Gender Identity in the Crayfish Nebula

For those seeking a comprehensive essay in understanding the complexities of gender in the Nexum: you are in exactly the wrong place. Or perhaps the right one. What is provided below is a relatively easy "how-to" guide for interacting with people from different species in matters of business, daily life, or companionship. A guide, that is, on how to address them.

It should be noted in advance that none of these terms are exact translations of what is generally understood by the people of the Crayfish Nebula. Within a species-specific context biology does come to the fore, and the base for all these variations lies in biological sex or lack thereof, but there are a great many cultural factors and alternative modifications to people that make such matters difficult to ascertain at all times. Due consideration for the wishes of the individual involved is essential. A large part of Nexum society, however, lies in seeking clarification; if you wish to understand what precisely is meant by a specific gender term or identity, and you are in an interstellar setting, it is considered good manners to inquire and listen. After all, you may learn something.

Species are arranged alphabetically.

Arctanders

Arctanders have a fairly straightforward arrangement—XY chromosomes, or at least their local equivalent—but exhibit much greater sexual dimorphism than humans do. Females are much larger and tend to be relatively isolated from both males and one another; males are smaller but work together in groups, joining to form villages and alliances. Professional lives tend to be separate, and neither side is particularly keen to intrude on the other's territory. There are occasional individuals who seek the opposite lifestyle, or desire to either birth children or not to; these are accorded a separate but distinct place in most Arctander societies, are referred to by the grammatical structure associated with their gender, and are left at that.

COMMON PRONOUNS: he/him (males), she/her (females). And that's it. Seriously, folks, that's actually it. Instinct plays a much stronger part in these people's lives, so if they say they're one or the other then that's basically hardwired into them. Do not, under any circumstances, get them mixed up. Also, they/them (individual indeterminate because they weren't actually there at the time, but this is rare; they're assumed to be female if they're moving alone, male if they're part of a group)

Ark-Builders

Like a great many species in the local universe, Ark-Builders are—or rather were—hermaphrodites, capable of reproducing with any other of the same species. Some cultures, however, made a distinction between those who stayed in the twilight zone between Day and Night and those who ventured out to find more hatched spores to bring home again. Others made a distinction between the adolescents born from those spores and fully-grown adults in general. Regardless, it's all rather useless in their current state as multiplanar Cthulhu-like entities, but it's generally polite to ask all the same.

COMMON PRONOUNS: it (mode of living unspecified/adolescent), she/her (previous preference for living in the twilight zone), he/him (previous preference for travelling into the Day/Night)

Ghosts

Ghosts have two sexes, male and female, but given their state of mind (and indeed their state normally is mind—ghosts are noncorporeal most of the time) this rarely matters too much. Given that reproduction is a side-effect of a mental merger between two individuals, it's also not really thought about, and doesn't have that great a prominence in the mindset of creatures who routinely live to be millennia old. Best to refer to them by the pronoun their current shape prefers.

COMMON PRONOUNS: he/him (masculine forms), she/her (feminine forms), they/them (indeterminate forms)

Humans

Humans that evolved on Ajjamah have a ZW rather than an XY chromosome arrangement. Although still male and female by default, sex is determined by the mother, not the father. A ZZ individual is male, while a ZW individual is female. However, DNA from ancestral fathers is passed on through a separate organelle called the CARYDION, which is responsible for energy within the cells.

COMMON PRONOUNS: he/him (male), she/her (female)

VARIATIONS: they/them (neutral/third gender individuals), various others (depending on cultural background)

Miser Crabs

Miser Crabs technically have three sexes, not two: hermaphroditic PP and QQ forms, and "male" PQ forms. No sex can reproduce with itself, or with others of the same sex. The hermaphrodites can reproduce either with a male or with a hermaphrodite of the opposite sex. However, the children of two hermaphrodites will without exception be male. Only a male with a hermaphrodite produces potential hermaphrodite children. Physically it is impossible to tell the two types of hermaphrodite apart; males tend to be smaller but stronger than hermaphrodites.

