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Entry tags:
Genderplay AU: Droneverse/"Queen Bee"
In brief: a droneverse or queen bee AU is an alternate universe in which the majority of people are sterile, and only a small minority are fertile. Borrowing from bee terminology, a queen has fertile ova and a drone has fertile sperm, while sterile people are called workers. The demographics are roughly one queen and 3-4 drones per 200 population, but this aspect is open to tweaking, according to the story's needs.
Most everything except the basics is open to interpretation or alteration. In my version of the droneverse, queens and drones form the aristocracy, while the workers are commoners, though the worker population is subject to internal social stratification. Queens practice polyandry and keep up with the demands of maintaining the population by using artificial uteruses. This version of the droneverse is otherwise human, having suffered a cataclysmic decline in fertility centuries prior to the present timeline. It also has elements of a Dom/sub AU.
It is up to you whether you want to make the DV society human, alien, shapeshifter, etc. You can make them a minority among (an)other species. You can make it part of their natural physiology, or the result of a plague/curse/alien technology/what have you. The social status of drones and queens is likewise open to interpretation. I use them as aristocracy, but they're just as likely to be subjugated as valuable commodities. I recommend having different cultures interpret the situation differently, but again, this is optional.
Gender and sexuality elements: while it seems obvious to make queens female and drones male, a society where > 90% of the population is sterile can have any configuration of gender norms you could imagine. Changing terminology to avoid referring to gestating men as "queens" is completely possible. You're not bound to a completely matriarchal or even matrilineal structure. I chose to apply different sexual norms to workers and to drones/queens because it was convenient to the type of story I wanted to tell. For example, I use the term maenad to describe the idea that relationships between queens are taboo in a way that a relationship between a queen and a female worker wouldn't be, a worldbuilding element that you may wish to play with.
Optional elements of the droneverse:
I welcome comments and questions. I made this AU for myself and haven't shared it very much, so I haven't gotten much outside feedback about aspects that I haven't thought through, or haven't occurred to me. If any of my prompts or terminology are unclear, I will edit to clarify them.
Most everything except the basics is open to interpretation or alteration. In my version of the droneverse, queens and drones form the aristocracy, while the workers are commoners, though the worker population is subject to internal social stratification. Queens practice polyandry and keep up with the demands of maintaining the population by using artificial uteruses. This version of the droneverse is otherwise human, having suffered a cataclysmic decline in fertility centuries prior to the present timeline. It also has elements of a Dom/sub AU.
It is up to you whether you want to make the DV society human, alien, shapeshifter, etc. You can make them a minority among (an)other species. You can make it part of their natural physiology, or the result of a plague/curse/alien technology/what have you. The social status of drones and queens is likewise open to interpretation. I use them as aristocracy, but they're just as likely to be subjugated as valuable commodities. I recommend having different cultures interpret the situation differently, but again, this is optional.
Gender and sexuality elements: while it seems obvious to make queens female and drones male, a society where > 90% of the population is sterile can have any configuration of gender norms you could imagine. Changing terminology to avoid referring to gestating men as "queens" is completely possible. You're not bound to a completely matriarchal or even matrilineal structure. I chose to apply different sexual norms to workers and to drones/queens because it was convenient to the type of story I wanted to tell. For example, I use the term maenad to describe the idea that relationships between queens are taboo in a way that a relationship between a queen and a female worker wouldn't be, a worldbuilding element that you may wish to play with.
Optional elements of the droneverse:
- Polyandry
- Queens as literal rulers
- Harem politics
- Queen/drone soul bonds
- Heat or other omegaverse-like elements
- Worker sexual anarchy
- Taboos on alternate sexualities
- Post-post-apocalypse
- Dom/sub social structure
I welcome comments and questions. I made this AU for myself and haven't shared it very much, so I haven't gotten much outside feedback about aspects that I haven't thought through, or haven't occurred to me. If any of my prompts or terminology are unclear, I will edit to clarify them.