r/worldbuilding•
0nennon

Interesting takes on gender & sex in your races?

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I've been fleshing out the races of my world, and I've decided to start with biology and anatomy. As such, I've had to deal with roughly 12 different species' worth of reproduction. One race, called the Ghaunts, has a setup that I'm particularly proud of, so I wanted to share it and ask how y'all have tackled unique gender or sex characteristics in your races.

While the Ptheric (Human/Human-adjacent) races tend to share similar physical features, the Ghaunts' reproduction is unique to them, as they have three genders: Male, Female, and Somale. Male Ghaunts are the ones responsible for carrying children. However, besides the changes to their reproductive organs, they exhibit the usual secondary sex characteristics associated with males, such as facial hair. Their designation as "male" actually comes from a misunderstanding on first contact, as their appearance gave the impression that they were related to the males of other races. Females, at least historically, have been the caretakers, breastfeeding newborns and taking care of them for most of their young life. While this would usually be done alone, as somales hunted for meat and males foraged for fruits and vegetables, modern families tend to share the load between two or three parents, usually the male and female in two-parent couples. Somales are the ones responsible for fertilization, and generally have lower romantic drives. While males and females are usually monogamous, somales usually fertilize several males, and the transfer of somales between groups for better genetic diversity is fairly common. For clarity, somales are equipped with "male" genitalia, males have "female" genitalia, and females often have the traits of both, which usually appear as female genitalia with an enlarged clitoris that also contains the urethra, though most Ghaunt females tend to be less inclined towards sex.

Visually, somales usually have little to no hair, though baldness is common among males as well, which can make it difficult to differentiate them. Aside from this, somales can also be identified by stripes of darker skin across the body and head. These stripes are actually present on all the Ptheric races, but they're only visible in Ghaunt somales. For a good period of time, somale populations were in decline, due partially to naturally lower birthrates and partially to the highly dangerous environment of the Writhing Purple. Luckily, as technology has developed, traversing and living within the Writhing Purple has become significantly easier, and somale populations have begun to return to stable levels.

Let me know what you think, and I'd love to hear about what you've come up with for your races!

Posted Jun 3, 2025, 4:15 AM UTC

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