#a/b/o science

[kyoxyukiforever]

The Science of A/B/O

Part 1 - The Basics

Part 1 (The Basics), Part 2 (Heats and Ruts), Part 3 (Scents and Pheromones), Part 4 (Mating)

Warning: sex ed that no one asked for and all that that implies

I cannot believe I'm doing this.

I've kind of been fascinated by the whole alpha/beta/omega concept in fanfiction for a while. I've read a lot of it. I like how it allows authors to explore themes of sexism, sexualization, and r*pe culture through a fantastical lens, making those topics less triggering as they are seen in a distant and unrealistic universe instead of our own.

And yeah, sometimes it can be really hot.

So I thought I'd take a look at the actual science behind this whole thing, and share the results here in case anyone is... even remotely interested. Obviously, there is no correct way for A/B/O to work. This is all in good fun and you can take or leave the information here as you like.

So, first off!

WHAT ARE ALPHAS, BETAS, AND OMEGAS?

The whole concept of A/B/O is based on the social hierarchy found in wolf packs. Bear in mind that this is JUST a social hierarchy, there are no obvious biological differences between alphas, betas, and omegas, at least as far as wolves are concerned. Instead, the difference is, for the most part, social. This whole theory has actually been challenged in recent years as to it's accuracy, but here are the basics of the theory, whether they be accurate or not:

In a wolf pack, there are two alphas: the alpha male and the alpha female. These two are a mated pair, and the reason is because they carry the best genetics. An example: the alphas in the pack will have larger paws or healthier coats, which will give their pups an advantage in life.

Betas are the second in command: "deputies" for the alphas.

Omegas are the wolves in the pack with the weakest genetics. If these wolves are caught trying to mate (with each other or other wolves in the pack) the alphas and betas will attack them, preventing them from reproducing.

Not all wolves in a pack fall under these three labels. Barbara Zimmermann, a professor at Inland Norway University of Applied Sciences suggests that "[...]there may be several rank levels, beta, gamma and so on."

But WHO CARES! This clearly isn't what A/B/O is in our fantastical, fictional context. The only thing that really applies is the order of social standing these words suggest: with alphas at the top of the pecking order and omegas at the bottom, with betas being somewhere in between.

Well, that leaves us with the tropes of the A/B/O genre, so let's get into it.

Every individual has two sexes: the primary and secondary sex. The primary sex being male/female, the secondary sex being alpha/beta/omega. (I actually think these terms would be switched: the A/B/O sex seems to matter a lot more than the m/f sex, both socially and biologically.) These sexes can combine in any available way: alpha males, alpha females, beta males, beta females, omega males, omega females.

In most versions of the A/B/O mythos, betas are sort of just... people, like we are. No noticeable differences in anatomy, physiology, or behavior.

Things only get different when we hit alphas and omegas. The biggest difference seems to be reproductive: alphas, both male and female, can impregnate someone, and omegas, male or female, can become pregnant and give birth.

Now, I've seen versions of A/B/O where male omegas and/or female alphas cannot reproduce at all, and are seen as useless as a result. This is well and good narratively, but there is no evolutionary advantage to this, and a genetic mutation resulting in a largely sterile population wouldn't last long from an evolutionary standpoint. But, again, it probably doesn't matter that much if you just want to write about two guys doing anal without all the prep work.

However, a mutation that encourages more frequent, more urgent reproduction? That definitely has an evolutionary advantage. Scientifically, the emergence of alphas and omegas in the human species was likely a result of dwindling populations. So, somewhere in the distant history of your A/B/O fic, that might have been a thing. How long ago did it happen? Who knows! It could have been before our ancestors even evolved into homo sapiens - some genetic mutations stick around so long we don't even think of them as mutations anymore - Type O is the most common blood type, but it's actually recessive!

So, scientifically, what does that mean for alphas and omegas in our hypothetical universe? Well, alphas and omegas can actually be explained (to an extent) by combining two real genetic traits: intersexuality and the replacement of menstrual cycles with estrous cycles.

Let's start off with...

INTERSEXUALITY

Now, the term 'intersexual' is a bit misleading, because it's not actually a sexuality. It's actually an umbrella term for individuals who are born with any number or combination of sex characteristics that "do not fit typical binary notions of male or female bodies." Or, put less eloquently, when people are born with both male and female sexual or reproductive organs/chromosomes.

This mutation actually wouldn't apply to all alphas and omegas: just female alphas and male omegas. In order for a male omega to be capable of conceiving and carrying a baby to term, he would have to have ovaries, fallopian tubes, a uterus and an opening through which sperm can enter that system. Now, since you may be wondering: is it even remotely possible for that opening to be in or attached to the anal canal?

Unfortunately... no. There IS a condition known as rectovaginal fistula, where there is a connection between a person's rectum and vagina, but this condition is HORRIFYING and causes more health problems than I can list here. It requires intense treatments, medication, and surgery. All around just a terrible condition to have.

So, a male omega would have to have a vagina, in our little thought experiment. He could, however, still have a penis. During prenatal development, the ambisexual genital tubercle forms into either a penis or a clitoris. In fact, when female to male transgender individuals have what is referred to as 'bottom surgery,' their surgeon will simply use existing erectile tissue that makes up the clitoris (only a small portion of which is ever visible externally) to create a penis. Basically, the penis does not in any way hinder a male omega's ability to get pregnant.

As far as penis size goes, we can assume that it wouldn't be comparable to beta or alpha penises, simply because there would be no biological need for the omega penis to be of a certain length. The reason penises are the size and shape they are is to get sperm as close to the egg as possible. Think of the omega penis like nipples on men: for pleasure and decoration only. There's room for variation here - the author could decide that male omega genitals are indistinguishable from the genitals of female omegas and betas or that they might have what trans men on testosterone refer to as bottom growth.

