Omegaverse Theory

right where u need to be :). King of the Omegaverse. asks always open. mildly chaotic. 24 revolutions round the sun.

[omegaversetheory]

Omegaverse Theory Masterlist

Looking for something? Check out my post collections below - just click on the category you're looking for and you'll find everything I've posted (automatically updated!) all in one easy place.

General Content

Worldbuilding

Writing Resources

Illion

Relationships

Alpha x Alpha

Beta x Beta

Omega x Omega

Biology

bonding

scents

ruts

heats

nesting

pregnancy

presenting

Behavior

Alphas

Betas

Omegas

Packs/Families

Kids

[literaryvein-reblogs]

A List of "Beautiful" Arabic Words

for your next poem/story

Ahlam - dreams

Bahaar - sea

Fajr - dawn

Ghazal - love poetry

Hadiya - gift

Hikma - wisdom

Ikhlas - sincerity, loyalty

Ishq - passion

Mawadda - affection, loving-kindness

Mawsim - season

Qadr - destiny

Qalb - heart

Qamar - moon

Rihla - journey

Sabr - patience

Sadaqa - friendship

Shawq - longing

Ta’aburnee - "you bury me"; when someone says this, it means he wants to die before the other because he wouldn’t be able to live without this other person

Tarab - ecstasy (in music or poetry)

Thuluth - large, elegant letters with sweeping curves often used in architectural inscriptions and religious texts

Warda - rose

Yashtaq - to miss

Yatamanna - to wish

Yu‘aniqu - to hug

Yu‘jib - to like

Sources: 1 2 3 4 5 ⚜ More: Word Lists ⚜ Writing Resources PDFs

If any of these words make their way into your next poem/story, please tag me, or send me a link. I would love to read them!

[omegaversetheory]

Pretty words make pretty pictures

[nocturnus33]

write-like-the-classics

If Louisa May Alcott is the queen of the slice-of-life longfic, Jane Austen is the absolute pioneer of the enemies-to-lovers slowburn, social satire, and high-society fake dating.

Let’s be real: Austen invented the modern romantic comedy dynamic. She wrote about small, claustrophobic social circles where everyone is constantly up in everyone else's business, financial stability dictates life choices, and miscommunication is a literal lethal weapon. If she were posting on AO3 today, her comment sections would be an absolute war zone of people screaming about her subtext.

Here is how to structure your fic, build your plot, and sharp-en your dialogue like the ultimate Regency master.

1. Structure: The Social Symphony & The Symmetry of Error

Austen's macro-arcs (Pride and Prejudice, Emma) don't rely on external physical threats. Her structures are built entirely on shifting social status and cognitive bias.

The Three-Act Misunderstanding: Austen structures her novels around an initial false impression (Act 1), a series of events that seemingly confirm that false impression while raising the stakes (Act 2), and a cataclysmic revelation that forces the protagonist to look in the mirror and realize they completely misread the entire situation (Act 3).

The Chaperoned Sandbox: Her narratives are structured strictly around social limitations. Characters are rarely left entirely alone; their interactions are constrained by dances, dinners, and family walks. This structural limitation is your best friend—it forces you to build tension through what isn't being said out loud.

2. Plotting: The Catalyst of Outside Intervention

Austen’s plots are masterclasses in Intrusive Dynamics. Her characters start in a state of stagnant equilibrium that is suddenly shattered.

The Disruption Principle: "A single man in possession of a good fortune must be in want of a wife." Translation for fanfic writers: Drop a new, high-status character (or a sudden change in circumstances) into a closed setting and watch the existing social ecosystem panic.

Free Indirect Discourse (The Ultimate POV Trick): Austen famously uses third-person narrative but colors the prose with the specific biases, voice, and blindness of the point-of-view character. When you plot an Austen-style fic, the reader should only know as much as the POV character's pride or prejudice allows them to see, making the eventual twist incredibly satisfying.

3. Characterization: The Mask vs. The Vulnerability

How does Austen make characters feel deeply psychological without modern internal monologues? She balances social performance against private reality.

Weaponized Wit and Irony: Austen's characters use humor and politeness as armor. A character who is constantly making sarcastic jokes or playing the perfect host is usually hiding a massive insecurity, a lack of agency, or a broken heart.

