Quote Originally Posted by Cleretic View Post
(EDIT: And actually there's also a villain behind Athena, but that villain is a rock, which kinda doesn't hit the same.)

You could make an argument that Venat fits the same general shape as a story figure, but I feel like you can't rightly put her in the same lineup.
Except nope, it's pointedly stated that with or without the Heart of Sabik Athena would have still done what she did (or similar), it just gave her the means to speed up the timetable. Besides which, auracite (except for the white and synthetic flavors) traces back to Ultima, a similarly villainous female figure whose malevolence has nothing to do with men.

While there may be a shortage of female villains there is no shortage of strong female characters - all three starting city-state leaders are examples, and there are plenty more.

Quote Originally Posted by fulminating View Post
So could zoraal ja be the product of parthenogenesis?
Mamool Ja reproduction remains shrouded in secrets, what with their embryos apparently being kept in jars (Skydeep Cenote) and Teeshal Ja bearing Zoraal Ja's child without his knowledge.

I'm also going to go out on a limb and say "no blue Hoobigo before Zoraal Ja" is a retcon, and either way it's not like they'd have known about Allagan experiments locked in Syrcus Tower all the way over in Tural where modern Mamool Ja hail from.

In other words I don't think so but we don't have enough information to make a clear determination one way or another.