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[Knightly_BW]

ElitePinecone wrote...


I'm wary of entering the 43256375th incarnation of alien gender discussion in this thread, but biologically being (sexually) male isn't associated with testicular structure per se, at least how they appear in humans; it applies equally to any sort of gamete-producing fertilising organ-thingy. If an alien looked like an asari (with bewbs, even), sounded like a woman, but produced the fertilising gamete rather than the ovum-equivalent, it's male. Of course, that doesn't actually apply in the asari's case since they reproduce through telepathic space magic, but any alien that 'looks' female with male primary characteristics *is* male. 

This was mentioned before, but the very idea of "an all-male race" is... not possible, biologically. By definition anything that produces offspring (even by the asari's intricate methods) is female. An all-male race couldn't reproduce, and if one reproduces then they aren't 'all-male', and if they all reproduce then they aren't even male. 

Stuff like male pregnancy (O______O) is a misnomer, as soon as something is pregnant it's definitely not male. There's a confusion between the secondary sexual characteristics that *we* associate with being male (in terms of body size, voice, whatever), and the biological definition. 

If a hypothetical 'male asari' race looked, acted and sounded roughly like male humans, but still had some way to birth young (and they'd need to, in order to, you know, exist), they wouldn't be male. 

Hmmm my biology knowledge not what it used to be but I remember seahorse males give birth to offsprings. Yes, quick check to wiki confirms it... en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seahorse

As we are talking about fiction here it is doable. Maybe not like normal mammal birth (first one to spring into my mind at the moment: when matured above certain age, X aliens can create off springs in their abdomen pouch or something). However main problem is our perception on genders and gender roles. I don't like to discuss my own fiction ideas on net however I can tell you that much, one of my fantasy fiction races consist mostly gay males. It is opposite of bees or ants, that race has one male "king" who is able to reproduce, other males' duty is working for society (like worker ants) and serving their king's sexual needs during long and fragile pregnancy of females. I said mostly gay as while those worker males don't have sexual desire towards their females but their king, they can desire other races' males and females equally. Not nearly Asari but still counts I hope.

Anyway dragging thread back in topic:

Anyone knows how ME1 romances work? Do they need constant check on gender or it's one time thing like DA:O. With Equal Love mod you can start romance with Alistair. Once it's flagged it doesn't matter if you remove the mod. Everyone but Alistair sees you as male and Alistar prefer male conversations towards your warden other than romance specific ones.

[Frozen83]

Asperius wrote...

Hmmm my biology knowledge not what it used to be but I remember seahorse males give birth to offsprings. Yes, quick check to wiki confirms it... en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seahorse 

Right. But, seahorse male only carries eggs, seahorse female still produces egg cells. Seahorse males produce sperm cells and are "pregnant". Elite is right. If something produces egg cells it is female, if it produces sperm cells is male.

But in biology there is a concept known as "isogamy" (i think it is spelled like that). In that case, one individual produces "+" cells, and another "-" cells which are of the same size (and not different like large ovum and small sperm). Sexes are morphologically indistiguisable, and are named rather minus and plus. Some algae reproduce that way... Morphologically there isn't any difference between + and - algae, an there is no difference between + and - gametes in terms of size or whatever. M.

[Knightly_BW]

Frozen you just made my day.

I think at the end it all boils down to "wish" to make content. Asari created as sexy alien race for male gamers. If their target audience were gay gamers they would come up with different concept and ideas. Just like EDI's body or Ashley's new look or Miranda's awful outfit (why she still wears her Cerberus Agent suit while trying to hide from them is beyond me).

[Daashi]

Asperius wrote...

Frozen you just made my day.

I think at the end it all boils down to "wish" to make content. Asari created as sexy alien race for male gamers. If their target audience were gay gamers they would come up with different concept and ideas. Just like EDI's body or Ashley's new look or Miranda's awful outfit (why she still wears her Cerberus Agent suit while trying to hide from them is beyond me).

