#just for infertile or interspecies couples

[littlest-salomon]

you won't believe it! local asexual creates pon farr

But seriously, now we know interspecies reproduction is possible in at least one way. He says "mixed breeds," I hear "robot-dragon hybrids."

[script-a-world]

Submitted via Google Form:

I have a pretty weird idea. What if there were two dominate humanoid species co-habiting on a planet instead of one? However, they actually look pretty much the same, except they're not actually sexually compatible. It was only when scientists actually learned how to look at DNA did they realise they were different and the source of incapability. They had no idea what was compatible or not... they just saw a lot of couples simply unable to bear children so there was a lot of sperm donors. Sperm donation was done the old fashioned way by spoon - remember this is in the distant past. I'd say that matchmakers had a massive role in society. Not only do they connect couples but also these sperm donors.

Now, I'm trying to think from the view of the past scientists, doctors, and herbalists of this world. What did they believe created a child? They had to do a lot of studies on which couples actually produced children and which did not. They had herbs, medicines, etc... that boosted fertility and that - but obviously were useless for incompatible species. Also, how did they even understand actual fertility problems? Or is that practically insignificant due to incompatible species completely overshadowing it all?

Anyway, all of that is in the past. The story I'm creating is in the modern day where everyone knows about DNA and the revelation that there are actually two species and they have known for 200 years. How would that change society? What would cause them to continue to marry interspecies and continue utilising sperm donations? What would cause them to create species separation? Remember, they all look exactly the same. Sure, there are racial traits and that... and the usual racism will occur. But there's no way you can look at someone and determine their species... until you take a look at their DNA.

Also, exactly how viable is this idea even? That two species have DNA that is incompatible enough they can't create children but also look indistinguishable until DNA was discovered. What would make sense in discribing their chromosomes and genes? I'm not really doing anything very scientific with this but a basic description like what the chromosomes look like, how many there are etc.

Tex: I’m very fascinated by your concept of assisted reproductive technology, because the technology does require some study into genetics in order to analyze failure points in artificial reproduction.

In this instance, I would look not to science, but to folklore and mythology - history usually preserves itself in some way, and archaeology as a field science is frequently used to verify the substance of historical claims. Something like genetic incompatibility would likely be recorded by someone, somewhere, and preserved in some fashion - be it creation myths, linguistic quirks, dietary patterns, migration patterns, etc.

Would genetic engineering “fix” the incompatibility issues? How much of an impact of sharing the same niche environment would have on genetic drift from their ancestors, in terms of eating the same foods in the same environment, the evolutionary pressures in flora, fauna, bacteria, etc? Would these two species actually care to force reproduction on disparate species - do they have a reason to do so? The definition of a species is very complex, and reproduction does involve a lot of studying of gene pools. Ultimately it’s up to you what you choose to include, and what sort of internal consistency you wish to apply to your worldbuilding.

Blue: I would theorize that it is feasible for two different species to be similar enough phenotypically (in looks) yet distinct enough genetically to make it impossible for them to produce offspring. However, I would argue that there might still be a possibility of hybridization, which on the surface might look like genetic compatibility – except the offspring of such unions is often infertile (at least in animals). This might be an interesting angle to explore.

Societally, I would expect arranged marriages to be a pretty significant part of it. In all likelihood, the society would have spotted certain trends and patterns, and tried to use them to their advantage. What form it would take – a socially approved intermingling or two isolated societies – seems more of a narrative choice and would be rooted in the history/histories of both species.

A list of questions that might be fun to explore:

I wonder how queer relationships would be perceived in such a society. If the society approves of interspecies’ marriages and does not take it as something abhorrent, how would it reflect on other groups that are deemed outside the norm in our society, specifically on the basis of sexuality? It seems there’d be a whole new layer of reproduction politics. Reproduction isn't the only excuse people use to discriminate against queer people and queer unions, but it has been a popular rhetoric to demonstrate how unnatural these unions are, and it is frequently used to this day, even after assisted reproductive technology has become more commonplace.

To add on to this point, history of sexuality, gender, and queerness is actually quite complex; in different places and at different points in time, people had different ways to conceptualize and contextualize them. I would think it would be even more prominent in an interspecies’ society; then again, it might swing in a completely opposite direction.

For family structures, I’d like to float the idea of polygamy/polyamory – if the species are indeed mixed and there is a lot of uncertainty about the possibility of offspring, this could be one of the solutions.

In the same vein – is adoption a thing in this society? How accessible is it? Are there any additional factors that might motivate parents to give up their child?

