Natural Hazards

Australia has been blessed (or cursed, depending upon your point of view) with a superabundance of dangerous creatures. Even those creatures which are not natively venomous tend to be toxic in some way. Amongst snakes alone, Australia is home to seven of the top ten most dangerous snakes in the world. Thankfully, Australia is free of the menace of rabies which plagues other continents, so at least this is not an issue for travellers to worry about.

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Ants

 

Ants in Australia tend to be large and voracious. In the temperate and dry areas of the continent, they tend to be encountered as ‘meat ants’: these are reddish brown and up to a centimetre in length. They form huge underground colonies, vast nests up to two metres across and a metre deep. They are relatively mild-mannered as ants go and walkers who foolishly stand on the nests can be savagely, although often not dangerously, bitten.

More worrisome are Bull-ants (sometimes called Jumping Jacks) which can grow up to three centimetres in length and which have a vicious pair of pincers with which to deal out damage. Bull-ants tend to roam away from the central nest, scouting the territory for enemies: when they bite they inflict painful stinging welts (2 points of damage, POT 5 Poison) that itch furiously; in cases these have been known to cause anaphylactic shock, or to suppurate and kill through subsequent infection. Small children and babies have been known to die from these effects.

In Queensland, there is a species of ant called the Fire-ant which lives an arboreal existence along the branches of trees and other foliage in the wild forests. These are either red or green (depending on the species) and can inflict a vicious burning sting on the exposed flesh of those who inadvertently brush against them (POT: 4, half damage). Regardless of the type of ant encountered, a successful strike against one will kill it immediately.

 

Cassowaries

Only encountered in the northern wilds of Queensland and in New Guinea, the Cassowary is a seldom-met but dangerous denizen. Smaller than the Emu but more stockily built, this bird has a high, domed crest of bone on top of its head, with which it charges its enemies (usually those who blunder into its well-guarded territory). Occasionally, this crest is used to beat down walls of intervening foliage. Along with a powerful set of clawed feet, the Cassowary is deadly to tangle with. Its brightly-coloured plumage allows it to blend in well with the greens and bluish shadows of its rainforest home, so its standard form of attack is one of ambush, bursting out upon the unwary wanderer with the benefit of surprise.

STR: 11 (2D6+4)

CON: 10-11 (3D6)

SIZ: 11 (2D6+4)

POW: 13 (2D6+6)

DEX: 19 (2D6+12)

Move: 14

HP: 11

Av Damage Bonus: none

Weapon: Peck 20%, 1D4; Kick 50%, 1D8; Head Butt (after a successful Charge) 35%, 1D6; Charge (requires a 3 metre run-up) 50%, +1D8

Armour: 3 points of feathered bulk

Skills: Hide in Trees 80%

Habitat: rainforests of the “Top End” (far North Queensland and the Northern Territory) and New Guinea

 

Crocodiles, Saltwater

 

Saltwater Crocodiles (or ‘Salties’) are the oldest, biggest and deadliest Crocodiles in the world. They live along the Top End of Australia in coastal estuaries and mangrove tidal zones. They tend to be solitary, coming together only briefly to mate: at other times they are fiercely territorial and resent intrusions by all other living creatures.

Salties tend to snatch their prey whenever they wander too close to the edge of the water in which they are hiding, pretending to be logs or other waterway obstructions; however they have also been known to walk a fair distance overland – into campsites for instance – to snatch sleeping prey from burrows or tents. Once they have gained a firm grip, they then adopt a tactic known as the ‘death roll’ whereby they begin to spin longitudinally while plunging under the surface: this has the combined benefits of breaking limbs, disorientating the prey and speeding the drowning process. The Salty’s jaws, while powerful, are not designed for repetitive biting and most damage to the victim is caused by the bludgeoning effect of the beast thrashing about by means of its powerful tail. Once the victim is subdued, the Salty then stores it in a bank side lair where it can rot sufficiently for a few days to allow the victor to easily shear the meat from the bones. Sometimes, the victim is still alive when it first arrives in this ‘larder’...

Finally, as if this gruesome ordeal wasn’t enough, the teeth of the Saltwater Crocodile are alive with bacteria from the rotting refuse of previous meals. Even the lucky few who escape the Salty’s attack can succumb to the effects of massive infections (20% chance, POT: 9).

