Genderqueer* characters in and around Aros Against Fate (mostly Empires Always Fall) because we need more genderqueer characters forever and ever
*used here as an umbrella term rather than as a specific identity, though some characters in this list do specifically identify as genderqueer as (part of) their gender identity
Halek (he/him, other pronouns if you’re close, does not favour she/her): A main character and a rebel. Vaguely-multigender genderqueer trans man (does not explicitly label the other genders).
Jue (ze/hir): A main character and the teenaged Younger Emperor of Rāmia. Jue is either a cis boy using neopronouns- which I would consider to fall broadly under the umbrella of genderqueer anyway- or ze is genderqueer-as-in-not-binary, or maybe ze’s not sure which. (As I write this I am coming to the end of this draft and starting to get into prep work for the next so lots of things have the opportunity to shift. I think I might go with hir not being sure and maybe identifying as genderqueer because of how broad it is, as was once the case for me.)
Sei (she/her to others, they/them to themself): A main character and a princess of Rāmia. Agender on the inside but they don’t want to live as zauzo (Feka third gender/gender category) and being a princess specifically is very important to them so they are okay with everyone else thinking of them as a woman even though they don’t think of themself as one (especially since most of the time they need to be explicitly reminded that other people see things differently than them at all, so they don’t really feel dysphoric about how other people see them; often it feels to them as if everyone knows they’re not really a girl but is playing along, or they forget that “princess” really is linked to “girl” for most people.) Functionally, their gender kind of is “Princess.” Sometimes they describe it as being a woman on the outside but no gender on the inside. It’s a little complicated to explain but Sei is an agender princess and both those words are entirely correct.
Kaelía (she/it): A main character and an Initiate at the Temple of Corysecli. Demigirl.
Zhe’ārani (she/her) for intimates/Ši Arroakhai Kjú (they/them) for everyone else: A main character and an Initiate at the Temple of Corysecli. She’s a girl in a transmasculine way.
Līs/Līsandyr/Līsyka (he/him -> they/he -> they/she -> they/he/she/xe/fae): Zhe’ārani’s friend and Kaelía’s best friend, and another Initiate at the Temple of Corysecli. Undertakes some exploration in the background throughout the course of the trilogy, and goes from identifying (using our terms) as a boy to a demiboy to a demigirl to multigender (demiboy + demigirl + genderless + libraxenic (spacegender; xe does explicitly connect xir gender to outer space even if xe doesn’t use that specific term and as the author I’m saying that xe’s a little bit spacegender)).
Qatriong (she/her to most people, then he/him to most people, always she/he to herself): Zhe’ārani’s best friend and another Initiate at the Temple of Corysecli. Bigender girlboy; initially keeps the boy part private (except for Zhe’ārani), and later when she has to go into hiding and switches how he presents keeps the girl part private, both times because she needs something just for himself and that is a secret that won’t get her killed.
Talí (they/any): Halek’s sibling. Agender kolgirl (“kolgirl” being a mix of/somewhere in between “girl” and the Beri third gender “kolman”).
Abhaonai (she/he): An Initiate at the Temple of Corysecli. Bigender manwoman.
Kjotar (he/they): An Initiate at the Temple of Corysecli. (Probably) A boy but very loosely so.
Miwaanii-Shémelús (gives he/him if asked but he's very apathetic about it): This is multiple people who share the same name and pronouns and all of them pretty much identify as “genderqueer quoiromantic male” (Se-Naskans consider gender to also include sex and orientation as not necessarily the same thing but inherently closely linked).
Ffeira (they/them): One of Ausse’s best friends & companions. Mixed-gender (one of the five Norve gender roles; in Ffeira’s case I think they truly are pretty much androgynous in identity.)
Kéchawaedrii-Orl (ze/hir): Head of Daanah’s religion. Holy-genderless (one of the five Norve gender roles).
Reymud (ze/hir): Divine Scribe. Holy-genderless.
Qeirana (ze/hir at work, he/him at home): A Norvic Senci Scholar who ends up working with Daanah. Holy-genderless in hir role as a scholar and a man in his personal life (in a way that both are true to who ze is in different ways).
Kwsnà (it/its): Halek’s therapist.
Logē (they/them): Divine Soldier at the Temple of Corysecli.
Onarys (they/he): Queng Consort of Rāmia annd Jue’s uncle’s spouse.
Attendant Ngeh (he/she): Door attendant at the palace. Bigender manwoman.
Ātia Jo (she/they): A Wend-Ki’an spy in the Rāmian government. Genderflux, genderqueer woman.
