Some A/B/O and Soulmate AUs worldbuilding and nitpicking

[transemacabre]

I was talking to theladyscribe about how my brain always fizzles out at A/B/O AUs because I just can't accept how anything even remotely approaching modern society would come about in such a scenario. And anyway, how would such an unnecessarily complex reproductive system evolve? It's a little silly considering all the weirdo shit I will handwave without a problem, but that's just how my brain works.

My point is, we were talking A/B/O and Soulmate AUs. Soulmate AUs -- like TiMER or ones where people magically have the names of their soulmate written on their wrists, or where they soulbond after physical contact, etc. -- skeeve me out a little because it seems like a way to enforce monogamy. I'm all in favor of monogamy but I'm also in favor of free will. These AUs seem to present a world in which adultery is not only subject to public stigma, but next to impossible. The aforementioned AUs where the name of your soulmate is written on your wrist -- is there an accepted catch-all name for this AU? -- what does that mean when, for most of human history, the vast majority of people were illiterate? Or suppose your soulmate's name was written on you in Cyrillic or Chinese or Georgian. Would translators make bank off of transliterating soulmate names? What if you're Meredith Quill and your soulmate's name is written in some unfathomable alien language? What the fuck do you do then?

theladyscribe suggested a world in which only one gender has their soulmate's name written on their wrist, which prompted me to wonder what that would mean for trans people. Would everyone know you were trans at birth?

I would be intrigued by a romantic comedy where, like, everyone only has a first name written on their wrist. So a girl named Leslie with the name 'Chris' on her wrist might meet three guys named Chris and two girls named Christine all with 'Leslie' on their wrists, and have to figure out which one is her Chris!

Comments

[transemacabre.livejournal.com]

I wonder! Of course many societies have come up with ways of incorporating trans people -- third sexes, berdache, etc. That doesn't mean that those particular roles weren't themselves sometimes limited and gender-essentialist.

I also wonder how societies would cope with having soulmate names when, well, humans are humans, and humans like to wage war, take slaves, and are prone to "us versus them". It's kind of a soul-crippling thought to imagine being a slave and having your master's name on your wrist. I think this is why I'm so iffy about these AUs...