STR: 26 (4D6+12)

CON: 18-19 (3D6+8)

SIZ: 29-30 (5D6+12)

POW: 10-11 (3D6)

DEX: 7 (2D6)

Move: 6/8 Swimming

HP: 22-23

Av Damage Bonus: +2D6

Weapon: Bite: 50%, 1D10+db

Armour: 6 point hide

Skills: Swim Stealthily 75%; Hide 60%; Sneak 50%

Habitat: Rivers, lakes and the oceans of the Top End

 

Dingoes

 

The Dingo gained itself a lurid notoriety during the 1970s and 80s as a result of the Azaria Chamberlain murder case, in which a baby only a few weeks old was snatched from the campsite of its parents during the dim of sunset at Alice Springs and never found again. Up until this time, Dingoes were seen as relatively benign animals of no danger to human beings; the court case forced the world to reassess the matter.

The Dingo is, strictly-speaking, a native dog which was brought from Indonesia by travellers in distant times. The sandy-coloured breed has a quiet and occasionally playful temperament and lives in small family groups of four or five. Many Aboriginal tribes keep dingoes to aid in hunting. Dingoes are highly intelligent and opportunistic scavengers occasionally known to operate in pairs to achieve their goals. They are efficient thieves when they want to be, able to perform acts of fine manipulation such as opening doors and this was the finding in the case of the Crown vs. Lindy Chamberlain. Like any other dog they can bite savagely when threatened or cornered and travellers should take the standard precautions when dealing with them. Fortunately, the contraction of rabies is not an issue when encountering these canids.

STR: 4-5 (1D6+1)

CON: 10-11 (3D6)

SIZ: 4-5 (1D6+1)

POW: 9-10 (1D6+6)

DEX: 13 (2D6+6)

Move: 15

HP: 7-8

Av Damage Bonus: -1D6

Weapon: Bite: 30%, 1D6

Armour: None

Skills: Listen 40%; Track 80%

Habitat: Throughout Australia, but mainly in the arid or desert areas

 

Emus

 

STR: 11 (2D6+4)

CON: 10-11 (3D6)

SIZ: 13 (2D6+6)

POW: 13 (2D6+6)

DEX: 19 (2D6+12)

Move: 14

HP: 12

Av Damage Bonus: none

Weapon: Peck: 30%, 1D4; Kick: 60%, 1D10

Armour: 3points of feathered bulk

Skills: Locate picnic basket 75%; Kick Dunny Down 95%

Habitat: Throughout Australia

Fans of the Emu are no doubt apt to praise the intelligence of the bird; however the creature is fairly universally reviled for its stupid nature.

Emus live in close packs of up to several dozen. The males care for the young and eggs while the females forage. Male emus are extremely territorial concerning their nest sites and their offspring and become very single-minded in their defence. These birds are flightless but can run very fast for great distances, often running into objects or people which they fail to negotiate or anticipate. Emus often top six feet in height and they are not averse to making stabbing pecks at the eyes of those who annoy them; equally, they can make vicious strikes at objects that they believe might be edible, such as a piece of paper held flapping in an unwary hand or a shiny pocket-watch. The most dangerous threat from an emu however, is its powerful feet, which it uses to kick its foes. These are heavily clawed and inflict punishing damage upon the unwary. It has given rise to the colourful Australian Bush curse which runs “may all your chickens turn into Emus and kick your dunny down”.

 

Feral Creatures

Australia is a closed environment: cut off from the rest of the world, it has evolved its own creatures and flora that exist nowhere else on the planet. In the early days of Settlement, white visitors did their level best to introduce various creatures from their home countries – deer, hares, rabbits, starlings, sparrows - often to simply alleviate the home-sickness they felt. It is singularly fortunate that myriad animal diseases (such as rabies) which plague other countries were not introduced at the same time. The current import/export policies which prevail in Australia serve to maintain the delicate ecological balance and have proven locally effective; that being said, some animals are loose in the wilds of Australia which should never have come here and some of them are notoriously dangerous. Statistics for these creatures can mostly be found in the Call of Cthulhu rulebook.

Buffalo – The Cape Buffalo (not the American Bison) was introduced by visitors from Indonesia and New Guinea. It is found along the Top End and is a relatively benign visitor to our shores. That being said, if angered, it is a surly and savage foe, capable of trampling and butting its opposition. Populations of these creatures are kept largely in check by Saltwater Crocodiles which find them very tasty.

