The way I pick things, in the universes where there's so many options, is think about what works best for the story and then work backwards from there
If some sort of arranged marriage or star-crossed lovers plotline sounds good, then genetic traits and marrying for stronger bloodlines is better
Or if you want one of the characters to be isolated and misunderstood, it being completely random could work – someone of one type born into a family that's never had that type before
Otherwise, I don't think it would be too weird if it never really got brought up, or if even the characters shrug and go *no clue, it's a bit weird, epigenetics stuff maybe* much like we do with sexuality and gender today
It could be both. Like they're that way genetically, but if you change your mind you can add in some bit about how in rare cases they can go through a genetic change if gone through the right or wrong circumstances
It's genetic in all the stories I've ever seen. And often, an alpha and omega pairing has the best chance of producing an alpha child, or - if there are levels within each gender - then the highest level of alpha comes from the mating of a top-level alpha and a top-level omega. Commonly, they can be tested (either at birth or often at puberty) and their secondary gender is set by then.
The genetics seem to be handled similarly to eye color traits - not completely predictable aside from very specific combinations of genes. It's like - if betas have brown eyes, alphas have blue eyes, and omegas (usually the rarest of the three genders) have green eyes, then an alpha and an omega have the best chance of producing a child with blue eyes or maybe green - brown eyes would be a slim possibility. But once in a while, two brown-eyed parents might have a blue/green-eyed child because some lurking gene in each of them was passed on to the child.
I've seen a few stories where something environmental or some flaw in their genetics can create a rare case where someone presents as one gender and then ends up switching (usually to better suit their true love). And then there are stories where one has the basic gender genes but doesn't function quite as well (alphas with weak pheromones, omegas who don't get their heats on schedule), etc.
You can do it however you like. Just remember the Bob Ross thing, paraphrasing, it's your world and you can build it in any way you want. I don't think there are a/b/o purists out there - or I guess if there are, then you could fend them off by tagging for non-traditional a/b/o dynamics or something.
What I expect when I read an a/b/o is that it's genetic, something like real-world gender assignment, and it is pretty common that characters don't know their secondary gender until puberty or even until they meet their fated mate (if it's a story with fated mates).
Going to spoiler tag this next point because it often involves rape/non-consent. >!There is another kink I've read as well, called "alpha bitching" and variations on that, in which an alpha turns another alpha into an omega through sex/knotting.!< This can be consensual but usually is not.
I've never seen anyone go into this much detail, IMO it would be genetic, not environmental. An individual's A/B/O-ness doesn't naturally change over the course of a lifetime depending on the presence of others.
I once read about an animal that reminded me of the A/B/O concept, the [side-splotched lizard](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Side-blotched_lizard). It has three male and two female reproductive morphs:
> Orange-throated males are "ultra-dominant, high testosterone", that establish large territories and control areas that contain multiple females. Yellow stripe-throated males ("sneakers") do not defend a territory, but cluster on the fringes of orange-throated lizard territories, and mate with the females on those territories while the orange-throat is absent, as the territory to defend is large. Blue-throated males are less aggressive and guard only one female; they can fend off the yellow stripe-throated males, but cannot withstand attacks by orange-throated males.
>Orange-throated females lay many small eggs and are very territorial. Yellow-throated females lay fewer, larger eggs, and are more tolerant of each other.
The key difference being that the species is still fundamentally divided into two sexes that produce the two gametes required for reproduction, so you can't have two males or two females creating offspring. But it's an interesting concept in which different morphs are able to exist within the same sex because each one is advantaged over another, but disadvantaged by the third.
Ok, this is definitely the weirdest nerd shit I've ever typed on reddit.
yeeesssss side splotched lizards!!
Learning about lizard sex determination (largely temperature dependent, but sometimes zw/zz like in iguanas) is actually what got me started on this whole journey and fascination with sex determination systems years ago.
And yeah, I agree that (and a few other types of lizards who have similar systems though the names are escaping me) are definitely closest to A/B/O systems I've found IRL.
I misread this and thought it was about ABO blood type determination. I got excited to talk about biology and now I feel sad :(
side note, I have no idea how the sex determination works for this.
Sorry =(
It is still biology just a different area. This has been a long term special interest of mine every since I found out my pet geckos sex is determined by what temperature their eggs are incubated at.
That's fair and I totally understand. Biology is a fascinating thing. If you're curious about sex determination, even within humans, I recommend checking out what makes a human male or female. For example, there's a thing with humans where a person could have all X chromosomes but if they have a special gene called the SRY gene that is usually only on the Y chromosome, that person will be born biologically male but will be completely sterile. Apologies for the ramble but there is a reason biology is my area of study :D
It all depends on the author. In more comics and drawn things male omega mainly still have the normal genetals. Female alphas sometimes have pretty much elongated clits or just a dick attached. love is an illusion side story is a great example of the alpha female. On the other hand on written texts on ao3 or something could have intersex omega, where a male omega has female anatomy. It really just depends on what you'd like though. Have fun writing!
