Breeding of the races

I would make the guess that Val + Dwarf = very twisted (possibly fatally so) gnome. If the Pantheon gets pissy about the traitors macking with their former charges, I’m guessing they’d be doubly upset about said charge being a chosen one.

Unknown, and possible. I am of the thought that the Reluctance of Hurrian spawned the val’Tensen, which is why after the Storm they went crazy, and it is heavily implied Manetas (the Pride of Illiir) spawned the val’Assante’s.

As to the Val + Gnome, I’m assuming it would yield a Gnome since Vals no longer breed true, but the Dwarven Curse seems very strongly in effect. That said, for a Val to produce a Gnome would probably lead to at least one dead person.

If this is so, I have not heard of it. Personally (with the exception of the presumably extinct val’Hamen) the bloodlines do not mix, which would yield a Val or a Human, and there is a not unreasonable percent chance that the human will actually be a Dark-kin.

Val + Undir equals a Val. In some of the origins myths the val’Baucisz have been described as originally of Undir stock. Not sure what the “official” line is now.

There is also an outside chance of that Val and Undir can’t produce children (see the two tribes of his humanity thing).

Well the Pengik certainly predate the coming of the PoM and I assumed (maybe incorrectly) that they are part of the Savosh “tree.” If so then they can’t interbreed with their “normal human” neighbors. Or maybe the Pengik are their own thing. The Undir also come into question…though in thief case I lean the other way. Personally I would guess that the Undir are enough of their “own thing” that they can interbreed with “normal” humans.

The the whole Savosh Mandai split opens up an interesting can of worms.

Henry has said elsewhere all dwarves can interbreed as they are all the same species. I assume that when it comes to determining enclave it is either the enclave they were born in or random chance in terms of what stone they have to bathe in the light of.

The only question you raise that I can answer is the one on raising children in creches. We are told somewhere (probably the original codex or eldest sons) that elorii initially live with their birth parents but then move out to join a “hall” that is elementally themed.

So as i understand it Celia (let’s say she’s Marokene) spends 10 years with mom and dad (maybe 2 Ardakenes) and then moves out to join the other “marokenes” … perhaps somewhat like when kids in the real world go to college or start looking for their first apartment.

It might be true that parent\child bonds are at least somewhat limited vis-a-via the human baseline because the period of development is truncated. Or it might not … I don’t know. I also don’t know how often “cross element” partnerships form. If all the elorii most often hang out with their kind then it stands to reason that most intimate relationships form within the same elemental flavor. I wonder if cross elemental partnerships are ever viewed with suspicion by your “elementally aligned” friends. This might have a dimension in parent-child bonds. Would Kelekene parents form a closer bond with their Kelekene child then they would if their child were Berokene? Lots of questions…all concealed behind the Laerestri veil of ignorance.

One thing I do know is that births are very rare. So it’s probably an instant block party when a child is born. And I suspect there is no shortage of volunteers if Mom & Dad need a baby sitter some Saturday night. From age 1-10 an elorii child probably has neighbors falling over each other to make a fuss over them. Almost all elorii children are single children. Even if Mom and Dad somehow hit the jackpot twice and have a second child the first should be grown and more like an uncle or aunt.

I believe there is more than the soul at stake in determining the direction and outcome of each (eloran) life. So I am sure there is some variability. “Salvos” might not be born dumb but he might be merely “noticeably brighter” or a “genius” depending on Mom and Dad. This suggests that the scope of free will might in practice be more limited for elorii…at a guess. For a soul do genders ever flip? I think not for elorii…that’s a guess but it’s somewhat illuminated by what we know from the old module the Banished.

Birth defects? I guess it could sometimes happen. Are elorii tempted to euthanize a birth that obviously suffers from abnormalities (to free the soul to be reborn in a “proper” body?). We don’t know…its behind the veil of ignorance. Possibly interesting for gnome characters to think about too.

Sex drive? Rape? Not topics I expect a huge amount of coverage in a living campaign. But since elorii don’t have the same reproductive imperatives of mortals I would guess the libedo could be lower. Or not. Sadly I think rape is still on the table. That potentially has as much to do with power imbalances as sex drive. Though outside the Coeseli there may be fewer such imbalances in elori society. We just don’t know.

A lot of the above is my speculation and guess work. maybe I’m wrong.