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Lore Ramblings 1: Drekir Social Psychology and Dens
5 years ago
General
Hey folks!
So it's about 1 in the morning, carpal tunnel is raging as always, gonna start on the next comic tomorrow, and since I have kinda fallen behind on the lore dumps because of it, I figured I would ramble. I want to elaborate on an aspect of drekir social behavior and psychology that will become relevant in most stories involving the drekir. And that is the drekir social unit, the den, or den clan (either or) So im gonna get ramblin, this might get lengthy.
Before I can really talk about the dens I have to talk about drekir and just how they don't really do the parenting thing
1) Your parents don't love you but it's ok because you don't love them either so I guess it works out
If I were to describe the general reproductive strategy of the drekir, it would be Polgynandrous, R selective (sorta) creatures. Meaning that they will seek out multiple mates and naturally are built to crank out a lot of eggs (relative to human reproductive rates) I will just use the term polygamous for simplicity though.
So drekir tend to not bond with their young, once a mother lays an egg there is not instinctive "push" to protect that egg or the child that will eventually pop out of it. On a similar note the drek mother doesn't bond with the child emotionally, to her brain it's just another kid and very often she (nor the father) will be able to pick their kid out of the hatchery, they just don't really care.
Even if you broke an egg a mother laid she wouldn't really be traumatized or emotionally hurt by it... though probably a bit annoyed that you just broke the egg she just laid, annoyed but not emotionally hurt.
So children don't grow up with a direct parental figure, often they will learn from the older drekir but no naturally born drek would be able to identify their mother or father in most cultures and in most situations.
The two drekir that made an egg wouldn't even really have any notion of romantic love or marital bonds, once two drekir mate then they just continue on their own way to a new, different mate. Cultures that have a monogamous aspect in the later societies of the dragonscape tend to run into problems because of this.
So you don't really see humanesque families in drekir society, but instead they tend to form a social unit known as a Den
2) The Generational Family System
A hatchling will emotionally bond with the hatchlings around them and, as they grow up, this emotional bond becomes incredibly close and tight. By the time a drek is an adult they will have very powerful emotional bonds with the other drekir they grew up with, forming a Den. Dens are a generational family and not a genetic family, drekir in a den practically never have direct emotional relatance to other members of the den due to the generation being formed from the prior adult clans all mating and intermingling with tons of different people.
A drek den can range anywhere between 30 individuals to around 220 at the high end (before drekir start losing track of all their denmates). Drekir in a den clan are close, to a drek their denmates are their closest companions and trusted people, they are very akin to family (though I wouldn't want to use that word for reasons listed below, but family bonds are comparable). For a drek their den clan serves a ton of social functions
1) Most of a drek's social life happens within their den, their denmates are the folks they go to hang with, drink and dance with, they are people they talk to every day of their lives, denmates are a drek's primary social net. If you are doing anything as an activity from cleaning eachother and getting dressed to telling stories and gossipping rumors to playing games or hanging out, a dreks own denmates are basically the primary folks they socialize with.
2) A drek will often seek emotional support from their denmates, as the bond between denmates are close (they grew up together after all). And it is typically the case that if a drek is struggling emotionally for a reason their denmates will come and help, providing emotional support and help. Drekir of a denclan care for eachother and want eachother to be happy.
3) More on the "down to earth" aspect, drekir of an adult aged den see eachother as mates. As denmates aren't genetically related it is safe to do so (thank god), and drekir tend to lean on a more naturally polygamous approach to selecting mates. Sexuality between denmates is a very freeform matter, drekir don't carry an idea of romantic love and sex is often just a recreational activity in the minds of most drekir, you do it because it feels good. It is typical for drekir to mate with their fellow denmates and bounce from mate to mate within their den throughout their life. While drekir will happily seek to mate with people outside their den, it is typical to mate within it as well.
So dens are very important to a drek's life, it's their social net, it's their "family" (though that is kinda a weird word in the context that they also see eachother as mates...) A drek may not care much about their parents but they care very deeply for their denmates.
