Uh oh, if Tsoo's use of the net catches on there could be trouble! Society would be very different if everyone were hermaphrodites wouldn't it? Probably not as much fun though ;)

"Even the former humans like Hihn are just incorrigible!" - what's the story behind Hihn?

Glad you liked the story!

Scavenged nets and other containers are only really used by the koh on long voyages through empty sections of open ocean. So probably won’t catch on for a pod like Tsoo’s, who stay on their reef year-round, and can basically hunt their fill of fish on demand.

Koh only remain hermaphrodites while single. Pairs of koh in a relationship find one of them becoming fully male, and the other fully female. Quite a myriad of superstitions, rituals, and stigmas have resulted from this. Like divination to discover who is destined to become which sex. Or a contest like racing, breaching, or wrestling to determine who gets to be the male (usually, but not always, that’s the role that’s competed for).

Hihn was a Canadian welder named Justin. He worked on a merchant shipping vessel before it was capsized and sunk far out at sea by an incompetent chief engineer. Justin and a few other crew mates were rescued by Tsoo along with their fellow koh, and brought to the rocky pacific reef where Tsoo’s pod lived. The story of how exactly they were transformed into Koh, and how Justin became Hihn is something I might write about in the future.

Ah I see, thanks! And yes, interesting setting!

And wow humanity has enough confusion about gender as it is, at least we're born that way and its not selected later in life, do the rituals have any effect or is it random?

I hope you write Hihn's story I for one would like to read it, I assume he's hermaphrodite at the moment, how does he feel about that and a potential sex-change in his future?

It’s kind of both. The sexes of the partners are chosen once a consistent dynamic emerges in their relationship, with one partner sticking to a more feminine or masculine role than the other. The nuances between these differences can be very subtle however, as both partners may compete for one role. Like when both partners are doing something masculine, like going out hunting together. Rather than one of them staying behind and doing a more domestic task, while the other hunts. When both are competing for being more masculine, the subtle nuances deciding their roles really could make it seem random who becomes the female. However, following rituals and contests creates more certain outcomes. Because when a koh resigns themselves to act in the male or female role they’re ‘destined’ to, it results in a self-fulfilling prophecy.

During this point in the story, he’s indeed still a hermaphrodite. Like with his change in species, his shifting sex and identity has been a consistent source of distress. I don’t wanna go too in-depth about his story though, as I don’t wanna spoil it before I even write it.

But still, thank you for showing so much interest! This species is heavily inspired by this similar mermaid species another furaffinity member created. I forgot the user’s name, but the species was the ‘qua’ I think. This user, their stories, art, and everything was scrubbed from the internet years ago. So you can’t find it anymore. But it’s always stuck with me as my favorite incarnation of the mermaid species, so I can’t help but take a bunch of stuff from them lol. I’ve got one story about this species saved, called Taken By Tides. It’s very similar to the story I’m thinking about writing.

That would certainly change social dynamics, how is it looked upon if someone wants to be female, whether openly or perhaps more subtly? These are interesting subjects and I do like the whole species and sex change thing, I suspect the latter would be more difficult to come to terms with than the former, there's just so much tied into it.

And that's a pity but a problem with internet in general, anyway you know the saying, good artists borrow, great artists steal ;) This is why I save everything of interest I come across!

The other comment reminded me of how relationships might have worked in The Left Hand of Darkness.

It's tricky to describe a lot of things about a new type of race or species when you're only working with 365 words...

I’ve never heard of that book before. Just looked it up and it sounds like a neat premise.

You’ve also got a point about trying to describe a new species in so few words. If i write something else featuring the koh, I’ll do my best to describe what they really look like.