Eleyk (ey/em): Baby that Daanah and Rovian’s family is fostering for a neighbour. Norve children are assigned the gender of “child,” so Eleyk is not exactly any gender in eir own identity or expression (being, you know, a baby) but ey does not fit into the binary.
Fiya (ey/em): Ailít and Fiyavu Ozast’s (Daanah and Rovian’s sister’s) baby, born during Empires Always Fall. Same situation as Eleyk, with eir gender being explicitly and only “child.”
Juraji (xe/xem): Halek’s queerplatonic partner. Nonbinary with a strong sense of gender distinct from man/woman.
Veisau (ze/hir): Yna’s half-kester- Sei’s new kester-in-law- and a high commander in the Beri military. Kolman.
Representative Swkatsh (ae/aer): the elected representative of Ðíúharlaeslai in the imperial government.
Awlanír (they/them): Rovian’s manager.
Heishun (they/them): Sei’s sibling. Zauzo.
Jēn-Tajanē (they/he/she): Sei’s sibling. Genderqueer and loud about not being simply slotted into the zauzo “other” category but having both a more expansive and more specific gender than that.
Āvolú (they/them) for intimates or Toagh Rrušā Ndi (they/them) for everyone else: Zhe’ārani’s friend from home. Voidgender + neutrois + contigender + astrumgender.
Keha (they/them): Fiitsãn’s friend and possibly crush, whose story role for the upcoming draft I’m not quite sure of yet. May have accompanied Mkera from Kelos and become friends with Fiitsãn or might just be an old school friend.
Amidi (they/them): Halek’s neighbour and friend.
Ektanai (they/it): Halek’s good friend and former cellmate at the Moghrlai Gurodstadit Juvenile Confinement Centre and, by luck, also ends up being one of Rovian’s cellmates when she gets arrested late in (the next draft of) Empires Always Fall.
Lawmí (they/she): Ektanai’s current cellmate and becomes one of Rovian’s cellmates.
Åswså (ffe/ffer): Pilot Maaziariitna knows. Firegender.
The Historian (she/her to most, she/he to her wife): the official (and immortal) historian of the Rāmian empire. Her gender straddles the line between “masculine cis woman” and “transmasculine.”
Itheo (she/they): Halek’s friend, one of the other international students at his school in Meelasugaado.
Depa (it/its): Lieutenant of the Temple of Corysecli stationed in Moghrlai Gurodstadit, from Gētnyx’s cohort. Its gender is simply “Lieutenant of the Temple of Corysecli.” Where Kaelía first encountered it/its pronouns.
Mēshat and Logē and Fēram are SO fucking lucky that Kaelía doesn’t inflict bloody revenge on them like she does on Gētnyx and like she so badly wants to. So fucking lucky
3. How did your oc discover themself? Did something cause them to question, or did they always know?
4. Is your oc's environment supportive about their identity? How does this impact them?
6. How does your oc feel about labels? Theirs, or in general?
Kaelía? :0
Kaelía has been exposed to other twice-born people for as long as it can remember, with first Logē (who has been established as nonbinary for way longer than Kaelía has even been alive) and later Guodei (who transitioned when Kaelía was probably about eight or nine). It probably at some point met another godsworn who uses it/its pronouns, (which could very possibly be a religious thing for that godsworn? maybe a Lieutenant, or other Divine Soldier, who considers its gender to just be "godsworn of Corysecli/sword/etc"), which would have given Kaelía the idea (since it has not really been exposed to other people, and definitely not to outsiders' personal private gender pronouns). It probably played around with she/it in her head for a while and then asked for Gētnyx’s permission to go by those, which was very probably earlier than changing its name which was not really a gender thing and much more a religious thing. It does not know that it’s demi.
Generally yes, her environment is supportive of her identity. She is not really interested in physical transition like Guodei etc, so that isn't an issue; Gētnyx doesn't have a problem with the pronoun thing, and Kaelía (Calia, next draft) changed her name to something Wersenci which is seen as a good thing religiously so Gētnyx is fine with that as well (I expect she had some input on Kaelía's decision), and the others call her by her right name and pronouns. In the unique culture of the Temple, there is not so much pressure to be romantic/sexual, since the main Important Relatioships TM are about religious devotion to Corysecli and about the Temple and the Cohort as units, with specific aspects of interpersonal relationships taking a backseat to that; she also only really interacts with about a dozen other people all of whom she has known and been very closely connected with for years if not over a decade, so she doesn't really have the opportunity to notice that all of her attraction is demi.
