Because I’m about to post a bio for Forba, I feel like I should clarify things when it comes to my inkling biology terms, specifically parental terms.
Without going into too much detail, because this is a SFW blog, the way my inklings reproduce is very similar to seahorses- in which the eggs will be laid into their partner. However, both male and female inklings can carry the eggs. Because of this, the line between ‘mothers’ and ‘fathers’ is a little blurry.
The father is whoever physically carried the eggs.
The mother is the partner(s) of the father, who did not carry the eggs, but helped raise them.
The dam is whoever the eggs came from. Can be the mother, but doesnt have to be; in the case of artificially donated eggs, the one who donated them would be the Dam.
The sire is whoever fertilized the eggs. Again, this doesn’t necessarily have to be the father.
Mother and father have nothing to do with biological sex or gender, only dam and sire.
If a male inkling carried eggs that he himself fertilized, then he is both the father and the sire.
If a female inkling carries eggs that were not hers, but were fertilized by her male partner, she would be the father- but not the dam. Her partner would be the sire and the mother.
It’s a little confusing, but in my headcanons, inklings are used to using these terms, and... so I’m going to use them too. Now you might be a little less confused about parental talk in universe! If you have any questions, feel free to ask.
