βπβ francis, specifically in how accepted is she in her world? How far along are trans rights in the world of whist?
Francess did not publicly transition, and is out only to her parents and later Asher and Xandra. Most people, if they knew she was trans, would be deeply invasive, dismissive, and insensitive.
Transitioning is largely only heard of in two contexts among the cultures of Nornlain.
Among the old Merkish cultures, respected elders and leaders are assigned a gender seperate from male or female, which is also used to refer to god, wist, and horses. To achieve this status requires the elder/leader to declare themselves no longer a man or woman, and excludes them from the customs and laws that apply to gendered people, most importantly of which being marriage, though many other systems are also affected.
Among the Chaillons people in the Republic of Sannes, it is known that some men choose to live like women. They are known as "Asyi", a sort of third gender that is deeply tied to systems of homophobia and misogyny that pervades their patriarchal society. Asyi cannot inherit anything, cannot be wed, and are the only people allowed to work as prostitutes.
Francess is not from either of these cultures, she is Gedaran and knows of the Merkish and Chaillons people only through texts written about them from people foreign to those cultures themselves, and would not imagine herself to be a part of either category.
She rarely encounters people that knew her before transitioning, as after she came out to her parents, they whisked her off to a boarding school across the sea and pretend they still have a son when asked. Their plan was to allow Francess to grow up out of sight, and then when she returns pretend that she is their niece. Perhaps they would even have her attend the funeral of their late son, who died of a sickness far from home.
Of course none of that plan happened after Francess was expelled from school, disowned, and taken under the wing of Xandra Windbritches. I do not know what happens to her from there, to be honest.
