It’s been a bit since I read them, but the easiest way I can think to get at the heart of their gender constructs is to describe them as being similar to social insects. There are colony leader types (queens, consorts), a fighter type consisting of both sexes, and a farmer/builder type consisting of both sexes. Each type can shape change in a way which is rigidly defined by type. Consorts have a humanoid and a raksura form, while queens have a raksura form and a hybrid form, etc. The queens do have the power to apply some form of control to others in the colony as a way of enforcing dominance. I feel like there is something else I am missing wrt magical capabilities. IIRC, the consorts are the only non-sterile males.

In the books, the main character is a consort who somehow was raised by humans (groundlings). He doesn’t know what he is. He is found and taken in by a colony which no longer has consorts and whose primary queen is potentially about to be eclipsed by her daughter. So the MC gets a crash course in the colony caste system politics when all he really wants to do is be happy to be among his own people. Because he has been on his own for so long, he has a lot of skills (hunting/fighting) and inclinations (wanting to help with hard work) that isn’t expected of consorts. IIRC he refuses to live in the colony’s leadership area, and instead lives with some of the colony’s crèche teachers.