COMMON PRONOUNS: he/him (males), she/her (hermaphrodites)

VARIATIONS: ze/zim (hermaphrodites capable of self-fertilization), they/them (males with hermaphroditic tendencies)

Morphai

Morphai are technically not individuals but collectives, sapient cloudborne ecosystems. Thus the concept of gender or even sex is somewhat mild-boggling to them. They do not even bother making much of a distinction between themselves and the nonliving environment around them. They do, however, insist that several Morphai together make up a different kind of thinking being, and should be treated as such.

COMMON PRONOUNS: it (individual Morpha), they/them (singular collective of multiple Morphai)

Nadders

Nadders are protandrous hermaphrodites; any individual can fertilize any other individual, but ovulation comes later after a certain degree of developmental maturity. Nadders switch back and forth between the role of "fertilizer" and "fertilized" during their lifetimes; it is considered respectful to refer to them by the pronoun that best represents their previous state.

COMMON PRONOUNS: he/him (adolescents/those recently fertilizing eggs), she/her (those whose eggs were recently fertilized)

VARIATIONS: ho/hum (adults who have never mated and make a conscious choice not to; variable by culture)

Phoenixes

Phoenixes, like most other vertebrates on Ajjamah, have two sexes, male and female. Sexual dimorphism is minimal, however, physically and mentally, and there is a well-recognized "egg" gender for those who don't feel particularly inclined to identify as either or, whether for reasons of aromance, personal choice, or simply for the sake of communication with a different species.

COMMON PRONOUNS: he/him (males), she/her (females), they/them (eggs)

Predecessors

Predecessors came in two basic sexes but multiple subspecies, which interacted quite a bit over the years. Hybrids between two species produced a third "gender", not necessarily sex, known through translations as an "amazon". Capable of both parthenogenisis and live birth through one of the parent subspecies (although all offspring would naturally be female), amazons made up a substantial percentage of the population at the time of the Ascension—as much as 20%, in fact. Now, like the Ark-Builders, the whole matter is rather trivial, but it is nevertheless best to ask.

COMMON PRONOUNS: it (gender unspecified/hyperspatial soul-devouring entities), she (females/amazons), they/them (alternative form for amazons), he/him (males)

Selkies

Selkies don't have sexes so much as ages. The youngest stage is the infant or child, small and platypus-like and barely sapient. After a few years the adolescent or youth, which enters physical and mental maturity during the metamorphosis process. The monkey-like youths have no restrictions on mating with whomever they choose, for whatever reason; pregnancy is not actually possible yet. The final stage is the imago or adult, large and almost seal-shaped, which spends the rest of its life swimming the seas, giving birth every so often, and leaving their children with their adolescent cousins or siblings. Pronouns are, understandably, age-based in almost every single Selkie dialect that makes a distinction at all.

COMMON PRONOUNS: it (children), he/she/they (acceptable for both youths and adults), he/him (youths), she/her (adults)

Successors

Like the Predecessors, Successors have multiple different subspecies which all interact through the use of a third gender, the amazon—physically built like a male, female reproductive organs, either giving birth to clones of herself or having children with males from one of the three subspecies (pretty much always female, sometimes amazons).

COMMON PRONOUNS: she (females/amazons), he/him (males), they/them (alternative form for amazons)

Zealots

Biologically speaking the Zealots have two sexes but five genders. ALPHAS, BETAS, and EPSILONS are all variations of "male" (alphas being the largest and polygynous, epsilons the smallest and polygamous, betas a middling size and monogamous), while GAMMAS and DELTAS are two "female" types (Gammas produce fewer but larger eggs, Deltas more but smaller). There is a complex hierarchy of pronouns in pretty much every Zealot culture, difficult but not impossible to simplify. Follow the rules below and you should be just fine. (And note that some Epsilons can turn into Alphas in the right conditions, so definitely take care to use their preferred pronoun once they've transitioned.)

COMMON PRONOUNS: himself (used for Alphas), he/him (used for Betas), she/her (used for Gammas), herself (used for Deltas), itself (used for Epsilons)