If we take DNA testing as one and only sure way to determine whether the couple is compatible (which, even if scientifically proven, would likely be just one of the ways people use) – there’s a question of accessibility to such testing. Does it create disparity? Are there people who would like to do it but don’t? Do some people object to these kinds of tests on moral, cultural, or religious grounds?

Ebonwing: By all accounts, these two species lived and built societies together for a very long time. There’s no real life precedence for this so it’s even more up to you which way you want to take this than usual, but in my mind, I would find it very strange if they didn’t continue living together as they’re used to after finding out. People who want biokids (and people who don’t) might take it into account when looking for partners, but this is a society where sperm donations seem very normalised, as opposed to our world where it’s more of a last ditch effort if things don’t work out “naturally”. I wouldn’t find it strange if there’d always be people who just partner up and do the sperm donation/surrogate option. 

Addy: If people from Gene Group A can only have children with other people from Gene Group A, then you’d probably get some kind of fancy record-keeping practice, to see which families can have kids with which other families. They may not get why, but people are pretty good at finding patterns over time. You may even get historical practices where people try conceiving a child before officially tying the knot, to see if they’re compatible or not. Could make for a pretty interesting court drama, now that I think about it. After all, if you’re trying to make a political alliance, then a kid’s gotta come from somewhere.

To keep marrying interspecies in the “modern” day... well, if having children of your specific genetic combination isn't a big deal to you, then you get married for all the normal reasons - alliances, romance, stability, etc. If you specifically want kids with your genetics, then either look for your gene group or look for donors/surrogates. It'd probably be a very common first date discussion - do you want kids? Which species are you? (it'd probably be a field on dating apps tbh) Is it important to you for any theoretical kids to be a genetic combination between us, or are you okay with taking genes from elsewhere? 

Adoption could also be a huge thing, kinda like it was with the Romans (where an adopted child held all the same rights and privileges as a blood child). That could fill some gaps in the societal niche.

Stealing a line from Wootzel: "It is a truth universally acknowledged that a single man in possession of a good fortune, and from the Smith line, must be in want of a marriage with an Evans wife."

[felyas-stuff]

💫Metamorphosis of a Soul: Races💫

First OC infodump whooo!! Metamorphosis of a Soul (or MOAS for convenience), is an upcoming comic based off my old AU (if you know you know). The story follows two brothers, who accidentally stumble upon a city of monsters and are now cursed to become monsters themselves. It’s a series with lots of diverse characters, inspired by mythology and cryptozoology, so it’s only fair that’s the first post I make about it describes all sorts of creatures in this made up universe.

Quick word about humans and monsters because there’s not much I can say here. They used to live in peace, until one day a war broke, and, when humans came out victorious, monsters fled, cursing every human that dares to come to their lands. Both humans and monsters have souls (as everyone does in this universe, as you may have guessed from the title) that look like orange flame. Monsters are naturally gifted with magic, and their souls (and, by proxy, their bodies) have little to no reaction from being exposed to it. On the other hand, humans are not born with magic skills (just like in our world), and even though they can study magic, and use spells and potions - exposing a human to too much magic can lead to causalities. Speaking of…

Changeling in MOAS universe is an umbrella term used to describe either fairie/monster kids/teens disguised as humans with illusion magic, or humans kids/teens, transformed into monster-like creatures due to some magic incident. Humans can only become changelings in their early life, while their bodies are still developing, and thus, can be reformed by magic - adults usually don’t survive such accidents and, instead of transforming into monsters, die.

While changelings are usually cursed human kids - shapeshifters in MOAS universe are usually cursed monster kids. Instead of losing their humanity, they lose their whole identity - all shapeshifters look the same and can only copy the appearances of others, making it hard for them to go back to living a normal life. Some higher class shapeshifters can get actor jobs or pay some witch to revert the transformation - but the majority of shapeshifters, who are lower class, usually become thieves just to make the ends meet. This makes shapeshifters hated and oppressed by all groups, even ones that claim to be a safe space for everyone

Last but certainly not least - ghosts - monsters&humans, who were poisoned by a deadly potion. Their souls resemble a candle’s smoke, and can be blown off just as easily, which would get rid of the ghost for good. However, many scientists experiment with ghosts, trying to make their form more stable, in hopes of achieving immortality one day. But, despite all efforts, the results are anything but stable - the ghost can possess objects, but will eventually suffer full memory loss; or it can possess a living being, but eventually the body will start to rot

