 January 29, 2018 - 12:42pm | In the description of Dralasites it says "All Dralasites go through male, female and nuetral stages during their lives (these stages can be controlled with medicines). Males release spores into the air, which drift until they become attached to a female. A young Dralasite then sprouts from its mother, until it matures and drops off." As a younger person I thought this was an interesting sidenote to the clowns of the Frontier. Having learned alot since then I now see how this simple statement tells us so much about Dralasites and really should change how they are played. Start with "All Dralasites go through male, female and nuetral stages". It does not say they bounce around and pick stages willy nilly. It gives an exact order and one that makes sense biologically. All Dralasites are born male. They remain male until they reach an age and/or maturity that changes them to female. Once old age begins to settle in they lose the reproductive capability and become nuetral. This makes a great deal of sense since young, strong Dralasites are available for hard work and defense until they reach a childbearing age. By this time they have developed the maturity and knowledge to allow them to successfully raise a child. As they age and have the problems of old age child bearing is removed. The medicines mentioned could be used to bring on the occurence of a sex change or to retard it. Maybe to switch from one to another but that would be similar to a transgender human who has to take hormones and require daily doses. Some implications of this is that most of the positions of power in Dralasite society would be held by those in the female stage. Young enough to have the energy to do it and old enough to have the wisdom to do it. Also the saying "Stop acting like a male" in Dralasite society would be similar to saying "Stop acting like a baby" in Human society. To be honest alot of my perceptions do come from the Wiccan Maiden/Mother/Crone belief which I think really applies well to Dralasites. Sounds like a great job but where did you say we had to go? |
 March 5, 2018 - 1:48pm | Then again, AD states that their communities are small, so one wonders if their population density isn't all that high across any given planet. This in turn might mean that there's less societal pressure for them to move to as many planets as the other races. |
 March 6, 2018 - 2:26pm | Then again, AD states that their communities are small, so one wonders if their population density isn't all that high across any given planet. This in turn might mean that there's less societal pressure for them to move to as many planets as the other races. Or their colony ship(s) arrived in the Frontier with the fewest members to start off with. One could go with jedion's idea that the Vrusk discovered the Drals in some big ship floating in space. They wouldn't have too big of a base population to start off with. Personally, I lean more toward the brief description in the basic game that the Vrusk encountered the Drals first and then the humans contacted them second and they all met in the Frontier. Why? Who knows or cares.... except when you're the referee and want some plausible explanation for things ... which is why I like these debates. I do care... I think the Dralasites fewer colony worlds could be a combo of factors -- including those listed above:
Joe Cabadas |
 March 6, 2018 - 9:48pm | The discovery of the drugs that control their sex will have a massive impact on their society- individuals focusing on careers and putting off budding. This will affect birth rates and drive the average age at which a dralasite first buds way up thus reducing the ammount of time most dralasites are actively producing, depressing population growth. I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers! |
March 7, 2018 - 10:47am | The discovery of the drugs that control their sex will have a massive impact on their society- individuals focusing on careers and putting off budding. That's an anthropomorphic/modern day human view. Let's debate about it... Joe Cabadas |
March 7, 2018 - 10:48am | To bud or not to bud... that is the question... Joe Cabadas |
March 7, 2018 - 2:33pm | The discovery of the drugs that control their sex will have a massive impact on their society- individuals focusing on careers and putting off budding. That's an anthropomorphic/modern day human view. Let's debate about it... I disagree about it being anthropomorphic and human- its kind of logical, if you can control reproduction a significant portion will. If people have the choice to do something some will. I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers! |
March 8, 2018 - 1:20pm | Well, it is being anthropomorphic to asssume that their reproductive period is both time consuming and invasive for day to day life. For them, the whole process may not be something that forces individuals to put careers on hold, etc. They may want to stall reproduction for other reasons - perhaps simply because it might just be inconvenient to have a bud growing somewhere. |
March 8, 2018 - 1:50pm | Well, it is being anthropomorphic to asssume that their reproductive period is both time consuming and invasive for day to day life. For them, the whole process may not be something that forces individuals to put careers on hold, etc. They may want to stall reproduction for other reasons - perhaps simply because it might just be inconvenient to have a bud growing somewhere. On the other hand, if budding is not as "invasive" as human pregnancy, what better way to train the little budling in the Dralasitic Code or the fine art of endlessly debating topics. They'd get their own debate team going. Joe Cabadas |
March 10, 2018 - 2:04am | Yep, it may be that the bud has cognitive powers from the outset and learning begins as soon as it starts to grow. Perhaps evolution has even favoured the budding area to be close to a dralasite's 'head' or 'shoulders' so that the bud has the best way of perceiving the environment around it. |
March 10, 2018 - 8:10am | Yep, it may be that the bud has cognitive powers from the outset and learning begins as soon as it starts to grow. Perhaps evolution has even favoured the budding area to be close to a dralasite's 'head' or 'shoulders' so that the bud has the best way of perceiving the environment around it.  Joe Cabadas |
March 11, 2018 - 12:30am | I have no idea what that means. |
March 11, 2018 - 1:36pm | I have no idea what that means. Sorry, Budweiser is an American beer brand. The slogan "This Bud's for You" was an advertisement they had years ago promoting cheer, companionship and... beer drinking. Joe Cabadas |
