The first born son.

[Angela Christine]

I was thinking back over the babies that have been "born" to PCs, and in every single case where I can remember the child's sex, the firstborn was always male.  Is this some wierd genetic anomoly?  Are players carrying over a prejudice to have a son to carry on the family name, even though that isn't generally the way marriages work in Zalanthas, for those that bother to get married at all?  Or have I just been unlucky and plenty of firstborns are female, I just didn't see them?

If you've had a kid in-game, how did you pick the sex?  Just decide what you wanted, flip a coin, something else?

It isn't totaly odd that more babies would be male than female, in our world something like 51% or 52% of babies are male


(Male babies are slightly more likely to die as infants, and as teenagers, so by the time you hit your 20's the numbers are about equal, men keep dieing a little faster than women (except in India) so by the time we are in our 60s there are more females than males, so that on average women make up 51% of the overall population.  Testosterone is poison.  But the good news is that those of you fellows who manage to live into your 80s will have your pick of the ladies, unfortunately they will all by old ladies.  Yes, by the time he's 80 even Mansa will be able to get some play, though he'll need viagra to do it).


Any thoughts?  Observations?  Free cookies?


AC

[Anonymous]

In my one experience with that kind of roleplay situation, both me and the other player felt pretty strongly that the gender should be randomly determined.    As it turns out, the determination came out to be 'boy' instead of 'girl'.  

To me it would have felt strange to do that differently.

[jhunter]

I could be wrong but I think that your information as far as the real world isn't correct...AFAIK, the sperm that produces a male child is far less likely to even survive to fertilize an egg.
That may be incorrect but I think the percentages actually lean toward there being more females.

*shrug*

[Agent_137]

i always figured sperm were all the same, 'cept for the genetic code and the shape of the chromosomes.

But in searching for hard evidence, i found this fucked up site:
http://www.nwcryobank.com/sex_selection.html


ANway, i'm drunk, g'dnite.

[Anonymous]

I have had five babies in the game. Each time I asked someone else to throw a die and went with that and once it was decided by the Staff.

I have had four daughters and one son. The very first one was a boy (my character wished for a girl), but I like to keep it ramdom. Another character wanted sons, but didn't get any. That is how I like it.

[Cuusardo]

Sometimes I picked based on a future I had in mind for the kid, other times I got a die and rolled it because I wanted it to be randomly determined.

[Angela Christine]

I could be wrong but I think that your information as far as the real world isn't correct...AFAIK, the sperm that produces a male child is far less likely to even survive to fertilize an egg.
That may be incorrect but I think the percentages actually lean toward there being more females.

Google age sex pyramid and you'll see what I mean.  Heck, here's a couple examples, read 'em and weep:

http://geography.about.com/library/weekly/aa071497.htm
http://www.ac.wwu.edu/~stephan/Animation/pyramid.html

See, if you look very closely the male number/bar is nearly always larger in the "baby" age range.  By the time you get to senior citizens that reverses, and there are more females then males.

Bottom line:  There are more women then men, but more boys than girls.


AC

[Ayashah]

I have a link to a dicer roller. On a daily basis I would roll 6 dice and send the results via pm to the 'sperm donor'  *grins*

It had to have 4 5's for a girl and 4 6's for a boy out of the 6 dice. Just so happened my mate had some strong male sperm just squirming to fertilize!

In another instance, when my pc had a lover, I had her mate pick out a gem (there was 3 possibilities and 2 led back to him being the father), a color (3 different baby descriptions, 2 looking strongly like him and 1 that would make him wonder) and finally, hmmm, I cant remember what I did for the sex. Some choice of two. He ended up raising a daughter that he didnt father.  *wink*

I like the dice roller the best. Its way more random in it.

[Bestatte]

I either have all my characters make good use of mul mix or various abortificant herbs in the game, or are infertile. Maybe I'll have one some time who eats her young.

I never have to deal with deciding if the kid is male or female - because there's never a kid to decide about. For me, it's a matter of playability over realism. And watching many players roleplay their pregnant characters SO unrealistically - and then having babies and roleplaying motherhood to a newborn equally unrealistically - I decided to just cull the herd from my end and not add to the stupidity.