Another thing people experiment with are homunculi - artificially created humans and monsters. It is usually practiced by couples who can’t have a baby due to medical (infertility) or physical incompatibility (interspecies/interracial relationships) reasons, but still want to have a biological child - which, homunculi are, since their creations requires samples of both parents (usually stuff like hair/teeth/nails + bones/fleshy body parts). The result will look like a horrendous skeleton-like amalgamation BUT it can be reshaped into something that looks just like regular humans/monsters and be raised accordingly. Homunculi have souls that look like blue flame, and are even more sensitive to magic than regular humans - so keep an eye on your baby if you don’t want anything bad to happen to them.

ok i think that’s all for now next post will be about magic systems or the main characters or whatever you’re interested in byeeee

[forgottenthreads]

Irritation

Why is interspecies sex and hybridisation so normal in sci-fi? I'm not saying it's weird or yuck two sapient adults getting it on, go nuts

But like how are all the bits compatible... Even on earth not all species have compatible copulation heck even in just mammals there are outliers. It doesn't make sense for alien sex scenes to come off like ordinary erotica.

And even if all the stars align and stick in hole is how the sex works and is pleasurable for both parties how does hybridisation work without a whole bunch of problems:

Is the DNA compatible? There are more than 4 base pairs, okay most of the possible ones are artificial on earth but that doesn't mean they can't be natural in an alien biome

Do the chromosomes pair up? Heck does the alien even have chromasonal pairs?

Having compatible instructions books doesn't necessarily mean that the cellular machinery for each species works the same way. My understanding of cellular biology is that 3 pairs are used to encode an amino acid, what if they use 2 or 4 or 7 and because of that have more or fewer types of amino acid available to their machinery.

And then there's the issue with hybrids, even with related species carrying a hybrid to term can be taxing and many hybrids are completely infertile, Lion/Tiger hybrids spring to mind, they're relatively close species but still have problems.

There are so many interesting stories to be told with this in mind

The troubles of IVF or couple infertility, choosing a donor or surrogacy, something many people struggle with and the sci-fi elements would allow for exploring political issues

Adoption stories, where the child is of a different species to one or both parents, could be full of commentary on various issues. I'd be excited to see the nature Vs nurture aspect explored. Also parenting at the 'wrong' speed, if the child's development is on a different scale to what the parents expect, can they provide enough of the right stimulation for a child that grows up at twice the speed they did or how might the family dynamic be taxed if the child develops much slower than the parents are expecting

Shattered dreams where a person who longed to be a parent gives that dream up in order to be with the person they fell in love with and how that changes them as a person.

Relationship dynamics where children aren't the focus, extended relationships like trios or polycules, asexual relationships and so on.

There are so many interesting stories that are evaporated by the default option of treating aliens as essentially the same as humans and completely compatible with them

[random-thought-depository]

I don't think hybrid sterility by itself would be a big problem. Lots of people don't have kids. Hybrids would just be in about the same position as lots of IRL infertile humans, or gay couples; if they want to raise a family, they can adopt. I guess it'd be more of an issue in societies where lineage is a big deal though; I suspect in societies like that the two species would mostly just avoid intermarriage (a lot of them might not consider interspecies marriages legitimate). And I could see some philosophical and religious traditions being opposed to marriages involving hybrids for basically sex-negativity reasons, because they'd be sexual relationships without any possible fig leaf of it being about procreation.

I could actually see there being social roles for hybrids of this type where they're valued precisely for their sterility, similar to eunuchs in some societies IRL. I think they'd often be employed as bodyguards and servants for aristocratic women and guards for royal harems, for instance (a common niche for eunuchs IRL IIRC). Similarly, I think before modern birth control male hybrids of this type might have a potentially quite lucrative niche as sex workers who cater to straight and bi women; imagine what the existence of a class of men who can be conventionally attractive by straight woman standards and can have PIV sex with you but can't get you pregnant might mean to women basically any time before birth control pills were a thing. This might be a bit trickier if the hybrids can sometimes make babies, it's just really, really rare (I vaguely remember something about how mules are actually like this, but I'm too lazy to look it up now). Incidentally, if there was a sapient and human-ish looking species that just couldn't reproduce with us, I think they'd similarly often end up in "valued precisely for the fact they can't make babies with us" niches.

Incidentally, IIRC, sometimes hybrid sterility is sex-asymmetric, with male hybrids being sterile but female hybrids being fertile. I think this might be the case with lions and tigers? So there's another potential scenario.