Camels – When the first railway lines were being run across the Australian Continent, the Government of the day employed Afghan workers, reasoning that they would be better suited to the climates with which they would be dealing. Along with the Afghans came camels, again due to their ability to handle hot, dry conditions. This was all very well in theory but the camels were cantankerous and often escaped, disappearing into the Outback to breed prolifically and create a menace to the local wildlife. Unlike cattle, sheep and goats, camels have soft feet which have little impact on the delicate soil structures of the Central Australian environments; unfortunately, they can strip the greenery from the countryside much faster than the indigenous wildlife and this makes them a pest. Like all other camels, they also bite, kick and trample.

Cats – All domestic cats, even the fluffiest and most pampered of them, will, if released into the wild to fend for themselves, become the toughest, angriest, spitting-est Hell-cat in short order. This is a universal truth.

Once free from domesticity, the short under-fur of the precious kitty-cat thickens and becomes darker, allowing the feline to blend into the Bush; even the lightest coloured cat can darken up in no time at all. The predatory musculature of the cat bulks up and the cat can grow from one third up to one half again its normal size. Kittenish behaviours so endearing to an abandoned owner are shed as the business of survival and territoriality comes to the fore. Cats can eliminate birdlife, lizards and small marsupials from a Bushland setting in no time at all; they can also kill newborn lambs.

Cats are seldom met in the Bush: they know enough to stay away from people if they’ve gone wild. They are often found in rabbit or fox traps however and extracting them is fraught with difficulty as they will defend themselves to the uttermost. Tales of exceptionally large feral cats may well have given rise to the legends of Phantom Cats.

Dogs – In the early days of the Sydney Settlement, mobs of wild dogs - escapees from domesticity - roamed freely through the Sydney streets and were capable of bringing down lone stragglers wending their way home after dark. The problem became so dire that the constabulary held shooting days, where they shot any dog seen walking in the street, regardless of the presence of a human attendant. It wasn’t until the early 1910s that organised dog patrols were created to lessen the menace of feral dogs within the city and in due course the problem of ‘killer dog gangs’ became confined to the rural areas of Australia. It’s not that these dogs were driven insane by rabies or any other epidemiological cause; they were simply on the loose and reverting to the typical, instinctual nature of pack hunters.

Donkeys – Explorers and settlers in the early 1800s primarily used horses to push into wilderness areas of Australia. Unfortunately, the local flora proved toxic to most horse breeds and feed had to be carried on extended forays into the Bush. It was later discovered that donkeys were able to browse the local greenery without impairment and they soon took over as the beast of burden of choice in the country. Unfortunately, donkeys are wilful and hard to control and soon they were escaping into the undergrowth to breed and run wild. By the 1920s, massive herds of them were roaming the countryside. Like most non-Australian species, they over-graze areas, destroy delicate soil systems with their hooves and have been known to pollute waterholes and destroy fences.

Goats – Anyone who has worked with goats knows that they are cunning and wilful, determined to do what they want to do regardless of their human attendant’s desires. From the early days of the Sydney Settlement, goats often escaped into the Bush and took up residence there: with their ability to eat practically any kind of greenery, no matter how coarse or unappetizing, they thrived in practically every type of environment that Australia had to offer – at the expense of the local wildlife. Furthermore, goats have tough, hoofed feet which ruin the fine soil structures of the desert and arid areas of the country, causing massive erosion and soil loss.

Pigs – Like goats, pigs have escaped confinement wherever they have been kept throughout Australia’s history. Like goats, they are voracious and their hooves ruin the soil whilst their tusks can denude whole areas of bushland through ringbarking. Worst of all, they can become vicious killers, hiding in dense scrub and attacking from ambush. Like many kinds of feral creatures, once free of the constraints of domesticity, wild pigs can grow to massive size and develop a ferocity to go with it.

