Societal Implications of Humma Reproduction

I'm looking to spark some discussion on the humma much like what has gone on concerning dralasites and vrusk in the Core Four project (to be honest that project would probably have been a better place for this discussion since its participating members have already been involved in the kind of discussion I hope to spark here- however the title of that project pretty much limits its scope). to start you may wish the orgininal thread in the general forums: http://starfrontiers.us/node/4368 In that thread I proposed a change in humma reproduction since only one child produced per individual humma would have the race in decline when the inevitable accident, disease and etc kill a female humma before she could give birth. The change being each humma gets pregnant only once and produces a litter with 1d10 number of off spring being what I pulled off the top of my head. Something I considered and someone else proposed is that they were engineered by parties unknown and left to eventually die out- this leaves an in game mystery: "Who are the hummarin progenitors?" I don't recommend exploring that chain of thought for 2 reasons: 1. it feels like the kind of thing that individual GMs could introduce into their particular campaign if they have a desire and 2. it seems that not that many campaigns have a "Rim" focus so that something that out there will have little appeal to the general SF public. A. In Reguard to Females: First off whether you go with 1 child/ birth or 1 litter/ birth one thing is for sure a humma female would represent something of incredible value to the hummarin society at large. I propose that the society would have, by custom and law, enacted strict rules concerning the protection of female humma. There would also be prohibitions on or at least limitations to female humma travelling abroad. The society would have a natural bent to inculcate a beleif in young females that they have a obligation to their race to fulfill their matriarchal duties. All males would have a near complussive or obsessive drive to protect hummarin females. This is not the same as chivalrous behavior in human males leading them to be gentlmen around females as the humma are uncouth and rude by nature but stems rather as a biological imperitive for the preservation of their species. Common traditional mating practices that evolved in ancient or pre-modern times over wide areas of the Hum in the Fochrik system are varied and rooted in different segments and racial groups of the humma One is arranged mating by village, clan, family elders (elders usually meaning neuters who are impervious to the natural biological drives) and it was often brokered with a "Mating Price" Another practice involved a trial by combat with all suiters paying a "Mating Price" as entry fee and "the last male standing" got to mate providing he was physically able to do so after the combat. Rarely situations would arise where a dominate male would ensure that only he would get to mate on the theory of MIght Makes Right but these instances would typically brief and limited to unique situations outside of normal societal controls. When a dominate male would monopolize all the mating opportunities it would usually end in blood as the norm in ancient times was incessent in fighting among various humma groups- disenfranchised males would quickly band together and attempt to take the dominate male down or even outraged elder's of neighboring communities would declare war and wipe out such a male. As the male population was perpetually outnumbering the female population the in fighting and civil strife was often encouraged as a means to thin out the male population. In Modern times interstellar travel and contact with other races has had an erroding effect on mating practices. Humma who have left the Fochrik system have found, particularly among humans the natural male domination of their society was viewed as backward and repressive. In some locals the local laws actually empowered a humma female to take greater control of her reproduction. These liberated females began to negotiate their own mating and Mating Price and generally spit in eye of any hummarin male that objected with the most famous occurance of this resulting in court case on Pale and a charge of attempted rape against a male humma who had insisted that the arrangement between him and the female's family be honored. Another vector of errosion of traditional mating practices was the wonders of modern medicine. Contraception has opened new horizons for some hummarin females. who are able to negotiate repeated Mating Prices without concieving young. This practice is strictly decried by traditional humma but opportunities to mate being difficult to come by ensure that these females can assemble harem troope of willing males who will on one hand speak against the practice and on the other willingly pay the "Mating Price" thus through modern medicine, prostitution has essentially come to hummarin society though it is not as wide spread as the natural indoctrination of the young toward fulfilling thier maternal obligations to the race are quite strong. Also modern medicine has introduce a chemical reversion treatment that given to a male humma who is not long past his female stage will cause him to revert to the female sex and even prove fertile. The down side of this is that the longer the male has been a male the higher the likelihood of infertility or of birth defects. B. In reguard to male: males have often been encouraged to perform the most dangerous services in society and civil strife and out right war was often encouraged to cull the herd so to speak. homosexuality among males was viewed as a viable way to divert some males out of the breeding population while homosexuality among females is viewed as an extreme aberration and dealt with by government sanctioned rape since pregnancy would result in the female becoming male after delivery. When humma encountered pornography with a lesbian bent (from humans primarily) they were vocal in expressing their disgust. In modern times there was a societal push to proffer the hero cult of the tragic male who gave his life fighting the sathar for the good of the species though he never in his life got to mate. Its still a truism that many humma males never have the opportunity to mate as their gender always out numbers the female gender simply because of length of lifespan. Still humma being humma and their natural bent toward being rude, crude and lewd male humma often engage in braggadocious behavior concerning their mating exploits. A male that can brag of several matings is almost insufferable. Naturally enough male humma are intensely competative. C. In reguard to Neuter: Males who live to reached the neuter gender become leaders and power brokers in humma society for two reason: 1 length of life eventually bestowes wisdom 2. the biochemical changes in their bodies cause them to loose some of the typical male hot headedness. Thats not to say that male humma dont become business leaders or enter into government but the basic societal view of neuters is that they naturally have the wisdom and intuition to lead. (I would stipulate that a neuter humma should get a +5% bonus to either INT or LOG upon turning neuter). Chemical reversion for Neuters never had the same results as for males and also required surgery to complete the change. Those neuters that took that change found that they were permanently altered and often viewed with a loss of respect that they had gained through becoming neuters and were no longer considered elders within society. Sucide has been a common occurance among neuters who have undergone this change. D. Concerning birth: under the litter house rule sometime a single child is born to a humma and this child is accorded what humans call a "Golden Child" Status. Hummarin society generally has high expectations of such a child. Conversely a litter of 10 is considered unlucky as high number litters have higher incidence of birth defects. The Humma equivelent of a "Yo Momma Joke" is to call some one the 10th born of a 10th born and it usually results in a brawl.

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