--- In SkunkworksAMA_at_yahoogroups.com, "Edward Fox" <spambucket0@...>
wrote:
> Ok. You have a world where people of many species live together.
> People won't just happen to fall in live with members of their own
> species every time. But couples will want cubs.
Not all couples do. In the Skunkworks/Caterwaul reality, the
females outnumber the males by approximately 3 to 1. The possibility
of over-producing offspring becomes a very real risk (in 1235, a
global law was enacted which limited the number of offspring a family
could produce. This was due to rapid overpopulation and the
likelihood of depleting consumables. Unfortunately, this ruling
ultimately led to a massive war in 1411).
>
> Let's say that an otter male is married to a lion and a skunk. (Boy
> is that asking for trouble. G.) In their culture a female can just
go
> to a clinic and be artificially inseminated with sperm that matches
> her species. However, that was not always the case throughout all
of
> history and customs evolve to accommodate practical needs.
Artificial insemination is an option in their world.
> A blood father would have social and probably religious
recognition.
> It would have evolved into the culture. Maybe there is a ceremony
> involved in becoming a blood father. Maybe the blood father has
> legally recognized conjugal rights regarding his access to the
female
> who is the mother of his cubs and she'd have those same rights
> regarding him. He will have a right to visit his cubs and to be
with
> them. But he will play a lesser role in the raising of his cubs and
> in their support. He would be welcome at the dinner table at a
family
> reunion as a member of the family.
Sounds pretty complicated. ;P In the Trio's world, if artificial
insemination is used, it is used as you suggested earlier (the father
and mother are dissimilar species), and also occasionally if the male
is not producing enough sperm.
There aren't any "ties" between the donor and the mother. In most
cases, the female knows next to nothing about the individual who
donated the sperm, other than whether or not he is a good match
genetically. There also aren't any religious-type ceremonies
(religions are small and practiced privately by families. Small
churches and temples exist, but religion in their world does not have
the pull that it has in ours. Most religious individuals in that
world partake in their chosen religion according to their beliefs of
how their world was started). A large percentage of the population
has no religious preference or belief.
--JMH
Received on Sat Feb 02 2008 - 21:29:55 CST