How can I use magic to make this change in human reproduction feasible without hurting genetic diversity?

There was a culture I read about that understood human biology to be very different from what we know today. This was a matrilineal culture which believed that men did not pass on their genes, but a piece of their spirit. The spirit was the life force of a human being which kept the body alive. It possessed the consciousness of a person; morals, values, strengths, etc. This would be passed on from the father to his offspring while the mother would pass on her characteristics through her genes. This culture saw a difference between the biological father (genitor) and the social father (pater). The genitor was basically a sperm donor who had no parent obligations to the child. The pater was usually a cousin or brother of the mother, and would be charged with helping her take care of the child.

In this scenario, Women are able to use magic by absorbing energy from a parallel dimension called the aether. They are able to access this dimension through a metaphysical organ in the body called the gate of life. By concentrating, this gate can "open" and absorb energy from the aether to produce spells in the real world. In this scenario, pregnancy would be treated like another spell, but over a nine month period. Energy would be absorbed through the gate from the aether to grow the fetus. This gate would remain continiously open during this time, and the process would be unable to be stopped once started. The life energy (spirit) from the male would be given during conception. this life energy is meant to help influence the development of the genes in some way.

Reproduction doesn't work this way, but I wanted to make it a reality for this setting. Since all genes are coming from the mother, How can I make these changes work without making offspring into clones of the female?

posted almost 7 years ago

System‭

21 reputation 200 11 3 0