Hex

Magician's term for a wide range of common, reversible conditions in which organic compounds and tailored bugs are used. The most common in Nasheen is the viability hex, a routine procedure performed by a magician at each child's birth that renders them sterile until the hex is removed. Most women do not have theirs "turned off" until they serve their two years at the breeding compounds. However, the hex, once performed, takes a full 37 days to take effect once turned back on, and women have been known to copulate with non-Nasheenian men and become pregnant during this time.

Nasheenian men are also rendered sterile until they return from the front. At that time, semen is collected as part of their personal donation to the state.

Though women may go on to raise their children if they wish, men generally do not know who or how many children their genetic material has contributed to, and the term "father" does not carry much resonance in Nasheen. With so few men returning from the front, however, it is posited that each generation of Nasheenians is more homogenous than the last.