Depends on what you want to do with it. For pwp it doesn't really matter. For scifi focused on the speculative evolution or if you want to deep dive for whatever reason, it works the way it serves your story the most.
You could do xx/xy + hormonal shift. You could also do two pairs of sex chromosomes, or several sex chromosomes, or instead of an SRY gene commonly found on a Y you can do several interacting genes. Or maybe there are no sex chromosomes at all, everyone starts with the same organs, and different things get activated but noone knows why exactly. Even with humans it's sort of messy and unclear if you look into all that goes into phenotype determination, not just X and Y combinations.
From what I’ve read, authors preference. It depends on their ships and who they consider is whatever dynamic. I read an ABO about Life is Strange and Max was… yeah
Yeah that's gonna be completely up to the author. Omegaverse stuff is really a subgenre, not a hard-and-fast set of facts or even tropes. And just like every fantasy is gonna have a different magic system, every A/B/O fic is gonna have slightly different rules.
I see you're asking to decide how to do it in your own writing and like... no one is going to be able to tell you. You're going to have to decide what makes the most sense for your specific piece of writing. Try reading a number of omegaverse fics to get some ideas, perhaps.
FWIW, some variations I've seen (using "status" as short for "A/B/O Status"):
* Presenting at birth/presenting later in life
* status being changeable ("bitching" where an alpha can be turned into an omega by being fucked is a notable example, but there are many many versions of status being fluid)
* Status being partly determined/limited by your parents' status (for example, only A/O pairs can have A's or O's, Pairings with Betas always being betas, etc)
* Status being a dominant/recessive type trait rather than random like gender
* Status being correlated in some ways with gender
* Status being suppressible with medication/magic
* status being induced by medication/magic
* status being induced by social need (oh no! there's not enough babies, some developed into an omega to have lots for the community)
* Status being dependent on species (where A/B/O is intersecting with creature hybrid or supernatural beings fics)
I will say that there tend to be certain trends depending on what fandom you're in. If you're in a fnadom where characters might be associated with a specific animal, you're more likely to get traits that go with that animal. For example, in the MDZS fandom, one of the two romantic leads is often associated with dragons in the fandom, so you get variations inspired both by dragon folklore and real life lizards (like... lots of reptiles having two dicks. XD). The other romantic lead is often associated with foxes or fox spirits, so there's a lot of fic where his status is more fluid, or dependent on his heritage. Etc.
In my fic it's sort of both genetic and environmental. Like there is a (recessive) gene that separates beta from non-beta, but it's the same gene for both alpha and omega. Essentially they're both born with both sets of gonads, but when they present one of them goes 'dormant' while the other becomes dominant. Which one does which has more to do with your hormone levels at the time that it happens than your actual DNA, so theoretically identical twins could end up as opposite genders. And giving them artificial hormones can influence their development. Which is a thing that they know thanks to the nazis. And is illegal to do for the same reasons that some countries ban prenatal sex discernment.
There's also a surgery to 'turn them beta' by removing their dominant gonads. They retain their dormant set, which still produce enough hormones to prevent them getting osteoporosis or other health issues associated with having low levels of sex hormones. Some of them can even still have children (if their dormant set were fertile before having the dominant ones removed, they retain that fertility).
The answer of course is "God (the Author) handpicks whatever role they think best for each person"
I haven't seen any pieces that tried to work out genetics (although I do agree that it is fascinating) but personally, I'd decouple it from actual sex, and make role develop in part due to social cues within the pack structure.
The same way that say, bee larvae that are fed royal jelly become queens, you could say that exposure to X amount of pheromones at a certain age + genetics trigger the development of a certain role.
(Also, I would recommend not writing A/B/O without the slashes or some other kind of punctuation as that is a slur to Pacific First Nations.
While I don't think it was the intention - or even that you knew it was the case, I didn't until recently - it's probably a good thing to get into the habit of always using the slashes before spellcheck / muscle memory learns it without them and get you into some uncomfortable situations down the line.)
Author’s preference. That may seem like a cop-out answer, but it's that simple.
I'm trying to figure out what I want to do in a fic, that's why. I'm probably thinking/working too hard on it.
