Gender

Children in Talitha Harbor are not assigned any gender at birth. Gender is completely separate from what body someone was born with. It is part of a person’s identity and everyone has full autonomy over who they present themselves as.
Young children who haven’t declared their gender identity have special pronouns. They are also only referred to using gender-neutral terms.
te/tem/ter/terself

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Author’s Note: These pronouns are a new world-building piece. There may be older articles that use they/them for children. I will eventually fix them all.

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Occasionally and adult will use these terms, but is uncommon. Nonbinary adults will typically use the below options, but are not limited to them.
they/them/themself
xe/xem/xyr/xyrself
Children at any age can declare their gender and can change as often as they like. naming Conventions are just as fluid. Talithans have a identity system, which is based on a person’s DNA. It is the individual system that can’t be changed. They do not link names to it in any permanent way. Their flexibility with names also allows for full expression.
A person’s name may not traditionally match their pronouns in terms of the masculine/feminine scale. Someone may call herself George, or himself Judy.
When greeting each other for the first times Talithans will give their pronouns along with their name. For example:
“I’m Idaeus, he/him.”
“I’m Dariel Kools, xe/xyr”
“Tier-II Arborist Rutile, she/they.”

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History

Talithans practiced this fluid and accepting culture of gender expression long before they landed on Talitha Harbor. They used a numerical identity system then, not based on DNA, but something akin to a social security number like Earth Americans used.
They were on a colony ship with no communications to anyone else, and without knowing when they would finally find some place they could live. They would not waste time worrying about traditional gender assumptions.
Anything that could make their lives easier or lighter without harming others was adopted. Allowing full gender expression was a straightforward choice.

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“Caree Islay, I have an announcement to make about my name and gender.” 
Smiling down at them, Islay asked, “would you like to announce it to everyone or just me?”
The child looked around the large classroom. Ter warm brown eyes taking in the children distracted by toys, books, pretend play, and the digital screens. “I want to tell them, but maybe when playtime is over?” 
Islay leaned down and said in a low, secretive voice. “There will be another announcement soon. It’s why our playtime has gone on for so long. We have a new student arriving who will stay here with you and Grigori. We wanted to surprise everyone. But if you wait until he shows up, your announcement might get drowned out in the excitement.” 
“I’ll tell them now.” It was important, and it would be frustrating if everyone forgot. 
Islay stood and clapped her hands loudly three times. The room full of kids slowly quieted. A few, especially among the younger children, needed reminders it was listening time. But it was silent in less than a minute. 
“There’s a special announcement. Listen closely and remember.” 
After a second, the child, standing proudly next to Caree Islay, noticed everyone’s eyes were on tem. Te smiled, somewhat nervously, for a second. Then te looked for Lucis and Therin, two of ter closest friends. Both were watching, expectedly. Pretending that te were only talking to the two boys, the child said in a loud voice. “My name is Billie and I’m a girl. My pronouns will be she/her.” 
“Welcome Billie,” said Islay. She raised her hands and everyone in the room joined in, “Welcome Billie.”
Billie beamed. The name felt perfect.

— Sacred Ecology