The Four Genders

In the cultures of the humanoid grifajes aliens, the **Four Genders** or **Four Sexes** are four characteristics that every grifa is hatched into.

## Characteristics

Instead of two genders or sexes as in many races throughout the Galaxy, the grifajes are hatched into one of four genders:

* Male
* Female
* Drone
* Carer

Males tend to be aggressive and strong, and they can make females pregnant. Females are gentle and they lay eggs. Drones are like males but they are less assertive. Carers are like females, but they are less feminine and less "bound" to any family. Only males and females can reproduce, while drones and carers are sterile.

Drones and carers also lack sexual desires, because they are unable to reproduce. The few that do reproduce can make sperm (drones) or eggs (carers). Drones can only fertilise females and fertile carers, and carers can only be impregnated by males or fertile drones. Any offspring produced from such rare unions will be hatched into either one of the four genders.

### Roles

In many grifa cultures, males tend to be heavy workers, warriors, and leaders; while females tend to be household wives, mothers, and foragers, cooks, and farmers. Drones are raised as extra workers, soldiers, and guards. Carers are raised as caretakers for younger Igarins.

It is considered a misfortune to be hatched as a drone or a carer. In Igarin society, such children would not be treated as sons or daughters, only as servants and slaves.

In ancient times, and even now, drones and carers were more akin to the eunuchs of other civilisations. Their lack of sexual desires and their inability to reproduce at all would make them more suitable as bodyguards, although males were sometimes preferred for being more aggressive and stronger.

### Religion

The belief in the Four Genders is regarded as a holy tenet in grifa religions. A common theme in their mythologies and creation myths depicts four gods as the creators of the world and universe, each representing and/or creating one of the four genders.

In the Igarin Empire, drones and carers were usually exempt from ritual sacrifice-murders, as their souls were considered useless to the Igarin gods. Drones and carers do not have their own gods in Igarin religion, so male deities are drones' patrons while female deities are carers' patrons.

Although some civilisations turned their drones and carers into males and females, many Igarins regard the stubborn phrase in human cultures, "there are only two genders", to be offensive, if not blasphemous against their deities.

Drones become males after their deaths, while carers always become female in the afterlife. Bekrijes always remain in their current gender in the afterlife.

### Later developments and reforms

The Konjors and Malendors allowed drones and carers to become citizens and individuals instead of slaves. Many Resparin civilisations, Nandegakko, and the Free Igarin Alliance take it further by treating drones and carers as equal citizens. However, some Galactic countries instead modify drones into males, and carers into females, as they regard these other two genders to be symbols of slavery or unnecessary.

In Vovtarla, all Vovtarlans were modified so all future members of their race will be born either as male or female, making the other two genders obsolete and non-existent. There were still *bekrijes* in Vovtarlan society. In some eras, they were conformed as males and females. In others, they were tolerated as a continuation of the Sarmelonid k'aejowolso, a sort of non-gendered exorcist who defeats evil spirits.

### Pronouns

An approximate translation of each type of pronoun for the four genders, in various Igarinoid languages, is this:

* male - "he"
* female - "she"
* drone - "xe" (zeh or sheh)
* carer - "ze" (zay)

## Associated terms

* fanboy, fangirl: fanxoy (drone), fanzey (carer)
* child: xoy (drone), zey (carer)

## The four genders' pronouns

Igarin; Nandegakkovian; Kuelgon; Novantirna; Dapiwelan

* he (male) - da; dô; kad; vjo; ta
* she (female) - dea; deâ; ked; vai; te
* xe, xem (drone) - tö(n); dâwan; tôr; vöd; no
* ze, zem (carer) - ta(n); dôwon; te; vïr; ne
* they, them (nonbinary, neither, *bekri*) - neu; néu; kod; osk; ri

## Notable drone and carer characters

* Inzarîl - a carer from Kerason who is one of Tuperon's most passionate fans

## Trivia

* The author made up the Four Genders because he wanted to try something that seemed more "alien" for the grifajes.
* The concept was also inspired by two things:
	+ LGBT activism, "pride art", and the usage of "ze" and "xe" as anonymous pronouns.
	+ Mocking the conservative American or Christian activist meme of "there are only two genders". In this context, Igarins consider this phrase to be blasphemy against their gods.
* "Ze" and "xe" are pronouns used from the 2010s onwards by people who do not consider themselves male or female. The author considered using them for the third and fourth genders of the Igarinoid/grifajes species.

## See also

* Bekrijes, Igarins who choose not to be part of any gender.
* Heronoi, another alien race that has four gender *roles* (two within each of the two sexes, not separately).
* Shaunetor, a nation of androgynous people.