Fandom Snowflake Challenge 2024; Challenge #6

[anxious_songbird]

In your own space, share a favourite piece of original canon (a show, a specific TV episode, a storyline, a book or series, a scene from a movie, etc) and explain why you love it so much. . Post your answer to today’s challenge in your own space and leave a comment in this post saying you did it. Include a link to your post if you feel comfortable doing so.

*Cracks Knuckles*

So, I’m going to be talking about 2 things, cause I have 2 prompt-table(s) coms for them. Because I adore them that much.

The two things are: the quadrant romance system from HOMESTUCK & the sedoretu marriage system from Planet O from some works by Ursula le Guin. The main reason I adore them: interesting romance possibilities. I’ll try to explain both the systems & why I love them;

In our society™, romance is a Big Deal. We have holidays & expected anniversaries based on milestones or just the relationships themselves. We have a legal institution based on the idea of making another person be intertwined with you (which is currently seen as romantic). We can, by media or the people around us, have very specific ideas of what these romances should be. Of course these can be not great at times; amatonormativity is a thing in our society and generally is against the norm to either be romantically alone semi-permanently or be with multiple people at the same time consensually.

The systems do little for the former, but do something funny with the latter. These systems, in their respective canons, are the norm for the people they’re from.


With the sedoretu; half of the population isn't supposed to date you via the moiety-system (in which dating somebody in the same moiety is seen as incestuous). Your moiety on Planet O is decided by what the moiety your birth-mother is (morning birth-mom means you’re a morning person). The sedoretu itself as a marriage has 4 people instead of 2: a man & woman from the morning moiety and a man & woman from the evening moiety typically. You, in this system, are expected to have a het & a gay relationship in the marriage and 1 het pairing that is taboo & more akin to a sibling you share romantic partners with. In this system you are not meant to be focused on one partner, since you’re married to other people as well. You are expected to care about both your romantically/sexually involved partners somewhat equally. Even the same moiety person, who you are expected to not be romantically/sexually with, you are expected to be close with them.

What I find so interesting about this is the cultural implications of this. How are family trees understood? Would there be social/cultural identifiers about what moiety you’re in as to avoid the sacrilege? What happens when you do fall in love with them? How do people try to find partners for a marriage? How socially acceptable is it to look for a 3rd/4rth? How do they handle how emotionally messy that will be? How long does it take and how hard is it expected to be? How are children raised & how is labor divided in such households? How is jealousy culturally expected to be handled (because obviously it’s still going to happen)?

I adore that these questions are a thing that come up in the system (some even in canon along other ones). The work “Mountain Ways” also tackles how messy these arrangements can be on their own with other cultural contexts. It’s a fun way to explore the idea of what it even means to be married, what does it mean to be whole?


With quadrants; you are expected to be in 4 different kinds of romance. There’s the flushed quadrant (called Matespritship) which is mostly just our understanding of romance. But then there’s the other positive emotion’s one: The pale quadrant in canon is described as “soulmates, but more platonic”, mostly in the sense that you don’t tend to kiss or anything similar to that in such a relationship. The pale quadrant is about mutual guardianship; helping each other be better while pacifying them. Moirallegiance (pale) was one of the first canon things I interacted with that was QPR-coded, and seeing how HS shaped a generation, I wouldn’t be surprised if people found out about real life QPRs or ended up in one because of HS.

And there’s the other 2 forms of romance, based on negative emotions instead of positive ones; There's pitch/caliginous romance (kismesissitude), which is the typical “foe yay” + “no one can defeat you but me”, it’s a arch-rivalry treated like a romantic & sexual relationship status of it’s own. And there’s gray romance (Auspisticism), which basically treats the mediator of a conflict between people (which could seriously hurt the people involved or their relationships) as a romantic relationship as important as the other 3.

And that’s (alongside the cultural implications of all 4 existing in the same society) why I love quadrants; it’s a system of romance that treats more than one kind of relationship as important. It’s even seen as important to have multiple relationships, all seen as romantic, which are different from each other in goals, feelings & outlooks. It asks us, in a way, to accept that we are a messy people with messy emotions


Both systems show a diffrent way of looking at romance, asking us to view, if only a little while, relationships trough a new lense. Of course; not all important relationships can or should be romantic, but sometimes romance can be bogged down by the expectations of how it should be in our societies. Romance is a very messy thing, and these systems acknowlegde how messy they can be. And that why I adore/love them.