3) Interactions between Dens
Just like how human society is a community built of families (in most cultures, it varies of course) the same can be said of drekir society being made out of den clans. A typical village will often have a couple den clans separated out by generation, most villages will have a young adult den, a middleaged den, an elder den, as well as a child den and hatchling clan that are all living together. So how do dens view other dens?
Generally drekir do hold relationships outside of their own dens, though these relationships are normally like acquaintanceships rather than friendships, a young adult drek will probably respect the elder den drekir though may not really care much for them on anything past a healthy respect, the vice versa would probably also be true, etc. Though it can sometimes happen that dens build up a rivalry between eachother (most commonly the young adult drekir and the midlife drekir).
Generally youngling and hatchling drekir dens are partially (though not entirely) reliant on adult dens to provide them food and water, and it is typical for drekir to learn from the adults that they see growing up. Though with the lack of heavy human style parenting it's more of a begrudging drek answering questions rather than a loving parent teaching their kid.
Drekir of dens that are of the same age range, such as two young adult clans, tend to have mixed results. On one hand it is typical for drekir to see most drekir of the same rough age range as them as potential mates, though that same familial like emotional bond doesn't exist. In larger societies where multiple similarly aged dens exist it is typical for them to intermingle, though sometimes small "denfights" can break out. But generally they get along on a vague acquainticeship.
but overall, drekir bonds outside of their den are comparatively very light and minor, perhaps some acquaintances or just relative indifference
1st Generation Dens?
What about the humans who once lived in the 2020's just to awake 3000 years later, left as drekir?
Well
If given enough time being around other similarly aged drekir they will instinctively start to form a den clan with those around them. These makeshift dens tend to take a few weeks to form and are often focused around
So yeah, drekir dens!
A drek's den is their family, not in the same way that a human family exists but still just as important. To the typical drek, its them and their denmates, your den is to some degree your life just like how a human's family is their life. You could say that dens are the foundation of how drekir tribes and later towns and cities might operate in many things, from culture and religion to government and politics.
But that's for later, I should probably get to bed
Take Care!
So it's about 1 in the morning, carpal tunnel is raging as always, gonna start on the next comic tomorrow, and since I have kinda fallen behind on the lore dumps because of it, I figured I would ramble. I want to elaborate on an aspect of drekir social behavior and psychology that will become relevant in most stories involving the drekir. And that is the drekir social unit, the den, or den clan (either or) So im gonna get ramblin, this might get lengthy.
Before I can really talk about the dens I have to talk about drekir and just how they don't really do the parenting thing
1) Your parents don't love you but it's ok because you don't love them either so I guess it works out
If I were to describe the general reproductive strategy of the drekir, it would be Polgynandrous, R selective (sorta) creatures. Meaning that they will seek out multiple mates and naturally are built to crank out a lot of eggs (relative to human reproductive rates) I will just use the term polygamous for simplicity though.
So drekir tend to not bond with their young, once a mother lays an egg there is not instinctive "push" to protect that egg or the child that will eventually pop out of it. On a similar note the drek mother doesn't bond with the child emotionally, to her brain it's just another kid and very often she (nor the father) will be able to pick their kid out of the hatchery, they just don't really care.
Even if you broke an egg a mother laid she wouldn't really be traumatized or emotionally hurt by it... though probably a bit annoyed that you just broke the egg she just laid, annoyed but not emotionally hurt.
So children don't grow up with a direct parental figure, often they will learn from the older drekir but no naturally born drek would be able to identify their mother or father in most cultures and in most situations.
The two drekir that made an egg wouldn't even really have any notion of romantic love or marital bonds, once two drekir mate then they just continue on their own way to a new, different mate. Cultures that have a monogamous aspect in the later societies of the dragonscape tend to run into problems because of this.
