The Multiverse of the Omegaverse

Omegaverse fiction, also known as a/b/o dynamics or a/b/o fiction, is having a moment. The trope really got its start in fanfic circles over a decade ago now. It’s only been in recent years that it’s made waves in the realm of indie publishing. Now, it seems, omegaverse is everywhere you look.

At first blush, omegaverse is confusing. I’ve written a primer on this worldbuilding trope and how it (usually) functions, but people still have plenty of questions. What is the a/b/o trope? What is an omegaverse omega or an alpha in the omegaverse? And just what the heck is “omegaverse” anyway?

The Basics of A/B/O Dynamics

A boiled down version of the definition of “omegaverse” is basically that you have human beings (or humanoids) who have “secondary sexes.” Male and female still exist, but people are also alpha, beta, or omega.

These categories—which give us the “a/b/o” of a/b/o dynamics—are more important in determining one’s reproductive role than “male” and “female.” We have plenty of “male” omegas (although “female” alphas often seem to be in short supply).

These secondary sexes give rise to most of the trappings of the omegaverse trope. We have possessive alphas with knots on their dicks, omegas who go into heat, and, often, pack dynamics between alpha, beta, and omega characters.

Sex vs. Gender in the Omegaverse

I called the a/b/o designations “secondary sexes,” which is the most common view of how these designations work.

Depending on who you’re talking to, though, they might be better described as primary sex designations. “Man” and “woman” (or, to some extent, “male” and “female”) are actually the secondary sex designations.

That’s because, within omegaverse, the alpha/beta/omega designation matters more than sex labels like male or female. (Man and woman are almost completely irrelevant, except as gender markers.) In the real world, “male” and “female” are meant to designate one’s role in reproduction. Males produce sperm, while females produce eggs.

In omegaverse fiction, a character’s reproductive role hinges on whether they’re alpha, beta, or omega. Thus alphas produce sperm, while omegas produce eggs—even if they’re otherwise designated “male.”

Male and female actually become the “secondary” sex designation, with a/b/o labels actually dictating one’s reproductive role. Thus we can have both “male” alphas and “male” omegas. (Some authors even go to great lengths to explain why male omegas might also produce ejaculate.)

The ‘verse of the Omegaverse

Over the years, this trope has undergone a few different names. First, it was known as “alpha/beta/omega dynamics,” or “a/b/o dynamics.” That was shortened to simply a/b/o, although quite a few authors used an all-caps version or one without the slashes.

The unfortunate part of that is, without the slashes, the term resembles a slur for the Indigenous Peoples of Australia. This created a bind for authors. We don’t want to use the slur, but search engines and algorithms don’t like slashes. (That’s why you’ll see the slash dropped from “m/m romance,” and why the term “slash” has become increasingly rare when we talk about fiction featuring same-sex pairings.)

The most recent term, then, is “omegaverse.” This portmanteau suggests we’re dealing with a “universe” (-verse) of omegas. Since omegas are the biggest point of interest for most writers, it makes sense that we’ve adopted “omega” as the point of signalling for readers. An “alphaverse” might be just as accurate, but most writers are adopting the omega’s point of view (especially if we’re working in a single POV book).

Omegas, as I said, are really the point of interest for most writers and even readers. It’s the omega that goes into heat, which allows for all kinds of kinky sex. It’s the omega that gets pregnant, which sets the stage for mpreg stories within the omegaverse trope. And it’s the omega that allows us to explore real-world issues like misogyny, patriarchal control and abuse, and so on.

Of course, omegaverse has also been called “wolf kink porn” and other less savory terms as well.

Are All These Authors Writing One Big Shared World?

One of the biggest points of confusion with the term “omegaverse,” though, is the potential implication that this is some sort of interconnected universe.

Reader, it is not. There is not one single omegaverse out there, although the trope name might imply that. Rather, the term is shorthand for the author employing a/b/o dynamics in their worldbuilding.

While most omegaverse stories have things in common—like omegas and alphas, heat and knots—there is an expansive array by different authors. Some authors write nothing but omegaverse, but they may vary their worldbuilding from book to book and series to series.

Hop over to a different author, and you’ll find an entirely different take on the omegaverse.

Omegaverse Is an Incredibly Flexible Trope

As a worldbuilding trope, omegaverse has likely gained a lot of its popularity simply for being so flexible. I’d noted above that different authors will handle the omegaverse trope and its trappings quite differently. Different authors may handle the omegaverse differently even in different books. What you encounter in one book, even from the same author, might not be the same as the next.

The Weight of the World(Building)

There are what I would call different “levels” of worldbuilding for omegaverse. Many, many authors use what could be termed “omegaverse lite.”

