Fridge / Courtship Rite

• Fridge Logic: If the people on this planet have cloning technology, then why can't they just set their devices to clone incomplete humans and eat those to avoid cannibalism in the first place?
  • On one hand, the Kaiel, many of whom are born from mindless host mothers, sell the host mothers to butchers after some number of births. But on the other, this practice has limits: You need nearly as much food to nourish a clone as to nourish a fully functional Getan, it can't do any useful work while you grow it, and you need someone to work taking care for it. That's a fairly high cost to maintain a food reserve that most clans would only use during a time of famine.