TSi Regenians: Reproduction

A regenian has an estrus period approximately every 62th regenian day (three times in a regenian year). During this time, the regenian is sexually active and therefore starts showing more emotion than in general and behaving in a fairly lascivious manner. Regenians don't mind this at all; they even help a lonely person find a partner for eir period if ey doesn't have one – it's common to also artificially trigger the period in a willing person to prevent having one sad, frustrated regenian roaming around. However, other species tend to consider the whole system perverted (even if most of them are technically in a continuous estrus) since the regenians can't fully control themselves during the estrus period.
The regenian estrus cycle has three stages: passive stage, receptive stage and active stage. The passive stage is what is usually dominant and receptive stage is approximately three to two days before the active stage that is usually called the estrus period. One period lasts usually seven to nine regenian days with a partner. Usually one person's estrus is triggered by hormonal activity first and then the partner's period will be triggered by the telepathic conditioning while being in receptive stage. When the period nears its end, the regenian feels the activity decreasing and becomes quite tired. Ey sleeps twice eir normal time and wakes up in the passive stage and very hungry. This happens nearly always simultaneously to both regenians due to telepathic feedback. The situation is the same if there are more than two regenians involved.
Without a partner the estrus period lasts approximately three to four days. During that time the regenian is very frustrated, some even up to the point that they might try to have their way with others who aren't in their estrus period. However, if they ever have to experience a period without a partner, most regenians would just try to satisfy themselves – it helps for the physical tension, but leaves the mental frustration largely intact due to the lack of telepathic response. The reason why most people don't bother trying to have their way with others not on their period is because even then the telepathic response is not given. A person not on the estrus period just fails at giving the telepathic response – in fact, the lack of it generally makes the whole thing that much more miserable for the on eir period, since the person who's not on eir period mostly feels contempt toward the assaulter and hurts because eir system is not receptive. However, when the period subsides, the regenian is back to normal.

The estrus period is by far the most likely time for a regenian to become pregnant; approximately 90 % of those pairs who try to conceive children do just that and both regenians become pregnant. In 98 % of the cases at least the other regenian becomes pregnant. However, usually regenians use contraceptives to prevent conception when they don't want children. Refraining from genital contact is also a good method since no one looks down upon having sex in some "non-conventional" way.
A pregnant regenian will still have estrus periods, but can't conceive more children before ey has given birth. The regenian has two normal periods and the third one triggers parturition. There can be a few days of normal estrus before the actual labor begins, but most often there isn't. The only case when parturition is not triggered is if the regenian has a hormonal defect preventing it. In that case the regenian is usually let to finish the estrus period and then the offspring is cut out. Usually the regenian will become able to conceive more offspring during eir third period after parturition, but it can vary quite a lot – some have even been able to give birth and then conceive during the same period while for others it takes two years to become fertile again.
The child will be hormonally fixed to eir carrier's estrus cycle, and if the carrier's cycle isn't changed before the child's adolescence, the child will most likely have eir first estrus period when eir carrier has one of eirs.
A regenian adolescent usually has eir first estrus period around the age of 25 (15 Terra years, 8 Tekeonia years) and it's usually a bit shorter than usual. Most adolescents have their way with their twins or older siblings when they have their first periods, or if they don't have suitable siblings, they usually don't have a partner for their first time. However, fairly soon those without suitable siblings and eventually also those who have them move on to their non-related friends. An adolescent isn't fertile until ey is approximately 45 years old.


The estrus period can be activated with hormone-like substances. Doing this doesn't usually cause any trouble, but if for some reason a person keeps taking hormones to have more periods, ey can become slightly addicted to it and start having issues. The issues are, however, caused only by the irregularity of the hormonal activity and will return to normal within two estrus periods at the most.
If the misuse of hormones has gone on for so long that the regenian's endocrine system has been damaged, it is most common to start instead preventing the estrus for a while and then return to the normal cycle. If the endocrine system has been damaged very severely, it can be tried to fix with surgical means and/or hormone therapy.

