#sproggle

My widdle brother’s best friend was talking to me about a race he’s making for a DnD campaign called sproggles and I KINDA fell head first in love with them ;; I also love the rock dudes he’s got cookin’ omg... I feel bad I ZOOM ZONED OUT on these guys... but I loved giving my opinion on things when asked... god it was so charming to hear his process ;;

So I stumbled upon the idea of 'sproggle from' @lotors-saltwife and @blackmoonbabe and I fell down a hole because #science, so here ya go. I ship both Shallura and Lotura so I've divided these up according to ship...

(and if anyone can tell me how to incorporate a 'read more' break while using markdown, save my life and hit my inbox)

Science

A quick briefing on the human menstrual cycle, because science

There are two phases, follicular and luteal, with ovulation in the middle

Follicular phase starts the day of your period, which is considered Day 1 of your cycle

A number of egg-containing follicles will mature, until one or sometimes more will be released during ovulation

Once menstruation is complete and you're no longer experiencing cramps or low energy, the follicular hormones usually mean you'll feel pretty strong and in top health

Essentially your body is preparing itself to get pregnant, so it wants you to feed good and get frisky

Ovulation means release of an egg from the follicle into the fallopian tubes

This is controlled by a complex interplay of chemicals, but basically, you get a massive SPIKE of hormones

Thus in addition to the friskiness and extra energy many people notice around ovulation, you can actually 'feel hormonal' here just as much as in PMS or while menstruating

It just typically doesn't last as long

Luteal phase is the one many of us hate

Progesterone (and to a lesser degree, oestrogen) levels start increasing after ovulation to trigger thickening of the uterus lining and prepare your body for implantation of the fertilised egg

If implantation doesn't happen, those hormones rapidly decrease, which causes mood changes

The drop in hormones triggers the breakdown of the uterine lining, which means cramps and bleeding

Now, to sproggle. I'm assuming here

Happens yearly based on the Altean calendar, probably in Autumn or Spring depending on how fast Altean gestation is (assuming you want to give birth in Spring)

Based on the earth calender it happenes... let's say every one-and-a-half years, but not precisely

So it would move about according to the human calendar

Each stage probably lasts a week, maybe a week and a half

Symptom severity would depend on physical health - sleep, diet, exercise - plus genetic and random fluctuations in hormones and the body's response to them

Allura is totally on top of this shit, she is THAT FRIEND who talks about their period

She has a fancy tracker so she can predict the timing and stages more accurately than just with a calendar

This helps her to be self-aware of her emotional changes so she doesn't have those days where you think you're dying but it's just your hormones

Hunk and Pidge designed it using a hormone sensor of some kind, probably breath-based

Under Coran's guidance re: Altean biology

These things used to be readily available on Altea, but obviously that source no longer exists

Allura's sproggle is also incorporated into Voltron and coalition strategy meetings without any fuss

Allura is very open, there's no body-shaming with this Princess

Just a part of life isn't it

we're at war here, lets have as few surprises as possible

Most parts of the galaxy have experience with a local species for whom this is a factor

There's training modules on it in diplomatic training

It would seem weird NOT to include it in their planning

BOM is pretty helpful here because they deal with hormonal cycles in a lot of different species, including hybrids

Headcanon that Galra males are the ones with cycles, much milder but also more frequent, somewhere on par with human cycles

Chief Dad of Marmora Kolivan is therefore all over that shit

He has spreadsheets

It never occurs to anyone to suppress sproggle, because why would you want to?

Voltron is a team, and the paladins and Coran can take on tasks when Allura needs them to

Allura is highly trained both physically and mentally - she's entirely capable of switching into combat mode during emergencies

Parts of it are also pretty fun, why would you miss out on that?

Stages of Sproggle: Shallura

Follicular

Allura's second-favourite stage

Allura can usually whip the paladin's butts in training, but she gets a week or so of super strength during sproggle

This is actually how the paladins find out about it the first time

Allura goes to block an attack by Pidge and accidentally yeets her across the room

'Do that again!'

Keith likes this stage, its a chance to train for fights with extra-strong opponents

Some of his BOM friends will just 'happen' to swing by for training on these days

Especially as the years pass and Allura becomes an incredibly strong warrior even out of sproggle

(I saw some excellent art of a stacked allura with body hair the other day and I loved it but I've lost it, if you know the thing send me the thing?)

One cycle Allura reaches truly epic levels of strength and Kolivan suddenly finds the BOM base deserted

He turns up intending to rip them all a new one

Ends up taking on Allura one-on-one

She puts him on his ass and he just roars with laughter, because it's been a very long time since that happened

Ovulation

Allura's favourite stage

Shiro tries, he really does

Allura might be much stronger than him and have far better endurance than he does, but goddamnit, Shiro was the Champion

If there's anyone who should be able to keep up with her, it's him

Also he loves Allura, he loves her body, he loves loving her.