The Unreliable Narrator of Hearts: Her characters excel at intellectualizing their emotions to avoid vulnerability. Emma convinces herself she’s just being a good matchmaker because admitting her own feelings is too terrifying. Darcy acts aloof because he is socially awkward and trying to protect his pride.

The Austen Method: An Andromeda Black-Centric Example

The Concept: A Marauders-era mid-fic tracking Andromeda’s final season in London high society before her elopement. She is secretly courting Ted Tonks, a brilliant but penniless apprentice clerk, while her mother, Druella, is actively trying to arrange her marriage to a wealthy, high-status pureblood lord. How Austen would structure the Arc: The narrative would use a strict Three-Act Disruption arc centered around the clash of social spheres. How Austen would build the Plot: The plot would move entirely through Weaponized Wit and Social Subtext in highly structured settings: The Austen Character Insights: Andromeda would be written with the fierce, quiet dignity of an Elinor Dashwood or an Anne Elliot. She isn't a loud, screaming rebel; her rebellion is intellectual and deeply felt. Austen would highlight the immense psychological cost of her choice. Andromeda doesn't hate beautiful things or elegant manners—she was raised on them. Her tragedy, and her triumph, is that she possesses the supreme sense to realize that the glittering wealth of the House of Black is completely bankrupt of real human affection, and she has the courage to choose a modest, happy life of "insignificance" instead.

[omegaversetheory]

great notes on a master of the craft

[literaryvein-reblogs]

How to Describe Clothing in Writing

Creating vivid descriptions for a story or character is a mark of a great writer. One specific form of descriptive writing that particularly affects setting and characterization is the portrayal of characters’ clothing.

Writing Tips: Describing Clothes

Clothing descriptions work best when they appear organically in the course of the narrative. The story should never halt in place so that you can shoehorn in a bunch of sartorial descriptions. Here are some writing tips to help you use clothing descriptions in your creative writing:

Integrate clothing into your initial character description. The first time readers meet a character, they should get a sense of how they dress.

Study articles of clothing to make sure you know what they look like. This will help you choose the right words to describe them. For example, it would be appropriate to describe a chiffon dress as “sheer” or “thin,” but it would be clumsy to describe it as “threadbare” because chiffon is not cheap.

Pick outfits that fit the setting you’re writing about. If you’re describing an elegant ball, you might want to place a character in a form-fitting strapless evening gown, as this is a common piece for formal dances. Describing the clothing reinforces the setting you’ve chosen.

Blend clothing into job descriptions. If you’re describing a monk at work, you could note how the loose-fitting sleeves of his frock draped onto a table. If you’re describing a superhero in an action scene, describe the flow of their cape or the stiffness of their boots.

Let your characters change outfits. Show a character arc by marking how a character’s clothing changes over the course of your story. If a character in a YA novel starts out wearing ill-fitting khaki slacks with enormous pleats and ends that same novel wearing a denim jacket with an “anarchy” pin on the lapel, we know they’ve undergone some major changes.

Use clothing to set characters apart. Represent the difference between two characters by describing the differences in their clothing. Let’s say you’re describing two characters interviewing for the same job: One wears a sporty, ruched, A-line dress, and the other wears jeans and a sweatshirt. The reader can infer aspects of both characters’ personalities and make a comparison between two characters.

Reasons to Describe a Character’s Clothing

A character’s clothing is a window into so many aspects of their lives. From a character’s clothes, readers can make inferences about the following:

Clothing reveals a character’s personality. A knee-length fur coat and a corduroy jacket are both forms of outerwear, but it’s quite unlikely they’d be worn by the same kind of person. Readers can deduce a character’s style and personality from the clothes they wear.

Clothing implies a character’s wealth. Is your novel’s main character comes from a working-class background, it’s more likely they’d wear a t-shirt and jeans than a lavish and expensive piece of clothing. Just as in real life, clothing indicates status and wealth.

Clothing shows a character’s point of view toward the world. Clothing can reveal a character’s views on the world. If someone puts on a graphic t-shirt with the sleeves cut off, it implies that they could hardly care less about offending other people. Meanwhile, a character who wears a dressy button-down shirt with a single-breasted plaid jacket seems like the old-fashioned type. Maybe they’re heading to a mixer at the country club?

