raisedbymoogles (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
raisedbymoogles) wrote2024-03-11 10:58 pm
raisedbymoogles) wrote2024-03-11 10:58 pm
Entry tags:
on Gerudo, gender, headcanons, and some awkward phrasing
I've ranted about this before but the Gerudo as portrayed in BotW/TotK drive me a teensy bit crazy, esp. in TotK. Trying to shoehorn an all-female society into a cis-hetero-normative framework, predictably, Does Not Fucking Work for a lot of reasons, so I've been investing brainsweat into pulling them apart and putting them back together in a way that doesn't make my brain hurt. Some or all of this may show up in future fic.
So here's my general idea, and I'm open to feedback. My goal here is not to make a Perfect Unproblematic Society, but to try to give them their own unique outlook and cultural sludge/pitfalls that arise naturally from their society and history.
Reproduction/Gender/Etc.
- Most Gerudo are pregnancy-capable, a handful are some variety of intersex, a few are, uh, impregnation-capable? >_> Obv there's overlap between 'intersex' and pregnancy-and-or-impregnation capability.
- They have zero sexual dimorphism whatsoever (with one notable exception, more on that later); you cannot tell who's got an innie or an outie just by looking.
- They generally pair (or polycule) up without regard for who's got what equipment, although an innie-outie pairing might require more negotiation re: whether they want to have a kid.
- There is no such thing as a half-Gerudo; all children with a Gerudo mother are Gerudo regardless of their second parent, and their biology follows the same patterns. However, Gerudo do tend to put more prominence/expectations on children with two Gerudo parents, which can be experienced as both a privilege and a burden.
- Gerudo tend to have fewer kids than Hylians(/humans) over the course of their lives. Many don't have kids at all, and it's pretty rare to have more than one. Still, enough Gerudo want a kid and don't have a suitable partner that the whole 'traveling to find husbands' bit is a common practice. (Their use of 'husband' is a bit of a polite fiction they use around Hylians; they rarely stick around once they've got that kid. Rhondson is an odd duck in that regard.)
- Regardless of equipment, most Gerudo consider themselves vai. Those who don't tend to keep it under wraps, which brings us to:
Society
- Partially because of their biology and partially because of how non-Gerudo (Hylian dudes especially) tend to react to/treat them, 'vai' and 'voe' have connotations of 'one of Us' and 'outsider' respectively.
- For that reason, Gerudo who don't vibe with 'vai' tend to keep it under wraps, especially in the town where the division between 'vai/insider' and 'voe/outsider' is enforced more strictly. "I'm not a vai" would sound like "I'm not a Gerudo" to all but the most open-minded.
- There is some noticeable correllation between impregnation capability and voe-ness, but not a whole lot even considering how few impregnation-capable Gerudo there are. Regardless, with one notable exception, all Gerudo voe are what we might define as trans, because the cultural default assumption is that they're all vai regardless of their equipment.
- That's in the town (or towns, I guess we can headcanon up more than one), where closer contact/trading relationships with Hyrule mean more contact with Hylian voe and therefore more pressure to draw those strict lines. Out in the deeper desert where Hylians don't go, things are a bit more fluid in regards to gender, although they mostly use the same vocabulary out there.
- Hence, there is a small but nonzero number of 'town voe' who leave the towns and go live in the desert for some or all of their lives. So there is a place in Gerudo society for them, just a bit of a harsh one.
- Town or desert voe would still be welcome in Gerudo town limits, of course. They'd just mostly be referred to as vai, because, c'mon, they're Gerudo, aren't they? Which is... probably the biggest wad of cultural sludge in the town Gerudo psyche.
- Side note, the most common theory about the Eighth Heroine among Gerudo historians is that he was one such voe. (That's incorrect per TotK, but that's not common knowledge and Link's not talking.)
- Deep desert Gerudo have a generally friendly relationship with town Gerudo overall, but there is some tension regarding gods/spirits/religious belief in general; town Gerudo don't disbelieve in their people's old gods, but given their trading relationships with the rest of Hyrule they have found it prudent to give Hylia some prominence in their practices. Deep desert Gerudo more or less view Hylia with suspicion, and direct their worship to older gods.
