Contraception, Pregnancy & Children

Among the fae life is held as precious and sacred, something to always be protected; part of this stems from how rare children are among them in comparison to humans and other creatures. Gifted with magic and power beyond any other beings, it is difficult to continue their lines, though the challenges depend on a number of different things.  

Contraception

  Most fae welcome the chance to bring another life into being, but some know they are not yet ready. Typically there is the belief that a child would not bless someone who was not prepared to carry the child. That said there are potions, special healing brews and tailsmen's that have been used to safe guard against pregnancy.   Protecting a womb possessing person's choice has always been important to the faerie, especially with their matriarchal culture. As such healers are well versed in the making of potions, healing brews and the drafting of the tailsmens, though they are more commonly made by apprentices.   There is no judgement when someone makes the choice that carrying a child to term is not something they can do. It is never an easy choice, and fae respect that and believe entirely in the individual's right to choose.  

Pregnancy

  Conceiving a child is thought to be a blessing in most cases among the fae, as it is a rare thing for them, and more rare a fae the more difficult both conceiving and carrying a child to term. This is part of why the young and innocent of any race are fiercely protected by fae born, and woven into the way they value life resorting to death as only the last possible option.  

Least Difficult					Most Difficult
Human & Human	Human & Common Fae	Common Fae & Common Fae	Human & Rare Fae	Common Fae & Rare Fae	Rare Fae & Rare Fae

  For example, a Shapeshifter with a Merrow would be easier than a Valkyrie and a Phoenix pairing.   Miscarriages are tragically common, particularly with a first pregnancy, and the loss is honored as a trauma that brings in both a healer and a dreamweaver to work with those who have gone through it. Many times this is due to the fact that if the one carrying a child uses too much magic it can overwhelm the life growing inside of her, or pull the budding magic away from the babe. Sometimes this happens prior to the fae even being aware they are carrying a child.   Shapeshifters, Dragons, Unicorns and others with more animal forms also face the additional challenge of not being able to shift from one form to the other after the first trimester of the gestation cycle without risking damaging to the child.   There is a benefit to them in the fact that if they choose to hold an animal form for the length of the second and third trimesters and the gestation cycle is shorter for that animal they can bring the child into the world more quickly. The babe will be born in the form their birthing parent held in labor.  

Children

  Among the fae children are a treasure. They are the promise of new life, of legacy. Typically children benefit from a community style engagement in their raising, beyond just the presence of their direct parents. In smaller villages and settlements this can mean extended family, but even in the largest cities there are small communities that form and support parents, assisting with the raising, teaching and supporting of children's needs.   Fae children grow much as human children do, though their powers are instinctive and typically weak until they reach adolescence. Fae development tracks with human until around the early twenties, at which point faerie longevity causes the first of countless maturity plateau's in the fae's life. Typically a fae from the age of twenty to fifty is regarded as still a young adult, but with their own agency. Skills of course can be learned, and professions pursued, some building names for themselves rapidly with innovation and youth, or simply passion. It is rare for any fae younger than thirty to be accepted in a difficult profession, and typically forty is the minimum age for those warrior minded to move past the lower ranks of their organization of choice.