And omegas wouldn't have testicles either, simply because during prenatal development, the gonads become either ovaries or testes. Since they need ovaries, they can't have testes.

As for female alphas, their genitals would have to be virtually indistinguishable from the genitals of a male alpha. Could they have a penis and a vagina like omega males, with their testes simply hidden inside their bodies like ovaries are hidden? Again, no. A vagina that leads nowhere is... possible, I suppose, but because it serves no purpose beyond pleasure and decoration, it likely wouldn't be wide or deep enough to fit much inside of it.

As for internal testes, that's a solid no. Have you ever wondered why the testicles are outside of the body, in what is a much more vulnerable position? It's because sperm require a very specific temperature to survive, and the inside of the human body is too hot. So, if you want alpha females to be able to reproduce in your fic, they also have to have balls, tragically.

This next part actually kind of allows you to pick and choose, which is cool. Let's talk about...

HORMONES AND LACTATION

First off, it's important to say that men do actually have all the necessary equipment to lactate: nipples, mammary glands, and pituitary glands. The only reason they don't lactate is because their prolactin levels aren't high enough. When a woman becomes pregnant, her body produces more prolactin, allowing her to lactate, but lactation can occur without a pregnancy. This is called galactorrhea: its most common causes in real life are medications and hypothyroidism, and it occurs in both males and females.

But, in our little experiment, we could posit that prolactin levels might rise in a female alpha in response to being around a pregnant mate, friend, or family member. It's been shown that a man's body can have several physiological reactions when their partner is pregnant, one of which is called couvade, or "sympathetic pregnancy," so it's not as much of a stretch as you might think.

So this actually leaves the writer with some choices: do male omegas lactate, or do female alphas lactate to pick up the slack? Maybe they BOTH lactate. Possibilities! Granted, we have yet to observe in nature a species that requires two different parents to birth and nurse their offspring, but with our posited mutation causing males to be able to become pregnant, I certainly wouldn't rule it out.

Earlier, I said that scientifically speaking, a female alpha's genitalia would be virtually indistinguishable from a male alpha's. If that's the case, how do we tell the difference between female and male alphas? At time of birth, you couldn't, unless a doctor performed a hormone test on the infant in question.

As the alpha grew older, however, puberty would reveal all! We can assume that a male alpha would be dealing with a lot of testosterone, both during and after puberty. This would result in a more masculine frame and a deeper voice. A male alpha would also have more androgens than a female alpha, creating what we typically think of as a masculine hair growth pattern.

A female alpha might have a more balanced quantity of estrogen and testosterone. In real life, healthy testosterone levels are much higher in men than in women, but healthy estrogen levels in men and women actually overlap. This means that a premenopausal woman might have less estrogen than a man of the same age, and there would be no obvious masculine features in the woman as a result.

What does this mean for alpha females? Well, it means that the alpha female could conceivably have a feminine frame, carrying fat in her hips and thighs and developing breasts as she went through puberty. Her voice wouldn't have to drop to the point of sounding masculine, and she could still have a healthy sperm count. She also wouldn't have to have a masculine hair growth pattern - she simply has fewer androgens. Her testosterone levels would be higher than the average beta woman, but that just means she might be taller, more muscular, and perhaps a little (or a lot) more aggressive.

As for omegas, a similar principle applies. A female omega would likely have normal estrogen and testosterone levels for a woman, unless she were in heat (more on that later). A male omega would, again, have a more even balance. That means enough testosterone to have a masculine voice and build, and enough estrogen to have a healthy ovulation cycle. The only time this becomes a problem is during pregnancy. Testosterone levels would naturally taper off while pregnant, due to the threat testosterone poses to a healthy fetus. When transgender men become pregnant, it is essential that they go off their hormone treatments in order to avoid deformities in their children.

This tapering off of testosterone levels could have all kinds of side effects. A pregnant male omega might experience weight redistribution, mood swings, and loss of hair on their chest, face, etc., but that doesn't sound too far off from what any normal person experiences during pregnancy.

Another thing that can vary depending on the author is chest/breast growth. It depends on a lot of things. Increased estrogen levels do cause chest/breast growth, as we've observed in transgender women who are on hormones, but that chest/breast growth is often not nearly as substantial as those women might expect or hope for. In 2017, a study showed that trans women saw an average increase in chest circumference of 3.1 inches after a year on hormones, with most of that growth occurring in the first six months. That is not a lot. A male omega would still be a solid member of the itty bitty titty committee after a pregnancy.

Something that might increase the chest circumference further is the chest wall displacement that occurs during pregnancy. This is when the lungs, ribcage, and diaphragm move up and out to accommodate the baby. This wouldn't make the breasts themselves bigger, though. The thing that might change this is prolactin, that hormone I mentioned earlier that causes lactation. Well, it also causes chest/breast growth. So, depending on if you want your male omega to lactate or not, your male omega could see significantly more chest/breast growth. Regardless, the growth a male omega would see during pregnancy would eventually go away, either after the pregnancy is over or once he stops breast/chest-feeding.

Now for the moment we've all been waiting for...

HEATS AND RUTS

Part 1 (The Basics), Part 2 (Heats and Ruts), Part 3 (Scents and Pheromones), Part 4 (Mating), Part 5 (Genetics and Presenting)

[catwouthats]

lol I can’t believe Logan was in heat through out the Deadpool and Wolverine movie /hj

Link here ig

[aspeninthesnow]

Dynamic Descriptions

The secondary sex categories or dynamics are Alpha, Beta, Omega, Beta-Alphas or Zetas, and Beta-Omegas or Thetas. A/N: I picked those particular Greek letters because I wanted all the Beta mixed dynamics to rhyme with Beta.

Alpha

Alphas are the instinctual protectors. They are typically willing to put themselves into harm's way to ensure everyone is safe, however, they will only engage in a physical fight if provoked or an unknown person gets too close to their mate or pack; especially if a mate is pregnant.

