Vakama

Veiamic Gender Concepts

Veiamic people view the body as transient. A person's true self is their panai, and the body that panai inhabits is merely a vessel. Panai can leave their body to walk through dreams, or be placed in a wholly different body via magic without affecting their identity.

Gender is an aspect of the panai and is not defined by the body, and some panai don't have a distinctly male or female gender at all. Although most male panai go to a body with a penis, and most female panai do not, this isn't always the case. No one really knows why. These people are called vakama, (unexpected), in contrast to kama (expected).

Vakama

Boys and girls are raised the same, with the same children's clothing, same chores, and same neutral child pronouns. When they enter adolescence at age 9, they start to use gendered pronouns and clothing. It is assumed that children will take on the role expected of their body's appearance and some parents don't bother to ask if the child doesn't say otherwise, but there is always the chance that a child will be vakama, unexpected, and ask for something else.

Adolescence - the period between 9 and 18 - is the time for figuring oneself out. If there is any doubt, the appearance of a child's tausai usually clears things up, especially if it takes the form of an animal with readily appearance sexual dimorphism, as a tausai and panai always have the same gender. Because tausai appear around puberty and usually answer any doubt about gender, it's very uncommon to have any doubt about gender after that age. Neutral people, who don't have hard and fast rules about what their tausai is, are the main exception, but even they are expect to have figured it out by 18.

By the time one enters adulthood at the age of 18, they are expected to be settled into their gender roles. Declaring yourself as vakama as an adult is uncommon, and those who do are looked upon as being a little dim or basic for taking so long to figure it out or failing to think about it when they were young.

Intervention

Most Baisc

Most vakama people cannot afford magical intervention. Some are happy to merely live in their proper gender role with no physical changes, and others seek out whatever they can - such as the urine of pregnant mares for its feminizing effects.

Simple Magical Options

At the upper middle class, magical interventions become accessible. This often comes in the form of surgically removing testicles or breasts, which are both very dangerous surgeries without magical healing (and anaesthesia!) available.

Even more expensive is long-term, ongoing magical treatment to compel the body to produce the correct hormones. If they are at all skilled, most people try to learn to perform the spell themselves to save time and money on weekly appointments.

Illusion

A usually short-term option is illusion. This is more common in Karuvian culture, where charm magic is more common, but practitioners can be found elsewhere as well.

An illusion, which lasts only only until a person falls asleep, can give someone any appearance they wish without changing how they physically feel in their body.

Body-Swap

The most exclusive forms of magic for vakama people are transformation and body switching. Both of these arts are only practised by the most experienced and talented of chanters, and even a small mistake could have devastating consequences.

In a body switch, the musician takes the panai out of one person and places it permanently in another. Two willing participants are needed for this spell - usually a man and a woman who have agreed to swap bodies.

Transformation

A transformation is the most advanced and rare magical intervention. The chanter alters the physical body, changing it to however they please. This is the same magic that can be used to turn a human into an animal. When done correctly, the result is indistinguishable from a kama person.

When done incorrectly, the result could be anything from improperly functioning sexual organs to complete mutation into a shape that barely resembles a human. The difficulty of finding a chanter skilled enough to perform a transformation - and the fear of what could go wrong if the musician isn't as talented as they claim - is why this is an uncommon choice even for those who can afford it.