Githyanki Intimacy

Something I'll add, from my own musings.

Githyanki females isolated from the Astral (calling kip in Sigil, or on an extended military campaign, or any other reason) are eventually going to become laden with eggs in a situation where mating (or transporting fertilized eggs to a hatchery) is inconvenient or undesirable.

I'd like to suggest that Githyanki females practice a ritualized form of unfertilized egg consumption. While this may be repugnant to many races, and even seem to violate what many races consider to be the 'laws' of Githyanki culture (a prohibition against cannibalism), this ritualized consumption of her unfertilized eggs serves the purpose of denying that any enemies of the race will secure a clutch of eggs for study or manipulation (which would of course be a great fear for the Githyanki), as well as recycling valuable nutrients for the female.

Since Githyanki themselves find the act 'uncouth', this consumption is treated with a similar stigma that many primitive societies attribute to menstruation: it is known to be a fact of life, but not acknowledged or discussed in mixed company.

Also, to add my voice to the githyanki/githzerai "great egg debate" (do Githzerai also lay eggs?), I'll suggest that when they first broke away from Gith, Zerth's followers were egg-layers, just like all Gith that were manipulated by the Illithid. However, a few thousand years in the chaotic plane of Limbo, even within the stable realms of their monasteries and cities, has caused their bodies to gradually revert to their original reproductive system of placental pregnancy.

Anyway, YMMV.

Eggs and family stuff:

Given that the eggs are laid in communal clutches, what measures do the githyanki take to prevent inbreeding? If no measures are used to prevent it, a gith could unknowingly mate with a brother or sister. (I’m assuming the githyanki would not want to mess up their genetic stock that way.)

I also think that eggs of the members of the varsh caste would be deliberately moved to other egg-clutches. That is, the githyanki take pains to prevent familial bonds from forming between parents and offspring. Mind you, this is a very alien view to many human societies, but try on this point of view:

Family units cause social division and threaten the sense of racial unity and brotherhood. The graith, who usually do have family units, favor members of their own family over non-family members and are inclined to distrust those who are not blood relatives. While a githyanki may feel closer to those of his own warband than to others, he will be more inclined to trust and offer aid to a random githyanki than a graith would if he met a previously unknown member of his own race. Similarly, barbarian families seek to gain power for their family members while denying it to outsiders – forming the most basic form of power bloc within a species. Individual parents may raise children either well or badly, and with massively dissenting worldviews; by raising hatchlings communally, the githyanki keep everyone on the same page as well as offering equality of opportunity to offspring. The githyanki genuinely believe that having individual family units is a barbaric practice.

Astral Plane:

The way it works on the Astral Plane is like this: Something that would require an active metabolism actually does take place, but the results don’t actually occur than one leaves the Astral. Therefore, you can get pregnant on the Astral Plane, but the physical changes don’t even start happening until you leave. (I dislike using this particular comparison, but you can get poisoned on the Astral Plane – you just don’t start taking the poison-related damage until you leave the plane.)

Vulcan Mating Time:

I don’t think the state, even under Vlaakith, takes a direct hand in githyanki mating activities. The predecessors of the githyanki were selectively mated to each other (mating rights were probably granted as rewards in some cases, actually) by the illithids for many, many generations. The idea of state-controlled breeding would probably drive them nuts.

However, I think it very likely that individual githyanki are able to arrange time for activities of that general sort, usually in lulls between seasons of active military campaigning.

Sexual Orientation:

I don’t think the majority of githyanki would be bisexual (i.e. clearly attracted to and having relationships with individuals of either gender). I do think that being heterosexual, bisexual, or homosexual would all be considered socially acceptable, and an individual githyanki would not normally feel distress over his (or someone else’s) orientation. That said, individuals might be more willing to ‘experiment’ with which individuals of which genders they find attractive, since no social stigma is associated with homosexuality.

I think, especially given the violent lifestyle and high mortality rate of the species, most githyanki are socially expected to breed at some point in their lives regardless of their usual sexual orientation. No one is making them do it, though.

While githyanki culture would not discourage emotional bonds or physical pleasure, I think that (due to the whole spartan and stoic nature of the culture) they would discourage ‘excessive’ hedonism. While monogamous, polygamous, or polyandrous relationships would not draw censure, the githyanki would discourage the extreme pleasure-seeking habits of the drow.

Not really. If you go to the Astral Plane for six months, then visit the Prime Material, you don't instantly keel over and die due to dehydration and starvation. (You do feel quite hungry, though.)

I think we were going with the theory that eggs were fertilized the more, ah, normal fashion (not the external fertilization theory).