Gender and sexuality in Tyria

Gender and sexuality plays a significant role in most advanced species' presence on Tyria.

Heterosexual relationships with others of the same race are the predominant relationships seen within most Tyrian societies. However, while it is less commonly seen outside of the sylvari, same-sex relationships do occur and are generally accepted by most Tyrians. Interspecies relationships are also formed occasionally, though it is unclear how acceptable these are considered to be; for example, Snargle Goldclaw claims that such relationships are controversial, yet his books—which heavily feature them—seem to be quite popular.

Although gender variance appears to be rare, transgender and non-binary individuals do exist in Tyria, and while there is little evidence on how widely accepted this is, it does not appear to be particularly controversial. Transgender and non-binary individuals that are currently present are referred to with the correct pronouns, and their identities are not questioned or scrutinized by others—giving the impression that these differences are not condemned within Tyrian society but instead considered unremarkable.

Most races appear to view men and women as equals, though there are some exceptions to this.

Playable races

Asura

Asura typically practice serial monogamy, entering romantic relationships with only one other asura at a time. Most of these relationships are equal partnerships that often (but not always) have a pre-determined end date. Often these relationships are the result of two asura who fall in love with the same beautiful concept. These marriages of the mind produce rapid development of ideas, increased conceptual paradigms as well as children. Relationships that break up tend to feature more fights about who gets the inventions than who gets custody over the progeny.

Charr

Early warbands included both male and female charr in their ranks. However, views on the roles females should take in charr society changed when Bathea Havocbringer questioned the teachings of the High Legions' shaman caste who, guided by the Flame Legion's shamans, had begun converting charr to worship the titans in order to have an advantage over the magically powerful humans in the human-charr conflict. Bathea was sacrificed to the titans for her disobedience to the new order, and the shamans decreed that all female charr of her legion—and by extension all female charr—were removed from warbands and armies and reduced to performing utility tasks at home in the cities, now seen as seducing male charr and distracting them from the purity of faith.

Centuries passed until another female charr, Kalla Scorchrazor, questioned the old beliefs during the rebellion against the Flame Legion. After earning the support of the Blood Legion and besting the Iron Legion's Imperator Forge Ironstrike in a duel to prove that female charr were just as capable warriors as male ones, she convinced Forge as well as the Ash Legion to allow their female charr to fight alongside male charr on the Plains of Golghein. Because the Flame Legion had left their female charr home, they were outnumbered by the combined force of male and female charr from the rest of the legions. Since the victory on Golghein, Ash, Blood and Iron Legions have treated both male and female charr equally.

The Flame Legion has continued oppressing female charr up to the present day. At least some shamans are known to send disobeying ones to breeding farms. One of the rescued slaves has reportedly suffered from traumatic abuse involving drugs that lasted for years and stripped her of her memories and identity, turning her feral until she was rehabilitated and given a new identity among her liberators. Despite the Flame Legion's oppression of female charr, a more benevolent splinter group led by Efram Greetsglory has risen and allowed them to become soldiers since Flame Imperator Gaheron Baelfire's demise in 1325 AE. The other legions' female charr view the Flame Legion's liberated ones with disdain and pity.

Due to the tradition of leaving cubs to be raised in the communal fahrar after weaning, female charr of the High Legions are free to pursue other duties. In contrast, the remote Olmakhan tribe of charr in Elona has abolished the fahrar system and instead raises cubs as tight family units within their community where both male and female charr have equal roles as leaders, warriors and scholars.

Human

Men and women in the Tyrian and Elonian nations have generally held equal roles in their respective societies with many known rulers, warriors and magic users of both genders throughout the centuries, for example the Primeval Dynasty and the Orrian Dynasty. During King Palawa Joko's latest reign, several humans of both sexes were offered as betrothal gifts to Joko's harem. The betrothed were either given willingly to please the king and earn his favor, were forced to the harem as tribute from communities that were so poor that they had nothing else to give, or were captives who were sold to the harem for gems.

