Manfolk

The Manfolk, (or Homo virilis) were a genetically altered species of human warriors.

Biology

Manfolk displayed extreme sexual dimorphism. Male Manfolk, who appeared as muscular thugs, were hormonally predisposed towards violence and bloody interaction; Manfolk women, who appeared as fat and buxom earth-mothers, were almost equally aggressive. Manfolk were born in litters of between three to eight children. Almost all were boys, due to a variety of genetic factors, and if any girls were born, a vanishingly rare occurrence, they were killed as abominations. The boys then grew up fiercely loyal to each other until a collective puberty around the age of twelve, triggering the father's hermapause.

Hermapause and puberty

Hermapause was characterised by the father rapidly being transformed into a woman, both biologically and culturally, leading to fatalism given what inevitably follows in Manfolk culture. The children, now men, would fight amongst themselves, often to the death, for the right to impregnate their former father and thus to raise the resulting children. As the fetuses grow, the mother lapses into a coma, and the baby Manfolk will drain her of all nutrients before fighting their way out of her, inevitably killing her.

Those who survived fighting with the new head of family were effectively serfs and homosexual partners called "Uncles", and would have their own hermapauses triggered when the head of family went through his, but occasionally when a new head of family was found he might grant limited breeding rights to the previous generation of Uncles to some of his brethren, setting up an offshoot house. Trading in Uncles between clans increased biodiversity.

Occasionally some very intelligent Uncles or adolescents would flee Manfolk society into the wilderness and live out their lives past the viable hermapause age. Similarly, occasionally some Manfolk came out of hermapause sterile or as hermaphrodites. How these individuals were treated varied, at times revered, at times put to the death. (PROSE: Of the City of the Saved...)

History

Manfolk were created by Antipathy from humans who had their DNA altered. After their creation, Antipathy wiped out the Manfolk species in order for them to be reborn in the City of the Saved. In the City, they occupied their own secessionist District, Manfold, where they were governed by the Manthing.

While in the City the City's safety's protocols prevented them from acting on their aggression, simultaneously halting their lifecycle and preventing the hermapause. Similarly, for obvious reasons, it has prevented them from expanding their race as many other factions within the City have done. Living with grown children and surviving mothers and fathers has proven psychologically disorienting for the Manfolk. This disorienting nature could be found in the original proclamation of the species in AF 3 shutting down diplomacy with the rest of the City and declaring war on its founders should they ever be found. Over time, however, less dominant groups within the Manfolk rose to prominence while in the City, such as those who died while young, the women, and those who survived to be very old, all of whom were less aggressive, focusing the Manfolk enclave instead on manufacturing than outright revolt. (PROSE: Of the City of the Saved...)

External links

• Manfolk at the Faction Paradox wiki