- Because of this, Gerudo from the deep desert are more acquainted/comfortable with what you might broadly call sorcery, and sorcery and voe-ness are considered to be linked among the desert dwellers (although of course vai can be sorcerors too). Which brings us to!:
The Gerudo King
- As we know, the Gerudo produce a Male Type Baby every 100/1000/whatever/kumquat years. Since this baby would not, presumably, be born with a full beard, and a baby born with dongage would not necessarily be assumed to not be vai, presumably the King's birth would be accompanied by Signs. Also possibly Portents.
- Any kid claiming the title of King would be expected to have an impressive command of sorcery and have a relationship with the desert gods. Also he'd be expected to have minimal Hylian ancestry if any at all, just to counteract the whole "voe=outsider" thing. Therefore he'd pretty much have to come from the deep desert. A town Gerudo claiming the title of Gerudo King would have quite a lot of bullshit ahead of him to prove his claim.
- In general the King's job is to Unite the Tribes. This can take different forms depending on circumstances; in times of strife he can act as a spearhead/focal point to get shit done, in times of peace he travels from tribe to tribe settling disputes and bringing other Gerudo from one point to another, so the tribes are all intermixed with familial and trading relationships and they don't get too isolated from one another.
- Also he is expected to father, just, a ton of babies. Not all of them do, just, the expectation is there.
- It occurs to me as I'm writing this that given that Gerudo King seems to be a unique gender, they wouldn't even use 'voe' for him. They'd probably have a different word entirely.
- Questions I'm not sure about: has there ever been a pregnancy-capable Gerudo King? Or otherwise a King who identifies as vai? What would the general reaction be to something like that? Textually, of course, it is Very Important that the Gerudo King be male, but I'm trying to poke holes in the text, so I can't let this be the one thing I don't poke.
- Maybe, given the whole 'there aren't enough impregnators to go around' thing, it would be important to the Gerudo that the King be an outtie, and would be resistant to the idea of a pregancy-capable King. Not to say it's never happened, but maybe it's one of those things that mysteriously doesn't make it into the historical record.
- I have NO idea what Gerudo society would do with a trans vai King. Implode, presumably.
So here's my general idea, and I'm open to feedback. My goal here is not to make a Perfect Unproblematic Society, but to try to give them their own unique outlook and cultural sludge/pitfalls that arise naturally from their society and history.
Reproduction/Gender/Etc.
- Most Gerudo are pregnancy-capable, a handful are some variety of intersex, a few are, uh, impregnation-capable? >_> Obv there's overlap between 'intersex' and pregnancy-and-or-impregnation capability.
- They have zero sexual dimorphism whatsoever (with one notable exception, more on that later); you cannot tell who's got an innie or an outie just by looking.
- They generally pair (or polycule) up without regard for who's got what equipment, although an innie-outie pairing might require more negotiation re: whether they want to have a kid.
- There is no such thing as a half-Gerudo; all children with a Gerudo mother are Gerudo regardless of their second parent, and their biology follows the same patterns. However, Gerudo do tend to put more prominence/expectations on children with two Gerudo parents, which can be experienced as both a privilege and a burden.
- Gerudo tend to have fewer kids than Hylians(/humans) over the course of their lives. Many don't have kids at all, and it's pretty rare to have more than one. Still, enough Gerudo want a kid and don't have a suitable partner that the whole 'traveling to find husbands' bit is a common practice. (Their use of 'husband' is a bit of a polite fiction they use around Hylians; they rarely stick around once they've got that kid. Rhondson is an odd duck in that regard.)
- Regardless of equipment, most Gerudo consider themselves vai. Those who don't tend to keep it under wraps, which brings us to:
Society
- Partially because of their biology and partially because of how non-Gerudo (Hylian dudes especially) tend to react to/treat them, 'vai' and 'voe' have connotations of 'one of Us' and 'outsider' respectively.
