Elnin Breeding

Created: 25 January 2021, 15:42:48 PST
Last updated: 25 January 2021, 15:54:43 PST

Table of Contents

  • Breeding is done the old fashioned Male x Female way. However! It is important to note that Noble and Royal elnins have enough innate mana for more complex physical transformations. This gives them the interesting ability to swap genders at will.
    • ATTENTION Breeding will LOCK your elnin's gender. For the most part I leave gender up to the owners, but elnins that have been bred as a certain gender will henceforth remain that gender even when traded. Genders will be available to view on the Master List. It is possible to unlock gender if an elnin progresses from Adventurer rank to Noble.
  • Elnins as a race are not shy about wanting to have children, and are definitely not shy about sexuality/gender preferences/etcetc. Same sex couples are frequently fine with going out and locating a willing third party for baby making.
  • It is actually more uncommon for elnins to have monogamous relationships, as the higher ranks in their society are often traveling for long stretches of time. That's not to say they aren't loving, they just give their loving more freely! Elnins more often have multiple long standing romantic interests, sometimes crossing paths with an old flame while traveling and picking up right where they left off.
  • It's not unheard of for elnins to be entirely monogamous, just not nearly as common as with the other races.
  • Elnins do not overly concern themselves with their specific children after the initial infant stage. The elnin community is tightly connected, and the welfare of the young is seen as a communal responsibility. Elnin youths are often sent away from home to foster in another town in order to encourage a higher level of comfort with travelling and visiting new communities while also promoting their development toward adulthood. It may be that many parents never see their children after they are sent to foster, trusting that they will be well cared for by other elnins in whatever faraway placed they have settled.
  • Elnin kittoms at fostering age are decent learners.. you could place them anywhere between child-preteen intelligence/maturity. They generally live with or around other elnin adults that foster them.
    • If you own an elnin baby, the most common IC explanation of their day to day care is that they are currently being tended to by any elnin-run foster home for younglings where they receive food and shelter if they so desire it.
    • The fosterlings come and go from the different homes, largely left to learn about the world at their own pace- unless they start to act out of hand, in which case they are swiftly disciplined by the nearest attendant adult.
    • Otherwise, elnin kittoms can be "adopted" by just about anything (some kits attach themselves to livestock or occasionally inanimate objects if they're particularly dense), but are always under the watchful eye of any/all elnin adults in the vicinity.
  • Elnin kittoms do not grow up via the normal gradual biological means. Because of their odd mana-centric physiology, elnins are considered more similar to artificial magical constructs than natural beasts (pending: link to elnin anatomy guide goes here). In order for their bodies to successfully transition into an 'adult' state, their own core mana must first reach a sufficient level of maturity to allow for stable transformations.
  • The methods and rates at which young elnins achieve adulthood can vary dramatically (pending: link to "How to Grow Your Kittom" here). Some elnin could take years to adequately stabilize their mana, while others may take mere months. It's theorized that exposing a young elnin to different environments and energies helps the process along, which is one reason they like to foster their young in new places.
  • Many elnin cultures and families have developed their own views on how to properly raise a kittom into adulthood. In the past, for example, Duil elnins traditionally sent kittoms into the desert to seek purification. Such extreme rites of passage are less common these days, but the echos of these practices still linger. Modern day Duil, whose population incidentally became scarce for a while, still happen to think young elnins need to sunbathe regularly.