Toads, Cane – The Grey-backed Cane Beetle had become a veritable pest in the sugar-cane growing areas of Australia by the early 1930s. As a countermeasure, it was decided that the Cane Toad (Bufo marinus) should be introduced to deal with them. This was a mistake. The introduced pairs of toads generated 60,000 young in their first year and thereafter found that there were loads of far more interesting things to devour in this country. The Toads are viciously poisonous and compete strongly for the territory occupied by their antipodean counterparts. Many Queenslanders have a haphazard cruelty in regard to these amphibians which regularly kill their dogs and cats and destroy chicken colonies. However, the toads are notorious for being well-nigh indestructible, despite being shot, run over, clubbed or stamped on. Within the next five years they will invade the wilderness preservation areas of the Northern Territory and the world will be the poorer for it. By the way, the Grey-backed Cane Beetle was successfully eliminated by pesticide spraying in the two years after the Cane Toads’ release.

 

Goannas

 

‘Goanna’ is often thought to be an Aboriginal term for the family of lizards called monitors; in fact it is a corruption of the word ‘iguana’. Monitors (family: Varanidae) live in the desert and arid areas of Australia; they are large reptiles growing up to six or seven feet in length, with large powerful claws, long flat heads and long necks. They also have deeply forked tongues which restlessly flick out from their jaws. Goannas are highly carnivorous and are adept at scavenging. Unlike other types of lizards, the monitor lizards are able to breathe while they are running and they can keep up a steady pace for quite awhile; other lizards need to stay within short range of a burrow or cleft wherein they can dart and hide. Goannas tend to shy away from confrontation, unless they think they can win a fight; if cornered, they can inflict painful wounds with their curved talons. A goanna fleeing in fright can often mistake a man standing still and upright for a tree and will run up them, raking them terribly as they do so.

STR: 7 (2D6)

CON: 16-17 (3D6+6)

SIZ: 11 (2D6+4)

POW: 10-11 (3D6)

DEX: 19 (2D6+12)

Move: 12

HP: 14

Av Damage Bonus: none

Weapon: Bite 40%, 1D6; Claws 30%, 1D4

Armour: 2 points of scaly leather

Skills: Track Prey 85%; Climb 100%

Habitat: Arid and Desert areas of Australia

 

Jellyfish

 

Australia’s coastline is replete with a wide variety of poisonous life forms (which has to make one wonder why Australians are so fond of swimming!); chief amongst these are the jellyfish, of which the following two species are the most well-known:

Blue-bottles – notorious on Sydney beaches throughout the summer months, the blue-bottle (Physalia utriculus, known elsewhere in the world as the Portuguese Man-o-war) is a bright blue air sac about the size of a champagne cork, with trailing lengths of brilliant blue tentacles up to 50 metres long. They are often deposited upon the shore by rough seas or high winds. Contact with these creatures – specifically with their tentacles, even if the creature is dead and dried on the beach – causes an instant excruciating pain, which can sometimes shock the victim into unconsciousness. Thereafter the victim must endure a burning agony for several hours until the toxin (POT: 20) is processed out of their system. Treatment is to immerse the area of the sting in hot water for at least twenty minutes, denaturing the toxin until the pain begins to decrease.

Box Jellyfish – The Box Jellyfish is usually a resident of the northern waters around Queensland and the Northern Territory, but strong seasonal currents and storms occasionally bring it further south. There are many types of Box Jellyfish but the one for which the term is predominantly used as a nickname is Chironex fleckeri, possibly the most toxic creature on the planet. C. fleckeri is known to actively hunt its prey, travelling through the water at up to 4 knots. Each tentacle of this creature contains on average 500,000 cnidocytes, needle-sharp harpoons, which can inject massive amounts of nematocysts - toxic cells capable of delivering enough neurotoxins to disable the prey in about 600 nanoseconds (POT: 40). The pain of the poison is intense and lasts about twenty minutes, during which time the patient often experiences back and abdominal spasms, headaches, vomiting, sweating, anxiety, nausea and heart failure; if the first twenty minutes is survived, the patient will often endure. It is sometimes possible for the tentacles to leave massive scarring welts on the skin of the victim which can last for life. Vinegar is known to reduce the effects of the poisoning by killing the unfired cnidocytes lodged in the victim’s skin.

Another type of Box Jellyfish is responsible for ‘Irukandji Syndrome’ named in 1952 after an Aboriginal tribe amongst whom its presence was common. This is the sting (POT: 35) of the thumbnail sized Carukia barnesi jellyfish, which begins as a minor irritation akin to the bite of a mosquito. Over time symptoms including severe headache, backache, muscle pains, chest and abdominal pain, nausea and vomiting, sweating, anxiety, hypertension, tachycardia and pulmonary edema, accompanied by a morbid pleading to be allowed to die, are experienced. The whole process lasts from about 4 to 30 hours – although some cases have lasted two weeks - and death is rare.

