Breeding

Steorlings are born from gemstones imbued with a soul. This process requires 2 or more Steorlings to contribute a fragment of their soul into a batch of gemstones - while this doesn't have any long lasting effects on the Steorlings involved, this does mean that they need a period of rest between breedings.

Here are the timing restrictions:

The cooldown for breeding a Steorling is 30 days, counting from the day you received their last Basket of Gemstones.
A breeding must be fully approved and uploaded before the parents can participate in another.
One player can have up to 2 active (pending completion) breedings at the same time.

Why do breedings when you can submit custom designs (or MYOs, in adopt terms)? Mostly, this is for the traits - certain traits are not available on readily-available custom Steorlings, and certain traits can be randomly unlocked via breeding. Ascension traits can be passed down to non-Crossers in this manner, and this can also increase the number of ascension traits on a single Steorling beyond what is normally possible through gameplay.

Breeding Design Guide

Designing is subject to the same rules as custom/MYO designs - that is, nothing that will get me in trouble with corporations, no NSFW, inappropriate content, and so on. A more detailed set of restrictions can be found on the Custom Steorlings page.

You will be designing a batch of baby Steorlings - Steorlinglings, if you will (...no? ...Steorlets? Steorlittens?) - based on the appearances of their parents, given a list of traits. Here are a couple of things to note:

The similarity of the children to their parents won't be moderated. While this does mean you can treat them as full MYOs, I hope that you will play along in the spirit of the game.
The trait list available for breedings can be freely distributed among the babies. Yes, you can stack all of them on a single baby...but gameplay penalties are imposed on ascension traits, so this is not advised.
Traits can be hidden in the artwork, while still being on the character's trait list. If they are ascension traits, they will still have an effect on stats.
Traits can be discarded if not desired. They cannot be retrieved later, and the character will not be granted any discounts on those traits.

Baby Steorlings look like smaller versions of their parents. At this point in their lives, they don't have clear distinctions in build, save perhaps for the size of their paws...of course, they will not be bound to any star just yet.

[image of baby Steorling]

As with adult Steorlings, the gemstone should fit comfortably on the forehead, be faceted irregularly, and taper to a single point. It should not be longer than the height of the skull, and the base area should be large enough that a hypothetical third eye would fit in that space.
Babies tend to have proportionally larger heads and paws. Their tails are uniformly short and grow in over time.
They can have head hair if you want! There's no restriction in length.

How do I get a breeding?

[screenshot of items in market]

Purchase a Gemstone Order from the Rutile Market - the number of gemstones in the order indicates the number of new Steorlings you will receive.

[screenshot of claim submission]

Submit a claim with the Gemstone Order attached, with the URLs of the parents involved. If any parents belong to other players, those players should You will receive a response with the traits available to you - you can decide how you want these distributed among the babies, or let the artist choose. You will also receive a Basket of Gemstones item that will be used to claim your breeding - do not lose this!
Find an artist to handle the breeding! You can do it yourself if you prefer. The artist does not need to be a LST player, though if they aren't, please link them the breeding design guide above.
After the artwork is completed, check in with me via Discord first for approvals (you can also check in for WIPs). Once it's all worked out, I'll let you know to submit a claim with the Basket of Gemstones attached. Include links to the artwork in the comments, and your babies will be uploaded and on the way to you shortly :)

What do I do with babies?

Babies need time to grow!

While they are babies, they cannot be whatever occupations adults can be in this game. However, they can be everyone's problem. They can scavenge items from around your mine (the rewards are dependent on your mine's level), including some objects exclusive to this activity. Additionally, certain art prompts are only available for children, that will result in stat boosts when they grow up.

In the meantime, enjoy!

How do I grow a baby?

After 2 months in Earth time, a baby is automatically eligible to become an adult.

At that point in time, you can submit a design update to get them upgraded to an adult, free of charge. This procedure is manual (they will stay a baby indefinitely until you do this), unfortunately. If you need them to be an adult immediately, you can use the designer tool to get a quick upgrade, and then submit artwork based on the baby design later if you wish.

Breeding Mechanics

Traits

Ah, the fun part!

Inheritable traits are separated into "rarity traits" and "ascension traits". Rarity traits are obtained through breeding and methods limited to non-Crossers. Ascension traits are Crosser traits.

Rarity traits

Required: These are racial traits that are the default for a Steorling's race. This is not quite "inherited", but required to be shown on a Steorling of that race.
Common: These are racial traits that are the default for a Steorling's race. Typically, you get to choose two from a short list. Inheritance is artist's choice (the artist can add these to as many children in a breeding as they like, as long as either or both of the parents have the trait).
Uncommon: These are random hidden traits that can spontaneously show up in a breeding. 10% chance of passing per child, quantity is artist's choice. Inheritance is also artist's choice. When one person discovers an uncommon trait, it's added to the global list of traits - it can now be selected on custom Steorlings.
Rare: These are random traits that can spontaneously show up in a breeding. 5% chance of passing per child, quantity limited. Certain special items can force a rare trait to be rolled. The full list of rare traits (not hidden) is always available on custom Steorlings.

Ascension traits

Tier 1: 30% chance of passing per child, quantity limited
Tier 2: 20% chance of passing per child, quantity limited
Tier 3: 10% chance of passing per child, quantity limited
Breath weapon and higher tiers are not inheritable.

Multiple parents with the same trait contribute to rolls as follows:

For uncommon traits, the chance does not increase with multiple parents. Flat 10% per child.
For rare traits, the chance increases by 5% per parent with that trait. (e.g. 1 parent w/ trait = 5%, 2 parents w/ trait = 10%, 3 parents w/ trait = 15%)
For ascension traits, the chance increases by half (rounded down at each step) for each parent with that trait. (e.g. 1 parent w/ a tier 1 trait = 30%, 2 parents w/ the tier 1 trait = 45%, 3 parents w/ the tier 1 trait = 52%)

Rolling process

All rolling is automated. Technology!!

The process is fairly simple:
1. List all quantity-limited traits and adjust percentages based on how many parents have that trait and/or items
2. For each trait, roll once per child
3. Do uncommon trait rolls per child
4. Do any other bonus rolls from items
5. Total up and serve

You can test breedings with the test calculator to get a feel for the odds (and how things are calculated), but ultimately, the real results you get are up to chance.

Stats

Every Steorling has a "base" quantity of stats - this is the amount of stats they would have at birth. They can gain stats over their lifetime, but the stats of their children are based on this quantity. Each stat is calculated individually and in the same way. The base stat values can be increased, but it's far harder to do than increasing the gained values.

Ascension traits negatively affect baby Steorlings by worsening their constitution - as a result, their stats can be significantly lower than a perfectly healthy baby. It will take more work to bring them up to speed, stat-wise.

Calculation process

Again, all automated! Stats are rolled when approved baby art is uploaded. The minimum value for a stat is 1.

This process is repeated for each stat:
1. Average the parents' values for this stat
2. Total up the parents' base stats for each stat and order them in increasing order. For the 1st lowest stat, randomise a +0 to +1 bonus...for the second lowest stat, randomise a +0 to +2 bonus...for the third lowest stat, randomise a +0 to +3 bonus...etc. This bonus is multiplied by 2.
3. For each ascension trait, dock 1 point for each ascension tier (e.g. -3 points for a tier 3 trait, -2 points for a tier 2 trait...)
4. Apply any item bonuses
5. Total up and serve

Once again, you can test stat rolls with the test calculator.