Mongrel

An Introduction to Antarokian Genetics

Warning: This article covers the topic of reproduction between the races of Antarok. Please go back if you find this topic offensive or unsettling. 

TL;DR? Mixed races are usually shunned. Every race with a soul can create a hybrid, with some exceptions. Traits from the maternal line are dominant, meaning races are never a combination of more than two; they might retain some of the genetic information or a bloodline.

Genetics behave differently for the races of Antarok. Most of the various races of Antarok can interbreed, and some cannot. Below you will find all you need to know about reproduction and how it works.

Demographics

About 1% of the population of Antarok is mixed race.

Mixed Genomes

Those who are already of mixed race will contribute the race of their last pure ancestor of that maternal line - their mother's, or their mother's maternal line and so on. One can only be half of something, and half of something else. Both parents will pass on some of their genetic information, however; a half-dragon elf male creating a child with a half-dragon human female might create a half-dragon human with elven hair and pointy ears. A half dragon human creating a child with a pure human would have fifty fifty odds of having a normal human child or a half dragon.

Note that Freefolk, Kani, and Jian are all subraces with differing genetic characteristics - they are human - and so do not create something 'mixed race' when interbreeding with each other. They adopt the name and customs of their people.

Consistent Inheritance

The child will usually have the characteristics of both races mixed together. How these traits present - such as if they are bipedal, quadrupedal, tauric, or something in-between is cemented in the maternal line of the first generation. A long line of bipedal half-dragons will always be bipedal until something else is introduced to the maternal line.

Racial Merit

The child will have the Racial Merit belonging to the mother, or else may allocate theirs towards a Duty.

Outbreeding

Having relations outside of one's race is subtly shunned for most cultures on Antarok. This is because Outbreeding - the practice of having children outside of one's race - can lead to genetic degradation without soul adjustment by a Maltrician. Humans usually find such races unsettling while the races of Vokhazan only care that you are at least half of a member race. The Jian venerate those who are half dragon.

Outbred Fertility

Those with mixed genomes are at most half as fertile as those with standard genes. This only gets worse the more races are in someone's family tree. Those with three or more races in their successive lineage also suffer birth defects at a higher rate - referred to as Outbreeding - but this does not avail itself until a few generations have carried on the practice.

Small races attempting to have a child with the male of a larger race would be wise to seek out arcane assistance or else terminate the pregnancy.

Procreation and the Soul

When a child is created through the usual mixing of genes, the father passes on a part of their soul to the womb of the mother at conception, just as the mother contributes a part of hers to the egg; souls are a requirement for the creation of children.

A soul reconfigures the genetics of a hybrid individual to make life viable yet progressively more infertile and corrupt. Those who have a soul cannot intermix with those who do not. This also means that those with powerful souls are more fertile, and vice versa for those with damaged or cursed souls.

Dominant Genomes

Those with dominant genes will always produce offspring of their race without the possibility of a hybrid. Paired with other dominant genes, the child will be of the mother's race with some aesthetic residuals from the father. This applies to gnoll, and dryads. When this happens, the child will inherit Glamour only from the dominant genome.

Errata

Glamour

Glamour is passed on to a hybrid child about half the time if only one parent possesses that Glamour. If both have the Glamour, then they will have established a Bloodline with that Glamour. However, only one Glamour will ever be passed down at a time through breeding or a Bloodline. The assistance of a Maltrician is required to obtain a second Glamour. Wild Magic is also passed down, should both parents possess the same kind.

Bloodlines

Sometimes a Bloodline will be created from carrying on with Outbreeding. This can be something as major as Glamour - if both parents possess the Glamour - or as simple as an aesthetic difference presented by everyone within that bloodline.

Undeath

While the living dead do have a soul, creating a child depends on Saol - Life Force - and those who do not have it (or are in some way tainted by Miasmata) are infertile. Draugr cannot pass on their genes without a corporal form both charged with Saol and repressed of Miasmata, and the incorporeal - Ghosts and Wisps - who possess others pass on the information of their host rather than their own. Undead are instead created through Arcana or the natural cycle of life and death.

Draconidae

Inter-racial results will see a clutch of eggs for the dragoness, or else a normal pregnancy for a mother from another race. Draconidae pass on their Grist roughly half the time, or always if both parents possess the trait - as is the case with all Glamour. Those born with Grist such as half-dragons and Kobold may become a full-blooded dragon of that age by eating the Grist Organ of a slain one.

Antarok Handbook

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