All Jellyfish are easily avoided on land; any successful blow will kill one.

 

Kangaroos

 

While not often thought of as dangerous, a kangaroo is capable of badly hurting a human opponent. A kangaroo (or wallaby, wallaroo, potoroo or quoll) will prefer flight to confrontation wherever the option is available; however, if cornered, a kangaroo – especially one of the Red Kangaroos which can stand up to six feet tall – will bring to bear the sharp claws on its hind feet to counterattack. Often the kangaroo will brace itself against a tree or similar defence and balance itself upon its tail, thus freeing up its powerful hind feet to scratch and kick furiously at its enemy; once kicked by a kangaroo, an opponent will rarely continue the conflict.

STR: 10-11 (3D6)

CON: 13 (2D6+6)

SIZ: 13 (2D6+6)

POW: 7 (2D6)

DEX: 13 (2D6+6)

Move: 12

HP: 13

Av Damage Bonus: none

Weapon: Kick 40%, 1D8; Brace & Rake 20%, 2D8

Armour: none

Skills: Listen 40%; Scent Water 60%

Habitat: Throughout Australia

 

Koalas

 

Deceptively cute and fluffy, these creatures were tagged with the moniker ‘QANTAS Bears’ by Japanese visitors in the ‘80s. Regardless of the promotional hype however, these bad-tempered tree-dwellers are anything but pleasant in close quarters: first-time experiences with koalas usually result in surprise at either the damage they can do with their claws (even while seemingly asleep), or the pungently-tenacious qualities of their urine.

Koalas are not bears per se despite the physical resemblance. They are marsupials and, unusually even for marsupials, have a pouch to carry their young which opens rearward. Their dietary system, like that of the Panda, is incredibly inefficient and they require huge amounts of eucalyptus leaves each day in order to absorb the nutrients which they require. They drink no water, gaining all of their liquid resources from gum leaves and they suffer a narcotic effect from the leaves as well, which means that they sleep most hours in the day. Given their inefficient digestive processes, a koala is quite content to eat its own faeces several times over to more fully digest its meal, if it can’t be bothered to relocate to a tree with more leaves. Land clearances and endemic illnesses (such as a species-particular form of chlamydia) have reduced the habitat of the koala and it is currently endangered.

Despite its disgusting dietary perquisites and docile appearance, the koala can move quickly when required to do so, to avoid fires and attacks from other creatures. For preference, the koala will try to avoid an enemy by hiding, for which it has a great knack; if pressed however, it will rely on its claws which can rake quite fiercely and its offensively-redolent urine, the stench of which can take some scrubbing to remove.

STR: 7 (2D6)

CON: 10-11 (3D6)

SIZ: 2-3 (1D4)

POW: 7 (2D6)

DEX: 10-11 (3D6)

Move: 6

HP: 6-7

Av Damage Bonus: -1D6

Weapon: Claw 40%, 1D4

Armour: 2 points of thick fur

Skills: Hide 85%; Repel with Urine 60%

Habitat: Treetops throughout Australia

 

Octopus, Blue-Ringed

 

Another of the poisonous denizens of the Australian coastline, the Blue-ringed Octopus lurks in tidal pools, rocky inlets and seaweed infested nooks on the shore. It is about the size of a golf ball and generally well-camouflaged; when angered it becomes yellowish-brown and is covered by bright-blue and black circles. The Greater Blue-ringed Octopus ranges throughout the Western Pacific while the Southern Blue-ringed Octopus and the Blue-lined Octopus dwell only in Australian waters. They feed on crabs and small fish, poisoning them and devouring them from the inside by means of their small, tough beaks. The creature is universally acknowledged to be one of the most toxic animals on the planet (POT: 35).

