Scuds are Like Ferns Now (Patreon)

This post has been slow coming, but I'm taking my time and doing it right. So I decided to do something really weird with scud reproductive cycles, and now they are more like ferns, and are also essentially wind-pollinated?

Normal scuds (the macroscopic ones) are diploid and unisex. They get monthly "periods" where they release a bunch of microscopic haploid scuds, who drift around a bit as plankton before finding and impregnating a diploid scud. Most of the plankton in their planet's ocean is probably haploid forms of bigger creatures, sorta like how some of our plankton eventually turns into big ol' crabs and stuff.

I'm still hammering out the details of this system and how it would effect their society, but I still think I'm gonna have scuds live in bonded pairs/trios. They could help each other raise kids and living together probably means their fertility periods alternate so they don't have kids at the same time.

Birth control is gonna be... weird. The most obvious method: live on land and deal with being uncomfortable and dry all the time??