(pssh, if you're a creative intressted and/or curious about these, or know somebody who might, maybe check out 40sedoretu and/or 100quadrantedships. It's primarily about prompt-filling, but meta + other things related is welcome :3)

Comments

[jellyfishlover]

Oooh, I'm not too familiar with these systems other than hearing parts of it in passing, so it's neat to hear the appeal and structure of them! Such neat world-building! I feel like romance structures are usually kept the same even in fantasy worlds where practically everything else is completely different, so it's neat to hear of some world building that are unique in that aspect! :D

The negative parts of quadrants is especially neat to me, since I feel like with those sort of relationships it's often sort of regulated all to fall under "rivalry" or "enemies" -- it's neat that there's a specific word in that universe for that sort of situation with more ~strong feelings~ involved! XD

[anxious_songbird]

Hard agree. Wish I was that creative with romance in my stories ^_^

Try this ...

[ysabetwordsmith]

Quadrants and sedoretu are just structures. Building a structure is not that difficult. Also, it's a lot of fun to play around with.

First, think about what things you like about relationships, not necessarily limited to sex/romance. What always snags your attention? Aim to include that.

Then think about how relationships are divided (e.g. romantic-platonic, family-friends, close-casual, homosexual-heterosexual) and how people are divided (male-female-other, rich/poor, ethnicities, religions, social statuses, etc.) so you can see possible groupings. Once you've got the common ones, imagine throwing in something else, like hair color or freckles/no freckles; or a fantasy thing like magical/nonmagical or soulmate/no soulmate.

With groups in hand, you can start mixing and matching, and think about why a society would structure things that way. What if a society got fed up with wealth accumulation, and decided to solve that by pairing rich and poor people together? Or maybe the inheritance of something significant, like magic, requires a certain approach in breeding to avoid disaster. In many breeds of animal, it's not safe to breed matching parents (e.g. fold to fold in Scottish fold cats or merle-to-merle in border collie dogs) because crippling or fatal defects can occur. So you'd want the relationship to include magical/nonmagical breeding pairs, but maybe both people really need the support of their own kind.

Like I said, it's fun to mess around with. If you want to see an example of mine, Feathered Nests has 5 genders with both homosexual and heterosexual relationships. For sedoretu, I've got one in "<a href='https://ysabetwordsmith.dreamwidth.org/12774850.html">Constantly Tossed About</a>."

Re: Try this ...

[anxious_songbird]

Kind of embarrising; but this reminded me of omegaverse. I know that the stuff is mostly just for dub-con porn with bad-weird gender stuff. But I actually am kinda intressted in how the aplha-beta-omega trifecta would actually play out in society.

Some idea I came with because of omegaverse was that alphas weren't trusted in society after some time in puperty because of the knowledge(or is it falsehood?) of them being beasts during ruts. And the typical relationships in society would be betas & omegas, with alphas being invited for a bit in if the omega took a fancy. But the alpha had to leave once the omega bores of them.

Re: Try this ...

[ysabetwordsmith]

>>Kind of embarrising; but this reminded me of omegaverse. I know that the stuff is mostly just for dub-con porn with bad-weird gender stuff. But I actually am kinda intressted in how the aplha-beta-omega trifecta would actually play out in society.<<

It's not all bad pr0n! There is some hardcore sociological stuff in there. It can be done seriously or for laughs.

Scents and Sensibility: The Working Assassin's Guide to Supersoldier Seduction
galwednesday, silentwalrus, skellerbvvt
The most ridiculous, adorable, gender-and-pheromone-concussed courtship of Steve/Bucky you will ever read.
https://archiveofourown.org/works/14772824

The Searching Ceremonies series by KouriArashi
https://archiveofourown.org/series/85570

"Divided We Stand" by KouriArashi
https://archiveofourown.org/works/877251
Very sophisticated pack dynamics (werewolf/human) with attention to different roles that people play in a healthy pack, even in a situation fraught with metaphysical mayhem.

There's also some hardcore ABO activism where one group is oppressed and fights back, but that often gets darker than I think your tastes are.

>>Some idea I came with because of omegaverse was that alphas weren't trusted in society after some time in puperty because of the knowledge(or is it falsehood?) of them being beasts during ruts.<<

That happens in some ABO settings. One of the most interesting things to me is when authors not only stipulate that one group is more powerful, more trusted, etc. but they also explain why. It depends a lot on the particular biology the author has chosen to set up.

>> And the typical relationships in society would be betas & omegas, with alphas being invited for a bit in if the omega took a fancy. But the alpha had to leave once the omega bores of them.<<

I've seen it, and it can be made to work. This is especially true if Alphas are parsed rather like drones -- they want sex, but they're not necessarily great at bonding. Ideal for pr0n, but also for angst if people are trying to do things that biology doesn't support very well.

Re: Try this ...

[anxious_songbird]

First of all, thank you for the recs~

I know it's not ALL bad p0rn, and finding omegaverse content that explores more pack dynamics in a non-smexy sense can be so validating.