For the most part, Kaelía does not feel the need to label itself (in part because it never meets anyone else and doesn't know about some things and it's not relevant), but it potentially does hold the identity of twice-born to be important as at least partly a spiritual thing.
hmm thinking Logē’s punishment for Zhe’ārani is that she has to destroy one of her paintings (of Logē’s choice) to better parallel the reward of getting to paint for one hour. Bonus painful that most of her paintings probably take more than one reward period to complete. Gotta look into how that’s all affected her relationship with her art next draft :>
Logē's magic lessons operate on a points system: +10 points gets one hour of a reward, -10 gets one hour of a punishment, and each reward/punishment resets it to 0. There is a board up in the room keeping track of points and with a chart clearly showing actions that gain or lose points. Zhe'ārani gets to spend an uninterrupted hour painting as her reward and as her punishment Logē tattoos whatever they want onto her for an hour (something about symmetry between the rewards and the punishments. Usually just lines but Zhe’ārani obviously really doesn’t like it so it’s effective + it’s a permanent reminder). The others do/have had magic lessons with Logē & with the same personalized rewards/punishments (Kaelía’s reward is something exciting and unpredictable and high-energy, some video game maybe, and her punishment is holding a stress position for an hour alone in a dark, quiet room) but it is a much smaller part of their training, since they have less important/unique magic and their main capabilities are physical. Līs has always been Logē’s clear favourite and the attention they pay him has always had a creepy tone to Zhe’ārani, but the rewards and punishments are delayed and in private so the lessons aren’t interrupted so she never sees anything definitive. Līs and Zhe’ārani’s magic is not similar, but both often need a second person to practice on, so they are often paired up instead of giving them individual lessons.
13 - Do they have multiple handlers? Which one is their favorite? Which one sets them less at ease?
16 - Do they have a person they care for? Is it someone they are supposed to protect or is it in spite of orders?
17 - Do they have a squick in their job? Something that bugs them (like blood under their nails) or pisses them off?
for guodei + someone else of your choice :)? maybe zhe'arani
13.
Guodei: Is technically subordinate to any godsworn of Corysecli, but in practice to Gētnyx, Mēshat, Logē, and Fēram, since other godsworn are posted elsewhere. Her orders always originate from Gētnyx, but unless Gētnyx feels like it's especially important they'll often come through Mēshat. If Gētnyx and Mēshat are occupied with Vessel things they'll come through Logē or Fēram instead. She's most comfortable with Mēshat out of familiarity.
Zhe'ārani: Also subordinate to any godsworn of Corysecli + Guodei. Her orders usually come through Guodei, since when they are godsworn themselves and stationed somewhere else, orders from the Vessel will always be sent through the cohort's Lieutenant. Before the Incident she is most comfortable with Guodei and it sets her really on edge if Gētnyx wants to talk to her directly for more than a few minutes.
16.
Guodei: Kaelía. As Kaelía's Lieutenant she is supposed to protect it, but she is not supposed to have favourites, and Kaelía is clearly her favourite. There is also, of course, little Qonai; one of the things that push her over the edge is wanting to protect Qonai from becoming like her.
Zhe'ārani: Qatriong is her very best friend, which is fine with everyone until she deserts because of it.
17.
Guodei: Doesn't like the feeling of blood slowly drying on her skin. It's gross. She showers as soon as possible after anything that involves getting herself covered in blood. Also shoving her claws really deep into a body because that's like Qonai.
Zhe'ārani: All of it haha. The religious stuff is against her beliefs. The "magically overriding people's free will" stuff makes her very uncomfortable morally. She is dreading the eventual murder stuff.
13. Do they have multiple handlers? Which one is their favorite? Which one sets them less at ease?
what are the favorites like for each of the cohort. 0_0 does guodei count as 'handler'
15. Do they have a favorite food? How often do they have it? <- pls
and 17. Do they have a squick in their job? Something that bugs them (like blood under their nails) or pisses them off?
i dont think ive ever asked these before
13. yeah everyone's favourite is Guodei lol. She's part of their cohort and the godsworn Aren't. (Other than Guodei, Līs's other favourite is Logē, and Kaelía's favourite-in-a-different-way-than-Guodei is of course Gētnyx.) Guodei's favourite is Mēshat out of familiarity; Mēshat has always been very consistent and the others kind of set her on edge because she doesn't totally know what to expect.
15. Zhe'ārani does have a favourite food but her comfort food is something Gharan which means she doesn't really ever get to have it at the Temple :( since the Temple is a Rāmiq institution in Rām run by Rāmiq people and it's not like they'd ask her what she wants.
17. (answered for Guodei & Zhe'ārani here) Kaelía does not like having to be patient. Līs is very sensitive to the sensory parts and has trouble with the executive functioning parts of cleaning up, which leads to things like the Meat Cube Incident because it's tidy.