Miranda's catsuit is the exact same one as ME2, the idea behind that is the same as Tali's photo and the picture of the Stargazer epilogue, pure f***ing laziness (at least in my opinion). If they really tried they could have just done a simple re-colouring of her outfit (which is kind-of funny because one of EDI's outfits is nothing more than a simple re-colouring of Miranda's outfit).

[vernrev]

Daashi wrote...

Asperius wrote...

Frozen you just made my day.

I think at the end it all boils down to "wish" to make content. Asari created as sexy alien race for male gamers. If their target audience were gay gamers they would come up with different concept and ideas. Just like EDI's body or Ashley's new look or Miranda's awful outfit (why she still wears her Cerberus Agent suit while trying to hide from them is beyond me).

Miranda's catsuit is the exact same one as ME2, the idea behind that is the same as Tali's photo and the picture of the Stargazer epilogue, pure f***ing laziness (at least in my opinion). If they really tried they could have just done a simple re-colouring of her outfit (which is kind-of funny because one of EDI's outfits is nothing more than a simple re-colouring of Miranda's outfit).

Still, there are modders who take care of textures, provided you use texmod. Works as a solution to this problem, at least partially in terms of colours. 
Apparently, ME3 was done accordingly to EAs demands or requirements, therefore something had to be sacrificed. I'm not trying to justify anyone here. 
As far as gay gamers are concerned... maybe one could make a petition but then you need a clear goal plus many signatures there so that it could give any results, if any.

[Daashi]

vernrev wrote...

Daashi wrote...

Asperius wrote...

Frozen you just made my day.

I think at the end it all boils down to "wish" to make content. Asari created as sexy alien race for male gamers. If their target audience were gay gamers they would come up with different concept and ideas. Just like EDI's body or Ashley's new look or Miranda's awful outfit (why she still wears her Cerberus Agent suit while trying to hide from them is beyond me).

Miranda's catsuit is the exact same one as ME2, the idea behind that is the same as Tali's photo and the picture of the Stargazer epilogue, pure f***ing laziness (at least in my opinion). If they really tried they could have just done a simple re-colouring of her outfit (which is kind-of funny because one of EDI's outfits is nothing more than a simple re-colouring of Miranda's outfit).

Still, there are modders who take care of textures, provided you use texmod. Works as a solution to this problem, at least partially in terms of colours. 
Apparently, ME3 was done accordingly to EAs demands or requirements, therefore something had to be sacrificed. I'm not trying to justify anyone here. 
As far as gay gamers are concerned... maybe one could make a petition but then you need a clear goal plus many signatures there so that it could give any results, if any.

- Tali's photo, is a photoshoped free google image, a poorly photoshoped image at that; instead of showing her face when she took her mask off on Rannock.
- The image in the Stargazer epilogue is a free desktop wallpaper that has been floating on the net for years.
- Steve and Sam have character created features (I honestly think that sooner or later videos are going to uploaded with them in a romance with a Shepard that looks exactly like them under the name of "twin love" or something stupid like that).
- Steve and male Shepard have the same skin blemishes (the same number of blemishes in the exact same pattern).
- WTF happened with the journal? It worked perfectly in ME2, why did they feel the need to tweek it, the journal is broken in ME3. (Piece of advice to anyone, "if it ain't broke, don't fix it").
- The ending was the almost perfect copy of the ending of the original Deus Ex game with the 2001: A Space Oddyssey star child shoe-horned in.
-It is a known fact that EA will gladly ship any old crap out the door if people are honestly stupid enough to spend money on it. So claiming that it meet EA quality demands comes off as a joke. (And f***, I am so going to get banned for that.)

Modifié par Daashi, 02 avril 2012 - 04:06 .

[Quething]

You could have a species that reproduced in sort of a mirror fashion to the asari to create an "all-male species" effect. If they can't get pregnant or reproduce at all, but can impregnate any other species (through space magic of course) with a child of their own species, not only would that be largely considered "male," it would also produce a lot of the same cultural and social markers we associate with "male" (in a way that asari really *shouldn't* have "female" cultural and social markers but of course do).

It would raise unsettling implications about them as a pre-spaceflight species, of course, unless they had somehow evolved parallel to another sentient species on the same planet.

Oh and in other news, anyone else annoyed by Aethyta's use of the word "father"? It's just so... heteronormative and obnoxious, especially after Liara used "other parent" and "partner" in ME1. If the asari have a specific word for "non-child-bearing parent" it would be a gender-neutral one, and it would translate to a gender-neutral phrase in English (or whatever Shepard speaks), not a gendered one.

Modifié par Quething, 02 avril 2012 - 10:09 .

[Cuddlezarro]

nope not annoyed by Aethytas comment at all infact I loved her reaction to being called the other mother

[Abispa]

Quething wrote...

Oh and in other news, anyone else annoyed by Aethyta's use of the word "father"? It's just so... heteronormative and obnoxious, especially after Liara used "other parent" and "partner" in ME1. If the asari have a specific word for "non-child-bearing parent" it would be a gender-neutral one, and it would translate to a gender-neutral phrase in English (or whatever Shepard speaks), not a gendered one.

I look at Aethyta's use of "father" the same way Aria used "patriarch." It is a word that doesn't exist for her people, but she probably uses it when talking to other species that do have "fathers." It is a lot simpler to say "father" than having to explain, in detail, that she didn't give birth to her daughter, but was the one who procreated her in a fashion that doesn't require insemination.

You could argue that it is a change of established lore, but lore got thrown out when Bioware decided that a Liara and female Shepard couple is, in fact, a s/s relationship.

[vernrev]

Quething wrote...

You could have a species that reproduced in sort of a mirror fashion to the asari to create an "all-male species" effect. If they can't get pregnant or reproduce at all, but can impregnate any other species (through space magic of course) with a child of their own species, not only would that be largely considered "male," it would also produce a lot of the same cultural and social markers we associate with "male" (in a way that asari really *shouldn't* have "female" cultural and social markers but of course do).

It would raise unsettling implications about them as a pre-spaceflight species, of course, unless they had somehow evolved parallel to another sentient species on the same planet.

Oh and in other news, anyone else annoyed by Aethyta's use of the word "father"? It's just so... heteronormative and obnoxious, especially after Liara used "other parent" and "partner" in ME1. If the asari have a specific word for "non-child-bearing parent" it would be a gender-neutral one, and it would translate to a gender-neutral phrase in English (or whatever Shepard speaks), not a gendered one.

An all-male race... that sounds nice, yet indeed another race would have to live opposite it so that they could reproduce And their genes, of that male-only species, would have to be always dominant if the offspring would always be a male representative of that race. Or maybe they could reproduce like algae?

[Knightly_BW]

Did anyone notice any good looking male NPCs during ME2 or ME3? Other than squadmates or plot special NPCs (like TIM) of course. All of them were ugly or not good looking enough to have a place in my memory.

Anyway I finally find that remarkable NPC in ME1. The young soldier (I am bad with names, remember) who tells you about Asari Consort. More interesting thing about him is Kaidan. He asks young soldier if he went to see consort with a strange tone and glimmer in his eyes. It made me feel like he have a thing for that guy. Damn the lack of renegade interrupts, I need one right there to say Kaidan to back off. With red hair and inexperience he looks like a perfect thropy for my Shep's bedroom.

Matt's story now making sense. He was good friends with Kaidan in ME1. He could be more than friends however Kaidan was too formal with him so he didn't push anything further. Then when he saw a young soldier he had something to occupy him. He realized he really cares for Kaidan during Horizon confrontation and finally they come together on ME3. I guess Kaidan was too shy or not brave enough to face Matt until Mars incident. He saw he doesn't have much time to waste as death can claim anyone any minute. That lead to Citadel date where Kaidan finally open his heart to Matt. Shepard kinda surprised with that as he's used to see Kaidan as a friend. It didn't take much to rekindle old flame. Two finally come together and live happily ever after.

Modifié par Asperius, 03 avril 2012 - 06:45 .

[Daashi]

Asperius wrote...

