Omegaverse

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The Omegaverse, or the Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics universe is a setting originating from and primarily found in Fanfiction, most commonly of the Slash Fic variety. Finding its origin in Supernatural Real-Person Fic (potentially inspired by the fact that Jensen Ackles once played genetically engineered characters on Dark Angel whose series of transgenic are known to go into heat due to their feline DNA), it quickly spread to other Fandoms and eventually to original Erotic Literature, Romance Novels, Manga and Manhwa. Although individual components of the Omegaverse like Mate or Die or Mister Seahorse are much older, the specific merging of tropes into one common setting started in The New '10s, making it one of The Newest Ones in the Book.

While some aspects are switched around, left out or added, the basic components stay the same: humans in this otherwise mostly normal setting have an additional, just as important "dynamic" or second sex next to gender. Based on the now discredited concept of Alpha and Beta Wolves, alphas usually are dominant, aggressive, and sport Exotic Equipment, while omegas are more submissive and might be able to get pregnant regardless of biological sex, giving birth to children that are often called pups. Betas, who are either just regular old humans or characters who have a mix of Alpha and Omega traits (depending on the author), are often relegated to background characters, while the main focus of Omegaverse stories is usually an alpha-omega couple. How the structure of society changes with the addition of Alphas, Betas, and Omegas can also be handled quite differently from author to author. Secondary gender may be more important than primary gender, so alpha/omega couples are the norm (even if they're same-sex or with a female alpha and male omega), while an alpha/alpha or omega/omega heterosexual couple might be discriminated against. Often, there exists a Fantastic Caste System, where people of some type (most commonly omegas) are oppressed or one type is exceedingly rare and invaluable.^note Or both. The rarity and value may motivate the oppression. Other common components are pheromone emission and knowing their partner by scent, bonding for life, and sexual heat cycles. When someone hides their type through behavioral changes or suppression medication, there might be some sort of Gender Reveal when they are found out.

Stories containing Omegaverse usually fall on the explicit side and can be either Porn Without Plot or Porn with Plot, but tamer works exploring the gender and societal dynamics (not unlike fiction from the New Weird movement) do exist and are not uncommon. It's been argued by some that a major appeal of the Omegaverse, outside of the sex and kinky elements, is that it allows for the exploration of what it would be like if a population of men were subjected to the sorts of discrimination that women often face in the real world.

Tropes frequently found in this setting include:

• Bizarre Alien Sexes: When it's applied to Our Werebeasts Are Different and not Our Humans Are Different.
• Bizarre Human Biology: Alpha Females and Omega Males are both hermaphrodites, while Alpha Males (and in some cases, Alpha Females) have a canine-like bulbus glandis. Some fics may depict all Alphas as having penises and all Omegas as having vaginas (perhaps with those parts emerging with the character's first heat, to their surprise), or simply make it possible for male Omegas to give birth anally.
• Blanket Fort: Omegas are frequently stereotyped as "nesting", which are often depicted as small in-house forts made of pillows and blankets, which Omegas will often instinctively make when nervous, expecting, or in heat.
• Claimed by the Supernatural: Alphas will sometimes bite an Omega that they are physically or sexually attracted to in order to 'Claim' them, leaving a bite mark that will prevent the Omega from being attracted to anyone else (and prevent other Alphas from being attracted to the Omega).
• Deliberate Values Dissonance: Often invoked by authors, since Omegas are often treated as second-class citizens with limited rights in comparison to Alphas and Betas (with treatment of Omegas often ranging from "Stay in the Kitchen" to being legally perpetual minors in the custodianship of an Alpha or Beta), and some Omegaverse stories are set in pre-modern times where this trope would be in force regardless. Some readers have argued that the Omegaverse concept has such staying power because it presents a scenario where a subset of men, perhaps men who would be considered quite masculine in real life, are subjected to the same sorts of discrimination that women have historically and continue to deal with to this day.
• Depending on the Writer: The mechanics, physiology, and reproductive anatomy of Alphas and Omegas can vary greatly between authors.
• Everyone Is Bi: Alphas and Omegas are as likely to be within a same-sex relationship as a heterosexual one — to the point that gay or lesbian Alpha/Omega couples are much more common than heterosexual couples that are both Alphas or Omegas.
• Fandom-Specific Plot: Omegaverse stories are as likely to be Alternate Universe Fics of pre-existing franchises as they are not.
• Fantastic Caste System: Alphas are often depicted as forming an Omegaverse society's upper or warrior classes, while Omegas are usually submissive and either an oppressed underclass (that often goes into hiding) or relegated to service and hospitality industries.
• Fantastic Drug: Some stories may feature "blockers", short for hormone or scent blockers, a type of drug that usually has to be taken regularly and in perpetuity that is intended to prevent alphas and omegas from emitting the pheromones associated with their respective "secondary sexes" and/or from going into ruts or heats, respectively. When they do show up, it's common for access to blockers to be Played for Drama, particularly for omegas who may be reliant on them in order to live and work without the distraction of heats or attracting unwanted attention from alphas, mirroring struggles that real-world women have experienced when trying to get access to contraceptives or gynecological care. It's also worth noting that omegaverse stories written by authors from countries where universal healthcare is the norm, such as Japan, very rarely have any dramatic plotlines regarding access to blockers, as they're treated as essential and freely available healthcare.
• Hermaphrodite: In many stories, Omega Males and Alpha Females are fully-functional hermaphrodites with both sets of reproductive organs.
• Homosexual Reproduction: Gay couples where one (or both) men are Omega Males, and lesbian couples where one (or both) women are Alpha Females, are as capable as procreating as a heterosexual couple.
• Human Outside, Alien Inside: Via Our Humans Are Different in cases when the setting doesn't make any distinction from human biology — such as therianthropy, in keeping with the Alpha and Beta Wolves associations — other than Bizarre Alien Sexes.
• Idealized Sex: Both by accident and on purpose, a number of traits of both Alphas and Omegas match up with the kind of sexual portrayals common to fanfiction. The most notable of these is that male Omegas are usually depicted as having an orifice that resembles a vagina in terms of how it operates in sex, down to being self-lubricating—leading to positions and practices that would be at best painful for normal people in real life.
• Masculine–Feminine Gay Couple: Practically ubiquitous in same-sex Alpha/Omega pairings, with the Alpha being the more masculine partner and the Omega being the more feminine one.
• Masculine Girl, Feminine Boy: Often seen in stories focusing on female Alpha/male Omega pairs.
• Mating Season Mayhem: Omegas go into Heat whenever they ovulate, releasing a pheromone or odor that can induce Rut (a state of increased sexual arousal) in Alphas. Omegas are often incapable of controlling their heats, and Alphas are often incapable of controlling themselves when in rut.
• Mindlink Mates: Some more overtly magical Omegaverse settings may depict Alphas as able to make telepathic connections to an Omega that they've 'Claimed'.
• Mister Seahorse: Omega Males are as capable of getting pregnant as real-world females are. This trope is one of the most famously associated with Omegaverse, to the point of this trope being used as the definition of Omegaverse in Google Definitions, and the trope page on This Very Wiki has a brief summary of Omegaverse on the trope's fanfic examples page.
• My Instincts Are Showing: Both Alphas and Omegas are often depicted as having animalistic instincts, especially when an Alpha is in rut or an Omega is in heat.
• Non-Heteronormative Society: Some interpretations of the Omegaverse depict the setting as being entirely non-heteronormative, where same-sex couples aren't something to bat an eye at. Others will depict society as mostly heteronormative, but make a Bigotry Exception if one (or both) members of a gay couple are Omega Males, or if one (or both) members of a lesbian couple are Alpha Females.
• Not Safe for Work: Given the Omegaverse's origins and strong associations with online erotica, an Omegaverse story being NSFW is pretty much given as a default.
• Our Humans Are Different: When there isn't a supernatural excuse for why what amounts to Bizarre Alien Sexes is normalized as Bizarre Human Biology via Human Outside, Alien Inside.
• Our Werebeasts Are Different / Our Werewolves Are Different: Therianthropy in general, and lycanthropy in particular, are popular excuses for Alpha and Beta Wolves dynamic.
• Signature Scent: Alphas and Omegas have their own unique scents, the former of which can use to 'Claim' the latter.
• Smart Animal, Inconvenient Instincts: A rare non-Furry and non-sapient-animal example, since Alphas and Omegas both have some animalistic instincts (mostly pertaining to rut/heat).

Examples: