Dusty Gulch Gazette – Reference Guide

Purpose:
A canonical reference for writers, artists, and collaborators to maintain consistency across stories, visuals, satire, and lore.

1) Core Identity

Genre:
Satirical outback fantasy, absurd political allegory, bush mythology, anthropomorphic epic.

Tone:

• Australian bush humour + dry irony + exaggerated folklore.

• Ridiculous events treated as historical fact.

• Mischievous, heroic, playful.

• Never cynical; always slightly epic and deeply Australian.

   

Narrative Voice:

• Primary narrator: Roderick Whiskers McNibble, a rat journalist.

• Style: bush reportage, tabloid exaggeration, epic legend, philosophical asides.

• Tone rule: humour should never negate emotional truth.

Core Themes:

• Small-town defiance vs absurd power

• Tradition vs bureaucracy

• Animal instinct vs human nonsense

• Loyalty, identity, local pride

• Common sense as revolutionary

2) Geography & Key Locations

3) Characters & Canon

3.1 Roderick Whiskers McNibble

• Species: Rat

• Role: Chief Nibbler & Correspondent

• Traits: witty, observant, morally alert, investigative, slightly dramatic

• Canon: Narrates with irony; represents truth through humour; never purely heroic or cowardly

3.2 Mayor Dusty McFookit

• Species: Human

• Role: Mayor of Dusty Gulch

• Traits: Well-meaning, chaotic, resilient

• Canon: Frequently kidnapped; survives disasters; - the truly human human. 

3.3 Mrs Maureen McFookit

• Species: Human (shapeshifter)

• Role: Domestic strategist, covert operative

• Lore: Trained in bureaucratic shapeshifting (appearance, accent, emotional presence); former Cat Force Five operative

• Personality: Calm, competent, terrifying; speaks rarely

• Canon: “People see what they deserve to see”; always slightly ahead of events

3.4 Trevor “Titanium Knees” the Wallaby

• Species: Wallaby

• Role: Vigilante leader, symbol of youth rebellion

• Lore: Knees forged by bureaucratic absurdity; titanium knees created from a local seam in the outskirts of Dusty Gulch. 

• Personality: Heroic, blunt, impulsive; voice of children and youth resisting stifling rules

• Canon: Knees are semi-mythical; represents grassroots resistance; once had knees confiscated by Prentis Penjani & Maurice E. Duck

• Special Note: His original kneecaps stored in a jar for drinking competitions

3.5 Cat Force Five

• Nature: Spectral feline special operations unit

• Members: Shadowpaws (leader), Prowler, Clawhammer, Stealthstrike, One-Ear

• Traits: Ghost-like, disciplined, semi-mythical

• Canon: Appear when summoned; operate between physical and symbolic worlds

3.6 Honklanders

• Species: Radicalised geese with a touch of pigeon

• Conceptual role: Satirical parody of overwhelming foreign migration and cultural displacement

• Traits: Organised, loud, ideological, obsessed with banners & towers

• Key Figure: The Grand Honk

• Canon: Speak in chants; chaotic, exaggerated, never purely evil

3.7 Prentis Penjani

• Role: Shadow technocrat, inflated ego, bureaucratic sorcerer

• Traits: Shapeshifting tech, policy alchemy, narrative engineering

• Canon: Manipulates events from afar; never directly confronts Dusty Gulch

3.8 Maurice E. Duck

• Role: Bureaucratic antagonist, parody of eSafety Commissioner

• Traits: Polished, polite, subtly oppressive; strategic rival to residents of Dusty Gulch

• Canon: Represents digital control and absurd moral authority

3.9 The CWA (Country Women’s Alliance)

• Role: Guardians of tradition, domestic warriors

• Traits: Loyal, competent, quietly formidable

• Abilities: Bake stalls, lamingtons, marmalade, morale boosts

• Symbolism: Old Australia; domestic and moral backbone

• Canon Rule: Calm = manageable, Concerned = danger, Not baking = disaster

4) Rules of the Universe

• Absurd events treated as normal

• Myth and bureaucracy coexist

• Animals & ghosts have political agency

• Combat uses feathers, lamingtons, utes, whistles, knees, slogans

• Public opinion & policy manifest physically

• Villains are rarely evil, just absurdly convinced

5) Symbols & Catchphrases

Symbols:

• Lamingtons = cultural ransom/currency

• Water Tower = power & narrative control

• Utes = mobilisation

• Frangipani = liminal space

• Rolling pin = domestic authority

• Laser pointers = improvised modernity

Catchphrases:

• “Trevor doesn’t bounce. Trevor thumps.”

• “Honk at your own risk.”

• “People see what they deserve to see.”

• “Filed under: things that should not exist but do.”

6) Canonical Events & Timeline

1. Rise of Honklanders

2. Tower of Honks incident

3. Activation of Cat Force Five

4. Trevor’s Vigilante Charge (Titanium Knees reveal)

5. Escape of Mayor McFookit

6. Emergence of larger unseen forces

7. CWA mobilises (lamingtons & marmalade deployed)

7) Narrative & Lore Rules

• Escalate absurdity without breaking emotional continuity

• Characters remain archetypal yet evolving

• Satire targets systems and ideologies, not ethnic groups

• Mythic explanations preferred over full rationalisation

9) Future Expansion Hooks

• Bureaucratic invasion

• Budgie uprising

• Emu accord

• Penjani Protocol

• Trevor vs the Algorithm

• The Day the Pub Went Silent

10) Canon Authority

• Dusty Gulch Gazette articles

• Roderick’s narration

• Pub testimony (semi-reliable)

• Mrs McFookit’s silences (highly reliable)

Rule: Contradictions are lore, not errors.

11) Lore Commandment

If it’s ridiculous but feels true, it belongs in Dusty Gulch.