>>>While that's my impression too, I'll just toss out the fact, by >>>way of devil's advocacy, that the dragonewts are frequently >>>described as 'neotenic dragons', and a neotenic creature is, >>>pretty much by definition, capable of breeding...
Joerg:
>> Not quite correct. They have hatched from eggs laid by neotenic >> dragons. They need to undergo several metamorphoses to become >> neotenic dragons.
Alex:
> 'WLIO' (aka, IIRC), I think Trotsky is right on this one, the
> reference puzzled me too. The parental dragons are described
> as 'immature', this is true, but the dragonewts themselves are
> described, elsewhere as 'neotenic'. Though if you consider them
> the same 'species' as dragons, the problem perhaps resolves
> itself (though not very satisfactorily).
Ok, let's tackle this from the other end, then.
(I have the nasty suspicion that the Dragonkill War was, among others, a great mating flight of the scaly ones... and those dragons involved in tearing the red floating orb apart might well be nurses.)
(Any physical activity besides flight...)
>> However, Sandy proposed that they have five sexes, one for each >> stage (including dragonet), and are thus able to breed. If so, I >> wonder which stage is capable of laying the egg large enough to >> hatch a warrior dragonewt.
> Ooooh, that's *gotta* hurt... I wondered about this too, it does seem
> a little odd. Perhaps the egg itself grows as the 'newt develops, or
> some such thing. For the sake of argument, I'll propose that if this
> does indeed happen, it's the warrior which is the 'oviparous sex'.
Or this requires lots of "perfection of Body"-like dragonewt effects. Possibly all of them, hampering the involved dragons in their development. (This starts sounding like "the Brithini are getting babies"...)
Whacko philosophy?
>> Would it be correct to say that the individual 'newt only is >> the mobile manifestation of the developing egg, much like a >> dream dragon?
> That sounds at any rate just the sort of thing whacked-out draconic
> philosophers would say, at any rate. ;-)
Actually, I was quite serious about this. If the dragon's (sub)consciousness develops within the egg, and it is creating a permanent manifestation in the world of illusions (known as reality to humans and their ilk), this would explain many irrationalities.
It might also be a good reason why the 'newts don't like their deceased bodies to be used in magical implements - this permanently binds some of their essence in the entanglements of the world. Natural decomposition apparently returns their essence (and be it in a troll stomach).
> "You know, in a sense, what are we all be mere mobile manifestations
> of the primal consciousness?"
> "I'm warning you, any more of that EWF-ist guff and you won't be
> either mobile, or conscious, guy!"
:-) How considerate of the audience to warn that riddler.
Peter:
>>>The Ralian 'newts have no inhuman king so it is difficult to see how
>>>they might reproduce.
Alex:
> I once suggested to Sandy that perhaps 'newts could indeed reproduce
> without the 'full set', doubtless with horrific consequences to their
> spiritual well-being. I was thinking also of the yet-more-degenerate
> cases where only (say) the first two stages are present. (The
> counter-argument being that these groups are likely out-and-out
> outlaw 'communities', and not (at least normally) self-sustaining.)
An Inhuman King seems to have two effects:
Lack of the first will make progression more difficult, lack of the second may result in physical disabilities (and yet higher numbers of dinosaur dropouts).
>> As for the necessary fifth sex - maybe a true dragon might replace a >> dragonet in this function?
> That's an interesting idea. Potentially eye-watering, mind you, but
> very interesting...
Any draconic sexuality is likely to be eye-watering. Wyverns are said to be the emanations of draconic wet dreams. If so, flying appears to be an important part of 'newt or dragon sexuality, rapacious hunger another. I won't ponder the poisonous barbed tail right now, though...
Now, how do pteranodons fit into this picture?
How dinosaur-ridden is Kralorela - do they have any at all, or does the benevolent presence of the empire correct these aberrations of weakness?
(Perhaps a better question is whether they had any prior to the New Dragon Ring's usurpation.)
As an afterthought:
What happened to the Pseudocosmic egg after Osentalka's hatching? Did the 'newts abandon the project because the egg wouldn't be treated correctly? Or did their abandoning the project salvage whatever the egg would have had to undergo?
End of The Glorantha Digest V7 #543
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