While the male/female binary is rather common among mammals, Nichelings are not exactly mammals, right? Especially now that they could have amphibian, avian and even arthropoid features!
Just like there is an mind-boggingly large number of lifeforms, there are dozens of ways sexes can work. There are fish that change sexes when there are not enough individuals of a certain sex, tapeworms that are male in young modules and female in older modules (or was it the other way around?), a wide range of hermaphroditic lifestyles, especially among plants and gastropods, and fungi with literally thousands of sexes. The diversity in sexes is ruefully underfeatured in Niche.
So, I suggest a new gene slot for sexes, with these genes:
Binary: As it is now. This individual can be either male or female its whole life.
Sequential: This individual changes its sex at one point in their life. Perhaps the halfway point? Or a random point? Or due to external factors, such as hunger? For the devs to decide. Could be seperated into protandry (male at first), protogyny (female at first), and bidirectional (either).
Parthenogenetic: Female only. Reproduces asexually, that is, produces clones of itself. Might work better as a rare fertility gene.
Hermaphroditic: A new sex . Can reproduce with anyone, excluding infertile individuals. Can also impregnate itself, which is not recommended. Scientifically called "simultanous hermaphrodity", but that's a bit long.
Trinary: Can be either male, female, or hermaphroditic, with the latter being rarer than the former two. Perhaps a 40:40:20 ratio?
Gynomonoecious: Can be either female or hermaphroditic.
Andromonoecious: Can be either male or hermaphroditic.
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Dun(ce) Crow
While the male/female binary is rather common among mammals, Nichelings are not exactly mammals, right? Especially now that they could have amphibian, avian and even arthropoid features!
Just like there is an mind-boggingly large number of lifeforms, there are dozens of ways sexes can work. There are fish that change sexes when there are not enough individuals of a certain sex, tapeworms that are male in young modules and female in older modules (or was it the other way around?), a wide range of hermaphroditic lifestyles, especially among plants and gastropods, and fungi with literally thousands of sexes. The diversity in sexes is ruefully underfeatured in Niche.
(This moon wrasse is a protogynous sequential hermaphrodite. Image source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sequential_hermaphroditism#/media/File:Thalassoma_lunare_1.jpg)
So, I suggest a new gene slot for sexes, with these genes:
Binary: As it is now. This individual can be either male or female its whole life.
Sequential: This individual changes its sex at one point in their life. Perhaps the halfway point? Or a random point? Or due to external factors, such as hunger? For the devs to decide. Could be seperated into protandry (male at first), protogyny (female at first), and bidirectional (either).
Parthenogenetic: Female only. Reproduces asexually, that is, produces clones of itself. Might work better as a rare fertility gene.
Hermaphroditic: A new sex . Can reproduce with anyone, excluding infertile individuals. Can also impregnate itself, which is not recommended. Scientifically called "simultanous hermaphrodity", but that's a bit long.
Trinary: Can be either male, female, or hermaphroditic, with the latter being rarer than the former two. Perhaps a 40:40:20 ratio?
Gynomonoecious: Can be either female or hermaphroditic.
Andromonoecious: Can be either male or hermaphroditic.
So, what do you think?
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