A playful, birdlike Pkunk

Homeworld: Gamma Krueger I Coordinates: 052.2 : 052.5 Member of: None (friendly) Ship: Fury

The Pkunk (meaning "peace" in their own language) are wacky, toucan-like beings, an offshoot of the Yehat race. They are pacifistic mystics who claim to be in constant contact with the "spirit-world". They once lived on the Yehat homeworld of Gamma Serpentis I, but now reside in the Krueger constellation. It appears that the Alliance was vaguely aware of the Pkunk presence during the Ur-Quan Slave War; the Pkunk Sphere of Influence appears as the Sphere of an "Unknown" alien race on a 2133 Alliance HyperSpace star map.

Anatomically, they are also birds, like their Yehat brethren, though their anatomy is extremely different, including an abnormally long middle finger.¹

According to the Pkunk, it was when Weeny Wikki Beeki Birdi sat on the Mystical Egg of Icelike Temperature and gave the Original Squawk -- "Rup-Rup-Rup-BGAK!" -- that their transformation from Yehat to Pkunk began.

While they love their distant brethren with all their hearts, the Yehat hate them with gusto. In spite of this, the Pkunk predict a day in which the Yehat will greet them with wings outstretched, beaks stuffed with grubs—which can happen indeed if the Veep-Neep Queen is removed from the High Perch of Caer Zeep-Reep. A Pkunk, Braky Girdy the First, will then replace her as Queen of the Yehat.

Pkunk frequently talk about spirits, fortune-telling and other new-age kind of stuff (such as the Pootworm discourse) which usually amuses Humans. However, somehow their fortunes are always correct, which makes it probable that the Pkunk have a highly-advanced "sixth sense".

The Ilwrath are currently fighting a fanatical war against them, thinking themselves commanded by their twin gods Dogar and Kazon, and have already exterminated two-thirds of the Pkunk race.

The Pkunk seem to take this war very casually though, telling the Captain, "We bear the spidery creatures no ill will. Without darkness there is no light. Without death there is no birth, and thanks to the Ilwrath there's lots of birth."

Gameplay notes

Free ships

The Pkunk will give you the Clear Spindle and four fully-crewed ships for free when you first encounter them in their home world. For many players, that's all they will get from them. It is however possible to get more. See below for details.

When you meet the Pkunk the first time in their homeworld, you get 4 ships, and two timers are started.

• 12 months later, 4 more ships can be acquired.
• 6 months later, the Pkunk will begin a migration towards the Yehat space, where they will arrive in just under 6 months.

Unless you stop the migration, the 12 months deadline when you can acquire more ships, will never be available to you: The Pkunk will be gone.

It is however possible to get a total of four sets of 4 ships, for a total of 16 ships, before the Pkunk finally migrate to the Yehat, by following this set of instructions:

• Once they depart for Yehat Space (6 months after you first talked to them), convince them to turn back right before they arrive (11.9 months after you first talked to them)). They will, and it takes about 5.9 months for them to get back.
• 12 months after you first talked to them, you can ask for ships again in their homeworld, even if their fleet is still on route back.
  • If you come late, you will still get the ships, but all the other ships-ready events will cascadingly be late by that amount, and it will be more difficult to get the full set of 16 ships.
• 3 months after they return, i.e. 20.8 months after you first talked to them, they will depart again. Wait 5.9 months. In the mean time, at 24 months, ask for ships again. Convince them to turn back at the 26.7 months mark since you first talked to them. At 32.7 months mark, they will be back.
• At 35.7 months mark, they will depart yet again, and this time you cannot stop them.
• You can get a final fourth set of 4 ships at the 36 months mark, assuming you always asked for new ships at the earliest opportunity.
• At 41.7 months mark, the Pkunk influence sphere disappears, and you can no longer meet them at Gamma Krueger.
• When convincing the Pkunk to return, you must always do so before they reach the Yehat space (under 6 months after they depart), and not earlier than 4.6 months since they depart, if you want to get the full set of 12 ships. You can calculate the total time in months before the Pkunk are gone, from the first moment you meet them, with this formula: 6 + time1*2 + 3 + time2*2 + 3 + 6 where time1 is the number of months you wait until asking them to turn back the first time, and time2 is the same for the second time.
• Note that if you want to acquire the full set of 16 ships and win the game before the Kohr-Ah exterminate the Druuge (the first race to be wiped out in the death march), you must first ally the Pkunk not later than at 30 January, 2156.
• Your fleet can only hold 12 ships at a time. If your fleet is already full, and you ask for ships at the appointed time, the offer will still be available when your fleet is no longer full.

Once the Pkunk are absorbed into the Yehat, if you still want to receive Pkunk ships, your only option is to instigate the Yehat Rebellion, after which Yehat & Pkunk ships will be available to you from the rebels once in a while.

Known individuals

• Awkky Birdy
• Braky
• Braky Girdy the First
• Chrupp
• Weeny Wikki Beeki Birdi

Notes and references

¹From the 2007 IRC chat with Toys for Bob (robot is Fred Ford, PR3 is Paul Reiche III):

<+CeeVee> The Pkunk...how physically similar to the Yehat are they? We only see their heads and necks, and I was just wondering if they had more of a resemblance in the rest of their anatomy.

<+PR3> Pkunk, Yehat, Erol?

<+Erol> Pkunk very very different... really really different.

[...]

<+RainDaemon> silly question: If the Pkunk are such endearing fellows, how come their middle fingers are so long?

<+PR3> I presume that Pkunk with a longer middle finger had a reproductive advantage.