Clothing suggests the time and place in which a character exists. As part of your worldbuilding process, you’ll want to be as precise as possible about your book’s setting and time period. This doesn’t just apply to historical fiction; it applies to all forms of writing. For instance, if you’re writing a battle scene set during the Revolutionary War, you might need to study the physical descriptions of britches and pantaloons. But if your scene is set in a present-day battlefield, you might describe a soldier as wearing camouflage with a tag hung from a necklace. Simply by changing the clothing description, you’ve marked a massive distinction between these two war stories.

Source ⚜ More: Notes ⚜ Writing Resources PDFs ⚜ References: Fashion

[omegaversetheory]

Dress it up

[digitalkiddo]

If you're writing anything involving cons, scams, heists, or morally questionable characters who are very good at lying, here are some free resources I've been using for research. Saving you the "why is this in my search history" anxiety.

1. The FBI's Famous Cases & Criminals archive (fbi.gov/history/famous-cases) has detailed breakdowns of real fraud cases, Ponzi schemes, and confidence operations. The language they use is clinical and precise, which is perfect for getting the procedural details right.

2. The FTC Consumer Sentinel Network publishes annual reports on the most common fraud tactics in the US. Great for understanding how modern scams actually work and what makes people fall for them.

3. The Smithsonian's American Art Museum has a free digital collection of forgery case studies. If your character forges documents or art, this is gold.

4. Court Listener (courtlistener.com) is a free legal database where you can read actual court transcripts from fraud trials. Want to know how a real con artist talks under oath? This is where you find out.

5. The Internet Archive's collection of old newspaper crime sections. Search for "confidence man" or "swindle" in papers from the 1920s through 1960s and you'll find incredible real stories that would feel too dramatic for fiction.

Bonus: The Psychology of Fraud section on the Association for Psychological Science website has accessible articles about why people trust, how deception works cognitively, and what makes someone a convincing liar. Essential reading if you want your con artist characters to feel psychologically real.

Reblog to save for later. Your WIP will thank you.

[omegaversetheory]

I love a good con in the plot!

[omegaversetheory]

World building is my favorite part of omegaverse, especially how it affects society. I'm so happy for your blog. I've read through a lot of it and it gave me so much inspiration. Thank you!

you're so sweet! this made my day!

happy reading! and also, what's one of your own fun headcanons?

[ghetto-omega]

Talking about scents*｡⁠.°𑁍

𑁍Long post incoming. This got way too long.

I have a lot of thoughts about scents in the omegaverse, but we'll start here. Specifically, with descriptions for scents in the omegaverse. Bc like a scent sweetening isn't indicative of heat by itself, but a cloying scent is, if that makes sense.

Sweetening; happens when you're in a good mood, or something particularly good is happening to you. You'll find it used a lot when people are getting scented by their packmates.

Souring; the opposite. A spoiled or rotten smell depending on scent. Someone with a coconut or milky smell might land more on the spoiled side, while someone with a woody or floral smell might end up on the rotten side.

Neutralizing; to go back to its blanket state, your scents base notes. Think when the Sims 4 says your Sim is "fine". Just neutral, often impersonal. What people smell like when their friend meets another friend in public and they don't have anything to add in conversation lol.

Heady; often associated with lust, specifically because heat and rut give off a very heady scent, but you'll find the same type of smell in a young alphas den for example. It's like leaving a candle going in a windowless room and when you come back a few hours later it's all you can smell.

Stale; the type of scent you'll find on old/unused nests, sealed nesting/baby blankets from childhood, old scent patches, sometimes on scent glands (especially children) if they haven't been groomed in a while. Not necessarily a bad smell, just old.

Warm; a distant antonym of neutralize. Pack dens will often smell warm. It's very personal, inviting. You'll often find pack omegas scents being described as warm, even if they have a minty or cool toned scent.

Bitter/acrid; anger or irritation. Something that makes you want to cover your nose, but it's not nausea inducing like a sour scent would be. At the most, it's annoying. This is the type of scent you'd find in a posturing match between two alphas.

But it wouldn't smell the same on everyone. Scents are like facial expressions imo. Like you can basically get the jist when you first meet someone (most of the time anyway, some people are hard to read) but if you want to get to really know what they mean, you need to actually befriend the person.