They have the longest canine teeth of all the dynamics, but they aren't very sharp. It takes intentional force behind a bite to puncture skin so Alphas bare their teeth as a warning more than a threat. The most common kind of fight is over a potential mate, and this is often the only time an Alpha's nails will protract into claws as their instincts are at the forefront of their mind instead of rational thoughts.

Their protective instincts also drive them to want to provide a suitable, comfortable place to live for their pack and mate(s). Alphas will take their time searching for just the right home that is well located to be protected from others as much as possible or will mark their territory to keep strangers away (deliveries have to be left in a lock box at the edge of the property, like a mail dropbox). Some Alpha's will even build or have a house built for their pack or make various improvements to their homes to make it perfect.

Alphas are the most fertile dynamic when impregnating someone.

Female Alphas have Ambigenitalia, both sets of primary sex reproductive organs, and can therefore impregnate others and be impregnated. They have a clitoral penis or a clitoris that when aroused elongates, fills out in diameter and has a knot structure at the bottom. When not aroused, it shrinks to between 6.5 and 12 cm or 2.56-4.72 in, staying outside the body as an enlarged clitoris. Their testicles are internal for most people but some do have theirs drop.

Female Alphas don't ovulate very frequently (typically every seventy-five days) and they're fertile for fewer days then other dynamics, which makes getting pregnant harder unless they get a fertility boost. They also experience some complications with childbirth as they normally have narrower hips than Betas, making them prefer cesarean sections over vaginal birth as they have become more widely available. Due to their body's restrictions, they more often than not only get pregnant with one pup at a time, which works out as their milk supply is below average so some parents could struggle to feed even one pup at times.

Alphas have an Alpha Voice, but they only have access to it while they have at least one mate bond, have several packmates (three or more) or a pup as it only works on closely bonded people or to specifically push dangerous people away from the pack.

Beta

Betas are the balancers, stable workers and main providers. They have the most sensitive noses which allows them to sense shifts in mood and pheromone/hormone levels in those around them. It can also affect them negatively if the space they are in is particularly smelly. Betas can mildly to moderately influence the moods of others, even strangers, depending on their own control of their pheromones. This ability can improve with practice, but typically, the more people in the space the harder it is to influence everyone to the same degree, unless the person is exceptionally good at controlling their pheromones. When bonded they have even more influence over their mate and/or packmates without practice as there is a higher level of trust in the relationship. But whether there is a close bond or not, the influence is short lived, lasting at most five minutes as it is for peacekeeping or to help keep someone calm.

Betas with excellent to exceptional control of their pheromones are capable of producing a nullifying pheromone that can cancel out any other it comes in contact with, basically resetting a space as long as no one else is putting out more pheromones. This is another balancing tool or it can be used to help someone going into heat make a quick escape. This nullifying pheromone, if used correctly, can be turned into a pheromone/hormone combo that can break down the chemical connections that create bonds; something that is completely unique to Betas.

Betas can also absorb pheromones and hormones, which allows them to help to hold off a rut/heat cycle for a few hours; fully stop a cycle that is just starting or end one early; when bonded, some Betas can absorb enough to stop a cycle at any stage. Absorbing has a rebound effect and will push Betas into either a rut or heat cycle of their own some time later. Which cycle and how long it lasts depends on their own biology, what dynamic their mate is (if they have one) and the strength of the pheromones and hormones absorbed. So a Beta who absorbed heat pheromones and hormones from an Omega that were of a moderate strength (someone who wasn't in full blown heat yet) could be pushed into their own heat a day later. This heat could last approximately 1.5-2 days long. Whereas a mated Beta doing the same thing would probably be pushed into a rut cycle for 1-2 days. The ability to absorb pheromones and hormones starts to fade as they reach fecundopause or the end of their fertility. Post fecundopausal Betas no longer have access to this skill.

When sexually satisfied, a Beta's pheromones can boost the fertility of everyone in the immediate area during rut/heat cycles. The effect can become more potent when mated or with control so contraceptives may be needed. Control can also turn this effect down, but there will always be a mild boost, even for the most disciplined. Outside of these increases and a rebound cycle, Betas are normally only as fertile as a regular human would be.

They have the shortest and bluntest canine teeth of all the dynamics, but they're still sharp enough to initiate a bond when enough force is applied.

Betas have elite level stamina. They are the main workforce as they don't have regular heat and rut cycles to throw them off their everyday activities. Having the levels of energy they do allows them to look after everyone else while also being able to do all the work left over during other people's cycles without it being too tiring.

Omega

Omegas are the instinctual nurturers. They nurture bonds, keeping the connections between everyone in the pack healthy and flourishing. They also tend to gravitate towards nurturing children, pets, plants or even all of these at once.

Omegas are the most fertile dynamic when being impregnated. They are prone to carrying more than one pup at a time in each pregnancy, most often twins (identical or fraternal) but larger numbers are not uncommon (around a 25-30% chance of more than twins). Male Omegas are able to do this as they are Bigenitalic or have Ambigenitalia. They also grow more mammary tissue during the pregnancy in order to breastfeed; for most, the tissue will reabsorb into the body after breastfeeding stops and the hormone levels lower, returning to their previous size, but some retain around an A cup of tissue that may or may not increase in size with subsequent births. Both Male and Female Omegas are above average producers of breast milk, helping their multiples survive past infancy.

Male Omega's Bigenitalia means they have a working male reproductive system, but their sperm count is low, even in heat, so impregnating someone else takes work unless they have an outside help with their fertility.

They have the second longest canine teeth after Alphas and they're also the sharpest.

