What do shirren use for hosts (the third sex besides males and females)?
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From the first adventure path:
"[redacted] is neither
male nor female, but host, the
third shirren sex, and as such
is referred to with the pronouns
“they,” “them,” and “themself.”"
There's a shirren host npc.
I believe they're also referred to as Queens.
Kind of disappointing. I think it would be better if they had some words from their own language, like say, "Xev" for singular and "Xov" for plural. Would make them seem more, you know, alien.
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Kind of disappointing. I think it would be better if they had some words from their own language, like say, "Xev" for singular and "Xov" for plural. Would make them seem more, you know, alien.
That might be the case in their native language. But the words translate to "They", "Them", and "Themself" in 'common'(english) as those are the 'common' language pronouns that are not male or female.
Note that gender even in purely human languages does not necessarily match biology. For example, I recall reading somewhere that Chinese has only a single 3rd person pronoun that can be used for either males or females -- far more practical when you are talking about an unknown person whose gender is unknown and/or of no interest to the speaker.
I wouldn't be surprised if the Shirren language uses a similar system.
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Would a female sex even be identifiable as such if the reproduction bottleneck was instead with the host? *mumbles off into semi coherent biology...*
He,She,Xe.
Shirren pronouns solved.
Would a female sex even be identifiable as such if the reproduction bottleneck was instead with the host? *mumbles off into semi coherent biology...*
To other Shirren definitely, to other races debatable, it's going to come down to GM's fiat.
I sorta understood it as Shirren pronouns are words in the Shirren language and so are whirrs or clicks or whatever noises their mouthparts and if you don't speak the Shirren language then you aren't yourself Shirren so "what role this individual plays in Shirren reproduction" isn't any of your business.
So we're using the Spivak pronoun (e/em) for all Shirren.
Would a female sex even be identifiable as such if the reproduction bottleneck was instead with the host? *mumbles off into semi coherent biology...*
Sure, the female is the one that provides the larger gamete, the male is the one that provides the smaller gamete. What's a little unclear is whether the host has a gamete or some other way of providing genetic information, since the host does contribute genetic information.
What do shirren use for hosts (the third sex besides males and females)?
The human language shouldn't encompass a 3rd sex. So in Common it should be up to the GM what people are referring to them. Maybe a new one like
He Him HisShe Her Hers
Te Ter Tris
Or maybe some word play with "host"
Would a female sex even be identifiable as such if the reproduction bottleneck was instead with the host? *mumbles off into semi coherent biology...*Sure, the female is the one that provides the larger gamete, the male is the one that provides the smaller gamete. What's a little unclear is whether the host has a gamete or some other way of providing genetic information, since the host does contribute genetic information.
What I mean is that the traits that define female are the product of the larger energy contribution in growing and maintaining the young, the level of sexual dimorphism tending towards proportional to the difference of energy contribution. The host is apparently the one that would apply to rather than the larger gamete.
*thinks they managed semi coherent...*