But even Shiro the Hero gets tired

One particularly strong cycle Pidge finds him working in a closet

'I just needed a moment to actually get something done'

Pidge brings him coffee and a book, goes and distracts Allura with a training session

By the end of this stage Shiro isn't even trying to get work done, he just ends up taking long naps underneath all the pillows Allura has collected for her nest

Allura lets him sleep and goes to take a loooong shower

Luteal

The garrison trio quietly refer to this as Hulk week

Very fucking quietly

This is not a good time to play practical jokes

Or for teasing

Sarcasm and subtlety are completely lost on Hulk Allura

The first time Allura sproggled with the paladins around, Keith told Allura she looked tired

Honestly he meant well, he thought she needed a nap

He ended up fleeing to Red for protection

Red was about ten seconds from busting through the wall anyway

'Come out here instead of hiding behind your lion and we'll see who's tired'

*roaring in the background, accompanied by hysterical laughter from the other paladins*

I'm inclined to think that Altean PMS is actually legendary

'You have two options, surrender or face our Altean Princess in the middle of Oestrus'

'Go loose, Princess'

The BOM probably be like, can we borrow the Princess?

Voltron gets a week off, Allura's got this

(thank god, because Shiro's still recovering)

Lance is all over this stage

He's got loads of family, he probably tracked his friends' cycles at the Garrison

He knows how to tell when Allura is genuinely upset and when her hormones have blindsided her

He knows how to gently steer her into a more mindful place without guilting her over something she can't control

Interesting sidethought if she's anything like me, the day or so before menses start Allura's probably clumsy enough to kill someone by accident.

Menstruation

Coran keeps the infirmary well stocked with migraine meds, heat pads, and medicinal tea

The Alteans had an excellent, mess-free, practical and simple means of dealing with menstruation, and the castle is very well stocked because they're an essential medical device (down with the tampon tax folks)

Allura actually is horrified the first time Pidge comes to her to ask for tampons

'You use WHAT?'

So Pidge and Coran modify one of the Altean devices for Earth biology

Pidge is entirely 'Fuck the patriarchy' so she loves this

Takes it back to earth when she finally visits

Changes everyone's life

Hunk's favourite stage because he gets to fuss over Allura with heat pads and blankets and tea

He's also the only one who can use spices well enough to make something allura can stomach on mornings where she's super sensitive to smell, or when she's feeling nauseous

Has an entire binder of recipes using copper-rich food (Altean blood uses copper to bind oxygen instead of iron)

Also Shiro's favourite stage, actually

He gets such good snuggles and he's been touch starved so he loves snuggles

He's basically a walking heat pad

I mean with all that muscle mass he's going to radiate body heat its science

He's also incredibly good at back rubs

All of the paladins like the tail end of the cycle when Allura gets super chill and lovey

The whole cycle is kind of a chance to evaluate their relationships with each other, see if anything particularly sensitive came up during Luteal, do some self-work

It becomes a tradition to express gratitude towards each other

The whole thing is kinda like space thanksgiving, but with a lot more sex and fighting

Stages of Sproggle: Lotura

Follicular

Lotor is a space scientist and has a very keen sense of smell so he's likely to realise what's going on even before the tracking device

He actually keeps a tally of how many times he beats the tracker

Not competitive. at. all.

Makes the most of this stage, when Allura has time and is willing, by having her fight upstart idiot generals in the arena to put them in their place

No-one's going to think Altean blood is lesser once they've been wupped by Allura

Lotor's the one to discover that her alchemical abilities are heightened during this stage

Which leads to him seeking out other species with similar hormones to see if they have similar abilities

Ovulation

Lotor's reaction varies depending on what stage of his own cycle he's on

Male Galran Follicular equivalent: Extra strength? Extra endurance? We can put this to use.

Male Galran Ovulation equivalent: No-one sees them for a week

Male Galran luteal and menses equivalents: Thank god for the engineering corps because 'Allura, darling I simply can't'

The generals, particularly Ezor, think this stage is fucking hilarious Emperor Lotor doesn't know the meaning of delegate, except for this week

'We'll deal with that ourselves, Lotor's busy '

Luteal

Trashing sentries

Victory or death

Zethrid loves this stage

Wants to take Allura to get into Galran bar fights but Lotor will never allow it

'The civil war was bad enough'

Menses

The smell of blood actually makes Lotor uber-protective

If Allura's anywhere near him at this stage, no matter where he is in his own cycle, he turns totally feral

Decapitated a sentry once, which was when they decided Allura would stay on the castleship at this stage in future

Because he can't be there, Lotor sends her a small army of sentries to tend to her every need

Flowers, pillows, her favourite space delicacies

Axca is sent to stay with Allura to be Lotor's eyes and ears

Takes her duties very seriously, but secretly enjoys it when the mice braid her hair, which is why Allura makes sure to always request her presence

Extras

I see a lot of potential for Shalotor/Shlotura here

Some science: there is interesting evidence for people preferring uber-masculine, strong and physical types during the fertile period, because any offspring would be more likely to have those genes and survive, and then preferring kinder or slightly more feminine types after that because they're less likely to get jealous and eat the offspring, and more likely to want to protect said offspring

Open to discourse on who would be which, Shiro or Lotor or both