Some speculations about the stages awakening+

This is speculation about what it might look like.

A mesocarnivorous, strong intelligent species weighing ~100 kg, which arose in conditions of fierce competition and harsh conditions, their flocks number from 20 to 50 individuals and have a clear patriarchal hierarchy of dominance, as well as a tendency for armed conflicts between these flocks in order to displace and destroy competitors.
How would this affect their culture and society? It is likely that they would be more prone to social violence, discrimination, and some form of in-group favoritism. Also, due to their larger size and therefore strength, they would be more effective in rough work, as well as warriors.

This is one example of what an intelligent species can be like in thrive.

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Why would it need to be patriarchal?

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I was inspired by the social structure of chimpanzees

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Aliens don’t need to follow such a structure.

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Their males are about 30% larger than females, which is due to evolutionary differentiation between the sexes. However, other species may have larger females (and therefore a matriarchal society is much more likely), what I gave was just an example.

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Also there could be creatures using alternative reproduction systems to the classical sexual one.

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Parthenogenesis (asexual reproduction) and hermaphroditism, although possible in intelligent species, are probably less likely.

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Why would they be like so?

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Sexual reproduction provides an advantage in the form of accelerated evolution and the fixation of mutations, the presence of division into males and females provides advantages in the selection and dissemination of genes (for example, making females larger since females can only be fertilized a limited number of times, or, for example, making males more mobile, which allows genes to be distributed more efficiently).

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Remember matriarchal species still exist in mammals for example.

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eh, technically. Really, it seems to be because we descended from lungfish. Plants, due to not relying on mobility, love their hermaphoditism, it’s just better if you aren’t being an animal. I personally think you’re doing nothing wrong because this is just speculation for fun about a hypothetical middle-of-the-road playthrough (I do wonder WHY you’re doing this) though I also appreciate ppl pointing out that alternatives exist and should be supported.

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Clownfish are hermaphodist for example.

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I don’t really understand why you reacted that way to the fact that they have a patriarchal structure of society, species with a patriarchal structure of society exist on earth (from chimpanzees to lions) and since Thrive takes the evolution of species on earth as a standard, there is nothing that would not be in Thrive. I did not say anything about this being the only option for intelligent species in Thrive.

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Well, good you clarified you meant for there to be more options…

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Parthenogenesis occurs in fish, amphibians, and reptiles, mostly in species that can use either that or sexual reproduction. Basically, if you go a life time alone, unable to find a mate to sexually reproduce with, you can have a clone litter and hope they have better luck in finding love than you did. The better reason for a social creature to not have it is higher population, not intelligence itself.

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Could Parthenogenesis still exist as a feature descended from the old days of a sapient species? Perhaps vestigial, but still here?

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that would be real cool. I wonder the societal implications of having parthenogenesis clones wandering around. an idea which came to me was that, obviously, there will be serious stigma about sibling incest, for good reason. BUT, if two siblings are pathanoigenerated from the same parent, they’d be clones, and no real genetic issues would result (assuming one, possibly hermaphroditic, sex) they’d just have a third clone. It’d be more rare than having a parthanogenerated child at all to have two, but it could make sense if the species usually has twins or more at a time or the isolation that caused parthenogenesis induction lasted a while. I think it’d be possible for interclone reproduction to skirt around the definition of incest in such a society, or it could be lumped in, or it could be a moral controversy, with some text suggesting it’s basically incest (say, one member of the species is stranded on an island, they have kids, the kids have kids, then grandkids, guess what, next up is hapsburgs) and some suggesting it’s perfectly safe (one generation of clones, heck, even one every other generation, would be perfectly safe, occasional interclone reproduction wouldn’t have adverse effects). maybe some egotistical people would go on pilgrimages to isolated areas to get a free clone child. perfect heir. Dunno. interesting worldbuilding potential.

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Also how would a species being oviparious impact the perception of eggs for example?

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I think that for them the egg may be much more associated with life and beginnings.

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It’s already associated with that irl, so even more in such a species it would be ig.

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