I absolutely adore your lizards. What’s life like for kids/babies? Are genetic parents in the picture or (due to the nests) is everyone raised communally/does it vary based on culture?
Thank you, glad you adore my guys :)
As you might expect, childhood varies a lot between Sana cultures.
In the Temple States, hatcheries are enormous and state-run. When they're old enough (and healthy enough) to think and act on their own, children are evaluated and assigned guardians. Guardianship is a sort of part-time job carried out by trained volunteers. Biological parents can become their offspring's guardians if they get the proper certifications, but this isn't often the case.
The actual responsibilities of parenting are split between these guardians and the series of state-run creches and boarding schools that make up a Temple Stater's childhood. While a Temple States lizard is usually separated from their social group multiple times as they move up through the education system, efforts are made to keep childhood friends with the same aptitudes together.
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Hatcheries in Duhr are privately owned, and their services don't come cheap. Many of them operate on a subscription model, where a reproductive pair will send over any fertile eggs they produce until one of them results in a healthy child.
Once they're discharged from the hatchery, children are raised by their parents and extended Family. While this is a more individualistic experience than childcare in the Temple States or the Heartland, Duhr households are large and multi-generational, and some of the responsibilities of parenting are shared with the neighbors. Kids usually grow up in a gaggle of tightly-bonded siblings and friends from the same apartment building. From there, it's either school or, more commonly, commitment to an apprenticeship.
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As for the Heartland, a hatchery lies at the center of every Family compound. Children are raised communally from birth. There's no concept of parenthood--who laid you is only relevant to your medical records. The responsibilities of child-care are provided by a team of nurses, teachers, and "integrators," who engrave the Family's ethos into the minds of its developing offspring. Though there's no equivalent to "parent," most Familia hold a lifelong affection for the people who raised them, and bond with their peers as tightly as siblings.
