This is interesting.
What makes a female character authentically female and not just a male with a female name and refered to as "she"?
Probably the same thing that makes a male character authentically male and not just a female with a male name and referred to as "he".
In general, I have always tried to play my female characters as authentically female. Not being female myself, I don't consider myself fully qualified to judge the results; however, I have been told by people who are that they are some of the more believable females played by males that they've seen IG. I couldn't tell you what I actually
do; I just try to play them as I think they should actually be if they were real.
It seems to me, though, that a great deal of what we think of as "authentically female" is informed by our culture, which is not necessarily in existence to shape the women of BattleMaster's worlds. In a society where women truly are considered equal to men,
would they be worrying about balls and makeup, and other stereotypically feminine things? Specifically, would the type of women who make up the quasi-military noble elite—that is, our characters—be worrying about such things?
I think that worrying too much about conforming to modern social norms for the genders, or even perceived or historic medieval social norms for the genders, is not only likely to be an exercise in frustration, it isn't even particularly relevant.