So you don't really see humanesque families in drekir society, but instead they tend to form a social unit known as a Den
2) The Generational Family System
A hatchling will emotionally bond with the hatchlings around them and, as they grow up, this emotional bond becomes incredibly close and tight. By the time a drek is an adult they will have very powerful emotional bonds with the other drekir they grew up with, forming a Den. Dens are a generational family and not a genetic family, drekir in a den practically never have direct emotional relatance to other members of the den due to the generation being formed from the prior adult clans all mating and intermingling with tons of different people.
A drek den can range anywhere between 30 individuals to around 220 at the high end (before drekir start losing track of all their denmates). Drekir in a den clan are close, to a drek their denmates are their closest companions and trusted people, they are very akin to family (though I wouldn't want to use that word for reasons listed below, but family bonds are comparable). For a drek their den clan serves a ton of social functions
1) Most of a drek's social life happens within their den, their denmates are the folks they go to hang with, drink and dance with, they are people they talk to every day of their lives, denmates are a drek's primary social net. If you are doing anything as an activity from cleaning eachother and getting dressed to telling stories and gossipping rumors to playing games or hanging out, a dreks own denmates are basically the primary folks they socialize with.
2) A drek will often seek emotional support from their denmates, as the bond between denmates are close (they grew up together after all). And it is typically the case that if a drek is struggling emotionally for a reason their denmates will come and help, providing emotional support and help. Drekir of a denclan care for eachother and want eachother to be happy.
3) More on the "down to earth" aspect, drekir of an adult aged den see eachother as mates. As denmates aren't genetically related it is safe to do so (thank god), and drekir tend to lean on a more naturally polygamous approach to selecting mates. Sexuality between denmates is a very freeform matter, drekir don't carry an idea of romantic love and sex is often just a recreational activity in the minds of most drekir, you do it because it feels good. It is typical for drekir to mate with their fellow denmates and bounce from mate to mate within their den throughout their life. While drekir will happily seek to mate with people outside their den, it is typical to mate within it as well.
So dens are very important to a drek's life, it's their social net, it's their "family" (though that is kinda a weird word in the context that they also see eachother as mates...) A drek may not care much about their parents but they care very deeply for their denmates.
3) Interactions between Dens
Just like how human society is a community built of families (in most cultures, it varies of course) the same can be said of drekir society being made out of den clans. A typical village will often have a couple den clans separated out by generation, most villages will have a young adult den, a middleaged den, an elder den, as well as a child den and hatchling clan that are all living together. So how do dens view other dens?
Generally drekir do hold relationships outside of their own dens, though these relationships are normally like acquaintanceships rather than friendships, a young adult drek will probably respect the elder den drekir though may not really care much for them on anything past a healthy respect, the vice versa would probably also be true, etc. Though it can sometimes happen that dens build up a rivalry between eachother (most commonly the young adult drekir and the midlife drekir).
Generally youngling and hatchling drekir dens are partially (though not entirely) reliant on adult dens to provide them food and water, and it is typical for drekir to learn from the adults that they see growing up. Though with the lack of heavy human style parenting it's more of a begrudging drek answering questions rather than a loving parent teaching their kid.
Drekir of dens that are of the same age range, such as two young adult clans, tend to have mixed results. On one hand it is typical for drekir to see most drekir of the same rough age range as them as potential mates, though that same familial like emotional bond doesn't exist. In larger societies where multiple similarly aged dens exist it is typical for them to intermingle, though sometimes small "denfights" can break out. But generally they get along on a vague acquainticeship.
but overall, drekir bonds outside of their den are comparatively very light and minor, perhaps some acquaintances or just relative indifference
1st Generation Dens?
What about the humans who once lived in the 2020's just to awake 3000 years later, left as drekir?
Well
If given enough time being around other similarly aged drekir they will instinctively start to form a den clan with those around them. These makeshift dens tend to take a few weeks to form and are often focused around
So yeah, drekir dens!
A drek's den is their family, not in the same way that a human family exists but still just as important. To the typical drek, its them and their denmates, your den is to some degree your life just like how a human's family is their life. You could say that dens are the foundation of how drekir tribes and later towns and cities might operate in many things, from culture and religion to government and politics.
But that's for later, I should probably get to bed
Take Care!
