The Nasat gets in touch with his shen side.

The Star Trek novels interpreted the canonical four-way Andorian marriage as evidence of a four-sex biology and a four-gendered cultural system, as this offered a lot of story-telling potential. One question that arises, though, is how the four-gender paradigm played out in the early stages of Andorian development. In the "modern" era, the novels show us many Andorian social customs and traditions that point to ancient gender-specific functions, from traditional dress to particular deities for each sex, but what was it like back when those divisions were more pronounced? How does a four-way sexual division of labour work?

I've made some speculation on this issue, so I'll repost the gist of my interpretation. The novels do some of the work for us in mapping out the roles played by zhen, shen, chan, and thaan; for example, traditional dress designates the chan as warriors.

Extrapolating from what we get:

The gender which receive the traditional virtue of “strength” in the primary Andorian religion are the zhen, the nursing sex - the zhavey (zhen parent) is outright stated to be the traditional "primary caregiver" for the children. That’s interesting, as it suggests the Andorian concept of strength differs from a lot of human constructs. As I see it, many (most?) humans traditionally saw strength as a trait associated with the provider/protector roles, the labour force, public leadership, etc - and so as a virtue to be promoted among males (in fact, most people still define strength in those terms no matter the sex of the person in the role), and they segregated it from the nurturing, child-raising role of the female. The virtues of the mother and the virtue of strength were both praised highly but were very much separate. The Andorians, though, equate strength with the child-bearing and child-rearing sex. Strength is more a "feminine" virtue to them, it seems.

My interpretation: enduring childbirth in the dangerous conditions of frozen Andoria, caring for offspring and installing in the children the basic lessons needed to further the fortunes of the clan required, in Andorian terms, strength - first biologically (for the strain of childbirth, and given a four-sex paradigm I assume they were giving birth a lot), and culturally/spiritually. Indeed, if we consider what we see of Andorian family life in Trek lit, I think we might make a case that traditional society on Andoria is “matriarchal”, in the literal sense of mothers being the head of the family and the model for political authority. The books suggest that children take the zhen's family name most of the time; Thirishar ch’Thane, after all, after his zhavey Charivretha zh'Thane. And Thriss shared her name with her zhavey too, if I remember rightly. Also, as a happy serendipity, Pava Ek’Noor Aqabaa becoming sh’Aqabaa where her mother is Undeieela zh’Noor offers an "retcon" explanation for her unusual name - ek’Noor is in there because she didn’t take her zhavey’s surname. Perhaps she needs it in there in another fashion, because family lineage is read in a matrilineal fashion? If we consider characters like Charivretha zh’Thane and Sessathantis zh’Cheen, then the implications seem to be that the matron of the clan - the leading zhen - is still at least unofficially the most powerful political presence. Was the great Empress Thalisar the Last a zhen?

Anyway, moving onto that traditional clothing - for the two “female” genders it's a variety of dress, while chans wear “warrior’s attire”, and the thaan wear chain-mail. So, I was thinking; Andorian civilization developed as partly subterranean around hot-springs (both Jarman’s DS9 Andorians and Enterprise Andorians established this prior to the two approaches’ reconciliation in later novels). The clan Keep is traditionally (in part at least) a warren of tunnels. The chans, according to Thelin in “The Chimes at Midnight” are the sex traditionally least involved in child-rearing - and if they wear warrior’s attire we can assume they were the hunter-gatherer/war-makers who operated outside the keep, so this makes sense. Their value in the religious mythology is “wisdom” - the wisdom of the hunter-tracker, learning to read the signs of the natural world as he moved through it, outside the safety of the caves and the keep? After all, his gender's Guardian in the mainstream religion is the Star Guardian, and the Tale of the Breaking insists he "uses the stars as his guide."

Then, the other default “male” sex, the thaans, were perhaps closer to home and so more involved in family life, and formed a defensive perimeter perhaps (hence the chain-mail?). Their value is “passion” - the passion of standing their ground and fighting in direct defence of their family within the keep? I guess maybe thaans also performed close-to-home labour professions. Their Guardian is associated with Fire - the fire of passionate defence and of the forge?

Maybe some of this type of labour was performed by shens too (as Andorian “females” are apparently as tall or taller than “males” and we don’t know how physical power works for them - they may have had “females” in those roles too). Either way, as we go further in, we have the shens, who I guess maintain the home and keep the supplies running between the “males” on the edge and the zhen and young deep inside. This makes sense - their Guardian is the Water Guardian, their virtue Blood. They are the flowing life-blood between the zhen/children and the males, the currents connecting it all. Then, deep in the centre of the keep, are the nurseries and schools, and the zhens caring for the young - with the zhens also having political authority and, perhaps, the leadership role, because it is their strength that allows them to succeed in the child-birthing nurturing role. That’s not to say there’s a hierarchy of moving inward - there’s no evidence that any of the sexes were considered “inferior” in any sense, only that zhens were associated possibly with leadership, their mothering associated with strength. The zhen, of course, have the Earth Guardian, strong protector -- as they, who embody strength, are buried in the earth, at the heart of the subterranean keep?

As the Tale of the Breaking tells us:

From one, there shall be four. To one shall be given wisdom to be a protector - the cunning warrior who shall fight for the future. To another shall be given strength, providing a foundation upon which the others can build. One shall be given blood, the river of life that shall flow among the others, providing nurture and sustenance when the flesh longs to yield. And to the last shall be given passion, for the flame of desire will bring change to the others and warm them when the chill is bitterest”.

So Thirishar became four: Charaleas became wisdom; Zheusal became strength; Shanchen became blood; Thirizaz became passion. Together, the four are the First Kin.

Uzaveh banished the four to the farthest reaches of the kingdom and upon seeing them there, so far from the Thrones and utterly alone, appointed for each a guardian. For Thirizaz, the Fire Daemon fed the soul-consuming passion. Loving Shanchen became a vessel for the Water Spirit, forever bound to the Eternal love flowing from Uzaveh’s Throne. For strong Zheusal, Earth became protector. For wise Charaleas, the Stars became guides, their light defying darkest night.

PS: One of the Corps of Engineers stories establishes "Zhutanii" as the polite form of address for a quad as a whole (better than saying "Zha, Cha, Sha and Tha" everytime). I notice it begins with "zh", reinforcing the idea that zhen are the strong foundation on which the Whole is built.