As for if the hybrids had viability issues/health problems or had traits that made them poorly compatible with the society or one of both of their parent species or had traits we'd be inclined to see as tragic like a short lifespan... it'd really depend on the exact traits the hybrids have. To pick just two of many possibilities, "hybrids tend to be kind of frail and sickly but their childhood and young adulthood survival rates aren't much worse than parent species individuals and if they get modern medical care or are just lucky enough to not get taken out by a childhood disease they'll usually live to old age" and "hybrids usually die before they're five years old and they're usually very sick in the few years they have" are very different scenarios that will cause very different responses.

I've been thinking about mules, and how fucked up the Discourse™ would be if humans and some other sapient hominid were in the same situation as horses and donkeys. The chromosomal mismatch (horses have 64, donkeys 62, mules 63) renders their offspring infertile and bring out some "primitive" traits not commonly expressed by their parents-- imagine what might happen in the development of a sapient creature.

Can you imagine how fucked up the fight for equality in marriage, sex rights, etc. would be? Would it be justifiable to have a child with your partner, knowing said child will suffer the consequences for your actions? Full scale eugenics is probably off the table for ethical reasons, but would it not also be unethical to bring into the word a child guaranteed to be infertile, developmentally delayed, or unable to live longer than their parents? The fight for LGBTQ+ rights has been ridiculously difficult, and there's literally no downsides. The debate over the rights for Human-46s and Human-48s to get it on would be terrifying.

It only matters in cases where pregnancy is a concern, but we all know how fucked everything about normal birth control is. How bad would your offspring need to have it for mandatory sterilization to be on the table? The dating scene for straight people would be so fucking dystopian. Sure, you like this guy, but do you like him enough to get a hysterectomy? Are you sure he's the one? That you won't fall apart in three years? That you won't find yourself with someone of the same species, craving children of your own, but unable because of a decision you made as drunk college kid? It matters less if you're gay/straight but one of you is trans/otherwise unable to produce a child via raw-dogging, but I trying to envisage the discourse around "The government forced me to tie my tubes even though my partner tops" makes me feel ill.

Growing up as a Human-47 would also have to suck -- knowing your parents cared more about a five second orgasm than the fifty years you get to spend knowing you're inferior to both of them. "Was it really worth it, Mom?" you ask. "Did he make you cum well enough to offset my fifth-grade reading level?"

The flip side is also bad: what if Human-47s were better than their parents, but still infertile. Are you so committed to the survival of your species that you're willing to forgo that hybrid vigor? Is it more important to you that your child produce sperm/eggs than be capable of true, total self-actualization? Do you you love your spouse enough to (relatively) stunt your children? On the flip side, is your child's success more important than letting them raise a family? Growing up Human-46/48, especially if you don't even want kinds, can you forgive your parents for their choice? Can a wanting Human-47 mother or father forgive their parents?

Not trying to draw explicit parallels with real-world issues here, and I think most of these questions aren't too hard to find good solutions to-- but I've been turning this idea over in my head like a rotisserie chicken for months and I think it might kill me if I don't get it out.

[blanddcheadcanons]

Can Kara bare children with humans, for say with Jimmy Olsen? Just as Clark sire Jonathan with Lois.

In the Convergence series Superman: Lois and Clark, the couple had known for years that their human and kryptonian anatomy were incompatible for children.  They eventually turned to Professor Emil Hamilton for fertility treatments and were successful in conceiving Jon.  If I remember right their infertility was canon since at least Geoff Johns’ Superman run.  It may have even gone as far back as the Post-Crisis canon.  Given how on Krypton natural procreation was a thing of the past.  Bear in mind there have been countless Super-Prodigy, sons and daughters in various timelines that ignore all this.  So I think Supergirl’s interspecies fertility might be similar to Superman’s  difficult but possible with the right scientific help.

[destiel-fic-rec]

Why do I go to extremes? by zation

Summary: In a world where Weres are basically pets to humans, having sex with one is clearly off limits. In the same world, Dean Winchester lives with this enormous secret that no one has yet to find out. Too bad that a chance meeting will have him confronted with that secret in the most blatant of ways.

Or,

The one where human Dean has a fetish for fucking Alphas and where Alpha Castiel might not be as clueless as some seem to think.

Comments: 10/10. This is amazing. Dean finds a hurt feral alpha in the parking lot of the Roadhouse, and against common sense he brings him home and nurses him back to health. They become friends and Dean has a massive crush on him. Not to mention his fetish for alphas. The sexual tension in this fic is amazing, they share a bed and Cas goes into a rut, all before they become a couple. So yeah, sexual tension through the roof. It’s slow burn, but not as slow as you’d think, or maybe I just read the whole thing very quickly. WARNING: talk of mpreg, breeding kink, infertility, interspecies sex, extremely taboo relationship that shouldn’t be taboo. But they have to hide it and come out to some people and it might be triggering. So watch out.

