Age Of Dragons: Reproduction and the Birthing Sickness
Age Of Dragons: Main Page -> Legacies -> Reproduction and the Birthing Sickness
Draconic Coupling[edit]
For dragons, the act of sex is one that has the usual animal qualities of physical gratification and mental elation, but is also tinged with a certain sadness from the curse of the Birthing Sickness.
Male dragons do not have mammalian style external genitalia, instead loosing their sperm from an orifice just in front and below to their tails. Females receive this sperm onto a sponge-like area that is similarly located. This sponge-area will absorb the sperm, and within the female conception will occur. Intercourse occurs front-to-front, and most dragons will have sex while airborne, with grounded intercourse considered tawdry and perverse by most draconic cultures.
Conception[edit]
Draconic intercourse invariably results in conception. The act of intercourse is therefore rarely taken lightly...
Gestation[edit]
During a thirty six month gestationary period the sponge-area will change into an egg-laying tube, and at the time of delivery a small number of eggs will be laid.
- The number of eggs laid is equivalent to a single D6 roll, with +1 to the roll if both dragons are over 750 years of age.
Draconic eggs vary in colour, but are always hard-shelled and with the appearance of polished stone. An egg, once laid, contains a neonate hatchling.
The egg will not hatch immediately, but rather will remain closed until two conditions are satisfied:
First, the eggs will not hatch while either of the parents still live. Whether they die from the Birthing Sickness, or from other causes, it is an absolute requirement that both parents must be dead before it is possible for the eggs to hatch.
Second, the eggs must be exposed to a blast of intense heat. Draconic firebreath certainly suffices, though a bonfire or proximity to a strong natural heat source works just as well. Without this heat source, the egg will remain closed indefinitely. It has been known for eggs of over two millennia in age to hatch normally when finally exposed to flame.
Both the above conditions must be met for an egg to hatch.
The Birthing Sickness[edit]
From the moment eggs are laid, both parents will feel a drain on their pneuma, as if their very breath is being pulled from them.
Over a period of time they will begin to sicken, and will grow progressively more short of breath. Physical and mental exertion will grow harder.
Eventually, their bodies will fail, and their remaining pneuma will be invisibly transferred to their as yet unhatched offspring.
Only as they die, will life stir within the eggs, and only then will they be ready to be hatched.
Because of this curse a dragon may only ever reproduce once, and can only ever sire or bear offspring if life is given for life. A dragon will never see his own children, and must rely on appointed guardians to raise his hatchlings.
From the moment the eggs are laid, each parent immediately enter an accelerated senescence, regardless of their age. For each day that passes, they will lose 1 point of pneuma, soma and sophis. When a sphere rating reaches zero, the dragon will die from the birthing sickness.
When both parents have died from the birthing sickness, the eggs will be ready to hatch, though they must still be exposed to intense heat.
The birthing sickness cannot be halted. Destroying the eggs does not spare the parents from birthing sickness.
If one or both parents are killed by any other cause than the birthing sickness, then the eggs themselves will be tainted. All the eggs will immediately hatch, but the offspring will not be dragons - instead, foul wyverns will be born. These soulless and evil creatures are examined in more detail in the bestiary chapter.
Needless to say, any dragon that is already suffering from the Birthing Sickness is considered to be infertile, and cannot conceive further pregnancies.
