Dragon Virgin Birth

[pogre]

This article on a Komodo dragon female reproducing by itself has me thinking about an adventure idea. I was thinking about what if a dragon could do this? An exiled female dragon has a virgin birth and comes back to wreak vengeance on those who exiled her. Something along those lines.

I was thinking about the possible impact of such a development in dragon lines. Just wanted to bounce the idea around with you folks.

 

[(Psi)SeveredHead]

How realistic are you looking?

That might solve the dragon underpopulation problem, but only in the short term. Dragons also tkae a long time to grow enough to be a threat of some kind. That "virgin birthed" dragon will just get owned by the dragons who exiled its mother unless it can come up with a really good advantage.

Realistically, this is a bad idea. According to the articles, the mini komodo had only its mother's DNA, but remixed (so not identical). This is functionally equivalent to close inbreeding, so the risk of birth defects would be high. (Also, the komodo dragon lizard can only produce male offspring this way, so you can't have two unrelated komodo dragon lizards produce offspring that will then mate with each other and preserve genetic variability for at least one generation.)

Komodo dragon lizards use ZW chromosomes, but that's confusing, so I'll just call them XY. Males are XX, females are XY ... like birds, but the opposite of mammals.

 

[Kae'Yoss]

"Jesus" doesn't sound too draconic!

 

[Umbran]

n exiled female dragon has a virgin birth and comes back to wreak vengeance on those who exiled her. Something along those lines.

Um, thematically (and plotwise) I don't see yet how the birth is relevant. She is exiled. She seeks vengeance. What's the birth got to do with it?

 

[lukelightning]

Um, thematically (and plotwise) I don't see yet how the birth is relevant. She is exiled. She seeks vengeance. What's the birth got to do with it?

'Cuz she's one mean mother.

 

[Hairy Minotaur]

Um, thematically (and plotwise) I don't see yet how the birth is relevant. She is exiled. She seeks vengeance. What's the birth got to do with it?

Well if she's imprisoned somewhere that isolates her (lets say a locked demi-plane) and then hundreds of years later she gets freed intentionally, those releasing her would expect only the 1 dragon, not 2-3 generations of dragons pouring out of the gate along with mommy.

 

[JustKim]

Well if she's imprisoned somewhere that isolates her (lets say a locked demi-plane) and then hundreds of years later she gets freed intentionally, those releasing her would expect only the 1 dragon, not 2-3 generations of dragons pouring out of the gate along with mommy.

So you get a moment of initial shock, that's about it.

 

[pogre]

So you get a moment of initial shock, that's about it.

Perhaps, I admit I was just fascinated by the biology. It is fairly convoluted trying to work it in with dragons. HM got the basic idea. I still want to use it in some way. Like I said, I was just tossing out thoughts.

 

[grimwell]

I'll bite. It's an interesting idea. The key is to take this neat quirk of science and turn it into something of a plot. No plot = the 'big deal' that others are giving as replies right now. Let's say she was exiled by the other dragons for refusing to mate with the king. Stick with science and give her all male offspring from this 'virgin birth' to make things fun. Then lets age her so she won't live long enough to protect her offspring through their growth into adulthood. Now give her a tribe of followers (humans, kobolds, whatever, that venerate her). Their mission is to protect the dragons while they grow. That could be an entire campaign hook for PC's -- hunting down dragons that threaten the newborn clutch and protecting them over the years so they can grow. Gives PC's dragon allies and whatnot (high powered campaign anyone?) Now have one of the other dragons find them, but just one. The PC's have to hunt and kill that dragon before word gets back to the greater populace. Eventually the clutch of dragons is matured and one of them can go take down the Dragon King completing mom's circle of revenge.

Oh! Bonus points! After the virgin birth mom deliberately breeds with a two legged race to make her children's protectors half-dragon. Now you have a party of half-dragons! ;p

This is probably a horrible plot idea, but the basic point is that you can take it beyond the 'hey neat/forget' and make it something, but the story is where you are going to do that.

 

[Sejs]

"Jesus" doesn't sound too draconic!

While she was reading an article about this particular komodo dragon on the CBC website, particularly the part where it mentions other certain other lizards and snakes can perform similar acts, my wife looks over her shoulder to me and says "okay, hook idea - Jesus and Mary-like religeous figures leading a cultural revolution, incorporating the whole virgin birth miracle. The trick? They're yuan-ti."