So. Yeah.
Huh. I thought I was going to need that information on marriage benefits, but it turns out that a lot of it? Wouldn't apply to draconian society. I still managed to type up almost three pages of stuff, though. :D;
Draconians simply do not understand the concept of marriage or of waiting until marriage to mate. To them, it’s like waiting for permission from someone that has no business making the decision, as they are not impacted or actively involved in the relationship. They don’t need a piece of paper, or some elaborate ceremony as proof of their commitment to each other. The pair will, however, engage in a physical contest of some sort, to determine their roles in child-rearing; the winner is usually tasked with providing food and shelter, while the other tends to the nest and the eggs.
The party portion of weddings has a bit of an appeal, though. The Day of Hope could, in a way, be viewed as one mass ‘wedding’ celebration; it is a city-wide festival held on Midyear Day, the anniversary of the day the females were rescued from the caves of Thorbardin, and is traditionally when females declare who they’ve chosen as their mate.
Mate selection is not permanent, though the female will usually continue to choose the same mate over her lifetime. She can change her mind at any time, and most males will respect her decision. If the female chooses a new mate, and has eggs or children from the previous mate, the eggs will be cared for by the decided partner from the physical contest, and/or the parents will work out visitation privately, unless there are extreme circumstances.
Draconians typically reach adult stature and sexual maturity at fifteen years of age (except for sivaks, who continue to grow until adulthood at eighteen to twenty years). Unlike their dragon parents, who are fertile year-round, female draconians are only fertile about once every ten years. Draconians do have sex for pleasure, like many of the other races, and this ten year cycle allows them to better control when they breed. If she [the female] doesn’t want any children during her fertile time, she simply doesn’t mate.
After a gestation period of six months, a female lays a clutch of two to eight eggs which usually hatch in three to six months. The eggs must be kept in a moist environment at a temperature roughly equal to the mother’s body heat. Draconians have a very short childhood. The hatchling can immediately start eating solid foods and liquids, usually preferring meat and blood to vegetables and breads. Hatchlings are very curious and get into all sorts of trouble unless carefully watched. (Dragons of Krynn 80)
Contradiction: in at least two other sources, draconians are poikilothermic, and thus, do not maintain a steady body temperature. I propose, instead, that the nest must be kept between certain temperatures in order for the eggs to properly incubate.
If one of the parents dies while the children are still young, the other partner will almost always receive help from other draconians if it is needed. If both parents die, depending on their age, the children are taken in by another. Due to their own abandonment by their original dragon parents and the fact that there almost were no females or a chance to breed, draconians are extremely protective and caring of not only their own young, but every single draconian child in Teyr. They do practice tough love, though, which can give off the impression to other races that they mistreat their children; it’s not uncommon for an adult to growl, hiss, or even go so far as to literally pin their child down or to cuff the side of their head if they misbehave. Most younglings learn the consequences of their actions very quickly this way and rarely act up again.
On the subject of rape: Because of the lack of females during the first forty years of their existence, a large number of male draconians pursued human and elven women (and didn’t take no for an answer). Lord-Governor Kang was not one of these draconians. He never felt any attraction towards ‘softskin’ females, but this does not mean that he ever stopped another male from committing rape during the War. The only reasons he would have stopped a rape if he happened to come across it would have been if the male were on duty, or it was occurring someplace unacceptable, i.e. in public or where he was trying to do work.
The nation of Teyr, however, does have a law against rape, punishable by death, for two reasons: One, Kang and his former regiment raised the first twenty females. A close bond was formed, and most of said females ended up taking males from the regiment as mates. Kang himself became the mate to Fonrar, and he considers all of the females, especially the aurak Thesik and excepting Fonrar, as surrogate daughters. He and the Teyrian Corps of Engineers are very protective of their former charges, and would not let such an act go unpunished. Besides that, any attempt of rape on a female draconian would more than likely end up in the attacker’s brutal death via the hands of the victim. If he [the attacker] survived, he would be severely punished, if not executed, depending on the circumstances of the attack.
Reason number two is, simply put, because it would reflect badly on the nation of Teyr if a human or elven woman were to spend time in the city, get raped, and the assault was not investigated or punished. The Lord-Governor is very aware of how tense the relationship between draconians and the other races still is, and that such an event could very easily trigger a war.
Inheritance
When a draconian dies, their possessions go to their mate. If their mate is dead as well, the possessions are split up evenly amongst the first clutch of children. Failing that, their possessions are split up amongst any living siblings from their clutch, and lastly, in the case of first-generation draconians, who are unaware of who their siblings are, if they do not have a mate or children, their possessions become property of the state.
Biology Geeking
Because their metabolism is so variable, poikilothermic animals do not easily support complex, high-energy organ systems such as brains or wings. Poikilothermic animals do not use their metabolisms to heat or cool themselves. For the same body weight, poikilotherms need half to 1/10 of the energy of homeotherms, and thus eat half to 1/10 of the biomass..
Draconians are poikilothermic, yet they are just as, if not more, intelligent as a human, and all but auraks possess wings. They can survive on 1/10 the food and water a human would need, but they do eat around the same amount as the other races, and sivaks will eat even more. That extra energy, then, must be used to power their brains and wings; it would make sense, then, that sivaks, being the only subrace of metallic draconian that can fly, would eat more than any other subrace, and that auraks, who lack wings and are the most intelligent of the subraces (+4 bonus to INT), would have more energy expended on brain power.
