There’s a thread about Luminosity on TV Tropes, and one person had a bundle of questions that I answered there; crossposting here in case anyone’s interested.
is it possible for a vampire to become fixated on a ‘mate’ whose orientation does not allow the attraction to be returned? Or does the mate bond override orientation?
Unspecified in canon; in Luminosity, no, everybody winds up mated to someone of approximately the correct “type” for non-magical attraction.
What about transgendered individuals who have made no modifications to the appearance they were born with — if the process takes orientation into account, then does it work on the basis of gender identity, gender presentation, anatomy, or SRY?
Again, unspecified in canon. My ruling: If you have a person A and a person B, and they are vampire mates (or one is a vampire mated to the other, a human), then A is attracted to B’s whatever-mishmash-of-sex-and-gender-characteristics and vice-versa. Once the actual magical bond kicks in (i.e. once they meet), then even departures from this mold will not affect it. For instance, a vampire who is attracted to female personalities but not female bodies would have to meet a MTF transgendered mate before significant biological intervention took place, but if they met first and then interventions happened, this would not bother the vampire.
In Luminous-canon, only male werewolves can imprint on people, and (was it only Bella’s hypothesis or confirmed?) this is for reasons of passing on the werewolf gene(s) — what does that mean for gay male werewolves? Werewolves born with male anatomy but who identify as (straight and) female?
I don’t have a way to confirm the hypothesis in the story (exactly how would anyone verify what the imrprinting is for?), but yes, that is what it’s Officially For. Imprinting can override native homosexuality (in fact, there is a character for whom this happened; I’ll go into that a bit in Radiance). It would not “override” transgenderedness in any meaningful sense (wouldn’t give the physically male, mentally girly wolf a different, masculine personality), but it could make her attracted to (a) woman if she weren’t already. Werewolf super-healing and wonky body chemistry would make any attempts to physically transition intractable before quitting one’s wolf. Quitting the wolf doesn’t end the imprint, and neither would hormones/surgery/whatever; once it’s there, it’s there.
Or vice versa? What about infertile or asexual male werewolves? Does the imprinting go away if the werewolf becomes infertile afterwards?
Once the imprint is there, it’s there. Imprinting can override native asexuality like it can override native homosexuality. A werewolf born infertile would not imprint; one that was sterilized later would keep an existing imprint if there was one but not make a new one if there wasn’t.
Can a vampire feel a attraction to a mate who is in fact an inactive werewolf? If so, can that bond survive the werewolf’s activation?
Unspecified in canon; I rule yes and yes, although it’d be a difficult sort of relationship.
And after a werewolf imprints on a person, can the imprinting survive that person’s being turned into a vampire later on?
exactly how would anyone verify what the imrprinting is for?
I don’t know of how one would verify what imprinting is for, but you made a number of conclusions and rulings based on the idea that imprinting was indeed for finding the best possible mate. If one of those conclusions were wrong, that would be a piece of evidence that indicates that mating is not, perhaps, what imprinting is “Officially For.”
There’s a thread about Luminosity on TV Tropes, and one person had a bundle of questions that I answered there; crossposting here in case anyone’s interested.
Unspecified in canon; in Luminosity, no, everybody winds up mated to someone of approximately the correct “type” for non-magical attraction.
Again, unspecified in canon. My ruling: If you have a person A and a person B, and they are vampire mates (or one is a vampire mated to the other, a human), then A is attracted to B’s whatever-mishmash-of-sex-and-gender-characteristics and vice-versa. Once the actual magical bond kicks in (i.e. once they meet), then even departures from this mold will not affect it. For instance, a vampire who is attracted to female personalities but not female bodies would have to meet a MTF transgendered mate before significant biological intervention took place, but if they met first and then interventions happened, this would not bother the vampire.
I don’t have a way to confirm the hypothesis in the story (exactly how would anyone verify what the imrprinting is for?), but yes, that is what it’s Officially For. Imprinting can override native homosexuality (in fact, there is a character for whom this happened; I’ll go into that a bit in Radiance). It would not “override” transgenderedness in any meaningful sense (wouldn’t give the physically male, mentally girly wolf a different, masculine personality), but it could make her attracted to (a) woman if she weren’t already. Werewolf super-healing and wonky body chemistry would make any attempts to physically transition intractable before quitting one’s wolf. Quitting the wolf doesn’t end the imprint, and neither would hormones/surgery/whatever; once it’s there, it’s there.
Once the imprint is there, it’s there. Imprinting can override native asexuality like it can override native homosexuality. A werewolf born infertile would not imprint; one that was sterilized later would keep an existing imprint if there was one but not make a new one if there wasn’t.
Unspecified in canon; I rule yes and yes, although it’d be a difficult sort of relationship.
Yes, but it’ll traumatize the wolf rather a lot.
In case anyone’s wondering, I find this entirely plausible. (I can’t speak for any other asexuals, though.)
I don’t know of how one would verify what imprinting is for, but you made a number of conclusions and rulings based on the idea that imprinting was indeed for finding the best possible mate. If one of those conclusions were wrong, that would be a piece of evidence that indicates that mating is not, perhaps, what imprinting is “Officially For.”