Did anyone notice any good looking male NPCs during ME2 or ME3? Other than squadmates or plot special NPCs (like TIM) of course. All of them were ugly or not good looking enough to have a place in my memory. 

Generic, ident-a-kit characters are a easy way of saving space on the game. And you have to admit, that making attractive characters via character creation can be very hard (epsecially for the male characters, for some strange reason). My main Shep used to be a character created Shep, until I hit the ME2 face import, it was like man WTF happened, my Shep didn't look ugly, just mis-shapened, so I used Shepaloo rather than spend a god awful amount of time trying to recreate my Shep's original face.

[devSin]

Asperius wrote...

Anyway I finally find that remarkable NPC in ME1. The young soldier (I am bad with names, remember) who tells you about Asari Consort.

I don't remember appearance, but I think that one was Cam Clarke (Sky from Jade Empire, among others).

Asperius wrote...

More interesting thing about him is Kaidan. He asks young soldier if he went to see consort with a strange tone and glimmer in his eyes. It made me feel like he have a thing for that guy.

I think Kaidan is just a fiend for asari.

He'll comment in Chora's Den, he'll comment about Liara, and he can comment on Noveria (he won't if you take Liara with you, however, as her interjection takes precedence). And then in ME3 he does that nasty ardat-yakshi troll after the monastery.

[Biotic_Warlock]

Technically a man can be pregnant without being male

Anyone seen Aliens?

Also http://social.biowar...61/polls/31224/ disturbing.

Modifié par Biotic_Warlock, 03 avril 2012 - 08:35 .

[Knightly_BW]

Daashi wrote...

Asperius wrote...

Did anyone notice any good looking male NPCs during ME2 or ME3? Other than squadmates or plot special NPCs (like TIM) of course. All of them were ugly or not good looking enough to have a place in my memory. 

Generic, ident-a-kit characters are a easy way of saving space on the game. And you have to admit, that making attractive characters via character creation can be very hard (epsecially for the male characters, for some strange reason). My main Shep used to be a character created Shep, until I hit the ME2 face import, it was like man WTF happened, my Shep didn't look ugly, just mis-shapened, so I used Shepaloo rather than spend a god awful amount of time trying to recreate my Shep's original face.

Yeah this is why I fixed Matt's look while on Demo and saved his new face code. I could catch his main look (ME2 one) on ME1 easily. So far I can come up with 3 good looking males for ME3.

Most irritating thing about ME1 so far was Mako. Not driving it, it is easy but as they didn't put how to get out of it into key mapping I need to dig internet to learn.

It is unfortunate Ashley is very unlikeable, at least for me. She and Joker acts like jerks. She's very hostile towards Tali and Liara. Letting her die on Virmire will be easier than I imagined. Last night I did a terrible mistake and talked with Joker.... ugh! Why Shepard runs back to save him and get spaced at ME2 opening? That guy doesn't worth it. On top of everything TIM brings him back and nightmare continues. My golden tip to my friends who will play ME series would be avoiding talking with Joker at any cost.

[Biotic_Warlock]

Also http://social.biowar...459/19#10937967

*krogan charge*

[Knightly_BW]

devSin wrote...

Asperius wrote...

Anyway I finally find that remarkable NPC in ME1. The young soldier (I am bad with names, remember) who tells you about Asari Consort.

I don't remember appearance, but I think that one was Cam Clarke (Sky from Jade Empire, among others).

Asperius wrote...

More interesting thing about him is Kaidan. He asks young soldier if he went to see consort with a strange tone and glimmer in his eyes. It made me feel like he have a thing for that guy.

I think Kaidan is just a fiend for asari.

He'll comment in Chora's Den, he'll comment about Liara, and he can comment on Noveria (he won't if you take Liara with you, however, as her interjection takes precedence). And then in ME3 he does that nasty ardat-yakshi troll after the monastery.

