Factory Settings (Male)
Upon leaving the factory, the typical brand spankin' new homo sapiens organism (male variant) will have certain capabilities and settings that you should be aware of, whether you are the owner of a male body and mind, or the partner of one.
Hardware Features
- "Y" variant of the 23rd chromosone
- A penis, scrotum, and two testes, mounted externally in a temperature-regulating harness.
- Denser (relative to female) muscle tissue, increased muscular mass
- Male pheromone markers in sweat, sebaceous oil, and urine
- Secondary physical markers: vestigial nipples, facial hair, and associated facial features (larger jaw and nose, thinner lips)
Software Features
When left unmodified, these features are optimized for survival and reproduction in the prehistoric hunter-gatherer culture of your choice, especially those featuring solitary breeding males. If you will be operating a male body in such an environment, congratulations - you are done configuring your body, and may begin rutting season immediately.
However, if you plan to operate the male in a manner that may lead to pair-bonding, you may wish to override some of these features. With that goal in mind, see below for some of the most commonly implemented modifications.
It should be noted that in order to make these changes, it will be neccesary to make changes to the "firmware" of the male - the layer of components that communicates between the hardware and software, and controls some of the most basic features of the male. These features, sometimes refered to as "instincts", are quite ingrained (after all, they are selected for). It is recommended that changes to these settings be undertaken before the unit leaves the factory - preferably by a pair-bonded breeding couple. While field modifications to an adult male are possible, it is much easier to change these settings before the male has become acclimated.
Common Firmware Modifications
- Empathy patch. The stock male empathy driver is designed for alpha-male dominance; thus it is optimized for aggression, anger, and surliness. Most males modify their empathy subsystems to improve the more "people friendly" abilities, such as caring, nurturing, loving, sharing, and emotional support.
- Voluntary libido. The powerful male sex drive can be an inconvenience, leading to infidelity, objectification of females, and erections at inoppurtune moments. Most individuals would not want to reduce the intensity of the drive, instead choosing to make it voluntary - the drive can be ignored or disabled at the whim of the male operator.
- Reduced aggression. While growling, snarling, and violence are useful survival skills on the primordial plains, they are less useful in a pair-bonding environment. Some males choose to redirect this drive (for example, into an ambition subsystem); others use chemical methods to reduce it; and still others condition themselves to eliminate it completely.