Gender

Gender is an aspect of identity defined by an individual's physical characteristics in relation to concepts of gender established on a societal level. In part because of the biological diversity present among the sentient peoples of Corvidan, gender expectations are loosely defined based on subjective experience rather than a strict gender binary. Still, the biological fact of sexual dimorphism is undeniable, and many Corvidans do derive personal meaning from the gendered traits they possess. Some take gender into account when choosing a romantic or sexual partner, although there is no assumption of a person's sexuality based on their outward appearance.

The Corvidan language does not have a word exactly corresponding to "gender" or "sex"; the closest equivalent, JUA, encompasses all aspects of self-identity and personal expression. Three words exist to categorize gender identity in Corvidan:

HIAS: "Woman", literally translating to "carrying (child) person", describes persons with estrogen-dominant physiology, who are capable of producing eggs, and/or who choose to self-identify as female, regardless of their biological characteristics.
HOAS: "Man", literally translating to "giving (child) person", describes persons with testosterone-dominant physiology, who are capable of producing sperm, and/or who choose to self-identify as male, regardless of their biological characteristics.
KOAS: "Nonbinary", literally translating to "third person", describes persons who do not fall into the above two categories for any reason.

Corvidan does not conjugate parts of speech by gender, so an interlocutor's gender is not made apparent by their choice of words. A person can choose to refer to themselves with gendered terms, but those terms are not grammaticalized and are not a mandatory aspect of language. A person who wishes to express a more unique gender experience can do so by creating neologisms that more accurately descibe their identity. For ease of comprehension, this wiki uses "he", "she", and "they" pronouns to refer to persons identifying with the aforementioned three main gender groups.