I didn't hear any comment from Kaidan in Chora's Den other than "I don't like crowds". Also I meant to say Kaidan has a thing for young soldier not Consort. That is the only place in game I get gay vibes from him. Every other conversation or comment feels like he is just a regular guy you can't guess his real orientation but can assume he is straight. Rahna only thing  he talks about but he was too young at that time, many gay guys (including myself who knew he has a thing for guys from very ealry age) shows interest in females at those ages. So at least for my main's run, Kaidan seems like gay to me. Of course I am telling this by taking his ME3 conversation into account.

[devSin]

Asperius wrote...

I didn't hear any comment from Kaidan in Chora's Den other than "I don't like crowds". Also I meant to say Kaidan has a thing for young soldier not Consort. That is the only place in game I get gay vibes from him. Every other conversation or comment feels like he is just a regular guy you can't guess his real orientation but can assume he is straight. Rahna only thing  he talks about but he was too young at that time, many gay guys (including myself who knew he has a thing for guys from very ealry age) shows interest in females at those ages. So at least for my main's run, Kaidan seems like gay to me. Of course I am telling this by taking his ME3 conversation into account.

I know what you were referring to, and I was disputing the assertion. I think it's his intrigue over the sexy asari consort, not any interest in the private or whatever he was.

If you go into Chora's Den with Ashley and talk to him, he'll mention that the place has quite the "view" (and Ashley will tell him to put his tongue back in his mouth or something). He's clearly talking about the asari shaking their stuff up on the bar.

When you talk to him about Liara, he gets a little gushy (if you ask him if he has any intentions, he'll say it's just "art appreciation"; I don't remember what he says if you try to fight him off).

If he chimes in on Lorik's dialogue on Noveria, he has a funky thing about asari fetish porn or something on the extranet (I never got that one, since I always have Liara).

Then in ME3, after the monastery, he has a comment about the ardat-yakshi and it's a good thing he didn't go down there before or run into one earlier or something (it seems to clearly imply that he would have had sex and been killed by them).

The only other overtly heterosexual thing he says that I can recall is the comment about EDI's body (yeah, the bot that almost killed him, and now he's checking her out).

Modifié par devSin, 03 avril 2012 - 09:04 .

[Daashi]

Asperius wrote...

It is unfortunate Ashley is very unlikeable, at least for me. She and Joker acts like jerks. She's very hostile towards Tali and Liara. Letting her die on Virmire will be easier than I imagined. Last night I did a terrible mistake and talked with Joker.... ugh! Why Shepard runs back to save him and get spaced at ME2 opening? That guy doesn't worth it. On top of everything TIM brings him back and nightmare continues. My golden tip to my friends who will play ME series would be avoiding talking with Joker at any cost.

Ah Ashley, our friendly neighbourhood space racist. People keep on telling me that she isn't racist, just pro-human. If there is a distinction (which I don't think there is), it wasn't conveyed very well. The only ME playthrough I felt bad about was the one where she lived.

It seems like Joker is one of those characters that you either love or hate. I personally loved Joker, but I can understand why people might hate him. I love Joker because he tended to say the type of things that I am thinking.

[Knightly_BW]

devSin wrote...

Asperius wrote...

I didn't hear any comment from Kaidan in Chora's Den other than "I don't like crowds". Also I meant to say Kaidan has a thing for young soldier not Consort. That is the only place in game I get gay vibes from him. Every other conversation or comment feels like he is just a regular guy you can't guess his real orientation but can assume he is straight. Rahna only thing  he talks about but he was too young at that time, many gay guys (including myself who knew he has a thing for guys from very ealry age) shows interest in females at those ages. So at least for my main's run, Kaidan seems like gay to me. Of course I am telling this by taking his ME3 conversation into account.

I know what you were referring to, and I was disputing the assertion. I think it's his intrigue over the sexy asari consort, not any interest in the private or whatever he was.

If you go into Chora's Den with Ashley and talk to him, he'll mention that the place has quite the "view" (and Ashley will tell him to put his tongue back in his mouth or something). He's clearly talking about the asari shaking their stuff up on the bar.

When you talk to him about Liara, he gets a little gushy (if you ask him if he has any intentions, he'll say it's just "art appreciation"; I don't remember what he says if you try to fight him off).