Note - there ARE a couple of people who RP all that just fine and dandy. If they wanna own the responsibility - kudos to them. It just isn't something I consider "fun" roleplay for myself.

[tortall]

Well, I gotta say it's hard to rp being pregnant(sp?) when you've never experanced it for yourself and you're jsut winging it.

Ad for my first child.... It was twins. crazy, I know. A boy and a girl. Heck if I reemmber which came out first!

Once I had 5 babies! ~cringe~  What? It happens!


-Tortall, who misses her five babies and toddler following her around.

[Barzalene]

I, who am fortunate to have a clan imm who indulges me, decided to leave every aspect of pregnancy to chance. So, my clan imm rolls for conception, pregnancy health, miscarriages, still births, birth defects, and gender. All and all a good deal, and you get I suppose a fifty-fifty chance of having a male first. None of my non-merchant or noble family pc's have ever had a last name. Of course non of them have ever had a baby either...

Only caveat of involving the imms in your reproductive cycle is they hit you with every malady of pregnancy they can find on the internet. Morning sickness morning noon and night.

[Anarchy]

I either have all my characters make good use of mul mix or various abortificant herbs in the game, or are infertile. Maybe I'll have one some time who eats her young.

Amen.

I cannot see the point in RPing being pregnant, or being pregnant full stop in arm. Its just one of those things i'd rather just avoid all together. Mind you, this is me personally. If you want to RP being Pregnant, best of luck to you, its just not my cup of tea.

[crymerci]

I roll dice for everything.

[Anonymous]

[vent] I came to the conclusion that I don't like players getting pregnant because I don't think they're played realistically. Anyone in a house that gets pregnant magickally has the house's blessing and care for the kid and shit, even independants with kids automatically have wetnurses and parents taking care of the kids for them. How much does it cost a person to have another woman breastfeed her kid?? I had one character try to hire mine as a nanny without even knowing my pc and another take me to meet their kids who were alone in the apartment at the age of like six or something. [/vent]

I roll after any mul-mixed hanky panky at this page:
http://www.stupidstuff.org/main/pregnancytest.htm

That not only tells you if you're pregnant but will determine the sex if it gives you the positive result page.

[Cuusardo]

I personally think RPing out pregnancy and children is fun.  It's just one more tool to provoke and get RP going for me and people around me.

Kind of odd, seeing as in real life, I am 100% opposed to breeding myself.

[Barzalene]

I've always felt that when pc's have children, they should have some of the economic hardships associated with children. If you work for House Boogersnot, they don't want to feed and clothe your brat. They feed and clothe you because you work for them. If you are having kids, you should be junking a third of your income or more to show that you're providing for them.

The exceptions would be if you are a part of house boogersnot and your child comes at their behest.

[Cuusardo]

Who is to say House Boogersnot wouldn't want to feed and clothe the child as part of brainwashing it into becoming a fanatically loyal employee when it is old enough?

[Mr.Camel]

They have slaves for that, much much more effecient than those unruly common pissants.

[EvilRoeSlade]

Who is to say House Boogersnot wouldn't want to feed and clothe the child as part of brainwashing it into becoming a fanatically loyal employee when it is old enough?

For fanatic loyalty, slaves are cheaper, and for other employees, adults off the street are cheaper.

No, I fail to see the rationale of spending as much money as you would on a slave without the garunteed loyalty that comes with having a slave.

[Hicksville Hoochie]

In most cases, when you join on with a House, you join on for life. If two people in the same House bear a child together, it is probably a pretty likely idea that the child may one day come to work for the House, especially if it is known to that child that its family was helped in its raising. Said child would more than likely be like 'who go work here, when here is obviously such a great place.' Not to mention that the parents will obviously be inclined to have their child work within the House, considering they know their child has been and would be taken care of upon swearing his loyalty.

Back to the original opener of the topic, on always male firstborns. Of the three children my characters have had/been a part of making in the game, the first two were both girls.  