Examples: pine, moss, sage, lavender, (earthy) scent, verses chocolate, marshmallow, coconut, whipped cream, (gourmand) scent

The earthy scent would smell, you guessed it, earthy. In a casual setting you'd be reminded of woods, forests, spring, etc.. but when it "sours" it'd be more like rotting wood, mold, must, sulfur, or allium. Bitter could also be allium, as well as fermentation, or cyanide.

The gourmand scent would be confectionery; candy stores, ice cream shops, bakeries, anything like that. Soured it would be like spoiled milk, spoiled chocolate, mold, yogurt, cheese, etc. bitter would be like molasses, burnt/dark chocolate, cacao, perhaps patchouli. Whatever suits their scent the most.

But in the same vein, patchouli could also be considered a warm note for the earthy scent, though they wouldn't be exactly the same. If you go smell two different perfumes that both have patchouli in it I guarantee you they won't smell exactly the same, despite having a few of the same notes. Scents don't just lose their base notes when they fluctuate.

[omegaversetheory]

I love learning about your au!

[omegaversetheory]

Hello! I've been wondering how would an alpha (and maybe even other dynamics) act when homesick?

I'm writing a story and alpha has to study abroad.

Thank you for your time! I love your blog by the way! ❤️

ooo homesickness

Omegas: contrary to what you might think, omegas are the least likely dynamic to feel homesick thanks to their ability to nest and their connection to scent. But when an omega starts feeling far from home, they'll nest, but distinctly like their father/mother, did to feel close to them. Omegas are also most likely to throw themselves into being busy to make themselves forget their worries. Omegas who go live in new places for work or school often need to drop out/come home after a few months because of this phenomenon.

Betas: when they feel homesick, betas try to do everything right. They take some time alone to look at pictures, hold scented items, call their loved ones but also try to get out and do new things. One classic beta-homesick behavior is cooking and eating. Betas will often prepare or find food that reminds them of home and consume a lot of it.

Alphas: When alphas are homesick, they usually start to pull away from their new communities and spend time alone, usually outside the house. They'll go on solo walks or runs, go out to eat by themselves, anything that can get them away from feeling like an imposter in there new house/room/dorm etc.. and find a connection to their new community. They'll often stop to talk to people or browse local businesses looking for cool knick-knacks or charms. Unlike the beta, the alpha will consume more of the regional food than normal, in an attempt to force themselves to integrate into their new surroundings.

[omegaversetheory]

archive activate! this was a fun one, and a good ask. thanks anon!

[omegaversetheory]

in the grey is not groundbreaking or deep but it is a fun way to spend some time in the theater. However the whole time I was appreciating the male alpha x male alpha (or male alpha x buff male omega) content! The nod to female alpha x female (other dynamic) was also fun.

I spent wayyyyy too much time on this cursed app.

Cheers to Sid and Bronco! (happy to see henry cavill playing a bottom!)

[omegaversetheory]

For the moments when you see an old celebrity crush and immediately get an ick.

Here’s to growth!

[omegaversetheory]

omegaverse horror p.1

after a mating bite, two really do become one. your thoughts and feelings are completely and totally shared with an individual. There is no such thing as polyamorous mates, elders warn against bonding with someone with whom you don't completely trust and know.

you don't care. you love him. you exchange the bites. it's not just him in your head now, no it's him and dozens of others.

you can't breathe, you can't think, you can't move. it's madness.

you ask him how he could betray you like this.

betray? he laughs. welcome home.

it's a curse. it must be, you think standing over his body covered with blood. his heart no longer beats, but through the bond his voice - all of the voices remain. and you know, one day you'll be immortal in this way too.

there is no death through the bond, only transcendance.

[omegaversetheory]

headcanon: The History of Marriage p.1

a detailed explanation of why my omegaverse observes the tradition of marriage.

As packs evolved out of nomadic phases into a settlement-based phase, they developed the need for trade and forging relationships/alliances with other packs.

This system of marriage does not observe either partner as currency to another, rather their union represents a commitment/bond between two packs. .

Pack leaders would designate different unbonded pack members for different things. The strongest individuals* (pure genetic line, high physical strength/intellect, family history of high fertility) were selected if the pack leaders were considering "forever" relationships with other packs.

