fandomsecrets | [ SECRET POST #2539 ]

⌈ Secret Post #2539 ⌋

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Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

I tend to run under the general assumption that the gender balance skews toward betas (like, the A:B:O ration is 20:60:20), and betas may be relatively low-fertility even with respect to real-world humans. Their ecological niche, if you will, is to help take care of the excess children that alpha/omega couples are prone to.

(Granted, being interested in A/B/O for the worldbuilding opportunities is kind of coming at it backwards, but oh well.)

Granted, being interested in A/B/O for the worldbuilding opportunities is kind of coming at it backwards, but oh well.

The world-building and how authors get around some of the problems that have been addressed in this thread without completely failing to hit any of the kinks also mentioned is the only thing I really like about A/B/O.

I've seen fics where, yes, betas have a low fertility rate, but I don't think I've seen any that really deal with what happens to all the children the alphas and omegas produce. What if they can't afford to feed them all? (Or are alphas pretty much guaranteed to get high-paying jobs? What happens if one doesn't? How does that glass ceiling affect betas?) Is it customary for A/O couples to adopt out some of their children to betas or do betas play some kind of auxiliary role in supporting A/O families? How would this work in practice and how does everyone feel about it? There's a lot that could be explored, here.

I could also see the potential for polyamorous triads to be more common in an A/B/O'verse, so you have another potential income and/or another potential caretaker for any children that result, without substantially increasing the overall fertility rate (because betas are often written as having reduced fertility, compared to omegas). That also has the advantage of having there be someone around to make sure the oven didn't get left on when the alpha and omega disappeared into the bedroom because the omega went into heat.

My first thought is that there's strong pressure on omegas to be stay-at-home babymakers and handle enormous amounts of caretaking, plus a strong bias in the working world to promote/overpay alphas because "they're the breadwinners."

Second thought: siblings would be a huge part of the social structure. If you're a beta with siblings who are alphas and/or omegas, it's expected that you'll help out with those siblings' kids -- not outright parenting, perhaps, but taking them on the weekends, providing extra-large birthday presents, that sort of thing. (And the kids will definitely stay with aunts/uncles when their parents are in heat! Attentive parenting and constant sex really don't mix.)

It isn't likely that you'd be an alpha or an omega with no beta siblings (unless you're an only child -- but maybe there's a biological predisposition to firstborn children being beta?), but if you are, that's where cousins come in. Or your kids' grandparents. The odds are good that there's someone.

...and with how popular "found family" groups/teams are in fandom, A/B/O'verse backup-parenting would be a great way to explore that.

You're right, this has a ton of potential. This just might turn into my "why don't any of the A/B/O writers tackle that??" trope.

...On the other hand, all this hasn't been so much of an issue in any of the fandoms I've written A/B/O in because they're modern-day, and it's easy to include that they have fantastic birth control. Either fertility suppressants, or outright heat suppressants.

Then you can include things from the "fervent, unplanned, baby-making heat sex" spectrum of kink by putting the characters in a situation where the suppressants don't work, or aren't available. (In one of mine, the omega in the central pairing went into heat early, so she wasn't carrying any protection. In another, the main omega had religious objections. Which were kind of silly and OTT, but he's a silly and OTT character in that field, so it works.)

It isn't likely that you'd be an alpha or an omega with no beta siblings (unless you're an only child -- but maybe there's a biological predisposition to firstborn children being beta?)

This is fascinating I feel like I wanna sit here and read everybody's thought on A/B/O world-building.

*bass-ackwards high-five*

I'm coming at it for the trope-subverting opportunities.

[ SECRET POST #2539 ]

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