Single-Gender Races

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I would mention the Asari from Mass Effect. They are a single gender female race which reproduces trough telepathic triggers; also, can mate with any race of any gender.

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[ericthered]

Originally Posted by SilvercatMoonpaw

Five if you include a race that gets its new members via an outside source.

Vampires only have one gender!

Originally Posted by vicky_molokh

Why does it work better? Is there something wrong with the single-sex species of male-only clams which lives in one of our oceans?

Ok, those are weird clams. Well worth mentioning and making me look up.


It should be noted that those clams are technically hermaphrodites, and they do produce eggs. However, their sperm can only be described as parasitic. It gets rid of the egg dna somehow, even with its own species, and related species of clams get hijacked as well. The advantage of hijacking other species reproductive cycle should be obvious. They are also freshwater clams, FYI.

[SilvercatMoonpaw]

Originally Posted by ericthered

However, their sperm can only be described as parasitic. It gets rid of the egg dna somehow, even with its own species, and related species of clams get hijacked as well.

Wasn't what I was going for in my post.

[lwcamp]

Originally Posted by AlexanderHowl

One of the staples of speculative fiction is the single-gender race. Now, single-gender species do exist in nature, they generally reproduce by parthenogenesis (though some have more exotic forms of reproduction), and a number of them actually mate with males from outside of their species because they require sperm to trigger their parthenogenesis reproduction. While there are no known mammalian single-gender species, it is not impossible, and a single-gender sapient species could evolve under unusual circumstances (or be the result of genetic engineering).

There are mammals which are temporarily single gendered. Daysurid marsupials in the genera Antechinus, Pseudantechinus, and Phascogale have males which go into a sexual frenzy at the end of their one-year life span, mate with as many females as they can as their bodies are literally falling apart, and then die. This leaves all surviving members of the species as females, until they give birth from the previous season's sex-crazed orgy. The pups mature and the cycle repeats.

Luke

[Phantasm]

The Genefels in my space opera setting are single-gender, being essentially SPANCs. They are exclusively female, genetically engineered from human and feline stock for "entertainment" purposes, and require human males to reproduce. There are no male Genefels.

[Varyon]

I've got two.

The first is from an old fantasy setting I created, and is roughly a type II (breed with another race, but produce children only of your own race). They have the unimaginative name of succubus, and are beautiful women with bat-like wings (no headwings; horns are uncommon but do sometimes exist, same with tails). They have very limited psychokinesis (it does not extend beyond their own bodies), which makes them stronger and more resilient than they should be (particularly considering they are rather light for their size), and also allows their wings to work at Earth-normal gravity. They cannot use any actual magic, although rarely one will develop sufficient psychokinesis that it is actually telekinesis.

As for reproduction, they can reproduce with most of the common races of the setting, as these are all descended from an old race (which was basically human). Most of the traits that make succubi what they are are encoded on the X chromosome and an additional chromosome that other races lack. During reproduction, the succubi utilize "false" enucleated egg cells that are fertilized by their partner's contribution. These cells first check for the presence of an X chromosome, with those cells that lack such undergoing apoptosis. The cells also do a basic genetic analysis on themselves, with problematic genes also resulting in apoptosis. The cells that pass then have their X chromosomes destroyed and compete to fertilize the succubus' actual egg cell, resulting in a female child that is mostly succubus, but will sometimes take on some traits of the father's race. I should note here the reason succubi are able to produce viable gametes is that their single X chromosome and additional chromosome actually quadruple rather than double during meiosis.

Succubi aren't natural - rather, they are an engineered race created by one of the setting's "gods." They were created as processing mechanisms for "tainted" mana - they are engineered to avoid the health problems other races suffer by incorporating too much into their bodies (all the races are actually mana dependent, and store mana in internal reserves; each character has a unique mix of different forms of mana that is set at birth, with the mother's own mix influencing that of the child, hence an all-female race to keep the tainted proportion high), and the high quantity of tainted mana is why they cannot use magic, and why they have psychokinesis (other races' bodies use magic passively, those who have high tainted mana and survive have their bodies utilize psychokinesis and similar to make up for the lack of magic). They were not created perfectly, however - in rare cases, a sperm cell that has both an X and Y chromosome will fertilize the egg, resulting in a male, an incubus. The "god" who created the succubi set to correcting this oversight, but reengineering the succubi to have the Y chromosome by an apoptotic marker was found to be difficult (and would require killing off the previous succubi). He found it to be easier to modify them so that, when their body detected a male child, upon birth it would force an excess of tainted mana into it, overwhelming their built-in tolerance and either killing the baby immediately or over a short period of time. The rare incubi who survive are typically sent to the father (if he can be tracked down) or an orphanage, and any succubus who has an incubus (stillborn or otherwise) is formally barred from further reproduction. The incubi who manage to grow up are infertile (and typically lack a libido) and often have some form of (cinematic) insanity, but are stronger physically and psychokinetically than their sisters.

Succubi live in areas where high levels of tainted mana pool. Most of these are natural "depressions," but as the world is in the midst of a slow invasion from another world that itself has high levels of tainted mana, you can also find them in the vicinity of such portals - albeit not too close, as the invaders don't like any of the world's natives. As these are also areas where crops do poorly (due to the high level of tainted mana), succubi typically need to travel to find mates, and return home once pregnant. Given the reason why they travel, as well as their high resistance to disease (microorganisms don't handle tainted mana very well) and reproductive control, many succubi work as prostitutes while looking for someone of good enough genetic stock. Needing to defend themselves during their travels, combined with their surprising strength and resilience as well as their natural resistance to magic (a side effect of tainted mana), make them formidable combatants when needed.


The second, more recent, creation are from an intended Pyramid submission that never really got beyond the concept stage. They are a combination of type II (as succubi, above) and type V (convert others into your own race), and are again an all-female race. I opted to go with the name alraune, and they're basically unaging green-skinned humans with tribal markings that they can consciously shift over time. The concept is actually for a forest that is actually a single organism, and is in a symbiotic relationship with the alraunes - it provides them with shelter and food (and a special resin that can be used to make some pretty solid weapons and armor), they help protect it from predators and people. The tribal leaders of the alraunes have Mana Enhancer, and indeed when an alraune with Mana Enhancer comes of age she will typically leave her current tribe (alongside a few volunteers) to establish her own tribe. Alraunes lack magic users, and hate those they encounter, because the semi-sentient forests they call home are heavily dependent on mana (hence the high status of those with Mana Enhancer), and mages tend to "eat" the forest's "food." This is not like succubi, where they can literally never produce a magic user due to the metaphysics of that setting (the alraunes are intended for DF and similar), but rather because when an alraune mage comes of age and begins to exhibit the ability to use magic, she is either driven out or killed.

For reproduction, alraunes are a bit less complicated than succubi. For their type V reproduction (which is the easiest place to start), promising human females (typically captured adventurers, hunters, etc that invaded the forest, but there occasionally are some volunteers) are trapped in a special conversion chamber (grown on-demand from the forest) that magically transforms them into alraunes, typically removing their memories (but not their skills) in the process. Males and non-humans who are placed in such chambers instead die in the process. For type II reproduction, alraunes are genetically indistinguishable from humans, but their wombs function similarly to the conversion chambers, resulting in alraune children, and aborting insufficiently-human fetuses. While the alraunes are unaware of this, their wombs do not abort male fetuses, but rather make them (mostly) phenotypically female, comparable to CAIS. As alraunes have little body hair and light menses already, roughly half of born alraunes are infertile without realizing it.