Omegas gain Omega Voice after presenting. Omega Voice is most powerful in situations where an Omega feels that they are in danger of some kind as they would most likely be able to talk their way out of it, however it must be genuine danger and not a threat that is a means to get someone to use their ability. When threatened, an Omega's most useful tools are their teeth, Omega Voice and their claws which will protract if they need to defend themselves. Omega Voice is also useful for calming down unruly pups or overwhelmed packmates: blood related or pack bonded members of a household, community or compound.

Zeta

Zetas are the midpoint between Alphas and Betas. They and their Theta counterparts have the second most sensitive noses after Betas. Zetas have a mild to moderate ability to influence the mood of their packmates, pups and mate(s) with their pheromones, but no ability to influence strangers. This can of course get stronger with practice and control. The closer the bond, the stronger their ability is without refinement, but the easier it is to mess up more complex mood changes. For example, if someone is feeling angry it's relatively easy to pivot to neutral or calm as they're not directly opposing emotions, but more skill is required to push all the way to happiness and not just make the person madder.

Zetas, similar to Betas, can influence the fertility of others in cycle just by using their pheromones. Their ability, however, works at will and only with practice so there is less of a chance of accidental pregnancy, but on the other hand, if a Zeta can't control it they can't give anyone a boost.

Unlike Betas, Zetas specifically can extend someone's heat cycle by producing rut hormones and pheromones out of their own cycle to keep the heat going. This only works on those who are mated, two or more unmated people or between packmates to a lesser extent. Doing this out of cycle will push them into a mini rut, usually for the duration of the time they're helping the person(s) out. Extending a heat has the benefit of making sure mate bonds are in place and healthy for multi-person bonds and ensuring one or more pregnancies.

Their canine teeth are longer than a Betas but just as blunt, so they also can still initiate a bond.

Zetas are in the middle of the dynamics when it comes to fertility as they produce less sperm than Alphas, but more than Betas. This is true even in rut cycles for all primary sexes.

Female Zetas have Ambigenitalia and can both impregnate others and be impregnated. Female Zetas ovulate more frequently than Female Alphas (about every fifty days) and their hips are typically more in line with a Female Beta's, so they are more likely than Alphas to successfully carry a pregnancy. However, they still frequently only get pregnant with one pup at a time; in very rare instances they might have a twin pregnancy, but no more than two pups at a time. One of the reasons is they are slightly below average producers of breast milk, so multiple pups would have a hard time surviving without outside help.

Theta

Thetas are the midpoint between Omegas and Betas. They, like their Zeta peers, have a mild to moderate ability to influence the mood of their packmates, pups and mate(s), but no ability to influence strangers. They can also influence the fertility of others in cycle at will. Thetas can do the opposite of Zetas and extend someone's rut cycle.

Their canine teeth are longer than a Betas but are almost as sharp as an Omegas.

Thetas are also around the middle when it comes to fertility as they're more fertile than Betas, but less than Omegas.

Male Thetas have partial Bigenitalism as they do not have a vulva, but they do have everything else from both sets of reproductive organs. The uterus is still connected to a cervix and a canal, but the canal is connected to the anus and is separated by a wall. The wall is the Epivagina, which keeps the reproductive organs and waste separated by moving to cover the rectum for access to the vagina when aroused which also closes that half of the anal sphincter. Male Thetas and Omegas also have an internal clitoris just inside the vagina.

Both Male and Female Thetas have about a fifty-fifty chance at having one pup at a time or a random number of multiples, but usually no more than four as their hips aren't as wide as an Omegas. They can also be over-producers of breast milk making them the biggest suppliers of all of the dynamics. It depends on how many babies they have to feed and how many other babies they're around if their bodies will go into overdrive. Thetas are generally known to be rather generous with their oversupply of milk as they have enough to go around, maybe even to store some for later. This has earned them the title of "Wet-nurse" and anyone with a newborn, especially multiples, is all too happy to pay a Theta for their milk or court one for their pack as the mammary glands can be stimulated or encouraged to grow outside of pregnancy if needed.

Dictionary

Fecundopause - end of fertility.

Fecund - Highly fertile; able to produce offspring.

Pause - A temporary stop or rest; an intermission of action; interruption; suspension; cessation.

[dontsnortpixiestix]

These cursed deep fried MST3K memes my bf and I made a while back

[elvensemi]

[NSFW] [Sci Fi] [Space Opera] [Omegaverse Aliens] [Catholic Space Dragons]

Eden'tza, a mid-level political bureaucrat in charge of managing alien immigrants, knows five things.

Teniel Cae is a political terrorist who led a cult that threatened to destabilize the government of his home planet.

Teniel Cae is a religious leader turned exile.

Teniel Cae is a one-in-a-billion biological weapon with capabilities that stress the understanding of modern science.

Teniel Cae is a menace, and

Teniel Cae is coming to Eden's backwater home planet that still struggles for attention on the galactic scale.

Now Eden has to deal with this political mess and personal disaster, and must do it perfectly… no matter how charged the tension between the two of them gets.

A Place Among the Stars is an erotic space opera and soft science fiction, inspired by the fridge logic of omegaverse. It's the story of a religious and political exile who just can't seem to stop causing problems, and of the stone-hearted bureaucrat forced to deal with those problems.

It's also about weird alien sex.

Hi, I'm ElvenSemi and I write webnovels online through Patreon (available monthly) and Ko-fi (available for one-time purchase)! Two updates (SFW and NSFW) every month, plus bonus and behind the scenes content, polls, and more.

Interested in what I'm hawking but no $$$? I'm also on Ao3, and have a free eBook coming out in May! Follow me here or on Patreon to be alerted when it's released!

[montanabohemian]

please enjoy the best meme i've ever made in honor of everyone on the planet getting to see the aurora:

[intothe0megaverse]

So I FINALLY digitised my notes for the day-by-day symtoms of an average heat in my verse, here it is! It's pretty straightforward, I'd say. God, Im a nerd.