[goodeveningtalos]

K, so because I am an unending fountain of salt, I have some stuff below the cut that is critical of Gil’s romance and character arc. He is one of my favourite characters in the game, but talking this over with @omegastation helped me realize why the romance just... didn’t quite sit right with me. Spoilers below, obviously.

So, for starters, there’s the obvious “his best friend says some homophobic things” which didn’t bother me that much at first, until I started to make connections with how seemingly benign comments like that were the sort of things an ex-best friend said to me (also a straight woman) before I realized I was pretty much a gay handbag that she made gay jokes about before saying homophobic things to other people. Having a straight woman as a best friend, besides being the second laziest gay trope ever after shock-value deaths, is something that I have personally experienced as really damaging to my self-esteem and that sort of thing could be so easily rectified by better writing. How? Well they could make Jill a lesbian and make her jokes self-referential about how she’s supposed to be leading procreation efforts but probably won’t procreate herself, or make Jill discuss the potential options for gay or infertile couples to have children without saying hurtful things about how Gil’s useless and ignoring the “biological imperative”, maybe have characters stop assuming that all men have penises and all women have vaginas because we know for a fact that trans people come with the Initiative. We also know that interspecies relationships are quite common (if the amount of human/turian and asari/literally anybody couples we see/hear about on the Nexus is any indication), and they’re also ignoring the “biological imperative” so why isn’t that a concern but Gil’s sexuality is? lazy writing, that’s why.

The other thing that bothered me is how fast Gil’s romance moves, especially given how long it takes to start. You get like... one flirty option every once in a while following a priority mission and it takes forever to get anywhere because you have to wait until after Hunting the Archon to lock in the relationship, which is the first time you hold hands, let alone kiss. Reminder that at this point, fRyder and Liam could have already made out on his couch and that Peebee and Ryder could have had zero-G sex while Gil and Ryder have absolutely NO romance-centric cutscenes until over half-way through the game.

The very next cutscene is after Journey to Meridian in which Gil and Ryder can both have sex (we assume, because, of course, we don’t see anything -not even original trilogy levels of underwear and rolling around- other than shirtless pillowtalk after; for all we know, they did hot yoga and are now lounging around. meanwhile we get to see Ryder thrusting into Cora and getting it on in graphic detail... I’m not bitter) and say I love you, likely mere weeks after deciding to start dating.

Then, the next time you go talk to Gil he asks if you want to have a baby with him. You probably haven’t been dating more than a month or two and you’ve not only said the L-word, you’re also deciding to start a family without knowing basic information about each other, all because his (mildly homophobic) best friend is pressuring him into reproducing with her. He still asks to raise a kid with you even when you say you want to take it slow. In what universe does taking it slow mean having a baby?

Every other romance gets time to know each other, have fun, just be Ryder and LI, while Gil and Ryder get to be RyderxGil +Jill and baby. I was thinking about what fanfiction I might like to write about Ryder and Gil and realized I just wanted to write an AU where they actually got to date, and learn about each other before being tied down in the most serious way possible.

The choice to have a baby together is not a single game arc. It’s the kind of thing two men with terrible fathers take an entire trilogy to work through and decide to do after a looooooooooong time deciding.

Gil and Ryder’s romance has effectively been stopped before it could start. There’s nowhere left to go now. What do they get? Arguments about changing diapers? cute. Concerns about their baby’s sleeping habits? sexy. A custody battle when Gil inevitably realizes the mother of his child is not a good friend? romantic.

I wanted Gil and Ryder standing on Eos looking out over a lake as the sun sets, claiming a beach front property, imagining cooking breakfast after a lazy morning of kisses and cuddles, stolen glances during crew meetings (which Kallo shows up to but Gil is weirdly absent from despite being in love with Ryder and also in charge of all Ryder’s weird tech) and instead I got a romance that revolves entirely around Gil’s straight best friend making him reproduce.

On top of it, nobody ever acknowledges that you’re dating him. I’ve seen countless gifsets of people cracking jokes about how Liam is protective of Ryder, how fRyder is the “queen of Kadara”, etc., etc., etc. but nobody says boo about you falling in love with your engineer and tech officer. Nobody mentions the fact that you’re having a baby. Lexi mentions Gil once, offhand and it’s not even a dialogue specifically regarding Gil- the entire conversation is obviously supposed to be used for whatever romance has been initiated, so it doesn’t even matter to your psychiatrist. It’s like they didn’t think anybody would do this romance so they didn’t bother writing any of that in.