Gender and Reproduction in Fantasy races
- Thread starter Tonguez
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Dr. Strangemonkey
First Post
It's possible to mess with sexuality even on a fairly subtle level.
I recall reading an essay that seemed to imply that at a certain point in their lives Elves redirected their sexual drive to scholarly and crafting pursuits. Which certainly explains a lot of things. I don't know how much time I could spend on making the perfect piece of good aligned rope, but whatever turns you on, I guess...
I recall reading an essay that seemed to imply that at a certain point in their lives Elves redirected their sexual drive to scholarly and crafting pursuits. Which certainly explains a lot of things. I don't know how much time I could spend on making the perfect piece of good aligned rope, but whatever turns you on, I guess...
Trickstergod said:
Very much so!
Sex, romance, families, star-crossed lovers… A colossal amount of what any character does or even strives for, every chance of dealing with him, her, or it, depends directly or indirectly on his or her role in his family's striving for perpetuity. How much of politics has been driven by the fact that the king has children? Or brothers? Even people's striving for wealth and a career boils down, in the end, to an effort to provide for children and grandchildren. Change our role in perpetuating our families and you change everything about us.
Snapdragyn
Explorer
That part's right, but also had a third gender. They were very rare, & had a (semi?-)religious role. Fertilization was something more than regular sex, & was a ceremony to which close family & friends were invited (they turned their backs, though the cop guy peeked at the one in the series). The 3rd gender wasn't usually a part of long-term male-female relationships, maintaining their own 'monastery' sort of structure (I guess with romantic relationships amongst them?) & only joining in with the male-female stuff for the fertilization rituals.
Man I miss that show.
The weirdest case of this I've ever seen was one that posited dwarves and elves as being the same race. Despite their apparent differences, they were really just the two genders of one common species. Dwarves were the males, and elves the females.
In this setup, humans didn't realize the truth about the races because they only judged by outward appearance. The species did have varying body types, but that had nothing to do with gender. (For instance, if a dwarf had breasts and no beard, a human might incorrectly assume he was female, but he would actually be male in terms of... er, primary characteristics.) They didn't get offended when humans referred to them using incorrect pronouns, because their own languages had a complex set of gender indicators that could not translate into Common at all.
Any dwarf was able to mate with any elf, and produce offspring. The "race" and apparent gender of the child were both random, like gender in humans. There was a bias toward more dwarves, which kept the population balanced even though elves lived longer. Mated pairs did not form long-term bonds; once the child was weaned they separated, and the child stayed with the parent of its same "race."
If I could remember who came up with this idea I'd give credit. Unfortunately it's not in my notes anywhere, and a few minutes of Google hasn't found a source.
In this setup, humans didn't realize the truth about the races because they only judged by outward appearance. The species did have varying body types, but that had nothing to do with gender. (For instance, if a dwarf had breasts and no beard, a human might incorrectly assume he was female, but he would actually be male in terms of... er, primary characteristics.) They didn't get offended when humans referred to them using incorrect pronouns, because their own languages had a complex set of gender indicators that could not translate into Common at all.
Any dwarf was able to mate with any elf, and produce offspring. The "race" and apparent gender of the child were both random, like gender in humans. There was a bias toward more dwarves, which kept the population balanced even though elves lived longer. Mated pairs did not form long-term bonds; once the child was weaned they separated, and the child stayed with the parent of its same "race."
If I could remember who came up with this idea I'd give credit. Unfortunately it's not in my notes anywhere, and a few minutes of Google hasn't found a source.
Estlor
Explorer
If you wanted to take that one step forward, gnomes are just the male children of such a union, while halflings are the female union. Eventually, every gnome grows up to be a dwarf and every halfling grows up to be an elf.