Blend: two packs become one. Two smaller packs might do this to increase their size and might. A small pack with lucrative resources may be approached for this by a larger pack so that both could increase power. Two large packs may do this (most unstable) to create kingdoms with monopolies over resources and landmass. The couple would usually become the ruling pair after the merge was completed.

Succeed: the pair would take over as one of the packs' alpha pair and rule. often done to breed stronger pack members/purify a genetic line. Also could be considered if one pack wanted to have an ongoing relationship with another, but wanted to remain a separate entity.

Splinter: the couple would leave their respective packs to start a new one. often considered if two bordering packs had too much landmass and not enough members to cover all of it. Both packs would then give the new pair pieces from the middle to settle. May also "give" pack members living in that territory over to the new pair. The point of this unification deal is to get better control over fringe territory while gaining the resources from that area.

*strongest individual is often the eldest child of the ruling alpha, but certainly not always.

The mid-strength pack members could be selected to if pack leaders were considering "contract" relationships with another pack.

Protection contract: marriages were often part of the deal when packs wanted more protection. It was not uncommon for a deal to involve several marriages, not just one depending on the size of the contract. If Pack X wants protection they may offer up several candidates. Other packs that are interested in taking the contract would send their own candidates to court Pack X. The packs whose candidates end up marrying Pack X would each get a portion of the contract.

a lucrative trade deal: if Pack X wants to forge a high volume/high worth trade deal with another pack, they will often offer up a candidate for other packs to send suitors for. The pack who ends up marrying Pack X's candidate would then get the trade deal.

a genetic boost: packs looking for genetic boosts often use their strongest candidates, while it is normal for less-inbred packs to send their mid-strength candidates as suitors.

*Mid-strength pack members are often the children of pack leaders or high-born pack members.

Traditionally, low-strength pack members rarely ever married outside the pack.

[omegaversetheory]

an old headcanon - traditional omegaverse inspired!

Gosh, my archive is soooooo long. But there are some real gems in there I have since completely forgotten about lol. More archive reblogs coming soon!

[ghetto-omega]

I've been trying to figure out the differences between nesting and denning, but I think I got it now.

There are two distinct differences.

1. Nesting is focused on one point, and denning is focused on an entire area

2. Nesting is about drawing packmates in while denning is about keeping other packs out

You can have a den without a nest and a nest without a den, but I don't think it's comfortable to have one without the other. I think that nesting is an omegan trait, but if you grew up in a household with one or more omegas you're bound to at least pick up the skill and vice versa.

Hence, most people can do both, but most also prefer not to. Even betas tend to have a preference one way or the other. Think of it like how most are either a social studies/language person or math/science person,,, or how often people who are good at algebra are terrible at geometry.

Ofc, the omega population has an overwhelming lean towards nesting and alphas to denning, but I think it's a pretty similar instinct for either. For betas it just depends on who they grew up around, who taught what, ect ect.

[omegaversetheory]

nesting and denning content!

[omegaversetheory]

How do you think heats/ruts would go if one or both partners has some kind of disability or chronic pain? Would it be lighter so they don't hurt themselves/their partner or would it be regular intensity and it's up to the alpha/omega to regulate themselves even with their rut/heat?

It's up to the individual to communicate what their situation is, and a good partner would respect their boundaries/regulate themselves accordingly.

I don't have a disability or chronic illness, but the friends that I have that do are just as much a potential sexual person as you or me. Sometimes the condition can impact their bodies in ways that impact their sexual lives, such as their libidos, other times it doesn't. I think a heat/rut cycle is comparable to a menstrual cycle. It's a system in the body, and the body does what it will do - and that can mean different things for different people.

In terms of what it would be like if only one partner experiences something like this, I don't see the one who is unaffected then having less intense heats/ruts to fully accommodate them, however this could be interesting to explore within the context of a mating bond/bonded pair. Here it would again be about communication, as it always is. What are each person's needs? What are their boundaries or limits? What do they like or not like? What hurts? If they truly loved each other they would work it out, and in a society that finds physical intimacy to be less taboo, these conversations probably wouldn't seem the least bit odd.

[omegaversetheory]

How would an Alpha x Beta relationship work?

