Oskari

Oskari

Humans have an equivalent in almost every universe. In the "Slavai Vortov"/"Flower Crown" universe (Draka's main universe), that equivalent is Oskari. Oskari, as with all humanoids in their world, have a differing form of fertilisation and chromosomes/chromatids. In Earth mammals, sex is defined by an X or a Y chromosome, which is set at birth. With Zeman animals, sex is determined by a separate chemical (a protein called Morphaze) which alters how the equivalent to mRNA works, and is itself a protein, meaning it can be affected by temperature and pH. When the temperature of the womb is below 35°C, the activity of morphaze is decreased, thus the child will be of the more complicated body plan (because the enzyme inhibits the "mRNA" activity), and is thus female. Morphaze has an optimum temperature of 40°C, so if the womb exceeds this temperature, the Morphaze denatures (the chemicals get tangled and the enzyme loses its shape, the same thing that makes an egg white *white*) and the child is female. The enzyme also has an optimum pH of 6.5, with activity being relatively level to a margin of 0.2 pH. Anything outside of this range will kill the child, but remaining inside this range will result in a male child if the pH of the womb is between 6.5 and 6.6, females being formed if the pH is 6.3, 6.4 or 6.6. This also slightly negates the effects of inbreeding, allowing for one generation of inbreeding before negative effects begin to form. Research into this has not been conducted, as it is seen as unethical.