[EvilRoeSlade]

That doesn't give the house an incentive to pay massive amounts of coins just for one employee that might not even possess enough talent to work for the House despite the desire that employee might have to do so.  Let the parents pay for raising the children themselves, and then hire the child when it gets old anyway.  That's what I say.

[Xan]

That doesn't give the house an incentive to pay massive amounts of coins just for one employee that might not even possess enough talent to work for the House despite the desire that employee might have to do so.  Let the parents pay for raising the children themselves, and then hire the child when it gets old anyway.  That's what I say.

The child would be paid for by the parents in alot of things.  But if the parents had private living quarters in the House, then the child would likely live there.  Food and water, for a large House not that big of a deal.  Nursemaids and baby toys, sure those would have to be paid for by the parents.  But the House gets alot from it (slaves are not real people remember, they're in most cases broken, almost mindless drones).

[EvilRoeSlade]

Well yes, a child could potentially share the same benefits the parents were already getting, which would only be an issue if the parents were high-ranking employees in the first place.

But boarding is rarely even a factor when it comes to the costs of raising a child.  And food and water?  Why give food and water to a person that can't reimburse your expenses?

[Anonymous]

Players aren't meant to represent the majority.  So if 9 out of 10 players in game happen to be mercenaries in the T'zai Byn, it isn't fair to conclude that most people in the world are mercenaries.  I think the male baby thing is just random.  It just so happens most PCs doing the baby thing make them boys, for whatever reason.

[spawnloser]

Having been about some of this crap...

I'd rather not say too much, but I know that a House would help take care of a child so as to brainwash it.  The House will not accept all costs or responsibilities until the child is old enough to put in some work...but you know what?  You can do that fairly young.  As soon as you're able to carry things places, you can start doing something.

As for the firstborn thing, when a previous character was knocking someone up, we used this site.  It emails results to two people so that fairness can be assured.

[Cenghiz]

Oh I know I'm male.. But %20 of my chars are female.. Not that hard. I know probably my chars are more masculine or feminine than a real woman but; I want to play them.
Only problem; I was damned good at rolling 1,2 or 3 over 1d20.. I'm great I know. I never got pregnant. That's why I suck in tabletop RP games.

[EvilRoeSlade]

I'm not disputing that some PCs will do it, but I don't think it should be the policy of any House.  If you need somebody you can trust in any given position, than you always have one of your own family members.  If lower-level grunts wind up having children with each other, is there honestly any point in paying for it?  How do you know the child will be talented?  Intelligent?  Dedicated?  Even if the child is suitable for a position, it's still only one employee.  A large investment for a result that is marginal at best.

[Cuusardo]

For fanatic loyalty, slaves are cheaper, and for other employees, adults off the street are cheaper.

No, I fail to see the rationale of spending as much money as you would on a slave without the garunteed loyalty that comes with having a slave.

There are a lot of things that commoners can do for the House that slaves can't do.

[EvilRoeSlade]

There are a lot of things that commoners can do for the House that slaves can't do.

And yet, it isn't as if there's any short supply of commoners.

[spawnloser]

Fanatically loyal commoners?

Fanatically loyal slaves, sure...that can't do everything a commoner can do.

Other random commoner, okay...but not fanatically loyal.

I'm not saying they'd do it for everyone in their employ, but they could happily do it.

[EvilRoeSlade]

Very few positions necessitate fanatic loyalty.  All that's required is to take a promising, ADULT applicant, start them out at the bottom where they're doing something for you a lot more valuable than 'carrying stuff', don't give them an opportunity to betray your trust, and in several years, when you think you know them, move them up to more specialized work, or perhaps simply give them more authority now that you know they won't abuse it.

No, I don't see any place for paying for other people's children in the overall scheme of things.

And furthermore, there isn't any way to garuntee that they'll be fanatically loyal to you even if you DO pay for their upbringing.  Not unless you take them away from their parents while they're still infants and raise them to be the essential equivalent of a slave.

[spawnloser]

Now you're starting to understand, ERS.