It depends on how your au works -

what are the ratios of each dynamic in the population?

what dynamic is at the top of the hierarchy?

does primary gender matter? Are they different genders or the same?

how old are they?

what kind of omegaverse is your au? traditional, contemporary, or modern?

are they from the same culture or different ones?

does their society prioritize/value breeding pairs?

in general, we all know that I'm very much in the post-modernist camp (can't you tell from these questions lol) so I'd say it would work just like any other relationship, because they're people. However that can seem very "no fun" if you prefer a very conservative traditional au! So just let me know in the comments and I'm happy to whip up some headcanons for you!

[omegaversetheory]

Types of Omegaverses

Traditional - rigid social norms and hierarchies (ex: you can't do that you're an omega!), scents, animalistic heats/ruts, packs, war, dynamic > gender, mating, traditional gender roles are imposed (even if your characters actively fight against them), majority polyamory or familial based packs. Knotting = mating bond, mating bites can be present.

Contemporary - semi-flexible but present social /dynamic hierarchies (They are an alpha, it's respectful to listen to what they have to say), dating and courtship either anywhere between traditional and modern, polyamory common, dynamic is slightly more important than gender in society, familial/harem/community-based packs, fantastical heats/ruts/and mating, knotting and mating are not the same thing, mating bites, soulmates/soul marks.

Modern-dynamic hierarchy used to be a thing but is no longer the way society is structured, some dynamic and gender-based social norms (ex. I can't believe that alpha is a kindergarten teacher, i wonder what their parents think!), modern/nearly modern dating and courtship, traditional gender roles in the background, dynamic and gender are equally important in society, found family packs, polyamory uncommon, realistic heats/ruts (no rut rage, no wildly uncontrollable urges that last for days, no fountains of slick, etc.. these are just quirky biological processes, the increased mating drive does not become "fantastical"), mating bond = emotional commitment.

Post-Modern - the coexistence and explicit mention of multiple countries, multiple languages, multiple cultures, and customs that inform feelings towards dynamics. Mating, packs, and social hierarchies, neither dynamic nor gender is the focus of the characters or the plot, heats/ruts more biological than sexual, present-futuristic time period.

[omegaversetheory]

(different anon, on the topic of gender and genitalia/bodies in omegaverse)

(cw: i do not use the terms "afab anatomy" or "amab anatomy" because i think it muddies the point i'm trying to make. i use the anatomically correct terms for the specific body parts in question).

this is something i have also thought about a lot. the central issue is that there are 6 sex (2 primary, 3 secondary) but only 2 reproductive roles in human biology: the normalized male role (providing sperm) and the normalized female role (providing eggs, carrying pregnancy, giving birth, providing milk). worldbuilding for omegaverse requires figuring out how those roles should be divided between 6 sexes. at least, if you're trying to create a world that holds up to scrutiny, which i know not everyone cares about.

most people have clear ideas about what divides alphas from omega. they have less clear ideas about divides betas from either because most societies (especially not western ones) don't have a normalized third gender to drawn inspiration from, which is why betas as a concept as often neglected or relegated to being "normal". seriously, people seem really averse to the idea of betas having scents or instincts and i think it stems from beta "normalness" or "neutrality" being their defining trait distinct from alphas and omegas.

but accepting this creates the problem that there's no gender or reproductive trait actually shared between beta men (who are just regular men) and beta women (who are just regular women), so why are they grouped together? under the common framework, i often wonder why beta men aren't just considered lackluster alphas and beta women considered lackluster omegas. they're often treated like that ("oh no, omegas are rare so i guess we have to settle for [shudders] beta women"), but not categorized like that.

and least clear is what divides men from women in omegaverse. which partly seems intentional since omegaverse is often used a metaphor for irl gender issues or to put distance between the author/readers and irl gender issues. the concepts of maleness and femaleness still exist in omegaverse, but its often not explained what they mean or why they matter in that society. like concept of betas, the concepts of omegaverse men and omegaverse women are just the elephant in the room that the majority of people are incapable or unwilling to address. as i alluded to earlier, i think its because people aren't sure to divide 2 irl reproductive/gender roles 3-6 different ways.

