i realized that i kinda picture you as a cat because of your pfp, which is very cute btw! (are you actually just a cat??? 🤔)
you had mentioned when talking about vnm that there’s some social upheaval happening in ron as well, and i was wondering, what kind of changes are happening? is it more that societal perceptions are changing, or are there political changes as well?
hope you have a wonderful day!
I am actually just a cat, yes! 🙆
In RON I’m mostly talking about social changes! Urbanization and modernization are a lot of this, but there’s also increasing education and increasingly liberal younger generations… And obviously too there would be political and legal changes to reflect this stuff, too. Honestly a lot of it reflects our real world, just more…. A/B/O!
Here are a few things I think I’ve brushed on before:
Fewer and fewer people in packs, and increasing interest in smaller family units (in part because real estate is expensive, large real estate in Seoul in particular is almost impossible to nab no matter how much money you have, and no 20-40 year old who would normally be seeking out their permanent adult pack can get a place where a pack could physically fit)
Less bonding (easier to just live your life after divorce, fewer packs, social liberalism, sex positivity)
Few to no mating runs (somewhat archaic bonding ritual; less bonding and more emphasis on choice, so 🤷)
Broader acceptance of some gender pairings that would normally have trouble having children, like a male beta and female alpha (more fertility medicine, and modern medicine in general; general increased liberalism; things are a little better for pairings that can’t biologically reproduce too, but they still face substantially more prejudice)
Interrogation of gender roles; sense that omegas should have more independence, and alphas should too in a different way…? Moving away from the idea that alphas and omegas need each other to be complete. Interrogation of beta and primary gender roles too but it’s kind of on the back burner still
Interrogation of traditional pack dynamics — what works and what doesn’t, what people kind of long for, what people want to change. Lots of criticism around pack-typical boundary blurring and potential hit to individual identity
Experimenting with pack dynamics! For example alpha-priority packs take the sort of modern idea that alphas have worth outside of what an omega deigns to afford them to a dangerous extreme, and restructures the pack dynamic entirely around alpha opinion
Legalization of forms of sex work like heat and rut companions, which pushes people even further from the pressure to court/bond/find a pack, since even if you're single/packless you won’t be stuck in terrible pain without anyone to help you if you can just hire a professional
Debates about scent communication and blockers: when blocking is too much, what’s inappropriate, what’s workplace harassment and what’s valid communication, especially because…
Secondary genders are much more intermixed than they used to be. Alphas are expected to get along with other alphas and not be weird to omegas in the workplace
Debates about what instincts are “good” and which are “bad”, and which should be encouraged or discouraged
Debates about mating cycles: if they should be suppressed, and how, and when, and how often, and at what age. There are countries where anyone underage will generally suppress their mating cycle even if they’re young enough that it mostly just presents as fever, and other countries where they think of that as a form of repression that will have a negative effect on that person when they grow up (shame, or reluctance to have a heat, or whatever) and people should just experience increasingly more intense cycle symptoms as they grow up
Broad acceptance that consent given during the height of mating cycles isn't consent
Changes around referring to people by title/designation. Calling a pack leader or superior alpha just by “alpha” was pretty common and probably still is in more old-school packs, but nowadays a lot of people don’t really like it. Omegas in particular sometimes say being called omega is sort of objectifying — turning someone into their pack function, rather than calling them by name
Changes in child-rearing: combo of shifting gender roles, lack of packs, and Korea’s very… demanding school system
Probably changes around holidays and stuff, now that packs are less common 🤔 The closest IRL equivalent I can think of off the top of my head is IRL Chuseok, where you’re supposed to gather at your family’s home… village… area…?? where your ancestors are buried and do all these religious rites with all these types of food. But now it’s soooo hard to get out of Seoul just like physically and monetarily much less buy all that food during Chuseok month so a lot of people just stay put and don’t celebrate with their larger family or with family at all, even though it’s one of the biggest sk holidays. I still haven’t figured out exactly how most of these work in RONverse yet, but the concept (city too dense, people too spread out, nobody lives in their home pack anymore) still applies I think
I knowwww there’s more but this is what’s popping into mind! I hope it’s interesting!!!