Draconians simply do not understand the concept of marriage or of waiting until marriage to mate. To them, it’s like waiting for permission from someone that has no business making the decision, as they are not impacted or actively involved in the relationship. They don’t need a piece of paper, or some elaborate ceremony as proof of their commitment to each other. The pair will, however, engage in a physical contest of some sort, to determine their roles in child-rearing; the winner is usually tasked with providing food and shelter, while the other tends to the nest and the eggs.
The party portion of weddings has a bit of an appeal, though. The Day of Hope could, in a way, be viewed as one mass ‘wedding’ celebration; it is a city-wide festival held on Midyear Day, the anniversary of the day the females were rescued from the caves of Thorbardin, and is traditionally when females declare who they’ve chosen as their mate.
Mate selection is not permanent, though the female will usually continue to choose the same mate over her lifetime. She can change her mind at any time, and most males will respect her decision. If the female chooses a new mate, and has eggs or children from the previous mate, the eggs will be cared for by the decided partner from the physical contest, and/or the parents will work out visitation privately, unless there are extreme circumstances.
Draconians typically reach adult stature and sexual maturity at fifteen years of age (except for sivaks, who continue to grow until adulthood at eighteen to twenty years). Unlike their dragon parents, who are fertile year-round, female draconians are only fertile about once every ten years. Draconians do have sex for pleasure, like many of the other races, and this ten year cycle allows them to better control when they breed. If she [the female] doesn’t want any children during her fertile time, she simply doesn’t mate.
After a gestation period of six months, a female lays a clutch of two to eight eggs which usually hatch in three to six months. The eggs must be kept in a moist environment at a temperature roughly equal to the mother’s body heat. Draconians have a very short childhood. The hatchling can immediately start eating solid foods and liquids, usually preferring meat and blood to vegetables and breads. Hatchlings are very curious and get into all sorts of trouble unless carefully watched. (Dragons of Krynn 80)
Contradiction: in at least two other sources, draconians are poikilothermic, and thus, do not maintain a steady body temperature. I propose, instead, that the nest must be kept between certain temperatures in order for the eggs to properly incubate.
If one of the parents dies while the children are still young, the other partner will almost always receive help from other draconians if it is needed. If both parents die, depending on their age, the children are taken in by another. Due to their own abandonment by their original dragon parents and the fact that there almost were no females or a chance to breed, draconians are extremely protective and caring of not only their own young, but every single draconian child in Teyr. They do practice tough love, though, which can give off the impression to other races that they mistreat their children; it’s not uncommon for an adult to growl, hiss, or even go so far as to literally pin their child down or to cuff the side of their head if they misbehave. Most younglings learn the consequences of their actions very quickly this way and rarely act up again.
On the subject of rape: Because of the lack of females during the first forty years of their existence, a large number of male draconians pursued human and elven women (and didn’t take no for an answer). Lord-Governor Kang was not one of these draconians. He never felt any attraction towards ‘softskin’ females, but this does not mean that he ever stopped another male from committing rape during the War. The only reasons he would have stopped a rape if he happened to come across it would have been if the male were on duty, or it was occurring someplace unacceptable, i.e. in public or where he was trying to do work.
The nation of Teyr, however, does have a law against rape, punishable by death, for two reasons: One, Kang and his former regiment raised the first twenty females. A close bond was formed, and most of said females ended up taking males from the regiment as mates. Kang himself became the mate to Fonrar, and he considers all of the females, especially the aurak Thesik and excepting Fonrar, as surrogate daughters. He and the Teyrian Corps of Engineers are very protective of their former charges, and would not let such an act go unpunished. Besides that, any attempt of rape on a female draconian would more than likely end up in the attacker’s brutal death via the hands of the victim. If he [the attacker] survived, he would be severely punished, if not executed, depending on the circumstances of the attack.
Reason number two is, simply put, because it would reflect badly on the nation of Teyr if a human or elven woman were to spend time in the city, get raped, and the assault was not investigated or punished. The Lord-Governor is very aware of how tense the relationship between draconians and the other races still is, and that such an event could very easily trigger a war.
Inheritance
When a draconian dies, their possessions go to their mate. If their mate is dead as well, the possessions are split up evenly amongst the first clutch of children. Failing that, their possessions are split up amongst any living siblings from their clutch, and lastly, in the case of first-generation draconians, who are unaware of who their siblings are, if they do not have a mate or children, their possessions become property of the state.
Biology Geeking
Because their metabolism is so variable, poikilothermic animals do not easily support complex, high-energy organ systems such as brains or wings. Poikilothermic animals do not use their metabolisms to heat or cool themselves. For the same body weight, poikilotherms need half to 1/10 of the energy of homeotherms, and thus eat half to 1/10 of the biomass..
Draconians are poikilothermic, yet they are just as, if not more, intelligent as a human, and all but auraks possess wings. They can survive on 1/10 the food and water a human would need, but they do eat around the same amount as the other races, and sivaks will eat even more. That extra energy, then, must be used to power their brains and wings; it would make sense, then, that sivaks, being the only subrace of metallic draconian that can fly, would eat more than any other subrace, and that auraks, who lack wings and are the most intelligent of the subraces (+4 bonus to INT), would have more energy expended on brain power.