And, so you see, the only two races in D&D are humans and demihumans
And, so you see, the only two races in D&D are humans and demihumans
This is more about the sexual preferences of non human races-
Human -- same as real world -- varies by culture
None of the non humans are used IMC but when I did use them here is what they were like
Elves -- Mostly Bi -- with a few single sex prefered types -- usually Hetero with a fair amount of polyamory too. Sex =/= repoduction with these guys. Children a rare and precious, achieving bilogical adulthood at 25. gestation is 1 year
Most Elves do not have children except in time of war,for magical reasons numbers down -- new elves up
Dwarves -- 60% Neuter (all the unamrried ones) the rest Hetero -- none are Gay as dwarves aren't really into the whole sex drive thing and can off the sex drive. Dwarves tend to 3 or 4children -- Daughters are rare and prized
Gnomes -- Same as Dwarves with a better M/F ratio and strong families
Half Elves -- same as Humans often with a bit more of a wild streak
Halfling -- always hetero and monogamous like Swans. They bond for life. if a partner dies they rebond (sometimes) but thats it.They go for big families
Half Orcs -- same as Human with a marked tendancy to violence
Half Ogre . Always Male and Always Neuter. These were from parings between a human male and an ogress -- females became Ogres , Males could be (1 time in 10) Half Ogres. Ogre males aren't interested in human females -- except as food. The exception might be a shapechanged Ogre Magi -- Children would be human with a High Strength, a wierd bloodline and levels in the Sorcerer class.I don't want to know about Ogre or Troll reproduction
Half Troll -- Some trolls IMC are intelligent and intereact with humans quite often. Humans and Trollwives sometimes Uhm interact They are close enough to people that offspring sometimes result. They look and act mostly human though they tend to be tall, have magic and sometimes horns or rough skin.
my Catfolk are Hetero with a tendancy to promiscuity. They have human numbers of children and similar parenting habits
Warmade -- basically humans with animal traits have the normal human range of varient with a higher hetero tendancy
As for "racial interactions "and mixed races
Gnomes and Halfling always pair with their own kind
Dwarves pair only with Dwarves except in my faerie tale world where they sometimes pair with human females-- In that world there are dwarf blooded humans
Elves often pair with humans -- at least for a while as they are bascially the same species
Catfolk vary -- in one world the Anime styled ones often play about with humans. I doubt there is any offspring. In other games more animal like ones stick to thier own kind
Warmade are fertile with the same clade (Wolf,Bear,Cat etc) or with humans -- The offspring of a human/warmade pairing are essentially Human --3/4 Warmade are essentially Warmade
Human -- same as real world -- varies by culture
None of the non humans are used IMC but when I did use them here is what they were like
Elves -- Mostly Bi -- with a few single sex prefered types -- usually Hetero with a fair amount of polyamory too. Sex =/= repoduction with these guys. Children a rare and precious, achieving bilogical adulthood at 25. gestation is 1 year
Most Elves do not have children except in time of war,for magical reasons numbers down -- new elves up
Dwarves -- 60% Neuter (all the unamrried ones) the rest Hetero -- none are Gay as dwarves aren't really into the whole sex drive thing and can off the sex drive. Dwarves tend to 3 or 4children -- Daughters are rare and prized
Gnomes -- Same as Dwarves with a better M/F ratio and strong families
Half Elves -- same as Humans often with a bit more of a wild streak
Halfling -- always hetero and monogamous like Swans. They bond for life. if a partner dies they rebond (sometimes) but thats it.They go for big families
Half Orcs -- same as Human with a marked tendancy to violence
Half Ogre . Always Male and Always Neuter. These were from parings between a human male and an ogress -- females became Ogres , Males could be (1 time in 10) Half Ogres. Ogre males aren't interested in human females -- except as food. The exception might be a shapechanged Ogre Magi -- Children would be human with a High Strength, a wierd bloodline and levels in the Sorcerer class.I don't want to know about Ogre or Troll reproduction
Half Troll -- Some trolls IMC are intelligent and intereact with humans quite often. Humans and Trollwives sometimes Uhm interact They are close enough to people that offspring sometimes result. They look and act mostly human though they tend to be tall, have magic and sometimes horns or rough skin.