I've seen it, and it can be made to work. This is especially true if Alphas are parsed rather like drones -- they want sex, but they're not necessarily great at bonding. Ideal for pr0n, but also for angst if people are trying to do things that biology doesn't support very well.
Oh oh oh, this is fun idea. I find relationship angst pretty juicy so maybe, maybe in future I'll do some angsty stuff with this old idea :3

Re: Try this ...

[ysabetwordsmith]

>>First of all, thank you for the recs~

I know it's not ALL bad p0rn, and finding omegaverse content that explores more pack dynamics in a non-smexy sense can be so validating.<<

Yeah, some fandoms make it hard to find the good stuff.

"Bridge" by Zethsaire
Steve and Bucky's journey from Bucky's draft through Winter Soldier, and into Bucky's recovery and gender exploration. Steve attempts to help Bucky recover, and Bucky begins to realize that maybe he's not just a 'man,' anymore.
http://archiveofourown.org/works/3568439

"ALL THE KING'S MAN" by Pookaseraph
In an effort to get out from under the thumb of his step-father, Charles chooses to become a courtesan for several minor nobles in King Erik's court. It is not long before he attracts the eye of the young king, and the Cardinal who holds the young king's ear. Charles spends months working to secure his place as King Erik's favorite and to regain his father's title of Merchant Prince. Charles hopes to disprove the old adage that once you enter the king's bed, you have nowhere to go but down.
A historical AU with alpha/omega dynamics (no heat). Not nearly as dark as the warnings might make it sound.
http://archiveofourown.org/works/343256

>> oh oh, this is fun idea. I find relationship angst pretty juicy so maybe, maybe in future I'll do some angsty stuff with this old idea :3

Angst is very juicy! :D Consider setting it after a social development. Say, the oppressed group has gained more legal rights, or a heat suppressant has been invented. Suddenly people have to deal with this new twist, which is exciting but also embarrassing and awkward and sometimes downright nerve-wracking.

Re: Try this ...

[anxious_songbird]

I forgot to mention this is actually really good advice. So thank you for your wisdom, may I find somebody new who is also intressted in this~

Re: Try this ...

[ysabetwordsmith]

*bow, flourish* Happy to be of service.

I just love infrastructure in general. I love worldbuilding -- continents, ecosystems, constructed languages. I love figuring out what that setting would do to people or other lifeforms living there.

I've discovered that when you lay out how things are constructed, it becomes very easy to see other options, and then, to play around with those options in different designs.

Homestuck is a very structural fandom. The trolls have four romances, and each quadrant has its own rules, and they are divided into pairs based on different criteria. The trolls have 12 (standard) colors of blood, each with its own tendencies and cultural expectations; and there are clusters based on rank or abilities within those 12.

If you look at A Conflagration of Dragons, that is all hand-built. (You don't have to read the poems for this part, I've posted some of my notes.) No humans, no standard-fantasy-races except for the dragons and even those are constructed with logical patterns. I literally sat down with an elemental system and made lists of traits associated with each element, then assigned each race 2 elements and some traits based om those. I figured out how certain major features, like wings and horns, are passed down. There are notes on which races have close or casual alliances, and which don't like each other. There are notes on certain well-known things about relationships, like how Hachi babies are quiet and Madhusudana babies are demanding; so a Madhusudana usually can't raise a Hachi baby at all, and a Madhusudana baby will run a Hachi foster parent into the ground. Laying things out like that not only let me avoid prior patterns to create something new, it gave me lots of story hooks. And that's my idea of fun. I look at story or character elements as a set of Legos, and I want to dump out the box and mess them around.

Yes ...

[ysabetwordsmith]

>> I feel like romance structures are usually kept the same even in fantasy worlds where practically everything else is completely different, so it's neat to hear of some world building that are unique in that aspect! :D

I agree. But if you look at human societies, you'll see many different ways of handling relationships and what is considered important and why. This makes the homogeniety of fantasy extra boring. At least science fiction has aliens, and it's more common there to explore how that could influence relationships.

>> The negative parts of quadrants is especially neat to me, since I feel like with those sort of relationships it's often sort of regulated all to fall under "rivalry" or "enemies" -- it's neat that there's a specific word in that universe for that sort of situation with more ~strong feelings~ involved! XD <<

It is much, much easier to talk about things and make them work when you have good vocabulary. Things that don't get talked about are difficult to troubleshoot when something goes wrong. Look around and you'll find some great meta on how black romances are supposed to work.

Re: Yes ...

[jellyfishlover]

All very true! Even if there's no new structures put in place, the surrounding environment, context, and/or culture itself can effect how relationships are viewed... and I agree with the sentiment towards aliens in Sci-fi usually bringing their own unique twist on relationships.

With good vocabulary, this is probably my own fault for not having the best words to describes these things as I don't usually interact much with things focused mainly with romance. XD

I'll definitely have to look into more writing about dark/black romances! :D