Chaurus Reproduction / Breeding Events
Entry posted by Seijin8
7,323 views
Moving beyond eggs-in/eggs-out
That chaurus are ovipositors is beyond question at this point. They are dumping eggs (and maybe other things) into the breeder, and then their part is (mostly) done.
The chaurus may decide to protect the breeder, or may not care. There is an open question of whether a living breeder is useful after the fact. It is possible that the chaurus simply kills the breeder after impregnation. Every egg pile we see in the game may have originally resided in a breeder's body, which has since decomposed.
For gameplay purposes, we will assume that this isn't the case and that living breeders are more desirable/useful to the hive.
If a living breeder is useful for hatching the eggs, it doesn't necessarily follow that the eggs are expelled prior to hatching (as Estrus Chaurus does). Several possibilities exist, and it should be noted that many of them may be usable; they needn't be exclusive and different strategies may emerge from different hives or environmental conditions or simple preference:
1) Eggs in, smaller eggs out. The breeder is used for partial incubation.
For sake of completeness, this is the current standard set by Estrus Chaurus. Eggs go in, and smaller "parasite" eggs come out. These may or may not hatch based on mod settings. The eggs may become compressed in the act of oviposition, or may "bleed off" size under certain conditions as part of the maturation process, or may require compression in a warm body to catalyze. The combination of body heat and some kind of nutrient exchange/parastitism is needed for the eggs to reach maturity.
This is very much an r-Selection strategy, and lots of hatchlings should result from this with individually low survival rates. The typical EC-styled birthing produces around a dozen eggs, and in a r-selection scenario, only one or two would be expected to survive.
2) Eggs in, eggs out. The breeder is used for partial incubation.
As #1, but the eggs being re-oviposited/birthed are the same size as the originals. We should think of this as the minimum contribution of the breeder. The breeder was merely a warm place to put the eggs, and had some nutrients to leech off. In this situation, the breeder is no more useful than a mound of rotting meat. The total number of eggs that could be inserted this way would be lower than in #1, and might be four or five on average.
(A variation of this may be that the eggs hatch shortly after being expelled. The results then may be larva or hatchlings.)
3) Eggs in, larva out. The breeder is used for partial incubation and live birth.
The first significant deviation from the current norm, the eggs would hatch (or dissolve away) within the host before being expelled. This may be a single birthing event, or individuals migrating away while the host is sleeping. The exact mechanisms for this would be far more complicated, as there would need to be an in-built survival mechanic to protect the larva.
- A) Host is coerced/controlled into protecting the offspring.
- B1) The larva induce sleep/paralysis in the host prior to exiting, or exit only when the host is sleeping and then scurry away.
- B2) The chaurus "parent" subdues the host again prior to inducing birth. (Forcibly or via intoxicant.)
- C) Host is secured (cocoon or similar immobilizing condition) for the duration of the incubation. There isn't really a reason to release the breeder after this. They could be used as food or simply be re-impregnated. This offers no useful gameplay, so I would not use this in Chaurus Life in most instances, though it may exist as an option in some hives or situations.
- D) The larva eat their way out of the host. This could be used with gameplay if there is a way to coerce them out without killing the host.
4) Eggs in, hatchlings out. The breeder is used for complete incubation and early maturation before live birth.
A progression from #3, in this case the offspring are fully realized chaurus hatchlings, and while small, they are otherwise ready to go. This has all the same subtypes as #3, though I'd tend toward the C and D variations in this case. The emerging chaurus are likely not fully chitin-covered yet, but may have aggressive tendencies anyway.
5) Larva in, hatchlings out. The breeder is used for late-term incubation and early maturation before live birth.
This would coexist with another method. In this instance, larva are forced in and spend some time inside the breeder maturing into a later form. It is possible that this would represent a second layer of the full reproductive process. As an example, the breeder may use method #3, and then after a short time outside the breeder, a chaurus (likely a flyer) will re-insert the larva into the breeder to continue maturation.
This begs the question of why this would be a two-part process, but several possibilities exist:
- Maybe the larva need to acclimate to their expected environment, picking up the equivalent of antibodies in the short foray out prior to needing continuing protection/incubation.
- Maybe the entire process is expected to "use up" more than one breeder, and a live breeder is needed for both aspects. As a matter of course, the hive may shuttle the larva into another breeder to preserve the life of the first, or because the first is already expected to be dead.
