Originally Posted by
ShaunN
The Zinn question is interesting. Right now, it looks like Zinn fathered at least one child by the Shaman Empress. But is he "male" or "genderless"? It's hard to say in a world where there are none of the "gender roles" that we would recognize and the vast majority of the characters are female. To complicate it further, an interaction between the Warlord and Tuya, her new wife, indicated that women can get other women pregnant in this world - it's not clear if that works one way or if two women can get each other pregnant, which seemed to be what Tuya implied. So, Zinn may well be "genderless" and still capable of "fathering" children. Of course, he is also a completely different biological being, so exactly what he is contributing to the offspring is unclear.
Yes, Maika is trying to find out more about her mother, who her mother was, and what her mother felt about her. Maika learned that her mother specifically sought out the Doctor, her father, with the goal of having a child. The Doctor was one of the Shaman Empress' direct descendants. This implied that her mother created Maika in the hopes of getting access to Zinn. However, I think you are right - it's clear that her mother did love her and that, whatever her original reasons for having Maika, she ultimately wanted her daughter to be her own person. She also understood that Maika would eventually reshape the world through her own will. It has also come out that Korvin's people (I think they are the Dusk Court) believe that Maika is the incarnation of the Shaman Empress and it is possible that she is, since she has met the SE a number of times in her mind.