Sapients often have difficulty understanding sexual systems that differ significantly from that of their own species. This empathetic impediment tends to be even more pronounced when a species belongs to the binary symmetric system common to the great majority of O-2 species. Thus, it is no surprise that the trinary asymmetric sexual system of the Gubru genogroup remains somewhat mysterious --even for Terragens trained in the various disciplines of alien studies.
The reader will recall that there are four broad classes of sexual strategy when sex is considered in terms of the number of participants donating genetic material. The four types are unitary, binary, n-ary, and polymorphic. In addition, participation may be symmetric, with each partner contributing equal amounts of genetic material, or asymmetric, with the proportion of genetic material contributed varying from one partner to another. Note that multi-cellular Earthlings only use unitary and binary symmetric reproductive strategies.(1)
It is important to remember that sex is a means to evolutionary success. The function of any system of sexual reproduction is to increase the odds of the survival of self through a controlled method for increasing genetic diversity. Sex is a path to better competition by way of cooperation. Even without the Library or advanced technology, Human mathematicians used the folk-art of game theory to demonstrate that symmetric binary sexual systems were more competitive and stable than any system on a comparable scale of complexity.(2)
However, the universe is vast, and there are documented cases of asymmetric and symmetric 3-ary, 4-ary, 5-ary, and 7-ary, as well as polymorphic sexual systems --with higher N systems becoming increasingly rare (see bibliography). The trinary system of the Gubru and many in their genogroup is one such case. There are several options for how an n-ary system of genetic exchange might work. It happens that totally symmetrical systems (e.g. 1:1:1) tend to change to an n-1 form, becoming binary over time, while totally asymmetric systems (e.g. 4:3:2:1) tend to become either an n-1 case (4:3:2 or 4:3:3) or to a more balanced case (3:2:2:1 or 3:2:2:2). These more balanced cases that result from the modification of a completely asymmetric case belong to a family of sexual reproductive systems called asymmetric-symmetric.
Asymmetric-symmetric systems are often rather stable. There are a number of possible integer sets varying from asymmetric to close approximations of symmetrical participation, an example being the series:
The Gubru have a quantum or "chromosomal" genetic system. Among the Gubru the ratio of genetic contribution is 3:2:2. Trinary genetic schema are quite common in the Gubru genogroup. As a result, sexual politics are often quite complex among the genogroup's members. Complex sexual behavior is conducive to complex social behavior. The Gubru are just one of the more successful members of a genogroup with an unusual number of uplifts.
Like Earth avians, Gubru hatch from eggs. Hatchlings are helpless. Kinship genetics were very influential in the socio-biology of the proto-Gubru. Proto-Gubru lived in strong, cohesive kin-based flocks centered on one, to as many as twelve or thirteen, breeding triples. Shelter was the limiting factor for proto-Gubru reproduction. Adventurous mature, but pre-sexual, individuals would either seek a vacancy among a mature pair, or would migrate to the edges of the proto-Gubru range seeking a suitable nesting site(3).
The Gooksyu used existing proto-Gubru socio-biological patterns --especially a penchant for ritual. However, the Gooksyu kept the cells for Gubru sexual organs in reserve. The Uplift Plan called for cultural mediation of Gubru reproduction(4). In modern Gubru society, authorities still promote adults to arranged triples. Promoted individuals are provided with sex cells and some temporary hormone therapy.
Tradition dictates that Gubru authorities not directly intervene in the internal politics of a pre-adult Gubru triple. Relative dominance and emerging triadic roles act to determine the gender of each member of the triple. A molt sets the mature plumage for the partners, and is the first directly observable evidence of each member's sex. Once set, the sex of a Gubru will not change without extraordinary and Nontraditional intervention. The dominant partner will eventually have iridescent rose-colored plumage (see illustration). The rose sex bears the Gubru young and contributes 3/7ths of the Gubru's genetic complement. When adult, she will be the emotional center of the family and is stereotypically a nurturing caretaker who fosters family cohesion. "Rosies" are also frequently the final arbiters of overall family policy. Another member of the triple has plumage than is somewhat more amber than that of a Terragen Canary. Proto-Gubru goldens usually supervised a family's activities and internal resource distribution. In modern Gubru families goldens still tend to supervise a family's "domestic" economy --that can include several hundred grown Gubru. The other member of the triple has rich blue plumage. In proto-Gubru society blues usually saw to hunting and territorial display. Among uplifted Gubru, blues are associated with confrontation, risk taking, and activities that take them beyond the "shelter."
The reader will have noted that the normative division of Gubru society into three estates --Propriety and Tradition, Cost and Caution, and Beam and Talon --corresponds to dominant Gubru ideas about gender. The system of estates is, in fact, derived from a Gubru gender ideal. However, it should be noted that no mature Gubru conforms exactly to the gender ideal for ghits sex. This is particularly true of goldens and blues who each contribute 2/7ths of a Gubru genome and for whom sex is no more a predictor of role or behavior than it is for Terragens. Also, note that there is only a very slight correlation between a Gubru's estate and a Gubru's future sex. For example, a Gubru from cost and caution has a 47 per_128 chance of molting amber, a 40 per_128 chance of molting blue, and a 41 per_128 chance of molting rose.
1. By "sexual reproductive system" the author refers to any system whereby individual, embodied actors exchange genetic material. (The unitary case is by definition asexual.) Sexual exchange can be direct --in this case the genetic composition of each partner actually changes. However, the exchange is usually generational --children inherit genes from each parent.
2. It is necessary to qualify the level of a reproductive system's complexity because "polymorphic" or "intelligent" systems of sexual reproduction may also be stable and could out-compete simple stochastic sexual reproductive systems. However, "intelligent" sexual systems seldom or never occur without sapient engineering.
3. Unlike the proto-Gubru, a Gubru triple is incapable of incorporating a third member if one partner should be lost (barring Nontraditional technological intervention).
4. While discouraged by the GUI, tecno-cultural mediation of reproduction is Traditionally acceptable provided that (as in the case of the Gubru) the species' reproductive cycle could easily be rendered biologically inherent if needed or desired.
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