> > Was this supposed to be off-list? Whoops! No, forwarding it now... > On Mon, 30 Jun 2003, Alexx S Kay wrote: > > > > > On Sun, 29 Jun 2003, Philip Hart wrote: > > > > > > > >It's interesting how unfecund the Dragaerans are > > > > > > I should note that I don't have as much solid evidence for this assertion > > > as I'd like - e.g., some. > > > > Vlad has claimed that Dragaerans cannot conceive involuntarily. > > Brust (on this very list?) has claimed that Vlad is an idiot, and that > > the truth is that Dragaeran contraception spells are trivial. This is > > obviously something that Vlad's various teachers could have failed to > > mention, as being obviously irrelevant to him (given that, so far as we > > know, Dragaerans and Easterners are not interfertile). > > > > At any rate, if maturation is similarly slow among them (which we have > > some evidence for in _Athyra_), it's unsurprising to find low birth > > rates. If you get woken up for 3 AM feedings for a decade, followed > > by a decade of carefully watching a toddler all the time, followed by > > a decade of "the terrible twenties"... Well, I can't imagine wanting > > to go through all that *again* anytime soon. > > > > Possibly Dragaerans in their "natural" state would be far more fecund. > > Indeed, that's a quality often considered a positive one in experimental > > animals, so the Jenoine might have deliberately made them so. That might > > have contributed to the whole "warring tribes" aspect of their early > > (post-Jenoine) history. Exponentially increasing demand for resources, > > coupled with excessively cranky parents (see previous paragraph) could > > account for a lot of warfare. > > > > Maybe part of why bastardy is so taboo is that "control of reproduction" > > is considered to be a fundamental pillar of Dragaeran civilization. > > > > Alexx > > > > Alexx Kay > > Opinions expressed are my own and not necessarily those of my employers > > alexx at world.std.com > > http://world.std.com/~alexx > > "Grown men, he told himself, in flat contradiction of centuries of > > accumulated evidence about the way grown men behave, do not behave > > like this." -- Douglas Adams