The Blue-ringed Octopus is shy and retiring, like other types of octopi, although, when aroused to anger, it will not hesitate to bite. The bite of the Blue-ringed Octopus contains enough toxins to kill 26 adult human beings. The poison interrupts the transmissive properties of sodium salts within the body, leading to paralysis. Medical care involves constant provision of cardio and respiratory aid until the toxin breaks down within the victim’s system. Horribly, the victim can be conscious and quite lucid during the whole process before succumbing, usually to breathing difficulties, suffocation and cardiac arrest. A victim who survives the first 24 hours usually goes on to make a full recovery

 

Sharks

 

Sharks are often seen as synonymous with Australia. The oceans around the continent are full of many species of shark and they are increasingly seen as necessary inhabitants of an healthy ocean ecosystem. There are many species of shark within Australian waters and a complete run-through of their various foibles and characteristics would exhaust the scope of this work; instead, here are some general points relating to these oceanic predators and their interactions with humans:

Sharks move with the ebb and flow of seasonal oceanic currents. They move to where the water temperature suits their bodily systems. The Great White Sharks, or White Pointers, generally inhabit the colder waters of the Great Australian Bight south of Adelaide in South Australia; seasonal changes see them head north, past Perth in the west and Sydney in the East. They range across the Indian Ocean to the coastal areas of South Africa where they are known as ‘Jumpies’ (YOOM-peez) for the fact that they hurl themselves many tens of metres into the air in an annual hunt for migrating penguins and seals. Other sharks prefer warmer water in which to hunt and breed and the variations in current strengths from year to year have led to the recognition of so-called ‘Shark Years’ wherein sharks are more plentiful and range far more widely. These years are thus more noted for shark attacks on humans.

Sharks are known to not actively seek human beings out for prey: simply stated, we don’t taste nice to them. Most sharks, however, will strike first and make a decision about their meal later. This means that most attacked swimmers have been bitten once and then ignored. Like all creatures though, a cornered or wounded shark, or one that is feeling threatened, will attack repeatedly to end its sense of conflict. The sharks in Australian waters that will need little provocation in these matters are the Tiger Shark, the Bull Shark and the Great White.

Sharks have a magnificent sense of smell and can detect blood in the water from miles distant. They have fine detectors in their snouts that allow them to sense electrical currents, magnetic emissions and temperatures: smacking a shark in this delicate piece of equipment is a sure way to get it to let go of you. Sharks keep growing until they are killed: they never suffer the debilitating effects of ageing that other creatures endure nor do they grow cancers or other tumour-like growths or suffer degeneration of their brain activity.

For a long time it was thought that sharks needed to keep moving or else they would die. This notion has since been laid to rest and it seems that sharks are capable of sleeping in undersea currents that allow their gills to keep moving without direct muscular control.

Interestingly, it has recently been discovered that the Bull Shark contains a special organ known as the Rectal Gland which regulates the flow of salts into and out of the shark’s body. This enables the creature to live in water in which other sharks would perish. This fact has led to these sharks being found living in freshwater lakes up to 80 kilometres from the Queensland coast.

In the many beaches off the coast of Sydney the swimming areas are protected by shark nets. These deep offshore net systems prevent sharks from approaching too closely to the beach and the swimmers there. Oftentimes the sharks become snagged in the nets and are released by trained observers.

Sadly, the sharks which abounded in Australian waters have been decimated by poachers from New Guinea and Indonesia to provide shark fins for the restaurants of Singapore, Malaysia and China. Whole reef systems in Queensland, the Northern Territory and Western Australia risk falling into ruin from the actions of these pirates and their actions are crying out to be checked.

Tiger Shark (Galeocerdo cuvier)

STR: 30-31 (3D6+20)

CON: 25-26 (3D6+15)

SIZ: 25-26 (4D6+15)

POW: 13 (2D6+6)

DEX: 16-17 (3D6+6)

Move: 12

HP: 27-28

Av Damage Bonus: +3D6

Weapon: Bite 80%, 1D8+db

Armour: 3

Skills: Scent Blood 95%

Habitat: Murky coastal waters, from Sydney north around to Perth

Bull Shark (Carcharhinus leucas)

STR: 27 (2D6+20)

CON: 20-21 (3D6+10)

SIZ: 22 (2D6+15)

POW: 13 (2D6+6)

DEX: 13 (2D6+6)

Move: 9

HP: 21-22

Av Damage Bonus: +2D6

Weapon: Bite 65%, 1D8+db

Armour: 4

Skills: Scent Blood 95%

Habitat: Fresh and saltwater coastal shallows, north from Perth around to Melbourne

Great White Shark (Carcharodon carcharias)

STR: 42-43 (5D6+25)

CON: 35-36 (3D6+25)

SIZ: 45 (7D6+20)

POW: 13 (2D6+6)

DEX: 13 (2D6+6)

Move: 11

HP: 40-41

Av Damage Bonus: +4D6

Weapon: Bite 70%, 1D10+db

Armour: 6

Skills: Scent Blood 99%

Habitat: From Cairns south around to Broome, inshore at surface level

 

Snakes

 

As with sharks, there are just too many types of poisonous snakes in Australia to list individually; therefore here is a brief overview of snake activity within this country.