In contrast, Cantha practiced agnatic primogeniture as its succession law, and the emperors historically had several concubines. Only one known empress consort had ever been mentioned as a strong leader figure in the empire's history until the reign of the first empress regnant Haebaragi. In modern day Cantha Ihn is the second empress regnant. The Kurzicks and the Luxons had both men and women in positions of power. During Shiro Tagachi's return, the captains of the three Luxon armadas were all women, which was unprecedented in Luxon history up to that point.

Norn

Historically, the norn have only considered marriages between equals to be valid. They have allowed for interspecies relationships, though these are uncommon due to them not considering anyone from another race to be their equal.

The Sons of Svanir view many norn men—as well as men and women of other species—too weak in mind, heart and body to be worthy to join the Elder Dragon Jormag's cause.. Norn women are not allowed to join the cult because of Jora's "crimes" against her brother Svanir and Jormag. Despite this, an increasing number of norn women have argued for being included in the cult after hearing the Elder Dragon's call, and Jormag has shown no preference towards converting men over women despite the Sons' claims. The Sons of Svanir will go to extreme lengths to deny women what they view as Jormag's gift, and kill any female icebrood they can find, which explains why so few female icebrood are ever seen south of the Far Shiverpeaks.^{[verification requested]}

Unlike the Sons of Svanir, the rest of the norn view both men and women as equals. Both sexes can rise to prominent positions within their communities as they are judged by their respective heroic feats, strength, cunning, spiritualism, and their potential legendary bloodline. Norn fathers and mothers decide which of them raises their children while the other norn leaves the homestead to build their legend. Some individuals have been known to dislike this tradition such as when the Pact Commander criticized Eir Stegalkin for leaving her son Braham Eirsson rather than supporting him through his childhood.

Sylvari

Sylvari superficially resemble humans, being granted a gender by the Pale Tree while still in their pods, but cannot reproduce. However, they can still mate and have sex and there are records of sylvari, such as Cydwenn, who feel a parental instinct and decide to adopt children of other races. To the sylvari, sex and gender are as inconsequential as hair color, and they find other races' adherence to gender roles somewhat bemusing. Sylvari are by nature attracted to people who inspire them, regardless of gender.

Other races

While not all species display sexual dimorphism, nearly all species at present have two sexes, male and female. It is unclear if there are exceptions to this, such as among the "genderless" Seers, or Elder Dragons, whose physiology and psychology is a subject of ongoing research among asuran scholars. Elder Dragons are able to reproduce, but it is unknown whether a partner is required. There are indications that Elder Dragons have gender identities—Aurene telepathically communicated a pronoun to the Pact Commander shortly after her birth—but the extent to which this actually reflects Elder Dragon gender, as opposed to being an attempt to translate their alien nature into language the mortal races can understand, is also unknown; Jormag in particular is known not to identify with any gender, preferring to be perceived in whatever manner best seduces their victims to their side.

Gender roles among the races of Tyria are wide and varied. Some races, such as the jotun and war-mongering centaur tribes, traditionally regard men as protectors and women as childrearers—though in recent years centaur society has begun to shift, recruiting female soldiers as the war drains their resources. Harpies have a matriarchal society, with male harpies rarely being seen outside their nests, and are known to occasionally abduct males of other species. However, one Elonian flock offered a female harpy as a betrothal gift to Palawa Joko's harem in exchange for permission to live in his territory—an odd choice, given Joko's lack of pickiness. Most other races regard men and women as equals in their society, with either gender being capable of taking on any role.[citation needed] The dredge's alliance with Flame Legion has alarmed some female dredge, who have warned against the adoption of Flame's antifemale policies.

Notable characters

Major characters

• Caithe & Faolain — formerly in a same-sex relationship
• Jormag — does not identify with any gender and prefers to allow their victims to perceive them in whatever manner will seduce them to Jormag's side
• Kasmeer Meade & Marjory Delaqua — same-sex relationship
• Palawa Joko — keeps concubines of several species and genders

Others

• Aid Worker Sya — is transgender
• Ailean — same-sex marriage
• Aristocrat in The Scenic Route — same-sex marriage, tells the Pact Commander about his husband's interests in current events
• Aysha — in a same-sex relationship
• Bothain & Orla — cross-species relationship prior to Orla's death
• Cadell & Nerys — same-sex relationship
• Cymbel & Nia — probable same-sex relationship
• Dagdar & Eladus — in a same-sex relationship
• Dalnim & Yuhwa — in a same-sex relationship
• Eladaar & Ysri — same-sex marriage prior to Ysri's death; had a son
• Exiffa — in a same-sex relationship
• Fronis Darkstone — formerly in a same-sex relationship before her partner was killed by the Flame Legion
• Guiding Star — referred to with gender-neutral language
• Haeldra Longstride & Sera Longstride — same-sex, cross-species relationship
• Mako & Aya — an unsent letter in Mako's diary is addressed to Aya; an engaged woman from different circumstances who she is in love with, and who she believes returns those feelings
• Kestrel Ariana — shows interest in the Pact Commander regardless of race or gender
• Myrun Skialkin — is non-binary
• Nadim — male Sunspear attracted to Koss
• Nicholas & Yngvild — cross-species relationship
• Nobles at the Garden of Seborhin — the gender of the partner they are looking for is randomized
• Norn Savage — refers to "Roy" as his partner, though it's unclear if this is meant in a romantic sense
• Novice Bengtsson — is in love with Beg, another male norn that he has written poetry about
• Olmakhan Villagers in Atholma — two villagers express attraction to charr Pact Commander regardless of gender
• Priory Scholar in Pact Vanguard — in a same-sex relationship
• Repair Chief Mozu — consistently referred to with gender-neutral language
• Snargle Goldclaw — most of his books feature same-sex and/or interspecies relationships, and he expresses attraction to the Pact Commander regardless of gender or species
• Tateo — consistently referred to with gender-neutral language
• Theo Ashford & Quinn Ashford — same-sex marriage prior to Theo's death; have a son
• Thoorne — expresses attraction to the Pact Commander regardless of gender or species
• Vanak Faithwalker — consistently referred to with gender-neutral language
• Veteran Sergei — formerly in a same-sex relationship before his partner, Oleg, was Branded
• Wjerd Bladeborn — is affectionate towards Fibharr Ygosson
• Yao — is non-binary and thinks the Commander is "cute" and a "keeper" regardless of species or gender.
• Zohaqan — a djinn that fled to Sandswept Isles to live with his same-sex human partner Nakis

Notes

• ArenaNet's stance on the canonicity of LGBT player characters is: "It is totally cool to roleplay an LGBTQA character, regardless of their species. [...] You're free to create the character you want, and you're not obligated to incorporate prejudice into their backstory if that's not something you want to explore."
• No interspecies pairing is known to have ever resulted in biological children.
• The Kestrels organization within Cantha allows a choice of feminine, masculine and non-binary disguises when helping them infiltrate the Jade Brotherhood and Speakers camps. A few members of this organization are referred to consistently with exclusively gender-neutral language.

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Lore

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Living World Season 1 • Living World Season 2 • Heart of Thorns story • Living World Season 3 • Path of Fire story • Living World Season 4 • The Icebrood Saga • End of Dragons story • Secrets of the Obscure story • Janthir Wilds

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Documents

The Movement of the World • The Ecology of the Charr • Cultural Diffusion in Contemporary Kryta • Aetherblade Pirates: Look up! • A Message from Queen Jennah • The Trek of the Zephyrites • Lionguard Security Force • Scarlet's Dossier • The Mordrem Guard • An Interview with Queen Jennah • Road to the Desert • Designing the Canthan Written Language

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Mr. Sparkles, A Tale of the Asura • Braham's Story • Rox's Tale
Welcome to Paradise • Canach's Story: An After-Hours Meeting • Marjory's Story: The Last Straw • Evon Gnashblade Disembarks • A Shipwreck: How Ellen Met Magnus • Delegation • What Scarlet Saw • Shadowbox • Twilight Preparations • The Family Business • The Reaper's Bounty • Notes from Rata Novus • Tyrian Travels (Chapters One, Two, Three, Four, Five, Six) • Requiem (Rytlock • Zafirah • Caithe)

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