Sorry it's so teeny tiny, the program didn't allow it to be bigger. hope it's legible if not. eh. the darkness of the red obv indicates the severity.

[jamieaiken919]

could this be the original bonk horny jail

[omegaversetheory]

I'm probably not the first person to say this, but the testosterone levels in all three, Alpha, Beta, and Omega. With alphas being the highest and omegas are the lowest which made sense the reason why their, height, body types are different and muscles mass are also different.

That's just the thing that keeps me up at night. I wanna know your thoughts on this one.

Makes sense to me.

Although you'd also have to give some thought into how that would influence fertility especially for male omegas and female alphas - and double especially if you have them being able to procreate both ways (both impregnators and being able to get pregnant).

If you were going to make this a key point in your story or au, I might suggest doing some digging on hormones, because I'd imagine you couldn't just have testosterone high without needing something else to level it out without negative reprocussions. For example, testosterone levels are linked to thinks like skin oil production which can cause acne and other skin conditions, hair growth and development such as body hair and balding, and sex drive.

[lifewtr]

and the difference is this | M+ | 2/7

After a horrible moment that leaves her befuddled, Katara seeks out the most undesirable route to her problem. For Zutara Week 2023 (@zutaraweek), Day 5 + 6: Respite, Forge.

One long, agonizing hour later, Dr. Microbiology—Dr. Yen—walks back into her hospital room.

“I heard,” she says, wordlessly brandishing a chocolate pudding cup once she’s near, “and I’d’ve come sooner but I was at a rather important conference with legal at the time. How are you feeling, Miss Kyason?”

Katara accepts the pudding cup with greedy, grateful hands. “Like I just had a microbiologist bring me pudding in consolation for crying my eyes out,” she deadpans, busy licking at the peeled top of said consolation without shame. Her eyes close at the sugar-rich thickness of manufactured chocolate, the taste like heaven after only days of ice and neon green jello. “La that’s good,” she sighs, voice still gritty from her breakdown. “Thank you for this, doctor, but to what do I really owe the pleasure?”

Dr. Yen, already having acquired the rolling chair, raises an unimpressed eyebrow as she kicks herself back over.

“In a new mood, are we?”

“Resigned to my apparent fate,” Katara rebuts, licking into the pudding cup, “the crying and all—y’know? You know. But the chocolate is helping. I may yet revert to a reasonable woman by the time I ask for another.”

A bright chuckle lifts the doctor’s shoulders. She reaches into the pocket of her white coat and then promptly drops another pudding cup into Katara’s lap. Quickly, and as abrupt as the smile that pulls at her face, Katara feels a little more like herself.

“Thank you! You are a saint.”

“Not as such,” Dr. Yen’s own smile becomes smaller, her brown eyes both unyielding and empathetic. “Last I saw you, you were gone with heat-sick and dead to the world. Do you remember what happened?”

“I remember being annoyed.” Katara starts to scowl out of reflex, but the insufferably patient look in the doctor’s eye makes her fix her face and focus. She takes a deep breath around the rim of her pudding cup. “It was sudden,” she explains slowly, “like the first time it happened, before I went to the clinic. One moment I was okay and the next I was burning, slipping away from myself. It hurt. I was barely able to see past my nose, barely even able to talk. There was so much venom...”

The doctor hums. “And what did you smell?”

Smell?

“There was—” wood and turned soil, sunshine and sweetgrass. Curiosity and concern, now that she can think; the freshwater bloom of captivation underneath it all. She quiets, mulling over her hazed recollections with a frown.

“There was?” Dr. Yen asks, a gentle prompt. “Was there anything notable about that moment?”

For whatever reason, the doctor’s phrasing makes the realization click into place.

It isn’t about what she could smell—it was about who and the fact that she did—amongst the entrie rotation of nurses and other staff that have come into this space; even now, with her nostrils flaring in concentration, seeking out Dr. Yen’s scent and coming up with nothing but traces of coffee and paper, concrete and flora as if she’d walked briefly through a garden to get here; Katara has not been able to parse a single personal scent, no pheromones, no emotions, no nuance. The surpressants in her system were still working.

And then a soldier had walked into her room, brandishing concern and captivation.

Cherry and smoke.

Alpha...

Katara’s tongue dries even as a faint tingle starts up at the base of her gums. Suddenly she can no longer pretend to think about what she must do, the ebbing of rejection towards the reality of her solution now a ripple of obstinate resignation. It is no less a kick to the chest, as bleak of an acceptance as she’d so brashly stated it to be when the doctor had walked in—and yet, even in the midst of acceptance and the precipice of a verifiable truth...

‘Get it over with,’ she tells herself; reminds herself that there is, will be, no better option available. ‘Don’t dwell, Katara. Move on to the next step and don’t stop there, either.’

With a silent sigh, she nods to herself. No more what-the-fucking. “Did that man leave my things?” She asks, turning the nearly-empty pudding cup in her hands. Dr. Yen’s small smile returns.

“He never left without them, dear.”

...What?

“What?”

read AND THE DIFFERENCE IS THIS in full on AO3! ↬

[kyoxyukiforever]

The Science of A/B/O

Part 4 - Mating

Part 1 (The Basics), Part 2 (Heats and Ruts), Part 3 (Scents and Pheromones), Part 4 (Mating), Part 5 (Genetics and Presenting)

Warning: sex ed that no one asked for and all that that implies, discussions of knotting, slick, mating bites, semen, ejaculation, sexual anatomy and physiology of both humans and animals, and the most PG diagrams I could manage to find on the internet

MATING BITES

It seems like the reason A/B/O fiction depicts a scent gland as being on the neck is for the mating bite. The mating bite is based on an actual phenomenon that occurs in nature. Plenty of animals will bite their partners while mating, from cats to weasels to spiders. That said, mating bites in nature aren’t a way of forming or strengthening a bond. Instead, it’s considered one of many behaviors in nature that are classified as sexual coercion. When mating bites occur in real life, it’s to prevent the other animal from moving, escaping, or attacking the one delivering the bite. There isn't even a scent gland there - at least not that I could find in any of the animals I researched who exhibit this behavior.

