Grendel's gender fluctuation (more accurately, its aspects) is a tool to help with the game.   If it helps, it is emphasized.  If it hinders, it is very much downplayed.<br/><br/>For myself, while I enjoy an erotic game (or I wouldn't be on Elliquiy), my main pleasure in this game is sheer<em>nostalgia </em>of playing Traveller, a beloved setting I thought I would never see again as a PBP.  Thank you again, LizzieV.  While I'm not against the sexual elements of the game (far from it), I would enjoy this game even if Grendel was completely celibate.<br/><br/>Here is how I see Grendel.  They are a very underendowed hermaphrodite with a varying libido.  Sometimes they are not particularly looking for gratification at all.  However, when aroused, the relevant 'bits' swell in size and sensitivity.  Practically every erogenous zone in a human being does this during arousal, even if the effect is not that noticeable.  With Grendel, the effect is just that more pronounced.<br/><br/>Whether Grendel becomes masculine or feminine (or something in between) depends on their partners to a large degree.  Whatever 'piece' of Grendel is focused on will respond to the attention.  There is also pheremonal negotation and other subtle subconscious clues that help tune Grendel's body to their lover's preference.<br/><br/>Over time, a lover with consistent tastes can 'sculpt' Grendel to particularly butch or femme, or a particular combination of the two.  Hormones will also change as needed.  Think how well transexuals can 'present' if they are not particularly large or small.  Grendel psionic Awareness talent helps with this to some degree.<br/><br/>However, your average heterosexual human might find Grendel to be rather short-changed in the sex characteristics.  Their genetics are strained enough making the small changes they are capable of.  Fertility is a problem too.  The odds of conception with any given lover are very small and difficult to predict.  Promiscuity is, paradoxically, Grendel only real hope of a family besides cloning.<br/><br/>Regarding attraction, Grendel is attracted to those attracted to them.  Via telepathy, Grendel feels the other's rush of lust as their own with no diminishment.  This is doubly-concentrated if Grendel happens to be attracted to their secret admirer as well.  A skilled lover of Grendel can force attraction and gender tuning, although this is quite a presumption.  Think of it like making someone blush or yawning at them, some people will almost have to yawn back, it is our biosocial programming.<br/><br/>Whew!  This is a lot.  The main reason Grendel was a variable hermaphrodite was to offer maximum erotic possibilities for an unknown group of future players in a science-fiction setting that allowed the possibility (and helped to thus emphasize the science-fiction of the setting).  There are also strange issues of consent.  What does it mean to be able to alter the attraction and morphology of another?  Grendel does resent their well-meaning donors for making them so unusual and that is a plot motivation.  This game is starting out with Grendel thinking she needs some Platonic reserve for awhile but who knows what will happen?<br/><br/>