What I Love about Omegaverse

First off, I like werewolves. I’m a fan of the classic White Wolf game, Werewolf: the Apocalypse, and could tell you a half-dozen stories about characters I had. Even before that, though, I was a fan. There’s something haunting about a person forced to become a beast. It’s not surprising that I fell in love with the Omegaverse.

But … Omegaverse stories aren’t always werewolf stories. Some of my favorites don’t involve shapeshifting at all.

And, what even is a werewolf story anyway? Is lycanthropy genetics? A curse? Do they become a wolf or a wolf monster? Is it both? Are they secretly heroes or the monsters of the story? If they’re monsters, are they bad monsters or Del Toro monsters?

There’s a difference.

The Omegaverse Meta of Three Rivers Claimed

So … if you’re here, you probably already know what the Omegaverse is. If you want a deep-dive into it, though, I’ve put together a playlist over on YouTube. Yes, I’m one of those people who love listening to video essays break down topics exhaustively. Once you’re back from watching videos (or putting them in the background while you read), we’ll look at some of the Omegaverse Tropes Alpha Mazeira and I use.

Scents

Scents are a cornerstone of every Omegaverse story I’ve read. I’ve read some that mention scent as a thing, but go less heavy on the description. However, as someone who can think about cinnamon and phantom-smell it, I absolutely adore the stories that lean into different types of scents and scent descriptions. In our stories, scents tells you something about the character in question. Kimber grew up just north of the Magnolia state, so obviously that sweet, citrusy flower is in her scent, as is the river she loves most. Liam, who stands like a funnel cloud waiting to drop destruction has the heavy rain and broken flora scent of the storm’s approach.

Alpha/Beta/Omega Roles

In the Pittsburgh Omegaverse, wolves are divided into three groups: Alphas, Betas, and Omegas. They’re pretty standard to other Omegaverse works. Alphas lead the packs, though not all Alphas are leaders. Alphas do, however, tend to take charge of situations, even when they’re in the capacity of following another Alpha’s orders. The Omegas are the symbol of fertility in this universe, and are the only wolves who can bear children – likewise, Alphas are the only wolves who can impregnate an Omega. Betas are the everyman. They’re sterile (something that will play into plot tensions in later books of the Three Rivers Claimed series) and usually serve in loyalty roles – an Alpha’s Pack Beta, in service to an Omega, or just in the jobs and roles that make the world function.

Heat Cycles

Omegas go into Heat, and it can be intense. Kimber sees just how dangerous an Omega in Heat can be, both the danger they can find themselves in, and the danger they can pose to pack structures if they’re unmated. Omega heat cycles are a monthly affair, so they’re not as intense as some Omegaverse stories present. But … Omegas are still expected to function in the world. While an Omega will want nothing more than to nest securely when in heat, that doesn’t mean they always get that option. They’re important to an Omega’s fertility overall, but they’re not the only time an Omega is fertile.

Pack Dynamics

What we would know as the actual science of a wolf pack is reserved for the individual wolf family units. Some wolves will call those units packs, but those units don’t have the same social weight as a Pack does. Being part of a capital-P Pack carries the status of being accepted into something, even if you’re not anything but a standard member. People look at packless wolves as being … suspicious. If you’re not part of a Pack, they didn’t accept you for some reason. What Pack you belong to as a wolf matters as well. Ridgeview is your upper-class pack while South Shore is your Underworld. That’s not to say that South Shore isn’t wealthy, or that all Ridgeview wealth was gained legally.

The capital-P Packs are the wolves who surround and swear loyalty to a strong Alpha. These Packs can and often do function like an extended family. These Packs are also where you see the Alpha struggles for Dominance, as the hierarchy is structured more from human ambition than wolf instincts. In these Packs, the family of the Pack Alpha usually forms the central grouping of the Pack, with smaller family packs and single Alphas, Betas, and Omegas surrounding them. South Shore is a large pack made up of several Alphas, Betas, and Omegas, all loyal to Jonathan Callahan. Jonathan’s family serves as the central unit of the Pack, with his eldest son Liam as the Heir to both the Callahan family pack and the South Shore Pack.

Claims and Bonds

Claims and bonds are an important part of the Pittsburgh Omegaverse. Mate bonds exist between Alphas and Omegas and can form a couple of different ways. One is a Biological Bond, our version of the standard Scent Bond or Scent Match. Biological Bonds can work one way and a wolf has no control over forming that bond. It happens or it doesn’t. Biological Bonds can be Fated, but they don’t have to be. The other bond happens when an Alpha Claims an Omega with a bite. Typically this happens during one of the seasonal rituals, such as at Samhain, but Alphas are known to claim Omegas outside of those rituals for varying reasons. Whether it’s a Biological Bond or a Claim Bond, wolf Bonds are for life.

What I Love about These Tropes

Let’s not ignore the Veilbound in the room here. Omegaverse is a ‘roided up version of the same kind of sexual dynamics we have to deal with in the real world. I don’t pretend otherwise in my writing. Add to that, the stories I’m currently working on focus on heterosexual couplings. So … why Omegaverse? Why not just write shifter stories that use male-female dynamics?

Here’s the thing … I love, I mean absolutely love the pull and drive between Alphas and Omegas. The idea that there is something biologically within you, even without a bond, that drives you to want to have, take, claim, ravage … to be taken, to be claimed, to be ravaged. What I’m not interested in, however, is exploring those things as something that happens “because I’m a woman” or “because he’s a man.”

Some of that is simply not wanting to boil down womanhood and manhood to those things. But more importantly, I’m queer. My existence isn’t just wanting to have a man or be had by a man. I desire women and non-binary people too. Having a paradigm where something besides male-female-other gender drives those urges and sexual desires means that, when I decide to write non-hetero stories, I have the room to do so within this same worldbuilding structure.

Shameless Plug Time

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