Now, I'm just reading through existing papers and studies and applying them to the tropes that exist in A/B/O, mostly so you guys don't have to wade through hundreds of pages of densely worded scientific prose, but I don't have the expertise needed to invent new science, which I would need to do in order to explain mating bites in A/B/O.

Luckily for me, someone else has already done that.

@brainsforbabyjesus also did an in depth dive into the science of A/B/O over on AO3, which I highly encourage you to check out!

I actually wish that I had come across it before I did all of the research for these posts, but oh well. On the bright side, there are now two pieces of literature on the science of A/B/O for your perusal, each of which resulted from completely separate research methods, which means if you read both, you'll have a wealth of information coming from totally uncoordinated sources!

All that said, @brainsforbabyjesus seems to have a better understanding of applied biology than I do, and they invented a way for mating bites to work!

I'm not going to linger on it here, because you really should check out their work using this link or the link above (yes I linked it twice, go read it - mating bites are in chapter 4!). I'm just going to do a very bare bones rundown of their theory in order to continue on with my own research.

They suggest that there are three glands located on the back and either side of the neck (plus some surrounding nerves) that they call "the coniguim glandis (literally marriage gland)" and that during a heat/rut, either during or immediately following an orgasm, a "bonding enzyme" is produced inside an alpha/omega's mouth. When this enzyme is introduced to the coniguim glandis, the bite recipient literally gets their biology rewritten.

If that sounds fantastical, it is, but it's also firmly based in real world science, and if you want to understand it more in depth, PLEASE go check out their work. They also offer explanations for true mates and the trope of dying when one's mate dies. Happy reading!

Back to my own research and conclusions: the production of an enzyme in the mouth isn't the only interesting thing that happens to alphas and omegas during or immediately following an orgasm (although I will take this opportunity to posit that maybe the enzyme has anesthetic properties to make the bite hurt less).

That's right folks! We're finally getting to...

KNOTTING!

Let's just... let's just do this.

Knotting is something that happens in real life, specifically in canid mammals like dogs and wolves. You probably already knew that, but let's get into specifics. The knot, or bulbus glandis (pause for laughter) is an erectile tissue structure at the base of the penis, and not actually a gland. Immediately before ejaculation, this knot does exactly what you would expect erectile tissue to do: it becomes firm and engorged.

The purpose of this structure is to lock, tie, or knot the two animals together. This ensures that the penis remains in the vagina for the entire duration of ejaculation. Now uh, for humans, this isn't actually a difficult thing to accomplish, seeing as the average ejaculation duration of a human male is 4.2 seconds, or 10 seconds at the very most. Canids, on the other hand, will remain knotted or tied together for anywhere between 2 and 45 minutes, and ejaculation lasts the whole friggin' time.

I know that there's a pretty big gap between two and forty-five minutes, and this is largely down to the specific type of canid. Since I'm sure you're wondering: in wolves, the tie, or coitus entrapus (yes, really) typically lasts between 15 and 30 minutes, although it might be as short as 5 minutes, or as long as 40 minutes. Yet again, the timing isn't really narrowed down much further. So why is there such a huge disparity?

Well, when a wolf's knot becomes erect, it stays that way until literally all of the sperm is gone.

For comparison, a human ejaculates an average of 2 to 5 milliliters of semen, with each milliliter containing about 100 million sperm. Dogs? One milliliter of semen contains 300 million sperm, and they can ejaculate up to 30 milliliters. If you are remarkably quick at mental math, you might have calculated that this amounts to a total of nine billion (9,000,000,000) sperm for a single ejaculation, and you'd be right... mathematically speaking. In actuality, it only comes to about 2 billion, even at the 30 ml mark.

Obviously, the math doesn't add up. Why? Because ejaculation, in both humans and wolves, occurs in stages. As far as wolves go, the general consensus is that the first 30 seconds of ejaculate come from the prostate gland, followed by sperm-rich semen for a couple minutes, and then more from the prostate gland for anywhere between 6 and 45 minutes. With humans, because of how brief our ejaculation is, we tend to think of semen as everything mixed together all at once, but prostatic fluid does cleanse the urethra for the sperm before it makes its journey in humans as well.

So the reason there aren't 9 billion sperm in a dog's ejaculate is because not all of the ejaculate has sperm in it. Still though, 2 billion is nothing to sneeze at. What does this mean for our alphas?

This is another thing that is up to author discretion. The amount of ejaculate correlates in part with how long it has been since the last ejaculation, and for dogs, whose females are monoestrous, the males are really saving up for the whole house. Meanwhile, humans are paying monthly rent in a crappy apartment complex. Basically, human's tend to be a lot more wasteful of their genetic material. Dogs wait until they're already tied before ejaculating in order to maximize their odds of reproducing, but humans will settle for a hand and a computer screen.

So presumably this means that an alpha would have a shorter ejaculation, but uh... not necessarily. Remember that a dog's semen is only sperm rich for one or two minutes. Most of the semen is composed of prostatic fluid, accounting for up to forty-five minutes of the time the animals spend tied together.

In humans, prostatic fluid accounts for 20-30% of the semen ejaculated - significantly less than a dog. Here's the thing, though: human and canid prostate glands are pretty much the same size, and it isn't out of the question to suggest that when an alpha successfully achieves a tie, they might expel a comparable amount of prostatic fluid to dogs. This almost certainly wouldn't happen without a tie - although I suppose that physiologically the body could be tricked into it by using a sleeve of some kind. Without having successfully knotted, the alpha's ejaculation would likely look exactly the same as a normal human's.

