Re: Uz mothers

From: Andrew Solovay <asolovay_at_...>
Date: Mon, 23 Sep 2002 11:27:43 -0700

Greg Stafford <Greg_at_...> wrote:
> At 10:40 AM 9/23/2002 -0700, asolovay wrote:
>
>> Wasn't there a Xiola Umbar spell in "Trollpack" that did precisely
>> this? (i.e. caused all the pain of childbirth to be borne by a
>> (willing) male?)
>
> Such a feat doesn't mean that it is "generally borne" by the
> father. From my own extensive conversations with midwives I
> have been told, again and again, that the pains of labor are an
> important part of childbirth... I also want to note that,
> according to the best studies that I have seen, the socieites
> wherein men experience the labor pains are those in which the
> men are essentially trying to take some of the credit or virtue
> of the birth away form the mother.

Point well taken. Perhaps while such feats do exist, they have the consequence of weakening the child's connection with the mother, and (therefore) with Kyger Litor. If the child is a girl, she'll probably have a much harder time giving birth to Uzko when she grows up; and whether a boy or a girl, the child will probably end up drawn to fringe cults, like XU's brother Zorak Zoran. (The mother might also have difficulties with her next pregnancy, since her connection with Kyger Litor has been disturbed--perhaps her next pregnancy would be more likely to produce Enlo?)

So even if the magic is available, it would only be used in exceptional cases--say, if the mother is pregnant with an Uzdo, or if she gets sick or injured shortly before term.