Breeding and offspring
Mating and Soulmates
| Shiji-Long are a very loyal breed of dragons. Their entire life is dedicated to find their soulmate. Most of the time it is a pair that gets together, but there are very rare cases of triangle relationships. Shiji-Long know the moment they meet their other part, that they are their soulmate. It can be compared to love at first sight. Siblings can naturally not be soulmates. The mating pair does a special ritual in order to solidify their bond. They bring forth offerings to a god of their choice to get their blessing, then exchange scales of each other and attach them to their own, taking a bit of each other's color, to show their affiliation. Mating pairs can consist of any sex and gender. The love the pair feels will last even after their cycle ends and they are reborn. |
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Breeding and Eggs
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Breeding can only happen with a mated pair and required functional sexual organs of both sexes, no matter the gender. While, for example, same sex pairs can care just as well for an egg and baby, they can't produce offspring themselves. Orphan eggs are often given to these pairs to care for. There are other ways to offer pairs ways to reproduce though. The god Qing is offering his blessing for chosen ones, allowing them to magically change their sex briefly for this special moment. Another method is the introduction of a surrogate mother or father. This is only done with very close friends, since it is a very intimate thing. While mating is done not only for offspring, females are only fertile during Autumn and Spring. Not every mating results in an egg though. The female lays the egg a bit after fertilization and the mating pair cared for it until the baby hatches. |
Breeding Traits
With every breeding the parents give their appearance to their offspring. Here is a chart for the probability.
| Common | Uncommon | Rare | Ultra rare | |
| Common | 100% Common | 70% Common 30% Uncommon |
80% Common 20% Rare |
90% Common 10% Ultra rare |
| Uncommon | 70% Common 30% Uncommon |
100% Uncommon | 60% Uncommon 40% Rare |
80% Uncommon 20% Ultra rare |
| Rare | 80% Common 20% Rare |
60% Uncommon 40% Rare |
100% Rare | 65% Rare 35% Ultra rare |
| Ultra rare | 90% Common 10% Ultra rare |
80% Uncommon 20% Ultra rare |
65% Rare 35% Ultra rare |
100% Ultra rare |
Breeding Conditions and Egg care
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Breeding which results in offspring is only done by mated pairs. In very rare cases it is heard of unmated pairs laying eggs, but it is socially not acceptable to do this. After successful fertilization, the female will lay one to three eggs, one being the most common. Eggs will only hatch in either late spring/early summer or late autumn/early winter. Both parents care for the egg and either carry it around or build a nest for it. The shell of the egg is sticky on the first few days, and often the parents will decorate it with all kinds of stones, gems and material from the regions. |
Eggsy don't have a fixed time until they hatch. A new egg, one that is not a reincarnated Shiji, usually takes at least six months to hatch. Reincarnated Shiji-Long can take decades to hatch. The maximum incubation time is around a year and a half for a newborn.
Baby Shiji-Long are completely white when they are born and only get their colours and markings around one to two weeks later. They are fully developed, but their eyes and ears are closed in the first few weeks, making them dependent on the parents for the first two years. They are more mammal than reptile in that department, thus needing to learn what to heat, how to hunt and how to run and fly. 
Their whiskers grow with age.
Baby Shiji-Long get fed with breast milk in their first weeks, until they get their first teeth. After that they are only able to digest meat. After around two years though they develop the ability to digest other food, like fruit, vegetables and corn. Like every sentinent being, newborn Shiji-Long need time to learn written and spoken language. Babies are able to communicate with sounds before that though.