March 11, 2018 - 1:52pm | Ok. I know about the beer but not the advert. |
March 11, 2018 - 3:08pm | Here's one of the early commercials I remember: Joe Cabadas |
 March 12, 2018 - 9:22pm | Budweiser is an American beer brand. Technically it's a Belgian brand now, "AB InBev" --- no longer Anheuser Busch. Also noteworthy, I wouldn't go so far as to claim what they produce is "beer". Still, it's slightly better than Rocky Mountain Piss Water or My Groin Drainage. ;) |
 March 15, 2018 - 7:47pm | Back to non-human views of reproduction. What if the process of budding is pleasant for dralasites. Nature seems to favor adding pleasure to things it needs to survive and reproduction is one of those things high on its list. A dralasite does not have the opportunity of enjoying the mating process so likely nature compensates by producing chemical and hormonal responses to the actually budding process. Hows that for a non-human view. I also like KRingway's idea that budding is selective to specific areas of the dralasite body. The image in the AD Expanded book shows this happening at the upper two thirds of the body. Likely away from the frontal view of the parent so that the parent is not obstructed by a mature bud in its face. Also likely not completely in the back where observation of the developing bud in hindered. However, I feel that dralasites are very capable of viewing any portion of their bodies just by streaching their heads about. I also like JCab747's view that having a bud is an excelent way to train and bond with another. Again nature may encourage this with hormonal responses that encourage the bonding, sharing, communicating, and teaching. -iggy |
March 17, 2018 - 11:53pm | Back to non-human views of reproduction. What if the process of budding is pleasant for dralasites. Nature seems to favor adding pleasure to things it needs to survive and reproduction is one of those things high on its list. A dralasite does not have the opportunity of enjoying the mating process so likely nature compensates by producing chemical and hormonal responses to the actually budding process. Hows that for a non-human view. Actually, that seems a bit human. Also, even if the budding process were to take only a few hours or days, nature probably wouldn't favour an organism being perhaps (let's say) non-focused for that time. Too many other things might eat you whilst you're all googly-eyed with sex hormones. It's not a good thing to become more edible when you're trying to propogate your species 
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March 18, 2018 - 4:27am | Also, even if the budding process were to take only a few hours or days, nature probably wouldn't favour an organism being perhaps (let's say) non-focused for that time.
A male pig ejaculation can last up to half an hour. |
March 18, 2018 - 1:47pm | I'm guessing you mean human-engineered domestic pigs (and having worked on pig farms myself, I tend to view the claim as a bit apocryphal). Such pigs are not at all in a natural environment. Also, they're involved in a completely different reproductive act than dralasites. Lastly, ejaculation is not the same as giving birth  |
March 18, 2018 - 8:38pm | True, but it's also a time of being non-focused. ;) |
March 19, 2018 - 8:58pm | Back to non-human views of reproduction. What if the process of budding is pleasant for dralasites. Nature seems to favor adding pleasure to things it needs to survive and reproduction is one of those things high on its list. A dralasite does not have the opportunity of enjoying the mating process so likely nature compensates by producing chemical and hormonal responses to the actually budding process. Hows that for a non-human view. Actually, that seems a bit human. Also, even if the budding process were to take only a few hours or days, nature probably wouldn't favour an organism being perhaps (let's say) non-focused for that time. Too many other things might eat you whilst you're all googly-eyed with sex hormones. It's not a good thing to become more edible when you're trying to propogate your species
I was thinking pleasureable as in the opposite of the pain of childbirth, not the intense distraction of orgasm. Like the pleasure of doing a good job or the pleasure of doing something you like. Maybe another way to say it is to say what it is not. Budding is not a revolting or disagreeable process to a dralasite. The one drawing in the book shows the budding dralasite attached by just a few connections to the parent. I'm chalanging that this is not a painful tearing process. I'm asserting that having a lump of another on your back does not feel like a tumor or boil with associated pain and pressure but rather a pleasant comfortable companionship. Then the separation process is not a birth of an unknown but a send-off of a friend. -iggy |
March 20, 2018 - 10:17am | Back to non-human views of reproduction. What if the process of budding is pleasant for dralasites. Nature seems to favor adding pleasure to things it needs to survive and reproduction is one of those things high on its list. A dralasite does not have the opportunity of enjoying the mating process so likely nature compensates by producing chemical and hormonal responses to the actually budding process. Hows that for a non-human view. Actually, that seems a bit human. Also, even if the budding process were to take only a few hours or days, nature probably wouldn't favour an organism being perhaps (let's say) non-focused for that time. Too many other things might eat you whilst you're all googly-eyed with sex hormones. It's not a good thing to become more edible when you're trying to propogate your species I was thinking pleasureable as in the opposite of the pain of childbirth, not the intense distraction of orgasm. Like the pleasure of doing a good job or the pleasure of doing something you like. Maybe another way to say it is to say what it is not. Budding is not a revolting or disagreeable process to a dralasite. The one drawing in the book shows the budding dralasite attached by just a few connections to the parent. I'm chalanging that this is not a painful tearing process. I'm asserting that having a lump of another on your back does not feel like a tumor or boil with associated pain and pressure but rather a pleasant comfortable companionship. Then the separation process is not a birth of an unknown but a send-off of a friend. I like that idea. It sounds very Dralasitic. Joe Cabadas |
March 21, 2018 - 1:05pm | Yeah, I've just always seen it as being like an amoeba, or a cell dividing. That's what dralasites have always remind me of. |
