Post by Kitsuneko on May 30, 2012 21:55:35 GMT -5
With so many breeding dragons, one of the most visible changes in Quindell Weyr is in how clutches are handled. After a gold has her flight, she gets first priority of the sands; if she doesn't want to share the sands with a purple or red's clutch, her rider can make the lower-rank females go to a different Weyr or Weyhold temporarily in order to have their clutch. Some golds are more possessive of their sands than others; most golds would probably tolerate at least a red clutching, but Hiltrauth is notoriously picky about her clutches and refuses to share her sands.
When a gold doesn't have a clutch on the sands, more likely than not there will be one or more reds with a clutch, and perhaps a purple or two. Reds have little in the way of maternal instincts and tend to disappear from their clutches for a long stretch of time. Purples are generally better about this, but still no substitute for a gold. There will usually be at least two or three dud eggs in a purple's clutch, and for red dragons, the ratio will be well over fifty percent in duds. Smaller clutches may have no viable eggs at all.
Given the large number of dud eggs appearing on Clutching Day, much of the pomp and circumstance of clutching has shifted over to the Touching, when the candidates are allowed within the sands to see and touch the eggs, generally about a week or so before hatching. By this time, the vast majority of dud eggs have been identified and disposed of; the candidates can be reasonably certain that the remaining eggs will hatch. (How does this affect things ICly? Clutching may or may not be played out, but Touchings always will be. When it comes to the list and descriptions of the eggs, the clutch designer has two options. Either do descriptions for live eggs and duds alike, or design just the live eggs, and obliquely mention the extra duds; so, for a clutch of seven with four duds, three eggs may get detailed descriptions followed by "as well as four other eggs.")
Gold clutch Hatchings, as well as particularly large purple clutches or several hatching at once, still tend to receive the same sort of turnout among spectators as one would expect. When it's a red's clutch and there's only one or two eggs hatching total, however, there tend to be a lot less spectators showing up and though the candidates are still in attendance, it's not considered quite as special an affair, except to the lucky ones Impressing.
When a gold doesn't have a clutch on the sands, more likely than not there will be one or more reds with a clutch, and perhaps a purple or two. Reds have little in the way of maternal instincts and tend to disappear from their clutches for a long stretch of time. Purples are generally better about this, but still no substitute for a gold. There will usually be at least two or three dud eggs in a purple's clutch, and for red dragons, the ratio will be well over fifty percent in duds. Smaller clutches may have no viable eggs at all.
Given the large number of dud eggs appearing on Clutching Day, much of the pomp and circumstance of clutching has shifted over to the Touching, when the candidates are allowed within the sands to see and touch the eggs, generally about a week or so before hatching. By this time, the vast majority of dud eggs have been identified and disposed of; the candidates can be reasonably certain that the remaining eggs will hatch. (How does this affect things ICly? Clutching may or may not be played out, but Touchings always will be. When it comes to the list and descriptions of the eggs, the clutch designer has two options. Either do descriptions for live eggs and duds alike, or design just the live eggs, and obliquely mention the extra duds; so, for a clutch of seven with four duds, three eggs may get detailed descriptions followed by "as well as four other eggs.")
Gold clutch Hatchings, as well as particularly large purple clutches or several hatching at once, still tend to receive the same sort of turnout among spectators as one would expect. When it's a red's clutch and there's only one or two eggs hatching total, however, there tend to be a lot less spectators showing up and though the candidates are still in attendance, it's not considered quite as special an affair, except to the lucky ones Impressing.