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 Yehat homeworld of Gamma Serpentis I, but now reside in the Krueger constellation.

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 they are always right about their fortune-tellings which makes it probable that the Pkunk have an highly-advanced "sixth sense".

The Ilwrath are currently fighting a fanatical war against them, 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."

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.