been a while, so lets talk D&D!
my homebrew campaign has this nifty little mechanic we’ve collectively dubbed the Woke Omegaverse! it’s. it’s the omegaverse but trans-friendly, and doesn’t involve mpreg at all
but sunny, you ask? why have an omegaverse with no mpreg? that’s like the whole point
NONO. the point is SOCIAL DYNAMICS.
you see… the Woke Omegaverse(tm but not really) is mostly a way to explore the concept of societal gender roles versus percieved gender, versus preferred gender/gender identity, versus biological gender
(and yes i call it the omegaverse, rather than a/b/o, mostly bc slashes are a pain to type on mobile, and without the slashes that’s a slur babes)
the main addition of the Woke Omegaverse is scenting/scent biology! each of the three trinary secondary genders has a role, which is enforced by their scent types (all of which are possible to transition to and from!):
Alphas are territorial/protective, and have one or two scents that they use to mark and claim. Usually this means they’re delegated to leadership/guard roles, and over time Olibinian Tiefling Society has equated this to power, in a similar way to how on Earth masculinity is considered powerful (the patriarchy, if you will). They have a rut, which lasts a single day, which doesn’t necessarily mean they’re… horny, but rather that whatever their underlying emotion is is augmented, meaning they’re more angry, or more sad, or more manic, or more happy. It’s a single day of heightened emotionality, which is soothed by physical contact, whether that be platonic or romantic or sexual. It’s the emotional connection to the other person that they’re in contact with that calms the emotional surge. Yes, this omegaverse is also aro/ace friendly!~ Platonic bonds are just as important as romantic/sexual.
Omegas are providers and regulators, which means they often get tasked with home-keeping and therapeutic jobs. Over time, society has equated this to a sort of subservient role, and the concepts of “house omegas” evolved, in a similar manner to how women have been historically oppressed on Earth. They have a five day heat cycle instead of a period, and their scent is more of a paint palette, which shifts with their emotions, allowing those around them to more easily read their mood swings. They can also force certain emotions (calm, happiness, etc) out, and contact with loved ones during heat allows them to share their emotion through their bond, allowing them to more directly calm others. Heat, for omegas, is a sort of tingling sensation, that burns when in contact with another person, pleasantly for friendly/romantic/positive sexual encounters, and sharp/painfully for familial/negative encounters. Again, platonic bonds are just as effective! It’s all about how strong the bond is, not the nature of it.
Finally, Betas. Betas are considered negotiators and negators of the other two secondary genders—their scents, which exist, despite being fainter, serve to cancel out and hide other Tieflings’ scents. This also helps manually calm and/or hide the emotional turmoil of a different Tiefling’s rut/heat/pseudoheat, which means their oil is useful as a “natural hormone blocker” and is often used in transition hormones for secondary genders. Betas get pseudoheats, which are an odd combination of a heat and a rut—they get the strong, more singular overlying emotion of a rut over the course of three days, not one, but this emotion is more fluid than an Alpha’s rut emotion, like an Omega. Their scent tends to be more aromatic during this period, but is still fainter than the other two, and can be cancelled in similar ways, physical contact, or via another beta’s oil mask. Societally, Betas are often forgotten, as they make up a much smaller fraction of the population. Similarly to intersex people on Earth, they are often forced to “choose a binary gender” in order to fit into society.
All three genders’ rut/heat/pseudoheat can be calmed by positive social contact, made worse with negative social contact, and neutralized by Betas’ oil (or the oil of a loved one, if they so choose). Non-Tieflings are also able to soothe/hurt via the first two options, but don’t produce oil, so the last isn’t really feasible.
There’s more, obviously, and I’d love to do an analysis on each of the Tiefling characters in the campaign bc I love dissecting social gender roles with this, so I might make a couple followup posts! I’ll touch on marking in a little bit, bc that’s also pretty important to hormonal regulation, but yeah!
The Woke Omegaverse, in a nutshell.