If he chimes in on Lorik's dialogue on Noveria, he has a funky thing about asari fetish porn or something on the extranet (I never got that one, since I always have Liara).

Then in ME3, after the monastery, he has a comment about the ardat-yakshi and it's a good thing he didn't go down there before or run into one earlier or something (it seems to clearly imply that he would have had sex and been killed by them).

The only other overtly heterosexual thing he says that I can recall is the comment about EDI's body (yeah, the bot that almost killed him, and now he's checking her out).

Ah I didn't come across that comment yet. Still need to play with Liara on Normandy more.

As for EDI reference I always thought it is normal reaction instead of sexual one. I also think she looks hot. Like many Asari in game. For me hotest females in game are all Asari. Would I have sex with one? Out of curiosity yes. Never have sex with a human female tho'. I guess I see myself in Kaidan a bit. That can be the reason why I like his character (even without romance) that much.

Hmm I wonder if Aria would join Kaidan and Matt on Normandy. She probably would eat us alive tho'.

[Knightly_BW]

Daashi wrote...

Asperius wrote...

It is unfortunate Ashley is very unlikeable, at least for me. She and Joker acts like jerks. She's very hostile towards Tali and Liara. Letting her die on Virmire will be easier than I imagined. Last night I did a terrible mistake and talked with Joker.... ugh! Why Shepard runs back to save him and get spaced at ME2 opening? That guy doesn't worth it. On top of everything TIM brings him back and nightmare continues. My golden tip to my friends who will play ME series would be avoiding talking with Joker at any cost.

Ah Ashley, our friendly neighbourhood space racist. People keep on telling me that she isn't racist, just pro-human. If there is a distinction (which I don't think there is), it wasn't conveyed very well. The only ME playthrough I felt bad about was the one where she lived.

It seems like Joker is one of those characters that you either love or hate. I personally loved Joker, but I can understand why people might hate him. I love Joker because he tended to say the type of things that I am thinking.

Racist? I don't think so. So far in ME1 I never see her act harshly to Wrex, Garrus or any male alien. She reminds me of a wolf **** that trying to mark her territory. She wants Shepard all for herself. After she step in Normandy first time, before heading Citadel, she keeps yelling to Shepard everytime you pass her by. Do I blame her? Nope. If Shep would hug me like he did to her while rescuing her from beacon, I would be all over the guy.

However it can be due I let her rot in Normandy after getting Garrus. My team mostly Kaidan and Garrus/Wrex. I love poking Kaidan on ME1 also. His comments on Noveria make me smile everytime (the one he mentions his mother and I think I have snow in my boot one).

[Quething]

She's not racist. She is prejudiced, but she gets over it - quickly and thoroughly if you romance her and Paragon her, but even if you don't she still does eventually. She becomes good friends with Liara, Tali and Garrus and seems to have at least a friendly companionship with Wrex. She treats the salarians on Virmire as peers from the start. She can even be the one who tells you to save the Destiny Ascension at the cost of human lives. She's suspicious of... well, everyone, human and alien alike, but that's just the Williams thing coming out, not racism. And she cares deeply and loyally about Shepard regardless of gender or romance status, which, yeah, can make her say stupid sh*t occasionally - that's part of her charm, she lives in the moment and says what she's thinking with no censor, gets angry quickly and gets over it just as quickly. It's a neat contrast with Kaidan, who overthinks everything and rolls things around for ages trying to process them.

Joker is cool in ME1. He's a total douche in 3, though. Too much Seth Green improv, I suspect, though 3 in general is much more... dudebro-y than 1 or even 2 managed to be (everything to do with EDI and her Sexy Robot Body for example, Vega's oppressive sexual harassment, Allers....)

[Daashi]

Asperius wrote...

Racist? I don't think so. So far in ME1 I never see her act harshly to Wrex, Garrus or any male alien. She reminds me of a wolf **** that trying to mark her territory. She wants Shepard all for herself. After she step in Normandy first time, before heading Citadel, she keeps yelling to Shepard everytime you pass her by. Do I blame her? Nope. If Shep would hug me like he did to her while rescuing her from beacon, I would be all over the guy.

