ArmageddonMUD Roleplaying Pregnancy

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Babies happen. It's inevitable; mul mix isn't 100% fail-safe.  For those of you who decide to RP having children, the RP can be difficult to fully play out.  The list below is merely suggestions on how to take child-raising in consideration IC.

So here's some advice for people whose characters have children:

1. Role-play the pregnancy. Your character will go through a phase of morning sickness, and not always in the morning. If your character is combat/hunter-oriented, then you should consider taking a break from that for the duration of the pregnancy.  You may need to do the same for other professions as well. In the early stages of pregnancy, sickness and nausea are factors, and in the last "trimester" of pregnancy, you will likely be too unbalanced to do many normal tasks effectively.
2. The average gestational length for humans is 40 weeks at 7 days a week. This equates to about nine months real time. To translate that into Armageddon time it would most likely be around five real-life weeks (approximately a little less than one game-year since there are 3 months in a game-year) with one month being slightly longer than a traditional trimester. Also, you might consider a longer gestational period if your character is a non-human, since both dwarves and elves have longer life spans than humans with slower development. That might also reflect back into the pregnancy as well.
3. Giving birth is a very messy business.  Some players chose the option of giving birth while offline (virtually). If you do chose to RP out the birth, bear in mind that Zalathas has no painkillers, though the prodigious use of spice and or alcohol may be considered. The experience will be messy and painful and you will most likely want to have either a PC or VNPC midwife present.
4. There is no bottled milk, and a majority of the populations cannot afford a fulltime nursemaid or slave.  So, this stage can be tedious for players, since newborn babies do need to be nursed frequently.  Babies can be weaned as early as a year old, but more typically a year and half old.  (Approx 6 RL weeks after actual birth).  A couple possibilities on what you can do if you're not prepared to RP out this stage in its entirety: If you are an employee of a house, you can talk with your superiors to see if they can provide a (virtual) nursemaid.  If you aren't, you can try working out a deal with a neighbor Vnpc nursemaid - ex, she nurses the kid, and you give her a part of your pay.
5. Babies cry, get sick, fuss, and do disgusting things.  Feel free to RP this and have fun, and risk wrath of upset bystanders.  Conflict is good, remember!  Please take your environment into consideration.  Would you take a curious, get-into-everything child into a barrack full of weapons and heavy things?  Or into taverns of nobles that might be offended by your child's behavior, or rugged mercenaries who wouldn't give a damn if someone kicked him or her by accident (or on purpose)?  If you decide to risk this, please be prepared to RP out consequences also.
6. Do remember that many of the RL conveniences do not exist in Zalanthas.  Medicine, for instance.  It's very common to lose your looks and health, as well as your child to illness.
7. If you have children, and decide that they're a problem for you, both IC and OOC, there's no reason you can't get some money out of them.  Sell them to slavers, or sell them into servitude...However, if you chose to suffer and raise them to adulthood, also remember that children are not perfect.  They will do bad stuff, have temper tantrums, and generally be nerve-wracking.  That's the beauty of parenthood.
8. Finally keep this in mind: To you, the player, a baby for your character is a wonderful RP tool. To your character and everyone who interacts with her and her baby, it is a living breathing thing, a miniature person with no skills. The staff prefers not to create baby objects or npcs, but urges you to play it out virtually - past players have demonstrated that this can be done well and compellingly. If you feel that you MUST have a baby object, you will need to present a compelling reason for its creation.