That said, an alpha's ejaculation doesn't need to look like a dog's when they do knot. They could just as easily have the 4.2 second one normal people have, followed by a knot for some duration of time determined by the author, no further contribution required. Regardless, the amount of sperm in a male alpha's semen would be the same, no matter how much prostatic fluid you decide to include. Human sperm takes 74 days to mature fully, and completely emptying your, uh, bank account the way dogs do would leave you completely infertile for 74 days following a single orgasm - not exactly a reproductive advantage.

Now you might be thinking that coming for 45 minutes straight sounds absolutely insane, and sure, it has the potential to be very hot and very messy, but at what cost? I feel like I'm getting a cramp just thinking about it! Luckily for the alphas in this scenario, they don't have to do all the work themselves.

That's right, we're finally gonna talk about omegas, and how they contribute to the mating process!

Now before I get to the slick (yes, I hear you, just hang on a sec), I want to introduce you to a little something called the constrictor vestibuli muscles. These are a series of muscles just inside the opening of a female canine's vagina, and they are literally designed to clamp down around a knot and milk it.

The constrictor vestibuli reflexively (involuntarily) clamp down when they detect the presence of a knot, and once they have, they will contract and release around the knot repeatedly to help the male remain erect and continue to ejaculate. Just like how you can't stop yourself from ejaculating once you've started, the constrictor vestibuli are going to do their job, regardless of what the animal (or omega) they belong to might want. I thought this was an important thing to bring up, since I haven't really come across it while reading A/B/O fanfiction. It's interesting to me that both alphas and omegas would have these reflexive reactions while mating.

Okay, let's get to the important thing.

SLICK

In A/B/O, omegas produce slick, a form of natural lubrication, while they're in heat. Human women also produce natural lubricant using something called the Bartholin's gland (which is called the Cowper's gland in men and is actually what produces precum), but the way slick is depicted in fanfiction tells us that it's something... more significant, let's say.

We can once again turn to animals in heat to figure out how the natural lubricant really works and what it is. Animals start producing 'slick' during their preheat, or proestrus phase, and it's not coming from the Bartholin's gland. Instead, it comes directly from the cervix.

The technical term for this 'slick' is cervical mucus, which doesn't sound nearly as appealing. What is appealing about all of this is the fact that humans also produce cervical mucus. That's right! Humans produce slick just like animals do! In fact, women trying to get pregnant can identify when they are at their most fertile by the texture of their cervical mucus.

Cervical mucus serves two different purposes at two different parts of an estrous/menstrual cycle. If it's not a good time for fertilization to occur, it will be dry, tacky, or sticky. This texture of mucus is too thick for sperm to swim through. Sorry guys, this uterus is closed, please come back during regular business hours.

If it is a good time, then it serves a different function - the complete opposite one, in fact. Two days before ovulation in humans, or the beginning of preheat in animals with estrous cycles, the mucus changes to a creamy, yogurt-like consistency. By the time the body is ready, or when heat begins properly, it will be slippery and stretchy, resembling raw egg whites. This type of cervical mucus is ideal for sperm to swim through, maximizing the chance of fertilization.

Also, don't blame me for comparing the textures to foods, it's just what doctors and scientists tend to compare them to in the relevant literature. The egg whites in particular were brought up in nearly every paper I read with shocking consistency, so uh. Yeah, slick is egg whites, I guess.

One last thing before I leave this part of A/B/O Science - we talked a lot today about prostates. Like... a lot. I just wanted to address something:

Could male omegas have prostates?

You might remember that way back in the very first part of this series we discussed how certain body parts start off as the same thing in utero and become different things as the fetus develops? The example from back then was the gonads, which become either the ovaries or the testes. Well we have something similar with the prostate.

In females, the Skene's gland is homologous to the prostate in men, and it functions in much the same way. It stops you from pissing yourself (yeah, fun fact), and it produces prostate-specific antigen (PSA), which in men is designed to "water down" the semen so it can travel more easily through the urethra. The PSA produced in the Skene's gland doesn't have any sperm to deal with, but many scientists believe that PSA is what 'female ejaculation' actually is. So it would seem that the answer is no, male omegas can't have prostates...

...or can they?

Trans men who have been on testosterone for long periods of time can actually develop prostate tissue. In fact, after being on T for 43 months, seven out of eight trans men had some prostate tissue growth. 69% (heh) of the tissue was even shown to be producing PSA!

Now, because this prostate tissue isn't attached to the urethra, it doesn't contribute to the semen. It may or may not enter the bloodstream as inactive PSA, which is perfectly normal and happens to a portion of the PSA produced by a prostate belonging to a cis man as well, but there's no data on that yet. This discovery is actually very new, so there's a lot left to learn. What we do know is that this tissue appears totally harmless. None of the individuals shown to have this growth have gone on to develop prostate cancer or any other related issue - although many people will have a cancer scare when this tissue first appears, as it can easily be mistaken for a tumor at first glance.

Since we determined early on that male omegas would have a normal amount of androgens (the stuff that gives you chest hair and makes your voice drop) for a human male, we can also assume that they would see growth of prostate tissue. In fact, some intersex people have the exact same growth, although it is often further along than you would see in a trans man, because they've had those androgens for longer.

Scientists took tissue samples, and 100% of this surprise prostate tissue expressed androgen receptors. Basically, it's safe to assume that androgens, the same stuff that would make a male omega grow chest hair and have a deeper voice, would also cause them to grow a prostate.

That said, the Skene's gland would still be fulfilling the function of the prostate. Any prostate-specific antigen that occurs in ejaculate would be made there. Also, because omegas aren't producing sperm, their ejaculate wouldn't be nearly as thick as ejaculate with sperm in it. Instead, it would look and feel pretty much like milk. Also, if you want alphas to ejaculate for forty minutes, most of it would be milky as well.

