On Tue, 10 Dec 2002, Richard Suitor wrote: #If we use 500/20 as a canonical life scaling and apply that to pregnancies #(a big if) we get 19 year pregnancies - but if conception had occurred #before they got Aliera out, she ought have known long before Issola and #have started showing. The reason that is important is that when Sethra #seems slightly surprised that Aliera doesn't recognize the dragon, Aliera #at least ought to have smelled a rat. If we use Savn, who is 90 and acts #about 12, as a scaling we only get about 6 year pregnancies, which makes #conception before Aliera was rescued impossible. Besides, her soul wasn't #there - it was imprisoned with Lorann - I can't see Kieron getting together #with a soulless Aliera. >From the data points I've been collecting, the curve is steeper near the beginning. The lifespan ratio is about 50:1 -- a Dragaeran over 2000, or approaching 3000 is "old", Dragon 48, 127). But 800-1000 is like an Easterner's 35-40 (Jhereg 30), which is about 23-25:1; and Savn, let's say 90:12, is at 7.5:1. So we should expect childhood to be at a lower ratio than that, and pregnancy even lower, perhaps as short as a year (1.3:1). Here's my list of age correspondences. Hmm, I don't have Savn in it, or any data from _Issola_ or POTD. 100 ~ = "tender age" Yen64 200 = young FHYA86 300 ~ "young kid" (yg ad) Yen54 300 -400= mid-20's Yen63 400 = "young" FHYA3 800 -1000 = 35-40 Jrg30 1000 ~ = middle age Yen29 1500 - , "pushing 1500" = "a bit old" Tek2 2000 + "old" Drg48 2000 - 3000 lifespan =50-68 Yen6 3000 - "getting close to 3k" = "old" Drg127 -- Mark A. Mandel http://world.std.com/~mam/Cracks-and-Shards/ a Steven Brust Dragaera fan website