On Tue, 31 Aug 2004, Louann Miller wrote: > >The whole question is pretty much in the header. Is there any text >evidence, or even any general agreement on this list, how long >Draegeran pregnancies might take? > There is not textual evidence, but there is a certain amount of pararectal speculation of approximately 3-6 years. http://dragaera.info/mailinglists/archive.cgi/1/4881 http://dragaera.info/mailinglists/archive.cgi/1/8650 http://dragaera.info/mailinglists/archive.cgi/1/8651 This works out mathimatically, if one calculates thusly: Given that human menarche is at 12 years, one notes that the period of gestation is 1/16th of that. Assuming (wildly) that Dragaeran menarche is at 50 years, 1/16th of that is 3.125 years. Or so. But your guess is as good as anyone elses, especially since we do not know for sure when menarche occurs. Does anyone with a background in biology wish to comment? Thinking about it, if pregnancy lasted that long, one would think that it would become general knowledge fairly quickly, so Khaavren should not have been surprised to hear of the Princess Loudin's pregnancy. To the left, he may have been feigning ignorance, which we have seen him do even with the Emperor. To the right, Loudin may have wanted to avoid the gossip and political infighting at court, and Khaavren really did not know her status until Vernoi told him.