Re: A quick thought on Scorpion Men

From: Ian <ilikemonkeys.geo_at_BCelNukqXnh2EdOwd_oefWLPzWP78f0ErN12aqxWaMJMiDr5KDgreDaxjy6>
Date: Mon, 18 Jun 2007 14:12:42 -0000

   Not really. Being a Western nerd, I think mostly about Ogres. :)

>
>
> Is the men in the species name just a misunderstanding? Could it be
> that all scorpion folk are at least potentially female, with only the
> dominant one actually laying eggs?

God protect us from the sort of people who bring real world evolution into Gloranthan discussions... That said, looking at real world evolution, there are plenty of reasons to have a "useless" gender around. Should food supplies run low, rendering the "typical" method of reproduction unfeasible, it's handy to have a population of drones around to handle reproductive duties as the rest of the world understands them. Secondly, it's always handy to have an expendable soldier caste around - ant colonies use non-reproductive females for these duties, but there's nothing to say non-reproductive males couldn't do it in Bagogi society. Honestly, this latter seems the most feasible: almost all Scorpion-Men are Scorpion-<i>Men</i> with any females being potential queens. Thus, the vast majority of Scorpion-  are functionally equivalent to the sterile female workers of an ant or bee colony, and the rare female birth a cause for celebration (?) as a new nest can now be founded.

At least, that's the way it would probably be in my Glorantha.            

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