The level of danger presented by snakes is determined by two different factors: toxicity and ferocity. The most dangerous snake in the world, purely on the basis of its venom, is the African Black Mamba which delivers an exorbitant amount of poison in each successful bite; The Australian Taipan however, while only marginally less venomous, is easily angered and will strike repeatedly against an attacker, often pursuing it at length, even after it has opted to flee. This aggressive nature makes it only the second most dangerous (not the most venomous) snake on the planet; first place goes to another Australian snake known by the somewhat prosaic name of ‘Fierce Snake’, less poisonous but far, far more aggressive than even the Taipan.

All snakes in Australia are relatively timid when first encountered; most will simply attempt to get away from potential threats by sliding rapidly into the undergrowth. When cornered, most snake species adopt a threat posture, rearing up or hissing and inflating hoods or thrashing coils to alarm any would-be aggressors. A snake will only choose to bite as a last resort; this is because a single bite cannot be guaranteed to deliver enough poison to eliminate the foe: sometimes it takes two or three bites to deliver enough, or any, poison into the victim. The most commonly encountered poisonous snakes in Australia are the Death Adder, the Brown Snake and the Red-bellied Black Snake.

There are many types of pythons that inhabit Australia also, and these, by their very definition, are not a serious danger to travellers within the country. The Carpet Snake, the Diamond Python, the Children’s Python and The Arafura File Snake (from the Northern Territory) can bite when roughly handled, but the bite is non-venomous; equally, they are none of them as large as the Reticulated Pythons of Asia and therefore are rarely able to constrict creatures as large as human beings.

To confuse matters, Australia is home to many species of legless lizards which can grow to substantial length. Some of these are able to deliver a vicious – though non-venomous – bite and have often been mistaken for snakes. Australians learn very early on to be wary when walking through the Bush and never to pick up any innocuous-looking smooth sticks...

Death Adder (Acanthophis antarcticus)

STR: 5 (2D4)

CON: 7 (2D6)

SIZ: 5 (2D4)

POW: 4-5 (1D8)

DEX: 10-11 (3D6)

Move: 8

HP: 6

Av Damage Bonus: n/a

Weapon: Bite 50%, 1D2 + POT 12 Poison)

Armour: none

Skills: Hide in Cover 80%; Move Quietly 90%

Habitat: Beneath leaf litter and under logs in forests along Australia’s east coast and from there towards the Red Centre.

Red-bellied Black Snake (Pseudechis porphyriacus)

STR: 10 (2D4+3)

CON: 10 (2D4+3)

SIZ: 13 (2D6+6)

POW: 7 (2D6)

DEX: 17 (2D6+10)

Move: 10

HP: 12

Av Damage Bonus: n/a

Weapon: Bite 40%, 1 point damage plus POT 7 Poison

Armour: none

Skills: Hide in Cover 90%; Move Quietly 90%

Habitat: Beneath leaf litter and under logs in forests along Australia’s east coast and from there towards the Red Centre.

Brown Snake (Pseudechis australis)

STR: 11 (2D4+6)

CON: 10 (2D6+3)

SIZ: 13 (2D6+6)

POW: 10-11 (3D6)

DEX: 17 (2D6+10)

Move: 9

HP: 11-12

Av Damage Bonus: n/a

Weapon: Bite 60%, 1 point damage plus POT 16 Poison

Armour: none

Skills: Hide in Cover 80%; Move Quietly 90%

Habitat: within the underbrush, throughout Australia

 

Spiders

Spiders are also an issue in this country. Many common spider species are deadly in the extreme and it is only in relatively recent times that treatments have been developed to counteract their venom. The most common is the Red Back, which, like the American Black Widow, combines a creepily sleek body design with a striking paint job of black with a splash of scarlet on the top of the abdomen. The bite of this arachnid is generally non-fatal to grown humans (POT: 7) but has been known to kill children and babies: most adults will only endure nausea, itchiness and unsteadiness for a day or so.

