Notes on gender in the Stone Isles

Let us imagine that we are talking about a fantasy world, another planet, despite the similarities to our own mythologies: knights, and talking trees, and unicorns, etc. The people of the Stone Isles do not speak English, but we render everything of their language into English for our own convenience.

The language of the Stone Isles has three gendered concepts:

• Man, male. Related to the words for day, bright. Pronouns: he/him.
• Woman, female. Related to the words for night, darkness. Pronouns: she/her.
• Gender nonconfirming. Individuals use poetic words to describe their individual gender expression, including "gloaming," "twilit," etc. Pronouns: they/them; alternately "hesh/himer/hiser"*

* Terms for non-gendered third person singular pronouns used by fan communities since the 1950s in a desire for accuracy and strangeness.

Despite a third gender, the Stone Isles are not necessarily "enlightened" when it comes to topics of bioessentialism, gender identity, gendered roles, cultural stereotypes, etc. (See "Thinking about this stuff," below.)

In general, for commoners, gender and sexual orientation are nonissues. Allowing for some variance in cultural expectations from isle to isle, it is not a topic worth discussing.

There are proscriptions and cultural expectations for nobility, however. And that means the player characters.

There are two gendered professions in the Stone Isles. Knights are male. Sorceresses are female. Occasionally and begrudgingly, knights and sorceresses are third gender. Never are they the opposite gender.

Under the traditions established by the High King, the "most laudable" marriage is between a knight and a sorceress. This is to unify the two power structures and cultures that exist in the archipelago: the leaders of one cultural group (sorceresses) with the leaders of the other cultural group (knights).

Thinking about this stuff

I don't know whether this topic, in general, is worth including. Or if it is, am I doing it the best way that I can?

As an author, inventing the habits and practices of the Stone Isles is not an endorsement of them. When writing this, my desire is to have a fantasy world that thinks about the subject a bit more than just saying "It's like medievaled times :)"

That said, I am very sensitive to feedback from my friends who have said "You know, as a woman, I am not super interested in having fictional arguments about my gender that mirror the ones I have in real life. I have enough of them, then." I don't want to build those experiences for them. I want them to play this game and have fun.

Le Guin stories that get at what I want to get at:

• Gifts
• "A Fisherman of the Inland Sea"

Le Guin stories that talk about the subject beautifully, but wouldn't be good for my game table:

• Tehanu
• "The Matter of Seggri"

How can I thread the needle?

Anyway, I'm just getting it out of my head. If you are a friend and would like to help my thought process, feel free to reach out.