my Catfolk are Hetero with a tendancy to promiscuity. They have human numbers of children and similar parenting habits
Warmade -- basically humans with animal traits have the normal human range of varient with a higher hetero tendancy
As for "racial interactions "and mixed races
Gnomes and Halfling always pair with their own kind
Dwarves pair only with Dwarves except in my faerie tale world where they sometimes pair with human females-- In that world there are dwarf blooded humans
Elves often pair with humans -- at least for a while as they are bascially the same species
Catfolk vary -- in one world the Anime styled ones often play about with humans. I doubt there is any offspring. In other games more animal like ones stick to thier own kind
Warmade are fertile with the same clade (Wolf,Bear,Cat etc) or with humans -- The offspring of a human/warmade pairing are essentially Human --3/4 Warmade are essentially Warmade
Eesh - I thought it was rather inappropriately overemphasized in the books considering the ultimate conflict is with their god/world, but John Varley's Gaia trio (Titan-Wizard-Demon) starts with a race of centaur-like things with suitable parts for both halves. (and I don't reall remember, but wouldn't be surprised if the human half parts didn't automatically match the horse parts).
Then it only gets more complex when one of the main characters (a human coming totally from outside the ecosystem) is apparently genetically modified to be the crucial element in the perpetuation of the entire species by requiring a rather odd catalyst reaction on what might best be called a in-process egg/fetus!
Talk about gender confusion!
**********************
Anyway, back to the question. It makes your world interesting and unique although it shouldn't necessarily show up blatently or often in the game. Any players playing that race should know, but other races may not (especially if this is actually a race of gnome-looking things that live in the far wildernesses of your world).
Then it only gets more complex when one of the main characters (a human coming totally from outside the ecosystem) is apparently genetically modified to be the crucial element in the perpetuation of the entire species by requiring a rather odd catalyst reaction on what might best be called a in-process egg/fetus!
Talk about gender confusion!
**********************
Anyway, back to the question. It makes your world interesting and unique although it shouldn't necessarily show up blatently or often in the game. Any players playing that race should know, but other races may not (especially if this is actually a race of gnome-looking things that live in the far wildernesses of your world).
.
Amal Shukup
First Post
The only odd thing I've done IMC with respect to breeding is the history/parentage of one of my NPCs - Tawk, a Half Dwarf (about 5'5", shortish legs/longish torso, wide like door, odd silver flecks in eyes and a tendency to not blink. Quite charismatic and personable, though).
Normally (IMC anyway), Dwarves are neither inclined nor capable of breeding with humans, but I took advantage of the indiscriminate fecundity (and I gotta assume - promiscuity) of dragons: Tawk's mom is a half (Silver) dragon Dwarf of rather liberated disposition and a taste for the unconventional (in the form of a human adventurer).
Tawk's Draconic grandfather (Saxistaschal) also sired an actual Silver Dragon that resides in the region (Tawk's aunt). Due to a rather lengthy indisposition, Sary (Saryxshyasham) is currently unaware that she has a bipedal nephew...
Party has met both NPCs on a number of occasions and recently recovered a substantial magic item that happens to be crafted from the remains of Saxistaschal (actual provenanance isn't THAT obvious, I guess - but I do hope they don't just wear the thing around... Tacky). At any rate, no pennies have dropped yet...
Tawk's currently 'dating' an Elf...
Amal
Normally (IMC anyway), Dwarves are neither inclined nor capable of breeding with humans, but I took advantage of the indiscriminate fecundity (and I gotta assume - promiscuity) of dragons: Tawk's mom is a half (Silver) dragon Dwarf of rather liberated disposition and a taste for the unconventional (in the form of a human adventurer).
Tawk's Draconic grandfather (Saxistaschal) also sired an actual Silver Dragon that resides in the region (Tawk's aunt). Due to a rather lengthy indisposition, Sary (Saryxshyasham) is currently unaware that she has a bipedal nephew...
Party has met both NPCs on a number of occasions and recently recovered a substantial magic item that happens to be crafted from the remains of Saxistaschal (actual provenanance isn't THAT obvious, I guess - but I do hope they don't just wear the thing around... Tacky). At any rate, no pennies have dropped yet...
Tawk's currently 'dating' an Elf...
Amal
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