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Library: differences

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Author: Ran
Date:Dec 5 1997

This attempts to summarize most of the differences, mainly physical and
developmental.  Other details are covered in other texts.

Terms in []'s are close approximations.  [...] means that no close
approximation could be found.

[Obsess]

Naturally, children are rare.  The average couple is lucky to get one
conception every two or three years.  If both parents are of this race, the
child will be female 65% of the time.  If parentage is mixed, gender is even. 

Gestation period is 6-7 months.  During this time, the woman has to consume a
great deal of energy.  If she does not, the baby rejected and spontaneously
aborted.  The baby is never stillborn, her body stops supporting it and
instead consumes it.  If the mom doesn't wish to have a baby, she just doesn't
[eat].

There is no clear pattern to the result when parentage is mixed.  If the child
is female there is a slight preference for traits of the mother, if the child
is male there is a slight preference for traits of the father.  It is not
harder for mixed parents to conceive, but children are more rare with mixed
parents since the mothers is more likely to reject the baby.

When children are born, they are generally independent and can survive with
minimal care.  A child is not named for [17.2 days], and if the child is weak
in health no effort is made to assist him during this time.  If a child does
die during this time, the child is typically [eaten] by the family.  Once the
child survives [17.2 days], there is a celebration, he is named, and
considered a member of the family.

Children have full mental capacity by age three to four.  Other than that,
development is noticably slower than humans.  Growth is slow for the first ten
years, a ten-year old is only [3 feet] tall.  Girls begin to grow quicker
around age [10 years], boys around age [15 years].  Females become sexcually
capable after age [15 years], males between [17 to 19 years].  Both have
reached adulthood by [22 years], and are generally fully grown by [25 years].

Adults do not age noticably so long as they stay on a strong diet.

Formal marraiges are rare, but parents will generally keep parteners for [6 to
10 years].  A formal marraige has to be re-affirmed every [4 years], or else
it dissolves.   The typical [marraige] has 2 to 3 children.  

Children are notably independent and typically have left their parents by age
10, with or without their consent.   Children sometimes form [gangs], which
while predatory, are not particularly violent.  

Children and young adults are typically "liad back" or "easygoing" in
attitude, but also have a very strong will and determination, assuming they
are [eating] right.  They dislike outright or visible violence, prefering
infiltration or trickery.  But behind closed doors, they are often cruel and
sadistic. 

Adult lifestyle is generally cyclic.  Females especially may raise a family
for [10 years], and then live alone for another [10 years] before returning to
parenting.  So long as a well diet is kept, physical detioration is
nonexistant.  Mental detioration limits lifespan to between [400 years] and
[1000 years].  Not much information is known about actual possible lifespan
because of accidental deaths.  The average age is estimated to be between [30
years] and [50 years], mostly due to a rise in new births since the
exploration era began.

[devil]

Developmentally, this race seems the closest parellel to humans.  However,
children are extremely rare, and a typical married couple will raise only one
child at a time.   Gestation period is roughly [12 months], but highly
variable.  Sex is split evenly, even if both parents are not the same race.  

Since natural conception is so rare, medical practices are sometimes used to
aid conception.  Children are well cared for from the moment they are born,
and generally spoiled.  The children have [traits] that go with the bloodline,
and are gender-linked.  These [traits] are linked to their horns.

Attitude wise, children tend to be exceptionally bold and pushy.  They are
adored by their parents, but are always getting into trouble.  At first,
children have a single horn, which falls off and regrows every once in a
while.  Eventually, around age [7 years?] they grow 2 and their [traits] get
stronger.  This is widely variable.

Growth-wise and sexually, children develop at generally the same rate as
humans.  They are sexually capable at age [11 years to 13 years] for girls,
[12 years to 14 years] for boys.  The only difference is that they are fully
grown by [age 16 to 18], boys generally later than girls.

Boys propose to girls typically between the ages of 14 and 17.  If a girl
accepts, they are considered formally married and begin living together.  A
wedding ceremony will happen eventually, but not instantly.

It is well known that while in public girls pretend to be indifferent about
boys proposing to them, in private they will often try to use force and
coercion to get the boy they want to propose to them.  If a girl turns down a
boy, he can keep trying, and if the parents like him they can "apply
pressure", but she can't be forced to accept him.  Actual customs on how much
the parents are involved differs from family to family, but generally parents
only get involved if they feel their daughter is getting too old, or to help
her decide between two potential suitors.  

Since the exploration age began, about 20% to 30% of boys and girls don't want
to settle down and raise a family.  Not being married does not mean they won't
have sexual parteners or children, it just means they can't find someone they
like enough or don't want to settle down and be tied to one place.

Even for single mothers, the unspoken rule of raising only one child at a time
is followed.  However, a new phenonenon is unwanted children, which, though
rare, do happen.  These children are often given away to relatives (younger
cousins), to close friends (as gifts), or to are raised for a short time
(about 4 years) and then left, becomming independent by necessity.

Typically, their [traits] start to wane around age 55, and they begin showing
signs of physical and mental detioration.  It is possible to prolong lifespan
or negate aging by medical measures, but these are considered drastic and are
frowned upon.  For instance, members who are afraid to die of old age can be
frozen and thawed out some time in the future (called [cold-sleep]).  During
the early expansionist part of the exploration era, most members were
patriotic and upon reaching old age would voulenteer for [suicide/"kamikaze"]
missions of a military nature, willingly.  Today, most opt just to die
naturally of old age, though some prefer to work extremely dangerous jobs no
one else dares to.

The average members dies between 65 to 80 years.  While it does appear
possible to prolong death by old age with medical technology for another 40+
years, mental detioration makes doing so rather useless.

["one horn"]

They are not very prolific, but conception is not as rare as most other
species.  A typical couple of pure parents will have once child every 2-3
years.  Children are well-cared for from birth.  They eat very little live
food, but love sweets, candy, and certain plants.  

They develop slowly compared to other races.  Children are fully grown by age
[15 years], but don't develop sexually for another [10 years].  Most are happy
with their hoeme life and interact well with others.  Very few rebel or become
delinquents.  

They are generally very thoughtful and rarely, if ever, sadistic.  However,
parents will fight to the death to defend their children.  

Between 12 and 15 years, many will become interested in marraige (if they've
found someone).  A couple wanting to marry must first live together for a
year, and then there's an official ceremony if they still both want to marry. 

Marraiges are for life.  Even if a partener dies, rarely does the other
remarry.  They typically raise kids in batches of two or three.  Most have
occupations where they do some kind of personal work, such as teaching or
"administrating" (government).  

They are long-lived and can live in excess of 200 years.  At a young age,
mailes can be identified by a single horn on their head, females have none. 
It is not true that ripping the horn off a males head will cause him to
develop into a girl instead of a boy, the horn will grown back in a few
months.


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