- For that reason, Gerudo who don't vibe with 'vai' tend to keep it under wraps, especially in the town where the division between 'vai/insider' and 'voe/outsider' is enforced more strictly. "I'm not a vai" would sound like "I'm not a Gerudo" to all but the most open-minded.
- There is some noticeable correllation between impregnation capability and voe-ness, but not a whole lot even considering how few impregnation-capable Gerudo there are. Regardless, with one notable exception, all Gerudo voe are what we might define as trans, because the cultural default assumption is that they're all vai regardless of their equipment.
- That's in the town (or towns, I guess we can headcanon up more than one), where closer contact/trading relationships with Hyrule mean more contact with Hylian voe and therefore more pressure to draw those strict lines. Out in the deeper desert where Hylians don't go, things are a bit more fluid in regards to gender, although they mostly use the same vocabulary out there.
- Hence, there is a small but nonzero number of 'town voe' who leave the towns and go live in the desert for some or all of their lives. So there is a place in Gerudo society for them, just a bit of a harsh one.
- Town or desert voe would still be welcome in Gerudo town limits, of course. They'd just mostly be referred to as vai, because, c'mon, they're Gerudo, aren't they? Which is... probably the biggest wad of cultural sludge in the town Gerudo psyche.
- Side note, the most common theory about the Eighth Heroine among Gerudo historians is that he was one such voe. (That's incorrect per TotK, but that's not common knowledge and Link's not talking.)
- Deep desert Gerudo have a generally friendly relationship with town Gerudo overall, but there is some tension regarding gods/spirits/religious belief in general; town Gerudo don't disbelieve in their people's old gods, but given their trading relationships with the rest of Hyrule they have found it prudent to give Hylia some prominence in their practices. Deep desert Gerudo more or less view Hylia with suspicion, and direct their worship to older gods.
- Because of this, Gerudo from the deep desert are more acquainted/comfortable with what you might broadly call sorcery, and sorcery and voe-ness are considered to be linked among the desert dwellers (although of course vai can be sorcerors too). Which brings us to!:
The Gerudo King
- As we know, the Gerudo produce a Male Type Baby every 100/1000/whatever/kumquat years. Since this baby would not, presumably, be born with a full beard, and a baby born with dongage would not necessarily be assumed to not be vai, presumably the King's birth would be accompanied by Signs. Also possibly Portents.
- Any kid claiming the title of King would be expected to have an impressive command of sorcery and have a relationship with the desert gods. Also he'd be expected to have minimal Hylian ancestry if any at all, just to counteract the whole "voe=outsider" thing. Therefore he'd pretty much have to come from the deep desert. A town Gerudo claiming the title of Gerudo King would have quite a lot of bullshit ahead of him to prove his claim.
- In general the King's job is to Unite the Tribes. This can take different forms depending on circumstances; in times of strife he can act as a spearhead/focal point to get shit done, in times of peace he travels from tribe to tribe settling disputes and bringing other Gerudo from one point to another, so the tribes are all intermixed with familial and trading relationships and they don't get too isolated from one another.
- Also he is expected to father, just, a ton of babies. Not all of them do, just, the expectation is there.
- It occurs to me as I'm writing this that given that Gerudo King seems to be a unique gender, they wouldn't even use 'voe' for him. They'd probably have a different word entirely.
- Questions I'm not sure about: has there ever been a pregnancy-capable Gerudo King? Or otherwise a King who identifies as vai? What would the general reaction be to something like that? Textually, of course, it is Very Important that the Gerudo King be male, but I'm trying to poke holes in the text, so I can't let this be the one thing I don't poke.
- Maybe, given the whole 'there aren't enough impregnators to go around' thing, it would be important to the Gerudo that the King be an outtie, and would be resistant to the idea of a pregancy-capable King. Not to say it's never happened, but maybe it's one of those things that mysteriously doesn't make it into the historical record.
- I have NO idea what Gerudo society would do with a trans vai King. Implode, presumably.