However it can be due I let her rot in Normandy after getting Garrus. My team mostly Kaidan and Garrus/Wrex. I love poking Kaidan on ME1 also. His comments on Noveria make me smile everytime (the one he mentions his mother and I think I have snow in my boot one).

If anything your excuse/explaination of Ash's behaviour kind of upsets me. Women who turn into nasty b****es who act like a dog in heat whenever they meet a guy they like are one of my pet peeves. If the only way I could turn a guy's head was to be a total b**** to all the other women around me, I wouldn't want to date that guy. And if a woman thinks that the only way to get a guy to notice her is to be a total b**** and any and all women who cross her path, I honestly think she isn't worth knowing.

And how can you hate Joker for not being a professional and yet you think it is "cute" when Ash is being unprofessional because she is interested in Shep.

Also Ash is mean to Tali and Liara reguardless of the gender of your Shepard. Quarians are used to be discriminated against (as shown in ME2 & 3) also Liara is shy and socially awkard, both being the perfect targets for bullies. Meanwhile Garrus and Wrex wouldn't tolerate that kind of BS if Ash decided to bully them (and yes I viewed Ash's behaviour as bullying).

[ElitePinecone]

Quething wrote...

You could have a species that reproduced in sort of a mirror fashion to the asari to create an "all-male species" effect. If they can't get pregnant or reproduce at all, but can impregnate any other species (through space magic of course) with a child of their own species, not only would that be largely considered "male," it would also produce a lot of the same cultural and social markers we associate with "male" (in a way that asari really *shouldn't* have "female" cultural and social markers but of course do).

It would raise unsettling implications about them as a pre-spaceflight species, of course, unless they had somehow evolved parallel to another sentient species on the same planet.

Oh and in other news, anyone else annoyed by Aethyta's use of the word "father"? It's just so... heteronormative and obnoxious, especially after Liara used "other parent" and "partner" in ME1. If the asari have a specific word for "non-child-bearing parent" it would be a gender-neutral one, and it would translate to a gender-neutral phrase in English (or whatever Shepard speaks), not a gendered one.

They'd technically be classed as viruses, I think  

If they can't reproduce naturally and *require* another species, it'd be a sort of parasitic/symbiotic relationship, depending on the nature. We'd have to assume both species are widespread, since it'd be such a fundamental part of both cultures (or one, if only one were sentient). An interesting thought experiment though. 

(And of course, it'd be just as easy to make an alien race - like the salarians - that have 90% male members due to some quirk of biology, though I'm a little uncomfortable with applying human behaviour to that. I think Bioware actually had an interesting thing going, in terms of salarian mating and trading influence between families given that there was no natural sex drive.)

I thought Aethyta's conversations were really clever, if anything she tells Shepard off for assuming (like an anthropocentric dick) that there'd necessarily be human-esque gender roles in asari families. 

It's also worth pointing out that the asari word for 'partner who birthed the child' versus 'partner who didn't birth the child' might just translate to the rough human 'mother' and 'father', purely for ease of translation (or maybe, y'know, because the writers wanted it that way) and has no actual bearing on the roles of those parents in raising the child. 

It's not worth over-analysing flavour text. 

[Daashi]

ElitePinecone wrote...

[It's also worth pointing out that the asari word for 'partner who birthed the child' versus 'partner who didn't birth the child' might just translate to the rough human 'mother' and 'father', purely for ease of translation (or maybe, y'know, because the writers wanted it that way) and has no actual bearing on the roles of those parents in raising the child. 

Actually it is established, not in-game canon, but established by the writers. That everyone speaks their native tongue and everyone has a translation VI built into their onmi-tools as basic software. So the word "mother" and "father" would be how it is being translated into english (or whatever language your Shepard speaks) and Aethyta's less than charming wording is her trying to press across what she was saying in her own language.

Which I always saw as a charming little nod to what is being referred to as "the babelfish", look just because they are speaking the same language, they are not actually speaking the same language kind-of wink wink nudge nudge thing.