The estrus period can also be prevented with hormone-like substances. This causes no issues if the regenian does have a normal estrus period at least every other year, though the duration of the period might shorten.
However, preventing too many estrus periods tends to make a regenian asexual in a way that ey doesn't even want to have eir estrus period. The endocrine system isn't harmed by this, but it becomes inactive and will cause some trouble when the regenian gets older, causing em to die a few decades before eir time. The hormonal inactivity makes em even less emotional than ey usually is. Approximately two times out of three this will also make the person apathetic and dull.
After a long time of using period-preventing hormones and then stopping using them can have a somewhat drastic effect on the regenian. In general, there are four ways things can go.
The first case is that the person will just have a normal estrus period like nothing had happened. It might last a slightly shorter time or the person might feel more tired, but it will essentially be normal.
The second case if that the person will have a very mild period that might only last for a day or few, ey will be very tired or might not even be able to do much anything during the period. This will usually even out and the period will return to normal, but in some cases it will stay mildened. However, even though it is usually rather unpleasant for the first few times, even if the period doesn't get back to normal, it will most often become enjoyable for the regenian.
The third case is that no matter how long the regenian waits, the estrus period doesn't start and even the presence of a regenian who's entering eir period will not help. In this case the endocrine system has effectively shut down and doesn't know how to do anything. Most cases are solved by triggering the period with an estrus-activating hormone. While most have similar experiences to those whose periods started on their own, some will, even after a long time, feel quite unpleasant during the period and some people's endocrine systems even fail to resume any kind of action. If having the period in that case hasn't been unpleasant, the person will be given hormone therapy or eir endocrine system will be surgically fixed. However, if the experiences have been unpleasant, the person most often resumes normal life without any kind of estrus cycle.
The fourth case is that the person will have an extraordinarily fierce period that takes all eir energy, lasts for quite a long time, starves the person and in the end makes em extremely tired, even up to the point that ey might fall into a coma. However, most of these cases will later have normal periods.

If a regenian who is pregnant takes an estrus-inducing hormone, the pregnancy and hormonal balancy is disturbed. The carrier's hormones don't enter the offspring's system, but since activation of parturition depends on the hormonal balance, the whole cycle is disturbed and it greatly increases the risk of miscarriage.
Preventing a cycle doesn't usually affect the pregnancy, but there is a very small chance it might cause miscarriage and the latening of the offspring's adolescense in a way that the offspring's estrus cycle will need to be artificially induced. Some reseachers have noticed that there might be a frail connection between preventing estrus during pregnancy and the continuous anestrus of the offspring.

In some very rare cases, conception can happen outside of the estrus period. There is approximately a 0,6 % chance for a regenian to become pregnant outside of estrus. However, a regenian who is not on eir estrus period cannot fertilize anyone. The regenian's body will notice the pregnancy during the next estrus period, but it varies whether the body will regard that period or the previous period as the time of conception. Nevertheless, it will cause the offspring to be born before or after their time, both of which can cause complications. The hormonal imbalance also heightens the risk of miscarriage.

There are two somewhat rare but treatable conditions in which the estrus cycle is permanently disturbed. One case is when the estrus is always active and the other is when it never activates. Both of these cases are infertile.
The permanent estrus can usually be suppressed with the same prevention hormones that were mentioned before. However, in some cases the person's body is immune to the hormones, in which case other kind of medication can usually lessen the intensity of the continuous estrus, but it rarely makes it fully go away. Therefore those in a permanent untreatable estrus usually just learn to control themselves like the members of other species do. The permanent estrus is always triggered in teenage, as children can't have any kind of estrus period. The infants who have had a permanent estrus condition have all died.
Some anestrous regenians don't produce the estrus-inducing hormone themselves, but it can be activated artiticially. In some cases even estrus-inducing hormones won't trigger an estrus in an anestrous person. In these cases the person's body usually doesn't react to the hormone and therefore ey can never have an estrus period. Otherwise both of these cases can lead a normal life.

Approximately two thirds of those regenians who live to be quite old will experience a some kind of mildening of their estrus period. In most cases just its length and intensity decreases a bit, but some have even gone so far as to be completely anestrous. The fertility rate of an old regenian drops drastically – not that being pregnant would be physically possible due to health issues anyway. While it technically would be possible to fertilize another regenian even when old, the decrease in fertility affects that as well since regenians only have one kind of gametes.


Due to the fact that regenians only have one kind of gametes, the suitability for fertilization depends on how different the two gametes are. Therefore it is extremely rare that two of a person's own gametes would merge, but it does happen – there is approximately one case every few years, and half of those cases are caused by some defect and the offspring is aborted. However, when it isn't a defect, the person's two gametes were so different as to be able to combine and the offspring should be valid. However, no virginally conceived child has ever been able to do the same unless the case was a defect. The repelling of similar gametes also usually prevents close relatives from having offspring; the chance of conceiving offspring with a sibling is approximately 1 %, and increases the more distant the relation.

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