A rookery is a protected area where gargoyle clans keep their eggs until they hatch. In a broader sense, gargoyles use the term "rookery" to refer to their entire home and protectorate, not just the place where the eggs are placed.
History
Wyvern Clan
The Wyvern Clan's rookery was located in a cavern underneath Castle Wyvern. It was dark, dank, and predated Castle Wyvern.[1] After the castle was removed, it was reduced to a rocky ditch in the hillside.[2] The eggs laid there belonged to the entire clan.[3] In 994, the Trio and Bronx were sent to the rookery as a form of punishment for fighting with some human peasants. Fortunately for them, this spared their lives during the Wyvern Massacre.[4] At the time, there were 36 eggs in their rookery.[5]
London Clan
The London Clan's rookery contains 25 gargoyle eggs, and no gargoyle beast eggs. The size of the clutch is strictly maintained by isolating the female gargoyles during their third and final heats.[6]
Rookeries Of Other Clans
Though no other rookeries have yet been seen, it is assumed that they too are generally underground in a natural cave of some sort. Knight's Spur, the Mayan Pyramid and the temple at Ishimura probably all have rookeries beneath them.
Rookery Generations
Gargoyle eggs hatch in the rookery every 20 years (those years ending in 18, 38, 58, 78, and 98). Each rookery generation is raised together by the clan. The closest biological relation between two gargoyles in a rookery generation is first cousins. Although none of the gargoyles are biological siblings, they view each other as rookery brothers and sisters. For instance, all the gargoyles hatched in the Wyvern rookery in 938, including Goliath, Demona, Othello, Desdemona, Iago, Hyppolyta and Brooksbro, are rookery siblings, though none of them are closely related. The clan raises each generation together, unconcerned with and usually unaware of biological parentage.
Gargoyles tend to choose mates from among their rookery brothers or sisters, though this is not always the case (See Broadway and Angela or Yama and Sora).
Notes
- Among the Wyvern Clan at least, a common punishment for hatchlings that have caused trouble is to be sent to the rookery. The trio was particularly embarrassed when they were sent to the rookery by Goliath as young adults in 994, though this action ended up saving their lives. At the time, Broadway commented that he had not been in the rookery since he hatched, which suggests he was either being sarcastic, forgetful, or, most likely, had managed to stay out of trouble throughout his childhood. ("Awakening" Part One)