Gender

Gender is an ineffable and consistent trait of the soul, separate from sex which is a trait of the body. Unlike the uncouth barbarian foreigners who often think that such things are the same and inseparable, the Realm’s enlightened philosophy recognizes the difference. It is not your genitals which define your role, but rather, your soul-nature.

Femininity

Femininity is poise, grace, self-control, and leadership. In the Realm, women are expected to fill most or all positions of power, because women are wise, dispassionate, calculating, and determined. Naturally, this makes them better leaders than men, because women are able to focus on the long-term rather than be slaves to their temporary passions.

Feminine Emotionality

Femininity is defined through a rigid code of behaviors. In public, women are expected to maintain perfect, steely composure at all times. Grand displays of emotion are frowned upon. Joy, sorrow, grief, and success are all publicly to be met with a graceful, silent demeanor and a perfectly-composed face. Subtle cues like the motion of a fan or the twitch of an eyebrow are used to convey emotion in an acceptable manner.

Feminine Aesthetics

Feminine beauty is based in elegance. A beautiful woman moves like a flowing river and glides along the ground like a leaf on the breeze. Tiny movements convey great force. Makeup is used to accentuate the desireable feminine traits of the face: the cheek bones and the eyes. A woman is often compared to a flower: pristine, but thorny beneath.

Masculinity

Masculinity is passion, courage, dynamism, and physicality. In the Realm, men are known to be controlled by their emotions and flighty, thrown in many directions by the roiling storm of passion in their souls. Men are beautiful and dangerous creatures, just as likely to hurt themselves as their foes unless they are guided by a firm, feminine hand.

Masculine Emotionality

Masculinity is defined, first and foremost, by emotion. Everyone knows that men simply feel more strongly than women. Like women, men are expected to control themselves in public, but no one would fault a man if he were to burst out after his honor was offended, or break down crying at a beautiful performance. Men are expected to step aside for women when things get too tense, allowing the more thoughtful sex to de-escalate the situation from its perious edge.

Masculine Aesthetics

Masculine beauty is based in energy. A beautiful man burns like a wildfire or twists like lightning. He strides with confidence and bows with humility; he smiles like diamonds and his whole person glows with passionate energy. Likely, a man’s movements are firm and forceful, an expression of his roiling inner self. Masculine make-up accentuates his passion: bright lips and shining eyes. A man is often compared to a storm: dynamic and unaware of his own power.

Transgender Dynasts

Gender is a trait of the soul, not of the body, and so it is natural that sometimes the soul and the body would disagree. Of course, without question, the soul is a person’s true nature; the body is but a vessel, and water is not defined by its shape.

Daana’d, the Immaculate Dragon of Water, teaches us that it is holy and good to embrace one’s soul-nature and transcend the limits of the body. Children who display behavior which deviates from their body are pressured and encouraged to take up their proper role as their true gender – even if the child doesn’t quite realize it yet.

Some people straddle the line between masculinity and femininity; these people are strange, but who can deny that it is a true expression of their soul? A few odd ones claim to be neither masculine nor feminine; such individuals clearly simply do not understand their souls, for if gender is a trait of the soul, how can one have a soul and not have a gender?

Sorcery

Dynasts always marry according to their gender, not their genitals, and so sometimes find themselves in arrangements where they cannot conceive. Such pairs are not exempt from the overwhelming pressure to produce children; they are just expected to go about it through other means.

Sorcery is often used to circumvent such limitations, weaving new children from the parents’ flesh, or using the parents’ breath to grow a child within a flower. Some people are uncomfortable with such arrangements, but the Dragon’s Gift is in the soul, not the flesh, and such children are just as likely to be Chosen as any other.

A very rare few Dynasts use sorcery to transform their bodies. Such individuals are unusual – usually it is the result of difficulty reconciling their soul with their body. Most Dynasts view these individuals as eccentric; the vast majority of Dynasts seek no such procedure, because they know that their flesh is irrelevant to their nature.