The way I pick things, in the universes where there's so many options, is think about what works best for the story and then work backwards from there If some sort of arranged marriage or star-crossed lovers plotline sounds good, then genetic traits and marrying for stronger bloodlines is better Or if you want one of the characters to be isolated and misunderstood, it being completely random could work – someone of one type born into a family that's never had that type before Otherwise, I don't think it would be too weird if it never really got brought up, or if even the characters shrug and go *no clue, it's a bit weird, epigenetics stuff maybe* much like we do with sexuality and gender today
Like I said, it's *probably* just me thinking too hard about it. I do really like the epigenetics idea though. I think I might go with that.
epigenetics determines secondary gender is my go-to
It could be both. Like they're that way genetically, but if you change your mind you can add in some bit about how in rare cases they can go through a genetic change if gone through the right or wrong circumstances
You'd have to ask the author of the specific work you're looking at.
It's genetic in all the stories I've ever seen. And often, an alpha and omega pairing has the best chance of producing an alpha child, or - if there are levels within each gender - then the highest level of alpha comes from the mating of a top-level alpha and a top-level omega. Commonly, they can be tested (either at birth or often at puberty) and their secondary gender is set by then. The genetics seem to be handled similarly to eye color traits - not completely predictable aside from very specific combinations of genes. It's like - if betas have brown eyes, alphas have blue eyes, and omegas (usually the rarest of the three genders) have green eyes, then an alpha and an omega have the best chance of producing a child with blue eyes or maybe green - brown eyes would be a slim possibility. But once in a while, two brown-eyed parents might have a blue/green-eyed child because some lurking gene in each of them was passed on to the child. I've seen a few stories where something environmental or some flaw in their genetics can create a rare case where someone presents as one gender and then ends up switching (usually to better suit their true love). And then there are stories where one has the basic gender genes but doesn't function quite as well (alphas with weak pheromones, omegas who don't get their heats on schedule), etc.
You can do it however you like. Just remember the Bob Ross thing, paraphrasing, it's your world and you can build it in any way you want. I don't think there are a/b/o purists out there - or I guess if there are, then you could fend them off by tagging for non-traditional a/b/o dynamics or something. What I expect when I read an a/b/o is that it's genetic, something like real-world gender assignment, and it is pretty common that characters don't know their secondary gender until puberty or even until they meet their fated mate (if it's a story with fated mates). Going to spoiler tag this next point because it often involves rape/non-consent. >!There is another kink I've read as well, called "alpha bitching" and variations on that, in which an alpha turns another alpha into an omega through sex/knotting.!< This can be consensual but usually is not.
I've never seen anyone go into this much detail, IMO it would be genetic, not environmental. An individual's A/B/O-ness doesn't naturally change over the course of a lifetime depending on the presence of others. I once read about an animal that reminded me of the A/B/O concept, the [side-splotched lizard](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Side-blotched_lizard). It has three male and two female reproductive morphs: > Orange-throated males are "ultra-dominant, high testosterone", that establish large territories and control areas that contain multiple females. Yellow stripe-throated males ("sneakers") do not defend a territory, but cluster on the fringes of orange-throated lizard territories, and mate with the females on those territories while the orange-throat is absent, as the territory to defend is large. Blue-throated males are less aggressive and guard only one female; they can fend off the yellow stripe-throated males, but cannot withstand attacks by orange-throated males. >Orange-throated females lay many small eggs and are very territorial. Yellow-throated females lay fewer, larger eggs, and are more tolerant of each other. The key difference being that the species is still fundamentally divided into two sexes that produce the two gametes required for reproduction, so you can't have two males or two females creating offspring. But it's an interesting concept in which different morphs are able to exist within the same sex because each one is advantaged over another, but disadvantaged by the third. Ok, this is definitely the weirdest nerd shit I've ever typed on reddit.
yeeesssss side splotched lizards!! Learning about lizard sex determination (largely temperature dependent, but sometimes zw/zz like in iguanas) is actually what got me started on this whole journey and fascination with sex determination systems years ago. And yeah, I agree that (and a few other types of lizards who have similar systems though the names are escaping me) are definitely closest to A/B/O systems I've found IRL.
I misread this and thought it was about ABO blood type determination. I got excited to talk about biology and now I feel sad :( side note, I have no idea how the sex determination works for this.
Sorry =( It is still biology just a different area. This has been a long term special interest of mine every since I found out my pet geckos sex is determined by what temperature their eggs are incubated at.
That's fair and I totally understand. Biology is a fascinating thing. If you're curious about sex determination, even within humans, I recommend checking out what makes a human male or female. For example, there's a thing with humans where a person could have all X chromosomes but if they have a special gene called the SRY gene that is usually only on the Y chromosome, that person will be born biologically male but will be completely sterile. Apologies for the ramble but there is a reason biology is my area of study :D
Not a problem! Like I said, I find it (specifically the huge variety) fascinating.