As noted, alraunes live in semi-sapient forests. They will venture out to attack nearby settlements, not only for supplemental supplies but for future converts and mates (in either case, they'll only use those who have demonstrated high skill as warriors). This also makes it easier for the forest to continue spreading, as it means less people in the way. They are highly skilled warriors and experts at navigating their home forests, although they are often at a loss if needing to navigate a more natural forest. Alraunes encountered outside of such a forest (or a raiding party) are tribeless, being either exiles or survivors of destroyed forests. A disproportionate number have Magery, and if so this is why they were exiled. In DF, non-mages would likely typically be Rangers (who have figured out how to navigate natural forests) or Swashbucklers (albeit with spears rather than swords), with the occasional Barbarian, Knight, or Thief.

[David Johnston2]

Originally Posted by AlexanderHowl

One of the staples of speculative fiction is the single-gender race. Now, single-gender species do exist in nature, they generally reproduce by parthenogenesis (though some have more exotic forms of reproduction), and a number of them actually mate with males from outside of their species because they require sperm to trigger their parthenogenesis reproduction. While there are no known mammalian single-gender species, it is not impossible, and a single-gender sapient species could evolve under unusual circumstances (or be the result of genetic engineering).

Now, there are generally four broad categories of reproduction for single-gender races in fiction. First, there is unassisted parthenogenesis reproduction by a female-only race, where a member of a race self-fertilizes through one method or another. Second, there is assisted parthenogenesis reproduction by a female-only race, where a member of a race require another individual to trigger parthenogenesis, ranging from sexual activity to an actual genetic contribution. Third, there is interracial sexual reproduction, where a member of the race breeds with a member of another race, and the resulting children take after the parent that they share their sex with (boys taking after their fathers and girls taking after their mothers). Fourth, there is hermaphroditic reproduction, where the members of a single-gender race are capable of fertilizing and being fertilized by other members of their race. You can also end up with single-gender races that have multiple reproductive strategies, such as a single-gender race that can reproduce through hermaphroditic reproduction also being capable of interracial sexual reproduction.

My version of dryads are incapable of reproduction. They come into existence as children of magic trees and their purpose is to serve and protect their parents like worker bees. Their ability to have sex is merely how they persuade humans not to threaten their parents.

[SilvercatMoonpaw]

I think I remember a school science lesson where the teacher explained that the sex organs of plants are like having a separate organism that takes care of all the sex independent from the original body.

Whether this is true or not you could have a single gender race that actually has two sexes, but unless you know the weird animals hanging around their settlements are really their wandering sex organs you might never figure that out.

[Varyon]

Originally Posted by David Johnston2

My version of dryads are incapable of reproduction. They come into existence as children of magic trees and their purpose is to serve and protect their parents like worker bees. Their ability to have sex is merely how they persuade humans not to threaten their parents.

That's an interesting way to handle it. Somewhat tangentially, it made me think of the Drakaea genus of orchids, which has a labellum that looks (and smells) like a female wasp. Male wasps try to come in and pick up the labellum to carry it away for some waspy love-making (their females are flightless), find they can't carry it off, and end up leaving with a pollen packet. Said packet ends up getting deposited the next time the wasp mistakes a Drakaea labellum for a female wasp. Dryads could do something similar with humanoid males, copulating to "infect" the man with spores, that would then fertilize the next dryad he encountered.

Originally Posted by SilvercatMoonpaw

I think I remember a school science lesson where the teacher explained that the sex organs of plants are like having a separate organism that takes care of all the sex independent from the original body.

Whether this is true or not you could have a single gender race that actually has two sexes, but unless you know the weird animals hanging around their settlements are really their wandering sex organs you might never figure that out.

An all-female race that creates genetically-identical spawn that are then the ones that actually do the sexual reproduction could make for an interesting one, particularly if the spawn look significantly different enough to be mistaken for another species entirely. My suggestion for dryads, above, could actually be a form of this, if a fertilized dryad created seeds for new dryad-producing trees.

[SilvercatMoonpaw]

Originally Posted by Varyon

....particularly if the spawn look significantly different enough to be mistaken for another species entirely.

Considering that if we're talking scientifically there's probably little reason to have the initial stage before the reproductive offspring my guess is the reproducing generation would be much smaller to conserve resources.

Also it seems aphids have something like this happening.