JAE.HEADCANON ; Â Â yâgans, Â gender + sex
Let me preface this by saying, this topic is extremely nuanced when it comes to yâgan life, & each individual will have their own interpretation or expression. Â This is only meant to cover the basics & how they apply to Jae !
yâgans are a genderless / sexless race.   way back in their ancestral evolutionary chain, yâgans were a mirage like species ; hosted in an unstable body that was constantly shifting, mutating. they evolved in symbiosis with each other, & while their dna was extremely unstable, remained completely reproductively compatible with each other. as they learned to mimic other species more stable forms, they slowly lost the need for this unstable one.
while some might call them genderfluid, they have no gender / sex inherent to themselves, & instead borrow or co-opt these concepts from the species they impersonate.  this includes ;  male, female, mono-gendered species, gender fluid species, & reproductive strategies that exist only on alien planets.   gender identity varies wildly,  some choose to adopt the gender that socially best fits their appearance ( more genderfluid, like jaeâs mother ! ), some choose their own, & yet again some choose to present as agender regardless of their physical appearance.  finally, some forgo any labeling at all.
even with parents impersonating a species fully, & even though their species as a whole is so integrated into intergalactic space, yâgan children today are still born with ties to their ancestral form.  from conception to birth they are shifting, ever constantly.  their entire body takes on shapes & forms, some common, some familiar, some totally unknown to the universe before that moment.  it takes the first little bit of their lives for this to subside.  at this point they take a stable shape ;  often similar to their parents / whatever species theyâre wearing at the time, but this is only a social custom & not required biologically.
it is important to note that they can never return to this form.  while in the distant past, they existed mainly in ( a more extreme version of ) this form, it is now only present in newborns & is  no longer a default.  It instead now more closely resembles a gestational stage.  once a solid form is taken, this âmirage stateâ can not be returned to.
being part human, jae was born in only a minor form of the mirage state ;   hair, skin, & facial features distorting on a smaller scale ( though there were other issues, such as his shifts being more violent & dangerous than average ).  unlike full yâgan children, who could stabilize any change & live with it,  his shifts were always temporary, resetting eventually to his default more human appearance.  in addition, not only did it take him longer than most to maintain a stable form, his mirage state actually never fully disappeared ( he is the only known yâgan to shift haphazardly beyond the first couple of years of his life, though it happens rarely ). this is entirely due to the fact he is part human & he has no idea how it will affect him in the future.
to make this even more complicated,  though his mother comes from a sexless species, jae does in part have strictly male human dna ( from his cis, non mutagenic father ),  something he wholly embraces.  however, his biology (dna, internal structures / organs, etc) is like 90% yâgan⊠ & his expression is rather non conforming, feeling no intrinsic tie to any or even a lack of gender identity.  Its a very messy topic.   this is why he tends to avoid labels completely when it comes to gender / sex. while yes, you could probably make some stick, its a confusing topic for him to broach, & heâs honestly just more comfortable right now existing without labels at all.
so why does he go by he/him? simple,  itâs what everyone called him as a child, & he saw no reason to change it.  he probably identifies at least partly as male⊠ &  honestly? he just doesnât find itâs worth it to work out the little details.  It wonât change who he is.
