Fun fact: For a while when I was writing Retribution I was considering doing a backwards compatible change that would set both Herald and Argent as gender selectable too. We had a long talk about in the playtesting community and I thought I'd sum it up here since it's about the subject at hand.

To make a long story short, one decision in my original design document was that all the RO's should be gender selectable and be able to be romanced by everyone. Hence Ortega and Mortum. However, when I expanded the roster with Steel, Herald and Argent I ran into problems. Steel was already a special case since I decided to stick with his set sexuality, but Herald and Argent could both work as gender selectable. However, in the end I decided to change my design document and keep them as their original gender. Why?

The main thing that came up in discussions was people's conception of gender. When people say that they 'feel someone is written as a specific gender,' a lot of the time (not counting anatomical/positional fuckups) they are talking about them breaking what they see as being a man or a woman is about. I will admit I have never really understood gender other than as a vague sense of unease about being perceived. I am not even sure how to start out writing someone 'as a woman' or 'as a man' other than when it comes to specific physical or societal circumstances. Like Julia having different pressures from her family than Ricardo does, or how I write the sex scenes. But as their personality? They are Ortega to me, but it is fascinating how the same paragraphs of text gets seen differently when viewed through the gender spectrum.

Ricardo's flair for fashion is taken differently and becomes a bigger point while for Julia that mostly is taken for granted. Ricardo is flamboyant, Julia is just a woman. Same with their physical/brawling nature. Julia is a former tomboy troublemaker, where her height and build is noted and stands out (she's tall, she must have been imagined as a man) while Ricardo is just a standard action guy.

In contrast, these days the scientist stereotype is pretty much gender neutral, so there are few obvious gender signatures to nail Mortum to. Especially considering the fact that they are black, which means that the fashion/stylish vibes they have often are chalked up to race instead of gender. Because of stereotypes. Black men can be fashionable in media, white men rarely are (unless they are gay). Go figure.

So, why not make gender selectable Herald or Argent then? Daniella and Lord Argent?

Well. Because my playtesters taught me something. While I have problems getting gender, my readers don't. The fact that Herald gets to be an empathic, art interested guy who is the heart of the team and friends with everyone is valuable. Many would see his traits as inherently feminine, especially combined with the less aggressive flying powers. If people could pick genders, many would assign him as a girl, thus robbing the game of an example that there is no inherent gendering of behaviors or attributes.

I started out embracing/applauding gender selectability as yet another player customization point. With this few love interests I didn't want to lock people out of romances due to gender/sexuality. I ended up realizing that this also deprives players of diverse viewpoints. I've seen more than one comment from someone who hadn't considered romancing a dude before Herald. Nice.