alphas are assigned the normalized male role, which feel intuitive for male alphas but contradictory for female alphas. omegas are assigned the normalized female role, which feels intuitive for female omegas but contradictory for male omegas. to me (to me!) the dual-sex female alphas and dual-sex male omegas feel like a way to reconcile this contradiction. female alphas have penises because they are alphas and vaginas because they are women. male omegas have vaginas because they are omegas and penises because they are men.

this is a theory, not a judgement. i do not think most omegaverse writers believe that all women must have vaginas and that all men must have penises (as many of them are trans or trans allies). i make a clear distinction in my head between irl men and omegaverse men / irl women and omegaverse women, and i believe most people do as well. i do think that when faced with the question "what distinguishes people who are assigned female and people who are assigned male in this fictional setting?" people tend to default to "genitals" as the answer regardless of the other traits involved.

i think there are alternatives, like distinguishing omegaverse assigned-men and omegaverse assigned-women with different body parts. in my omegaverse setting, assigned-female people develop breasts during puberty which remain the same size once they are finished growing and respond to the prolonged presence of any child under the age of two by lactating. if there is a baby around, they can feed it, regardless of whether they gave birth to that baby. assigned-male people develop small breasts only after giving birth which shrink back to being flat once the child has been weaned.

the social consequence of this is that woman are expected to be pseudo-parents to any random kid in their vicinity and held to the same standard as an actual parent, even if that kid is a stranger. men do not face the same expectation and its socially acceptable for them to only care about their biological offspring (which makes non-biological family dynamics particularly thorny). plus there are the health consequences of persistent lactation (mastitis, clogged ducts, nutritional concerns) that women have to deal with. i once read a fic where a male omega has stretch marks on his chest from feeding his child and thought "that's definitely going in the pile".

as for genitals, i use two different frameworks. 1) alphas have penises and are expected to be tops, omegas have vaginas and are expected to be bottoms, and betas have both and are expected to switch depending on their partner. 2) alphas and betas have penises, with alphas providing the sperm and betas providing the eggs, while omegas have vaginas/wombs and give birth. i've spent ages constructing alternative gender roles for each framework based on the material realities caused by these reproductive roles.

i think that's what it really comes down: how do sex, reproduction, pregnancy, childbirth, and child-rearing function in the setting? what types of normative body structures would lead to those outcomes? before modern science, people had weird ideas about all that stuff, so maybe look to history as inspiration. my second framework was inspired by the concept of paritable paternity, which is the belief that children could have more than one biological father (any man the mother slept with during or shortly before her pregnancy).

another thing: a very popular (if not defining) trope in omegaverse is that character don't know their secondary sex until they present during or after puberty. how does that work? in my setting, for both frameworks, people are born with undifferentiated genitals which then become differentiated during presentation. an alternative i came up with but didn't flesh out: everyone is born dual-sex and secondary sex is determined by which reproductive system becomes active (alpha -> impregnate others, omega -> become pregnant, beta -> both).

in setting where (only) female alphas and male omegas are dual-sex, i often wonder why they aren't grouped together. especially if both are capable of filling both reproductive role? and if genitals are known from birth, how do you tell if a child is a female alpha or a male omega? a male alpha or a male beta? a female omega or a female beta? i read a fic where a couple was told their unborn child was female via ultrasound and though "based on what?"

then there's the other popular trope which is that after presentation characters wake up with a different set of genitals than they were born with, or in additional to their original genitals which are now defunct. so what was the point of their original genitals? why would their body waste resources like that? it makes sense in bitching/studding fics, but not when its their presentation.

actually, as i'm writing this, i just came up with a solution. if someone doesn't have kids by say, age 25-35, their body switches things up because "obviously you suck at reproducing using this method so let's try something else". oh, imagine the ramifications this would have on a society where people are delaying having kids en mass for whatever reason (economic depression, resource scarcity, social/political conflict, changing values).

let's not forget that for most people, omegaverse is kink trope. i think most people write based on vibes or their personal preferences and if they care to, work backwards to explain why things are like that. another thing is that omegaverse is often used to let m/m or f/f couples occupy the same plots and tropes that are typically reserved for m/f couples, so they're not trying to construct alternative gender roles, just play around with existing ones (again, observation not judgement).

if one really wants to think deeply about what makes someone an (assigned) alpha or beta or omega, or a (assigned) man or woman, then there has to be a reason why that distinction is acknowledged, why people care about it, and how it effects their experiences in society. not necessarily a good, justified, or important reason, but a reason.

