Worldbuilding #1

I thought I'd start posting some of my worldbuilding scribblings.  Fun facts and trivia about the world in my book(s), mostly pertaining to gargoyles for now, but with more about the Guardians at some point in the future.  Some of it is scientific-sounding jargon; I've been writing it as though I were a researcher of some kind, studying the gargoyles. 

·         Adolescent gargoyles are sent on mail runs and other small errands to strengthen their wings and help them learn their way around the country.

·         Gargoyles marry after two-year courtships, minimum. They may share living quarters and even produce young before this, but they take oaths extremely seriously.  To them, marriage is considered more binding than having children. The tribe will care for neglected fledglings but there is no divorce among gargoyles. (Rillsof is the only known exception to this rule.)

·         Gargoyles produce live young, unlike dragons who lay eggs, and are actually mammals despite their sometimes reptilian appearance.

o   Human/gargoyle matings are rare, and discouraged due to the complications that so often arise.  The resulting hybrid offspring may possess any combination of human or gargoyle characteristics/abilities, weaknesses, etc.  They all suffer from an acute sensitivity to sunlight and crave red meat more often than full-blooded humans.  They are all taller and stronger than the average human, but shorter and weaker than the average gargoyle.  Occasionally they are born with vestigial wings or tails.  Human mothers often perish during childbirth in such cases, much to the consternation and distress of the fathers; gargoyle females do not suffer from the same complications as human women during childbirth.   

o   The hybrid offspring are rarely able to fly, even when born with wings, and do not (usually) suffer from the gargoyles’ daylight affliction.  The most unfortunate of the offspring appear fully human, but still are frozen in place during the day.  Some speculate that this phenomenon, combined with their sensitivity to sunlight and abnormal craving for red meat, have contributed to ‘vampire’ legends.

o   If one/both parent possesses any relation to the other race (i.e., if the human parent has any gargoyle ancestor up to and including the 7th generation), the odds are astronomically increased that the offspring will appear as a full-blooded (albeit smaller) gargoyle, or a full-blooded (albeit larger) human, whichever race provides the majority of the offspring's ancestry, with all the powers/weaknesses (or lack thereof) of that race.  This is exceedingly rare.