Another commonly encountered spider is the Huntsman, a non-web-spinning arachnid that prefers to directly encounter its prey under ambush conditions. Huntsmen are often discovered lurking on the ceilings of houses during the warmer months, tracking mosquitoes to devour. If roughly handled a Huntsman can deliver a painful bite (POT: 4) which itches intolerably for a few days; problems can occur when the Huntsman is mistaken for a Mouse Spider, a beast similarly designed but with a more bulbous body: the Mouse Spider’s venom is much more efficacious (POT: 7) and can cause nausea, heart palpitations dizziness and vomiting along with itchiness and topical discomfort in adults. In children it is quite often fatal.

The king, or perhaps queen, of the spider kingdom in Australia however, is the Funnel Web Spider. This arachnid builds large funnel-shaped webs amongst the leaf litter and detritus of forest floors. It enjoys dark, moist conditions in which to hide and is sometimes discovered lurking in gumboots or gardening gloves. It is aggressive and can jump up to three feet vertically to assault its victims. It is able to walk on the meniscus of watery bodies or to crawl along the bottom of lakes or pools using air trapped in the hairs of its body to breathe. Its bite is invariably fatal (POT: 20), especially that of the female of the species, unless treated with an antivenin. Like the Taipan, the Funnel Web is an aggressive opponent and will strike multiple times in a single attack to ensure that the prey is poisoned.

Any successful strike upon a spider will kill it.

 

Tasmanian Devils

 

These tough little brutes are confined to the island state of Tasmania to the south of the main part of Australia. They are about the size of cats, black with white spots and with a stocky, doggish appearance. They have pointed ears, a short tail and pronounced whiskers and a superabundance of teeth. ‘Devils are scavengers and tend to snuffle up only that which has been left behind by other predators; for this reason they are often encountered by roadsides where they sometimes, themselves, come to a grisly end.

Tasmanian Devils are cranky and mean-spirited, able to inflict savage bites on those that they feel mean them no good. A decent snap from a ‘Devil can sever fingers or break bones and a group of these beasts are well able to take down a sick or disorientated creature; Tasmanian Devils tend to be solitary however, so this rarely happens.

Sadly, the species has recently developed a tendency to develop unusual and disfiguring cancers - due to profound pollution of their habitats and an ever-diminishing gene-pool - which may well see them extinct before too much longer.

STR: 7 (2D6)

CON: 10-11 (3D6)

SIZ: 2-3 (1D4)

POW: 7 (2D6)

DEX: 19 (2D6+12)

Move: 9

HP: 6-7

Av Damage Bonus: -1D6

Weapon: Bite 20%, 1D10

Armour: none

Skills: Make Alarming Night-time Noises 80%; Scavenge Predatory Leftovers 75%; Scent Interesting Things 60%

Habitat: Forested environments in Tasmania

 

Wombats

The wombat, like the koala, is a deceptively dozy beast; however, where the koala tends to be sleepy due to its dietary requirements, the wombat is simply solitary, pig-headed and anti-social. A marsupial, the wombat has a pouch in which it carries its young and it grazes widely in the forests which it calls its home.

A non-arboreal lifestyle has meant that the wombat must be ready for encounters with threatening entities and it has evolved significant strategies in this regard: first, it is stocky and muscular, with heavy bones and a thick skull; secondly, it can dig very quickly with its massive claws, disappearing under the earth in a matter of minutes; thirdly, the back end of a wombat, beneath its thick coat, dense hide and tough muscle, is composed of heavy, cartilaginous, overlapping plates, which means that, with its head in the ground, there is very little that a predator can do to dislodge it. A wombat’s usual strategy is to dig a hole and plug the entrance with its bottom; if it can’t do this it will rely on its sharp claws and chisel-like teeth. Many a tourist has fallen for the cute, fluffy appeal of the wombat, only to be rudely disappointed.

STR: 13 (2D6+6)

CON: 14 (4D6)

SIZ: 11 (2D6+4)

POW: 7 (2D6)

DEX: 7 (2D6)

Move: 8

HP: 13

Av Damage Bonus: none

Weapon: Bite 20%, 1D4; Claw 40%, 1D6

Armour: 6-point hide, hair, muscle and cartilaginous plates

Skills: Dig 80%

Habitat: Throughout Australia, but mainly southern and eastern non-desert regions