Anon! this is the best message I've ever received. thank you so much for giving me so much food for thought that I literally had to compose my thoughts in a google doc. I wish you weren't anonymous lol, let's be buds.

Lot of material here, let's start from the top. TLDR: I basically just "yes and" your thoughts. PSA: this response is only about omegaverse, not about the experiences of our friends in the misce community. 

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Omegaverse dynamics are both too strict and too fluid. Too strict because the overwhelming power of traditional views of masculinity/femininity driving the boat. Too fluid because the dynamics lack has solid meaning or distinction, and therefore are meaningless. Let the dynamics have true purpose, not social purpose but each a unique effective/efficient reason that they helped contribute to the continuation of the species.

First of all, omegaverse as a genre was created with a western frame of mind - a mind that is completely infatuated with binary systems while constantly attempting to disavow them at every possible turn. That created the very pleasant big picture omegaverse, in which there are three dynamics, however really none of that makes a lick of sense - not because it's fantasy, but because to your point, there are so few differences between some of the six 'genders' that it becomes very clear that six is just a fancy way of saying 'two'. I agree that to solve the case it all goes back to reproduction (which encompasses copulation, pregnancy, and childbirth). Child-rearing not so much because that can be more socially situated apart from breast-feeding.

There are two ways I think the genre could address this muddiness and become a lot more interesting - tripartite reproduction (in which you need three people to make a baby), or concretizing what is it that makes the dynamics different in a way that cannot be changed. Both of these will never happen because they're horribly unpopular with the people who love the omegaverse the most.

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Tripartite reproduction is a real turn of to those that love the omegaverse for it's heightened portrayals of masculinity and femininity, thus the kink of it all. This sort of system would destroy that, because it would require the invention of a true third thing that is not both of the other options, which would likely require the two other options to be completely reworked as well. tbh this actually makes the most sense, as it addresses what the point of having three options is anyway and why one didn't get bred out (especially if alphas/omegas are hypersexual, therefore more likely to pass on their genes, compared to betas).

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The second thing, the needing to really separate the dynamics, by boiling each one down to an immovable core, is likely the more damning issue. Let me paint you a picture. Let's say alphas have orange skin, betas have purple skin, and omegas have green skin. There are male and female varieties of each, however the only thing that suggests what your dynamic is in this case is skin color. This then wrecks what many writers appreciate the genre for - the ability to examine, understand, and "play" (in quotes because it's not really play, rather good investigation grounded in the freedom of the pen) with gender, because if you were born orange you can't become green.

Sure, of course this image does nothing to speak of the socially constructed elements of what gender is and does, instead it's only reproductive sex type - eliminating questions such as how does an green act in a way that's different than a purple? It's a bio-reductionist frame of mind (if bio-reductionist is even a phrase) which completely goes against what the genre is for a majority of it's audience. It also then begs the question that if a dynamic is something that you could not alter about yourself, can it even be mentioned in the same breath as the word "gender" at all? In an age where, as I type out these words I can look at my body and think, "there is technology available which would allow me to change nearly 100% of my outward physical appearance", what then! What if this was taken to the next extreme, not only green/orange/purple skin but the bones too. What then?! There could be no fluidity [pending skeleton removal technology].

I've just done a really messy job with a terrible illustration to say that if you live in the west today, you are likely familiar with a more wholistic post-modern understanding of both gender and sexuality that embraces grayness and fluidity. I'm gripped by your question "what distinguishes people who are assigned female and male in this fictional setting" and I raise you "what distinguishes people who are assigned alpha, beta, or omega?!".

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Heaven help me something really subversive comes along - a wave of popularity for male omega x male omega, or male beta x female alpha, or maybe everybody says alphas are actually infertile, give me something really interesting to chew on! Get out of here with that double male alpha romance, or the double female omega romance, or the male alpha x female omega, female alpha x male omega.

The majority of omegaverse lovers are casual participants in it for the romance. The second largest majority are in it for the 'play' and investigation of real life circumstances, and finally there are those of us [a tiny huddle] here for the worldbuilding - the complaining and the fixing and the pointing out that it doesn't make sense. But I'm so glad we've found one another.