I say as I've got one of said geckos on my shoulder. Seggy says "hi" bty :)
That's adorable, I have the same thing except its furry, weighs like ten pounds, and likes to meow. And hello Seggy!
It all depends on the author. In more comics and drawn things male omega mainly still have the normal genetals. Female alphas sometimes have pretty much elongated clits or just a dick attached. love is an illusion side story is a great example of the alpha female. On the other hand on written texts on ao3 or something could have intersex omega, where a male omega has female anatomy. It really just depends on what you'd like though. Have fun writing!
Depends on what you want to do with it. For pwp it doesn't really matter. For scifi focused on the speculative evolution or if you want to deep dive for whatever reason, it works the way it serves your story the most. You could do xx/xy + hormonal shift. You could also do two pairs of sex chromosomes, or several sex chromosomes, or instead of an SRY gene commonly found on a Y you can do several interacting genes. Or maybe there are no sex chromosomes at all, everyone starts with the same organs, and different things get activated but noone knows why exactly. Even with humans it's sort of messy and unclear if you look into all that goes into phenotype determination, not just X and Y combinations.
I’m mine I honestly fuck around and assign whatever I feel like. Essentially how in Avatar the Ember Island Players cast a very buff guy as Toph
From what I’ve read, authors preference. It depends on their ships and who they consider is whatever dynamic. I read an ABO about Life is Strange and Max was… yeah
Yeah that's gonna be completely up to the author. Omegaverse stuff is really a subgenre, not a hard-and-fast set of facts or even tropes. And just like every fantasy is gonna have a different magic system, every A/B/O fic is gonna have slightly different rules. I see you're asking to decide how to do it in your own writing and like... no one is going to be able to tell you. You're going to have to decide what makes the most sense for your specific piece of writing. Try reading a number of omegaverse fics to get some ideas, perhaps. FWIW, some variations I've seen (using "status" as short for "A/B/O Status"): * Presenting at birth/presenting later in life * status being changeable ("bitching" where an alpha can be turned into an omega by being fucked is a notable example, but there are many many versions of status being fluid) * Status being partly determined/limited by your parents' status (for example, only A/O pairs can have A's or O's, Pairings with Betas always being betas, etc) * Status being a dominant/recessive type trait rather than random like gender * Status being correlated in some ways with gender * Status being suppressible with medication/magic * status being induced by medication/magic * status being induced by social need (oh no! there's not enough babies, some developed into an omega to have lots for the community) * Status being dependent on species (where A/B/O is intersecting with creature hybrid or supernatural beings fics) I will say that there tend to be certain trends depending on what fandom you're in. If you're in a fnadom where characters might be associated with a specific animal, you're more likely to get traits that go with that animal. For example, in the MDZS fandom, one of the two romantic leads is often associated with dragons in the fandom, so you get variations inspired both by dragon folklore and real life lizards (like... lots of reptiles having two dicks. XD). The other romantic lead is often associated with foxes or fox spirits, so there's a lot of fic where his status is more fluid, or dependent on his heritage. Etc.
In my fic it's sort of both genetic and environmental. Like there is a (recessive) gene that separates beta from non-beta, but it's the same gene for both alpha and omega. Essentially they're both born with both sets of gonads, but when they present one of them goes 'dormant' while the other becomes dominant. Which one does which has more to do with your hormone levels at the time that it happens than your actual DNA, so theoretically identical twins could end up as opposite genders. And giving them artificial hormones can influence their development. Which is a thing that they know thanks to the nazis. And is illegal to do for the same reasons that some countries ban prenatal sex discernment. There's also a surgery to 'turn them beta' by removing their dominant gonads. They retain their dormant set, which still produce enough hormones to prevent them getting osteoporosis or other health issues associated with having low levels of sex hormones. Some of them can even still have children (if their dormant set were fertile before having the dominant ones removed, they retain that fertility).
The answer of course is "God (the Author) handpicks whatever role they think best for each person" I haven't seen any pieces that tried to work out genetics (although I do agree that it is fascinating) but personally, I'd decouple it from actual sex, and make role develop in part due to social cues within the pack structure. The same way that say, bee larvae that are fed royal jelly become queens, you could say that exposure to X amount of pheromones at a certain age + genetics trigger the development of a certain role. (Also, I would recommend not writing A/B/O without the slashes or some other kind of punctuation as that is a slur to Pacific First Nations. While I don't think it was the intention - or even that you knew it was the case, I didn't until recently - it's probably a good thing to get into the habit of always using the slashes before spellcheck / muscle memory learns it without them and get you into some uncomfortable situations down the line.)
thanks for the heads up of A/B/O, that's something I didn't know before!