Gender = Sex + Life Cycle

First History

In the first history, there were only two life cycles.  The ancestral humans were born either male or female, and stayed that way for life.  The Verē, on the other hand, were born neuter, chose whether to become neuter, female, or male, and once sexed, stayed that way permanently.  Either way, the prefixes of gender used in Ŧuliňgrai were 'R for neuter, K' for female, and TL for male.

Second History

There are six life cycles occurring naturally among the Iňgrē of the Second History.  They are:

Traditional individuals are like First History Verē  They're born neuter, and choose whether to become neuter, female, or male.  Once puberty is over the change is permanent.  Traditionals form mated trios, usually with the neuter as the leader, though there are many exceptions to this "rule".  Sometimes two traditionals are committed to each other but have a hard time finding their third.  These are usually female-male pairs, but neuter-male and neuter-female pairs also occur.  Such pairs are regarded as transitory states that will be resolved by finding the third, even when they last for many years.

Gêθē are born neuter, and remain neuter most of the time.  However, about four times a year they go into heat, and become male or female for about 21 days, or (if female and pregnant) until the offspring is born and weaned.  Gêθē live as mated couples, and their cycles fall into synchronization, so that they go into heat at about the same time.  The first one to enter estrus may become either male or female; some individuals have a marked tendency to become female, some male, while others show no preference.  The second of the pair always becomes the other sex.

Eretē are born male or female, and stay that way for life.  They form mated couples.

Individuals with the Aatuan life style are born male; become female at early maturity ("30"); then become neuter at menopause.  Neuters head households with a few females and a pack of males.

Royal Aatuan individuals are hermaphrodites; they have both male and female organs, fully functional, and mutual insemination occurs during sex, which may result in neither, either, or both partners becoming pregnant.  Royal Aatuans form mated couples.

Singles are parthenogenetic females who become pregant at will, or under environmental conditions of low population or impending extinction.  Their families are single mothers with a number of identical offspring, though two or more such families may form extended households, especially when the offspring grow up and start having families of their own.

The percentage column of the table above shows the percentage of each type in live births.  A given child has a 60% chance of being born with the first life cycle, for instance, and only a 5% chance of being a hermaphrodite.  This is not, however, the percentage of occurrence of these types in the population, because of several factors:

1. Different life cycles tend to produce different amounts of offspring.  Parthenogenetic females tend to produce another child every few years throughout their lives, while hermaphrodites, due to a tendency to produce two children at once, breed far less often.
2. The practice of raising children Inside, practiced by the Winter People, often results in adults who choose to be permanently male or female, due to their being raised in that model on Earth, regardless of the genetics of their birth bodies.
3. In fact, any individual can, at any time, obtain and inhabit a body with a different life cycle than the one in which y was born.

Note also that the percentages given are for the Iňgrē population as a whole.  Different areas and different colony worlds may differ significantly.  Aatuan and Royal Aatuan individuals are far more common, in Aatu, than ten percent of the population there.

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