Procreation on Ardu

Origin of the species
A comprehensive systematic of Life on Ardu
The species of Ardu
An attempt to categorize
The great Hodgepodge
Systematic

— Notes of the last attempt of the almost famous adventurer and nature scientist Voldar Winn to find a title for the book he was about to write, before settling down in Xandattaway again and reopening the oddities shop of his father.

Manifestation

Procreation on Ardu

There is not a single way of procreation on Ardu but countless. Life on Ardu is teeming, and there are parasitic ways of procreation, like those of the Doppelgangers, strange ways like those of most abberations and almost every plaguebeast has its own way of furthering its kin. However, the two most prevalent methods of procreation on Ardu are the methods of seedbirth and faebirth.

Faebirth and Seedbirth

For unknown reasons, most of the coexisting species on Ardu, which procreate by sexual intercourse, divide into two genotypes: The seeding and the seedless genotype, with the the seedless genotype being prevalent, making up around 70 percent of the sexually procreating species on Ardu, whereas the seeding genotype makes up the rest.
Note, that this is a number describes the number of seedless species vs. seeding species, not the number of lifeforms overall. Seeding lifeforms are definitely more prevalent in areas where Humans, who are a seeding species themselves, dominate for example, whereas the number of seeding lifeforms in the The Eternal Forests is close to negligible.
Species of the seedless genotype do not produce seed, but procreate via a process called faebearing or faebirth, whereas members of the seeding genotype are able to additionally also procreate by what is called seedbirth. Seeding species can also procreate via Faebirth.

Seedbirth

Healthy male members of the seeding genotype are able to produce seed, which, when injected into a female genital, can fertilze her, provided that, at the time of intercourse, she was in a fertile phase to begin with. The process is not guaranteed to work, and seedbirth infertility, which is, by the way, totally unrelated to faebirth infertility, can happen for different reasons. Sometimes partners have to wait and attempt several times, even if they both wait for the proper time of female fertility,
In order for seedbirth to work, both partners must be of the same race, or belong to subraces of the same race. Crossbreeding with members of different species is not possible via seedbirth, even if both partners are of seeding genotype. Their seed is just too different for this to work. Halfbreeds, as a faeborn bridge between species, create somewhat of an exception in that regard, which will be covered further down under the chapter "Halfbreeds".

Faebirth

The conception via faebirth works like this: During intercourse, if both partners share the will to conceive a child, the personal fae produced by both of the partners connects, samples the genes of both, and creates a new life in the body of the female. It is possible that with an especially strong will, or by magical enhancement of said will, the intention of only one partner may suffice to trigger the process, although most culturebuilding species consider such an act a punishable crime. The punishments differ from species to species and culture to culture. Orcs do not require the consent of their partners as by nature they are able to invoke faebirth by will of the orc alone.
Although this sounds as if conception via faebirth is guaranteed to work, this is no the case. Just like conception via seedbirth, hundred of factors could influence it. Therefore, whereas for some partners the first try might suffice, for others, or even the same partners on different occasion, weeks and probably months of trying are necessary to successfully conceive.
Whereas seedbirth works only on members of the same species (a race, its halfbreeds and subraces), procreation via faebirth is not constrained in this manner, and can work between members of entirely different ones. The process however is limited by the complexity of the organisms and especially their consciousness and self awareness.
In order to close the gap between different species, the personal fae of both involved partners must contain enough structure and self awareness. This is not given with animalistic or beastlike beings, whose personal fae inherits the simplicity of their minds, leaving their genetic reach via faebirth limited to "just" partners of the same biological family. Which is still impressive compared to seedbirth and a reason for the futility of many attempts to classify the plentiful fauna on Ardu, but nowhere near the plethora of possibilities that "present" themselves to selfaware, culturebuilding beings.
Because once the minds of both partners have the ability for self reflection and self awareness, the limits do not apply anymore. Hence many self conscious beings on Ardu are able to crossbreed with each other via faebirth and sire halfbreeds. By far not all though, as life on Ardu is strange and alien, and thus even the Fae cannot bridge all gaps.
An exception to this are the lizardmen and the Yuan-Ti though. Although very much self aware, and fiendishly clever on occasion, Yuan-Ti and their lizardmen slaves cannot procreate via Faebirth, as their connection to the Fae is severed, either by the ritual of becoming Yuan-Ti, by being born such to begin with, or, in case of the lizardmen, by having it severed by their Yuan-Ti masters.
Because of the intentional characteristic of conception via faebirth, one would think that infertility is not an issue, yet this is not true. For some people it doesn't work. Its entirely independent from the infertility via seedbirth though, so there might be beings who have a lot of seedborn children, but are unable to father a halfbreed, or the other way around, or which suffer both kinds of infertility. Being a process of consciousness, the faeborn fertility seems to relate somewhat to the ability to control the own mind, thus very intelligent, witty, cunning or wise persons are afflicted less often with fae infertility than those of simpler mental composition.
Another curiosity of conception via faebirth is, that it is not only possible in the physical world, but also works in the counterrealm, which can usually only be entered by the consciousness. Once both partners have passed the Veil, and thus separated their "soul" from their body, a conception is possible, although the pregnancy only begins once the female soul returns back into her body.
This path is only trodden, if it can't be avoided. For once, as it requires particularly magic skill and training to pass the Veil or make someone pass it, which makes it expensive at least, but also due to the ever present risk of demonic possession, and the general... distractedness... of the protagonists during such act, making additional precautionary measures a must to prevent this.
Also, despite many star crossed lovers having wished for it, for this to work, simple dreams won't suffice, as the complete consciousness of a person must have passed through the Veil, whereas dreams only partly transport the dreamers consciousness into the counterrealm, while part of it stays in the physical world. If the dream is of such nature at all... and not just a simple dream.
Because of this oddity however, halfbreeds can also be sired or conceived by self aware Fae creatures of the counterrealm, like demons for example, provided the undivided consciousness of both partners resides on the same side of the Veil during the act, be it now the physical or the counterrealm side.
Another possibility provided by this kind of conception, is the possibility of having partners which cannot normally interact in the necessary way, at least physically.
Dragons, for example, belong to the more clever, cunning and ambitious creatures, so they theoretically could sire or conceive halfbreeds too, however, due to the obvious physical impossibilities, all dragonborn, as halfbreeds between dragons and humanoids are called, are conceived in the counterrealm, where both the dragon and his mate must meet. Due to the perceived or truly present arrogance of dragons, which prevents them from even considering any being other than another dragon as a worthy partner, at least not in a deep emotional way, these halfbreeds are rarely the result of love but a way to enhance a dragons grip about its following and create a bond to those who worship it.
Because halfhuman and halfwolven dragonborn retain the possibility of procreating on their own (via seedbirth, see below), it is usually human or wolven tribes, which dragons seek out to build up a dragonborn following, with humans taking the lead, because of their better fertility.

Type

Natural