- An alternative to the above, "higher ranked" breeders may be used for the first part, and "lower-ranked/disposable" breeders may be used for the more dangerous second stage of growth. In this case, the parasitic nature of the breeding process would be expected to eventually wear out the breeder.
- The second stage may only be used when the hive is on the move, or needs to "pack up" and change location. It would exist as an option, but would not normally be used.
Making sense of the options
With all of these laid out (and I'm sure there are more options I'm not considering), there needs to be a "standard" set of behaviors to build from. Once there is a standard, then the conditions that cause other options to arise can be worked with.
Personally, I don't think eggs-in/eggs-out makes sense unless those eggs are just about ready to hatch. In this case, the outer layer of material on the eggs may be cast off, causing the "birth event". Situations may make the birth impossible, or impractical, and the result is that the eggs hatch inside and result in a live birth (which could be dangerous for the host or the hatchlings -- they may be fragile enough that the act of pushing them out mammal-style kills them).
It is possible that a breeder has some control over the process and may opt to do things a certain way. If so, this only makes sense if the breeder is partially controlled (influenced/intoxicated to avoid making harmful decisions) or is shepherded by a chaurus (not necessarily the parent; this could be a hive duty relegated to lower caste workers or fledgling flyers).
There may be internal hive factors that dictate the best practice. For instance, a small hive that faces a lot of enemies may prefer the offspring to be as close to combat-ready as possible, forcing the breeder to maintain them until they are matured hatchlings. This would most likely be dangerous or fatal for the breeder.
On the other hand, a hive with a stable and strong local ecology and adequate warriors to protect the location may use their breeding resources more carefully and opt for egg or larva birthing. Hives with this level of organization may keep a stable of breeders that are maintained as a resource.
(Alternately, a strong hive may not bother preserving breeders as they can launch raids to get more.)
Addendum: What is in the egg?
Something to consider is that the egg contents may also vary. Given the color and structure, it is safe to assume that they have at east some kind of phosphorescent fluid/gel/suspension inside, probably as a nutrient. Aside from this, we can assume that there may be one or more embryonic chaurus within. An egg may bear multiple offspring, or may have none. The offspring may be fully inert until fertilized, or may be active inside at all times, possibly fighting one another until only one remains.
(Another possibility is that the "egg" is actually a cocoon formed by immature larva for protection.)
Looking at the alchemical effects of chaurus eggs gives some insight into what exact materials these have, as well as the expected traits of hatchlings/larva.
- Invisibility: Indicative of the larva/hatchling survival strategy. They are not combative at first, but use active camouflage to survive.
- Damage Magicka: This would be mind-affecting properties, likely the components used to coerce the host into caring for them.
- Fortify Stamina: Basic nutrient suspension inside the egg. Could also be the "meat" of the larva/hatchling.
- Weakness to Poison: A component of the early poison spit and a compound to allow the mind-controlling intoxicants to better function -- effectively an immune-system inhibitor.
These effects seem very consistent with the model of hatchlings being more apt to escape/evade and use mind-control mechanisms.
Addendum: Where do the eggs come from?
For the purposes of the Chaurus Life mod, most eggs are produced by maturing Reapers and Tyrants. In some cases, eggs can be created by workers, but these will typically be infertile. The biochemical changes that make Reapers aggressive towards one another come hand-in-hand with the generation of fertile eggs. When no breeder is available, these eggs will be cast off into the egg piles we are used to seeing. From there, workers and fledgling flyers may then oviposition the piles and move them somewhere else. The instinct to do this is likely based on ecological factors, and the workers will move the eggs to places where they can be cared for and nurtured until they can be placed into a breeder.
Note that Reapers will usually prefer actively breeding over dumping a pile, but that may not always be possible.
In the presence of a Tyrant, usually the only fertile eggs will be those of the Tyrant. Depending on hive structure, the flyers may be used to discard unwanted (rival reaper) eggs, or may be actively used to infest them with parasites. Tyrant reproductive behaviors have a variety of expressions. In some cases, a champion will be permitted to breed as well, though this isn't universal.
(It should be noted that some larger tyrants will not use breeders themselves, and will always generate an egg pile for workers to then inseminate with. This avoids the real probability of the Tyrant killing the breeding host, and also conveniently allows me to dodge animation scaling issues.)
Note that the size of eggs seen will typically always correspond the the chaurus using them. However, this doesn't have to be the case (working on this now). A chaurus worker could potentially force tyrant-sized eggs into a breeder (and some model scaling may allow this to be seen).
15 Comments
Recommended Comments