Archive of Our Own

Chapter Text

• The world is generally less capitalistic, and the pace of innovation is slower. Most of the technological milestones of human history occurred somewhat later, except for anything to do with ventilation.
• The strength of the pack as the core social unit means that national and ethnic identities are somewhat weaker than the real world. The advent of countries as a concept occurred much later and expansive empires have been rare.
• Our fantasy Australia-adjacent country is still a colonized country, but the way that played out would have been pretty different, with the result being a population that is dominantly settlers from the northern hemisphere, but a slightly more ethnically heterogeneous set of them. 
• All countries have policies that are extremely pro-natalist by real-world standards. In our fantasy Australia-adjacent country:
  • Packs receive a substantial subsidy for each pup born or adopted
  • It is illegal for a birthing parent to seek work within one year of having a pup or before their cycle restarts. 
  • The non-birthing parent can take up to six months of leave without any negotiation with their employer. This leave is not required to be paid because the subsidy is expected to make up for it.
  • Only mated individuals have access to non-barrier contraceptives. Outside of heats/ruts most people date and have casual sex a normal amount, but since there is almost no risk of pregnancy barrier methods are used for STD protection only. People who aren’t impulsive and actually date before getting mated and plan it in advance can acquire a certificate of intention from their city hall to acquire contraception for their first paired heat/rut.
  • Abortion is not a subject of political controversy or regulated in any way different from other medical procedures. Elective abortion is vanishingly rare because it is extremely stigmatized and almost impossible to conceal due to scent. 
  • Daycares and preschool do not exist, nearly all packs have at least one person who stays home full time and typically everyone helps with childcare to some degree. Unmated rogues who have pups get very extensive welfare and typically live in government housing. Being in that situation is extremely stigmatized and isolated single parents have very limited legal rights because the government is in effect acting as their pack leader.
• Population growth is extremely rapid, but the total world population is a little smaller because modern medicine came much later and interpersonal and inter-pack violence was extremely high until fairly recently. 
• The ability to test for sex and some subgenders at birth is a few decades old. Female omegas and betas, and male betas and alphas remain indistinguishable until they present at this time. In developed countries, most people use the testing unless they belong to some traditional cultural or religious group, but most people retain the tradition of giving pups who are born with a penis somewhat gender-neutral names and changing their name if they wish when they hit puberty. 
• The prevalence of each subgender was roughly equal until recently. The advent of contraceptives and subgender testing means that some families stop having pups when they have a female alpha, which skews the population towards more female alphas. The fact that female/female pairs only produce female offspring is offset naturally by the fact that male/male pairs have about 75% male pups and tend to have more pups in total. 
• Betas hold the most professional and ‘educated’ jobs, earn the most PhD and MDs, etc. In most packs, the betas earn the majority of the money. There is minimal discrepancy in career trajectory or earnings between male and female betas because the discrepancy in puppy care and domestic obligations is typically limited only to when pups are infants, the load is spread across an entire pack, with omegas usually taking the largest share of it, and betas typically have small families.
• Alphas dominate in all the stereotypical hypermasculine professions at both ends of the spectrum of earning and prestige. Some of the richest people in the world are alphas because they are always first in line to inherit wealth and they are at least no worse than any other subgenders at things like investing and starting companies.
• Most professional sports only have an alpha league. Alphas are generally bad at cooperating with other alphas who aren’t packmates and tend to get into as many altercations with their teammates as with their opponents; this is considered part of the entertainment value. Professional sports are an extremely dangerous profession.
• Professional gymnastics only has an omega league and what constitutes gymnastics in this context involves horrors beyond comprehension.
• Most omegas do not work officially. Most omegas who do work either work in a pack-owned business or from home. The highest-earning omegas in the world are mainly authors and visual artists. While there are no legal restrictions on employment for omegas, because they lack sole access to their financial or legal information it is only realistically possible if their pack leader and mate, if they have one, approve of it.
• Most cities and towns have accommodations for a small number of alphas and betas who are rogues or live apart from their pack for work or school to live alone or with roommates. Omegas are not allowed to live alone and live in omega-only communal housing if they are packless or living away from their pack (extremely rare).