This version of omegaverse assumes the reader is familiar with the trope and its trappings. It just tosses the terminology out there and asks the reader to accept that this is the way the fictional world works. There is little to no explanation about how a/b/o dynamics came to be. Rather, the assumption seems either to be shifters exist or this is simply how it’s “always” been. In a lot of cases, we brush up against “a wizard did it”—in other words, it’s magic.

Maybe It’s a Bit More Than Magic

Some authors opt to employ a slightly heftier version of the omegaverse worldbuilding, in which there is an explanation—but the explanation largely amounts to “it’s natural and normal, and this is how it’s always been.”

This is an explanation I’ve employed myself. In the Mythos Island series, for example, the selkies operate with a/b/o dynamics. To that extent, they don’t have conceptualizations of “male” and “female.” Rather, there are alphas and omegas, and everyone uses the pronouns “he/him.”

The explanation here is somewhat twofold. One, the a/b/o dynamics are simply natural and normal to the selkies. The second point is one of linguistics. The selkies talk about sex and gender differently than human beings do. They still recognize differences between alphas and omegas, but they don’t think in terms of “male” and “female” or “man” and “woman” like human beings do.

This kind of explanation crops up quite frequently when we deal with aliens or mythical creatures. Another example might be Edie Monte’s At the End of His Pregnancy series. The a/b/o dynamics are natural and normal for the kobolds. There are female kobolds, although they’re rare; the males are divided into alpha, omega, and beta groups. Beta kobolds are dragon mates, and the dragons have their own system when it comes to reproduction and gender.

The a/b/o dynamics in this series thus receive an explanation—although the explanation is largely “this is just how it is for this particular species.”

Doing the Heavy Lifting with Omegaverse

And then you have the stories that use omegaverse to construct an exploration of sex and gender. Leta Blake’s Heat of Love series is a prime example. Here, the omegaverse dynamics come about because of some past event that killed every human female in existence. There are no women in this world.

Blake’s worldbuilding skirts the issue somewhat by having the characters discuss this event in religious terms. “Wolf god” granted human beings omegas after the death of all the human females, so they could continue to procreate. As the mythology goes, then, omegas are precious—but their reproductive usefulness thus gives rise to serious oppression. Contraceptives, for example, are illegal. Even omegas who should not become pregnant—because it could kill them—have limited ability to gain access to healthcare like contraception, abortion, or even sterilization surgeries.

Alphas are also somewhat oppressed. Hooking up with another alpha is frowned upon, and alphas are expected to contract with an omega to reproduce.

In my own work, I’ve explained omegaverse in several different ways. In the Omega on Top series, for example, the use of a/b/o dynamics is the result of a linguistic shift. The idea of “male” and “female” is somewhat outdated. While the gender identities of “man” and “woman” are still somewhat relevant, the “alpha” and “omega” designations, while corresponding with “male” and “female” to some extent, can be combined with any gender identity.

In some of my unreleased work, I’ve given omegaverse a “hard” science explanation: gene editing and alteration.

As we can see, the use of the worldbuilding trope really does run the gamut, from being a “hand-wave” explanation or “magic,” to having some very heavy-duty explanations.

When Did the Omegaverse Start?

Just like there isn’t a single, shared omegaverse world that multiple authors are writing, there isn’t a single flashpoint that led to the creation of the trope.

Both myself and others have pointed to this Supernatural fanfic as the codifier of what we currently know as omegaverse. This fic seems to be the point where the terms “alpha” and “omega” entered the lexicon.

Prior to that, though, there were other writers working with similar concepts. I’ve gone back through my own archives and discovered writing that predates this fic that deals with remarkably similar concepts—although it doesn’t employ the lingo of the a/b/o trope.

There are other published works, however, that do make use of the a/b/o terminology. So even saying that Supernatural fanfic is the “codifier” might not be accurate. It does seem to be the point at which the a/b/o terminology entered the popular lexicon—first into fanfic circles and fandom, then moving into indie publishing and beyond.

And, of course, as I said, there are other works that are basically writing omegaverse without the language of omegaverse prior to this fic. So it seems rather that what we know as omegaverse has long been a worldbuilding trope. It’s just that in more recent years that we’ve been given a codified set of terms to describe it.

Maybe It Is a Shared World after All

That is maybe where the “shared world” comes in. Authors and readers have embraced the language of the omegaverse. That’s how it’s become shorthand for authors and readers, even when what individual authors are doing with the trope is vastly different from what another author is doing.

And that, as I said, is the true beauty of the trope. It can be “shared” and yet, at the same time, be so individualistic that it can feel like the omegaverse is being reinvented all over again in every book.