El Varón/Tāne/Lyudyna
(He/Him) (Él/Su) ('Ōna/Ia) (Vin/Yoho)
Being a Man can be a lot of things. Besides your own individual ideas of masculinity, the cultural ideas of masculinity can be varied, though there are a few commonalities. For one going to war, being a protector of the nation or community, and being a good fighter. Of course this does not mean solely in raw strength, but also being a cool headed strategist or a stoic resolute figure that is immovable or all of the above. After the industrial revolution, it was clear that women can in fact be the breadwinner of the family and despite conservatives best efforts, men got over it. There's plenty of other ways to express your masculinity even if they have overlap with femininity. Go be a vaquero hermano, be a man, only weak men that can't be trusted to protect their community get their fucking boxers stuck up their ass about all professions having no barrier to gender. Also before you ask Men do cry. If you see a Man not crying at your beloved cousins funeral, you have a social obligation that you make sure that the asshole has a detailed conversation with your fist.
La Mujer/Vahine/Zhinka
(She/Her) (Ella/Su) ('Ōna/Ia) (Vona/Yiyi)
Being a woman in Terota may come with some expectations that will be familiar to you, but also, some that really aren't. In the before times of the Hatzkal and Chumuk Eras, women did have many of the traditional societal roles that we are unfortunately familiar with in the real word. However, there is a very key difference that put women in a position of power, and gave them the ability to resist being some sort of servant. As men went to war, especially in the mainland, that often left women to organize and manage their communities themselves. Activities like Mercantilism, Economics both micro and macro, and especially Politics took on a feminine association. In fact, most of Terota has a 60/40 split between masculine and feminine leaders in that order. Quite a bit of women in power compared to the real world. However, Arenia has historically had a majority of women be political leaders for cities and in the Imperial Government throughout history. To the point where with the exception of Karieba, men entering politics would wear a special form of formal feminine costume associated with their culture. When the Industrial Revolution hit, it made it very easy for women to shed the traditional roles of the household, and started a Renaissance of gender expression in society. This is a very long way to say girlboss, gaslight and gate keep.
Muxe/Muhei/Lyudynka
They/She Ellas/Eles 'Ōna/Ia Vona/Vony sometimes He/Him or She/Her
The third gender of Oxaca Mexico, I am pretty much inserting the real life one into this game because of it's mesoamerican roots. Muxe (MOO-che) is often given to those born male but exhibit feminine traits. They would often wear feminine outfits and/or behave effeminately and traditionally they would do a combination of masculine and feminine tasks. That being said it was seen as a sign of demographic collapse if Muxe went to war. They are also considered good luck to have around, and disrespecting a Muxe unprovoked, or even provoked is like disrespecting the community mom. Don't. Do that. That would be like tripping a grandma you maniac, at least make sure she's a war criminal before you do something like that. Of course, it's 2415 now and many centuries past the Industrial Revolution, what does it mean to be a Muxe in the modern day? Well it means to express a femininity unique to your identity, to be vestida, to dress feminine, or to be pintada, wearing masculine clothes but wearing feminine makeup. To be involved in politics or even the process of war. Or a combination of it all. Why not?
Chuerro/Hinetoa/Wojanka
(They/He) (Ellos/Eles) ('Ōna/Ia) (Vony/Vin) sometimes (She/Her) or (He/Him)
The Fourth Gender of Terota. Chuerro are typically people born female who then exhibit masculine traits later in their childhood, like taking an interest in masculine activities, similar to a Tomboy. Once again, in the before times of the Hatzkal and Chumuk, Chuerro was recorded as a gender in Arenian and Ayain texts as a demographic to pull troops from and a lot of the cultural expectations of a Chuerro is centered around this purpose of war, as the name itself implies. From a young age along with the boys, Chuerro were trained in all forms of warfare, melee, archery and of course leadership in preparation for when they would become fighting age. Unlike Men though, who were more often levied than trained into being capable Quantli (Eagle) and Balam (Jaguar) Knights, Chuerro's were almost always recruited as professional full time soldiers. In a military hierarchy, a Chuerro almost always outranked the unproven levied Man because of this, and a deviation in that would have seemed strange in the very least if not a completely outrageous state of affairs. Which is why labor outside of that done while on campaign was almost unseen for a Chuerro would do, partly because of this very narrow upbringing but also because of social expectations. Farming, mercantilism, and really just economic activity in general was for the men and women. Chuerro's were dedicated to the nation, and the ancient writings and artworks of Chuerro past reflected this both declaring its glory and also its darkness. It wasn't so narrow as for a Chuerro to not be able to retire to do what they wanted, but at that point their entire life has been about being a warrior, and instead they often sought a valiant and glorious death.
Of course, everything changed after the Industrial Revolution, but even before that things started to shift. After the Brumosa Crisis, Chuerro's and soldiers in general had to contend with the fact that they had to now commit to other forms of labor as people died from Spike Plague and cultist burnt down farms and buildings. It was the widest the door has been up until then for Chuerro's to be something else than a terrifying killing machine. They could be anything. In the Post-War Era, being a Chuerro is commonly characterized by a combination traits from these traditions; Assertiveness, Impulsiveness, Stoicism, Professionalism and/or an obsession of inviting your friends over to the gym. There is also a common, well earned, stereotype of being incredibly defensive of friends, loved ones and members of the community that they belong too. If you even think about hurting the with the wife or husband of a Chuerro, you may not live to see tomorrow. In some small communities, when a Chuerro kills someone who has committed a crime of high magnitude against them, it is accepted that it is, what it is. It's a controversial part of Chuerro culture on the Mainland, especially when trying to maintain law and order, but judges in Post-War governments have ruled with the attitude and expectation in mind. Sometimes it can be seen as taking out the trash, but sometimes it can be seen as the potential punishment of an innocent if wrongful accusations are weaponized, which has happened more times than once.
Hope/Usi
(They/Them) (Eles/Su) ('Ōna/Ia) (Vony/Yikh)
The 5th, final and most powerful gender of Terota. As an Androgynous Enby, you refer to yourself as Hope (HOE-peh) on the mainland, or Usi (oo-SEE) in Karieba. When you say that you are that Gender you are basically saying you are "All Genders". You may share multiple traits with multiple genders, but wouldn't really identify yourself as any of them. You could also just be in a crossroads where you may want to pick one, but still don't know yet. The term was coined as a gender at around the 1900's, and though there were certainly Androgynous figures in the past, they were never actually described that way until then. So yeah if this is you have fun shopping for Gender traits. The world is your oyster.
The Sexual Orientation Square
So there's five Genders, which means the terms straight, bi, or anything else that emerged because of the gender binary cannot apply here. So there is instead the Sexual Orientation Square, which draw the lines on what was the socially acceptable gender pairings in what culture at what times. I am not doing that right now, mostly because it's the Post-War Era and no one can give even a molecule of a shit about who you love and marry. Bombs dropped, so no one cares as long as they're invited to the wedding. But the Square does exist and is something that Sociologists in Terota use as a handy visual reference. Chuerros is the top right of the square, Men on the bottom left of the square, Muxe on the Top left of the square, Woman on the bottom right of the Square and Hope in the middle is the common depiction. The order has no significance but that's just the one everyone prints.
