Board Thread:Off Topic/@comment-4659579-20130915082315/@comment-24.215.90.38-20150312212036

Just a quick warning to the casual peruser- this post turned out way longer than I intended it to as a result of me having to cover my bases on several matters. If you don't mind reading a bit, I hope you enjoy my take on this question of Argonian endowment.

They're not Mammal either nowhere in their law does it say that they have eggs inside them, they DO lay their eggs! You're right and you're wrong. Correct, they're not mammals. Though often referred to as lizards they most closely fit the description of amphibians (sure, there are a few complications to this, but remember they were created by game developers, not biologists). Important to note here that they are not mammal-amphibian hybrids- they are humanoid in form but have no real link to mammals (besides, obviously, the MAMMAries on their chest- but if you look at pictures of these from Arena and Daggerfall, the first two games in which going truly topless was an option, you'll notice the lack of nipples or other milk-conveying devices, suggesting perhaps that they are not breasts in the mammalian sense after all)

You're incorrect in the statement that they don't hold eggs inside of them, but correct in the bit about the eggs being lain. Perhaps a result of some miscommunication or lapse in consistency checking on Bethesda's part (Forgiven, considering they've been making Elder Scrolls games for 22 years now- that's a lot of material to cover) has caused several conflicting accounts on Argonian birthing. Firstly, there have been some accounts identifying the race as ovoviviporous, meaning that they produce thin, membranous eggs which are housed within their bodies until hatching (the difference between this and mammal-style live birth being the lack of any umbilical connection between egg and host, with the young being nourished instead by yolk.). There have also been many accounts suggesting a more famliar sort of egg-laying (as mentioned above, the "hatchling" phrase, as well as reference to "hatching pools" connected to Hist trees which eggs are placed in prior to their hatching)

These two accounts, while likely not intentionally contradictory, are not irreconcilable if you're disinclined to reject some aspects of the proposed lore as simply the result of human error. I propose this- the eggs are formed and gestate mostly within their mothers' bodies, but shortly before the young are born (perhaps a month or two- though this amount of time is grounded in nothing more than my own speculation and some incredibly ambiguous statements in-game) the eggs are ejected from the mother's body. The eggs may or may not transition from a translucent membrane to a harder "shell" at this stage, but regardless it is here that they would be transferred to the hatching pools so that the young can be born with a connection to the Hist. In the case of Lukiul (Argonians integrated into Imperial culture, generally livng outside of Argonia) it is still likely that the eggs would be submerged in a pool of some sort, perhaos along with a Hist branch or even a few drops of sap, if available (as Argonians born without connection to the Hist are said to be better off dead by most of the species).

Finally, to get back to the question of boobs- perhaps they are simply a result of the sort of sexual dimorphism that can even be seen in the Ehlnofey- the ephemeral spirits responsible for the world's creation who, nonetheless, appear to have taken male and female shapes (as seen in ESO). Perhaps this idea of these two different sexes and their general shaping is thusly determined by the Earth Bones; the laws of nature created by the Ehlnofey- meaning that it is something all sentient races subscribe to (though I admit, that's stretching it quite a bit, and there appear to be spme exceptions- notably the Sload, the Dovah, and possibly the Tsaeci). Alternately, perhaps Argonian breasts are simply the conveniently located site of their egg-sacs, or perhaps the location of their primary fat-stores, as with the tails of most lizards, or even still simply a device for attracting mates- as with the males' horns and crests.

All of this speculation aside, I do agree with what has already been said about Bethesda doing this purely as a means to create a clear visual distinction between sexes, as well as all of the other practical meta-game reasons discussed above. Regardless of this, it is fun to speculate within the bounds of what we are provided, isn't it?