There will be one more interlude after this chapter and then it'll be back to Sc'the and Redline in their travels.
(Unedited)
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Everything knows that Dragons are very protective of their young: if a (Young) is found kidnapped, even by another dragon, there will be dire consequences as a result. There is an entire Special Force designed for this specific task: finding the (Young), the orphaned, and even Adults that are suspected of such a perilous crime will be seized and thoroughly questioned while their den is searched high and low to no end; until it is sure that they are either guilty or not guilty of such a crime.
If any other potential crime comes of such a search then the accused now has that charge in their sentence to face as well, but if they are innocent and sworn under a Soul Oath that they have done no such crime--The accuser becomes the accused: Subjected to the same harsh treatment no matter of status and put to the same standards as was used upon the former, but they would be getting the charge of Falsely Accusing another of Kidnapping or Child-Endangerment and sentenced to two centuries in The Hole on top of having to pay a 300 Green Shard Fine and having to face whatever crimes that have been uncovered against them (if any).
The fear of such treatment is usually enough to deter false-accusers, but occasionally there are a few occasions where a poor Elder or innocent Drake gets subjected to such brutality--under law, law enforced by the Empress herself if the case is deemed bad enough--and even fewer that the accusation turns out true. The Special Force in charge of enforcing and subjecting the others to such treatment are called World-Breakers: due to the many few innocent dragons and drakes that have gotten their entire life destroyed in a single moment, true or not.
But this is not about the World-Breakers--that is a subject for another time--this is about (Young) and why they are such a rare--and as such, protected--occurrence: Dragons have mating cycles starting in their mid fifth century lasting only a half week every few centuries--sure, there are plenty of those that mate because of the pleasure involved, but the only actual conception period each female has only lasts for three to five days per two hundred years. And even then the actual chance of conception gets lower and lower the stronger a dragon grows...
...A dragon over the age of three hundred, and around levels 100-300 have only a 30% chance of conception. That percentage decreases by ten percent per hundred levels until it settles around 3-5% near levels 1000+, that goes for both the male and female counterparts of any type. Most usually stop trying by this point and just do it for the pleasure or fun coital contact brings, and if they end up having a clutch it's usually a bonus at that point.
Dragons under the level 300 live for a maximum of five-thousand years; sometimes more, sometimes less...really it depends on how strong they are and how active (in many aspects). Those that manage to reach their fourth evolution (levels 300-600) are practically immortal as by that point they have reached a stage not too dissimilar to Demi-god or lower Deity levels of power and energy. Only a few hundred have reached the fifth, and even fewer their sixth, evolutions out of nearing a hundred thousand dragons by this point.
Yes it's quite minimal compared to those of the mortal races nearing the millions, maybe even billion at the point of reading, but it just serves to further the protection of (Young) at any cost. And unless a (Young) is proven too ill or stupid to save, every measure is used to keep them protected, healthy, and moderately safe...(unfortunately the (Young) are often stupid and reckless, needlessly running into danger and killing themselves off before being able to be saved). There have been a few moments I've been too late in saving a (Young) and every one of them still breaks my heart centuries later.
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