This has been your PSA PSA for the day!

Next up on A/B/O Science: GENETICS AND PRESENTING

Part 1 (The Basics), Part 2 (Heats and Ruts), Part 3 (Scents and Pheromones), Part 4 (Mating), Part 5 (Genetics and Presenting)

[27vampyresinhermind]

My first foray in the omegaverse has officially come to an end.

[wandaluvstacos]

BRIGHT DAY BLUE DAY

CHAPTER 35 IS NOW UP

In the city of Yukiktrum, the hierarchy is clear even when the laws are not: Alphrim rule, betsra serve, and ometki bear young. Claiming a part of the city is easy, but keeping your territory is not, so Alprhim like Chramkut govern with talon and tooth. Maintaining power means control access to ometki, and by selling access to both them and their eggs, Chramkut has turned Themself into a ruthless and wealthy warlord.

Untkra once served as Chramkut’s prime ometki, but that time has passed, and Untkra has been replaced by someone younger. After one failed escape, it was only Untkra’s history with Chramkut that saved them from execution. Untkra knows that getting caught trying again will get them executed, but Unktra is willing to sacrifice everything if it means leaving the conflict-ridden city of Yukiktrum behind. This time, Chramkut’s prime laden ometki wants out, and they’ve begged for Untkra’s help. Untkra is done bearing offspring Untkra will never meet. It’s this way or death.

However, the desert landscape beyond the walls of Yukiktrum is hostile and unknown, and there’s no guarantee that there’s anything out there worth escaping to. What Untkra may not be ready for is what hope lays beyond the dunes, and the redemption that a new home can offer. Yet when another ometki needs saving, Yukiktrum calls Untkra back in what could be Untkra’s most daring rescue yet. 

Genre: Sci-Fi

Rating: 18+

T/W: This story is dark in nature, and while nothing explicit is ever shown, there are repeated references to rape (including underage), sexual slavery, and I suppose what equates to child trafficking (is selling eggs considered child trafficking?). There is also violence, murder, drug use, and prejudice/bigotry. This story also contains the trappings of a/b/o. It’s not so closely married to the trope as most a/b/o fics, but it is quite obviously based on it. 

Excerpt:

           Once their grooming was taken care of, Akche went to bed. They had no memory of falling asleep, but they were wrenched awake to a rapid succession of shrieking klaptchrik chirps emerging from outside of Akche’s bed closet. Akche threw their bed closet doors aside and jumped out, following the sounds to Untkra’s bed closet. Akche unfolded the doors to find Untkra writhing and chirping in between words so slurred Akche couldn’t understand. Batting away Untkra’s thrashing tail, Akche hoisted themself up onto the mattress and grabbed one of Untkra’s knees before it struck them across the jaw. Untkra kicked out, begging “No, don’t!” before Akche climbed further up the bed to grasp their shoulder. Untkra’s eyes snapped open with their feathers, and their hand scraped at Akche’s face, the pink talon catching on flesh. Akche latched onto Untkra’s wrist to prevent further damage, and Untkra’s chirping turned into breathing so fast and shallow that it whistled through their nostrils.

            “It’s okay,” Akche assured them, trying to keep their voice even and calm when Untkra kept trying to yank back their hand and slither away. “Untkra. Untkra! It’s me!”

            Finally comprehension dawned over Untkra’s face, even as their feathers rattled with terror. There was a tense moment of silence as Untkra’s mind worked behind their eyes, broken only when Untkra thrust their face into Akche’s chest and curled their body around Akche’s. Akche released their wrist, and Untkra grasped a handful of Akche’s bodysuit to pull them in close.

            “Shh,” Akche soothed as Untkra’s klaptchrik chirps emerged tiny and petrified. Akche ran a hand over Untkra’s shaking shoulders, hoping touch helped more than it hurt. “It’s okay. You’re okay.”

            “Chramkut was here,” Untkra said into Akche’s chest, holding them with both arms now. “They came to take me away, I thought I was going back…” Untkra swallowed wetly. “I thought I was going back.”

            “It was just a dream,” Akche assured them gently. “I promise, it was just a dream.”

[blackout-galaxy]

“presents as a beta” “presents as an alpha” “presents as omega” love that the language implies that people not only don’t have tests to try and figure out pre-puberty but also purposefully avoid doing so to keep a mystery to it. are there like stories of people assuming presentation only to be proven completely wrong? is presentation determined by a singular hormone? is it like the testosterone-estrogen complex and people just don’t want to know? is there a niche and mostly-stigmatized scientific field dedicated to researching the social and biological functions and relationships between secondary genders? is it separate from the pharmacological field or is it the ‘dirty’ underbelly of it all?

more importantly specifically to me: is the relationship with sex and sexuality all cultural or is it also moderately biological? does this mean that most asexuals are betas or never even present?

i’m sitting in the corner doing this rn okay?

i need to know what the studies show

[elvensemi]

Meet Teniel Cae, religious leader turned exile, walking nuclear bomb, and professional disaster.

Character reference by Opalescent

The second part of A Place Among the Stars is out now!

[NSFW] [Sci Fi] [Space Opera] [Political Drama] [Omegaverse Aliens] [Space Dragons]

A Place Among the Stars is an erotic space opera and soft science fiction, inspired by the fridge logic of omegaverse. It's the story of a religious and political exile who just can't seem to stop causing problems, and of the stone-hearted bureaucrat forced to deal with those problems.

It's also about weird alien sex.

Hi, I'm ElvenSemi and I write webnovels online through Patreon (available monthly) and Ko-fi (available for one-time purchase)! Two updates (SFW and NSFW) every month, plus bonus and behind the scenes content, polls, and more.

Interested in what I'm hawking but no $$$? I'm also on Ao3, and have a free eBook coming out! Follow me here or on Patreon to be alerted when it's released!