FIxl 171: Qupqudra

Class: Platinum

Type: Cosmic/Mind

Qupqudra is a Platinum-level Fixl, one of the dozen or so very large ones who oversee big important projects. They have at least human-level intelligence, although most of them (Qupqudra included) never speak. Qupqudra’s job is to oversee weather patterns, especially rain and snowfall, and use its considerable mental power to coordinate and transmit orders to the climate-alteration satellites that sit in geosynchronous orbit above Selva (which, if I hadn’t mentioned before, is the name of the rectangular region the Fixl story takes place in). Its partner, Thondor, is typed Air/Electric and inhabits the flat windswept prairies of eastern Selva and oversees local weather; Qupqudra lives high in the mountains, in a former ski resort called Snowflake Vale, and prefers to limit distracting human contact.

Qupqudra’s shape is a reference to one of my favorite mythical creatures, the Qupqugiaq, a ten-legged polar bear from Inuit myth who, some legends say, seeks reconciliation between its monstrous carnivorous form and its desire for peace and harmony. The other half of its name is from the word “mudra”, the name for a symbolic/ritual gesture in Hinduism and Buddhism, which fits well both with the multiple arms and the essentially pacifist nature of Qupqudra.

There is no way to get Qupqudra into a traveling party. Platinum-level Fixls are too important to be taken away from their jobs. If you befriend it, though, it will bestow a gift upon you in the form of a Skill Disk. These take the form of 3½-inch floppies that can be used at a Fixl Field Office to install a new move on a compatible Fixl (in this case, anything with Cosmic or Mind typing). Qupqudra’s is called Clear Sky, a Cosmic-type move that removes all special conditions on a battlefield - weather, obstacles, weird terrain, or whatever else.