Polyamory

A polyamorous relationship, also called a polyship or simply poly, is a relationship between three or more characters, and polycule describes all the people within the network of a polyamorous relationship. 
Most fans would describe it as being deeper and longer-lasting than a one-time threesome/moresome, but how much deeper is down to an individual fic writer. Much like real-life polyamorous people, polyships in fandom are merely multiple simultaneous relationships with the consent of all involved parties, so all characters need not be dating each other for a ship to be considered poly. Often, fans ship a polyship because they multiship a particular character or because they're simplifying a love triangle.
Fanfic of polyships is often called polyfic. Polyfic is often related to teamfic, where all members of a canonical team may be written as romantically/sexually involved. In terms of fandom, its popularity is a relatively new phenomenon that can largely be attributed to the shift of fandom onto the internet. While threesome or poly stories can be found dating back to the 1980s in media fandom, most older stories were conduit fic or treated the idea of a threesome as a sexual kink, probably owing to the fact that pre-internet fanfic was sharply divided into slash, explicit het, and gen zines. Since these zines were the primary way fandom was connected, it left little space for anything outside those bounds and to find their spot early polyfic was often PWP.
For example, Once a Thief aired 10 years before Leverage and while both shows have a similar structure of three young dynamic characters working together in a team setting, Leverage has a noticeable amount of poly-themed stories, vids, art and discussion while Once a Thief was almost exclusively slash. Similarly, White Collar fans started talking about the poly potential of the show after only a few episodes had aired. Modern fandom has also pushed Kirk/Spock/McCoy into being the fourth most popular ship for TOS on AO3Star Trek: The Original Series tag on AO3. Accessed 7 Jan 2020. and the seventh most popular ship for AOSStar Trek: Alternate Original Series (Movies) tag on AO3. Accessed 7 Jan 2020. although fanworks for the pairing (such as Between Friends) existed in early fandom.
==In Fandom==
Polyships are often treated as a distinct category from het, femslash, and slash ships, at least for the purposes of categorization among fans. Common poly relationships within a particular canon may be described as "the OT3/OT4/etc." It's generally understood which characters are involved, but in some canons there's ambiguity in the term among the general fandom even if specific fans have a set meaning.
The shift in thinking from treating threesomes as a kink to pairings in their own right has also led to what constitutes a polyfic shifting. Most modern fans would not consider conduit fic, love triangles or cheating to be polyamory, although there is some discussion about the fact that some writers will insert female characters into slash ships as a means of writing a "gay-lite" pairing. Polyships may appeal to these fans in a different way than the typical fan of polyships, and their interpretation of a polyship is likely to be more in line with a conduit fic. The community guidelines of Share and Share Alike, a community dedicated to polyships, say the following when outlining what content is and is not acceptable in their community:
Stories that start out poly and end in monogamy or stories depicting a couple who occasionally have a casual relationship with a third might be considered polyamory by some fans, but those situations are more personal. A typical polyfic set-up would be either an established relationship or a developing relationship between three characters, such as Harry, Hermione and Ron from Harry Potter. That relationship could be a triad, in which all three characters are dating, or a v (sometimes spelled vee) in which a character is dating two characters but those characters aren't dating each other. In this example, Hermione might be dating both Harry and Ron but Harry and Ron would not be dating each other. In general, fandom seems to prefer triad to v type poly although this varies from pairing to pairing and author to author.
There are also trope-specific variations on polyamory. Group marriage is common in Alpha/Beta/Omega fic featuring poly, often with one character of each dynamic for "balance," as well as more harem-style relationships where one alpha may have multiple omegas. Fic featuring BDSM themes, also frequently features poly. As in real life, one Dom can have multiple subs who may or may not know each other and fic may involve these subs meeting each other for scenes or entirely new relationships being formed. A sort of hierarchy can also be established between a dom, a switch, and a sub like in Never Never Never Stop for Anyone by aimmyarrowshigh. Some fic also borrow the concept of sedoretu from Ursula K. Le Guin's "A Fisherman of the Inland Sea," which is an involved sort of group marriage between four people, and troll romance from Homestuck is a popular trope even outside the Homestuck fandom.
=="Poly" versus "Polyamory"==
Much like the very concept of "polyamory" has shifted from being a kink to a valid form of expression, there has been a discussion around the language used to discuss polyamory. 
This began in 2015, when Tumblr users politely asked if polyamorous people could stop using the tag #poly so it would be easier to find the Pasifika community. The post that was frequently passed around as the "starting point" for this discussion, however, was the following post:
There was a significant amount of discussion on actuallypoly's post about the history and usage of the term "poly" within the polyamorous community, with resistance to the change from those who are polyamorous. Similarly to the shift from "NB" to "enby" by the nonbinary community at the request of black activisits who use the term as shorthand for NBPOC (non-black people of color), many people have begun to prioritize the term "polyamory" over the abbreviation "poly" at the request of Pasifika people, especially in cases where the shortened form can cause confusion. This has led to both "polyam" and "polya" emerging as alternative shortened forms of polyamory, with polyam seeming to be the preferred term among the wider polyamory community. Within fandom, however, there has not been a similar adoption of "polyamships" over "polyships" although polyamships is in use as a term, but there has been a shift from "poly" to "polyamory."
The discussion continues to evolve, however, as while some Pasifika people have expressed that the word poly should only be used for Polynesian people the majority of people pushing or reminding people to use polyam over poly now are doing so because it has been weaponized by white people in a similar fashion to the way queer has been reposited as a slur by TERFs.Ask from asynca. Posted 21 Aug 2017. Accessed 4 Feb 2020. This is not to say that not using "poly" in cases where the meaning is confusing is a bad thing, more that saying "reminder to use "polyam" because "poly" is for Polynesians" in unrelated discussion has become performative wokeness and, occasionally, a method to shut down conversations.
==Commentary==
==Polyrific Fandoms==
There are numerous fandoms where certain poly ships are either canonical, or popular with fans: 
:For a full list of poly ships on Fanlore, see :Category:Moresomes
*Ace Attorney - Phoenix/Maya/Edgeworth. Apollo/Juniper/Athena isn't as widely popular, but is well-liked among some fans.
* The Avengers (Comics) - Several configurations of poly ships are common.
*Baldur's Gate 3 – The game allows players to pursue multiple romanceable characters up until Act 2. If the player's main love interest is either Astarion or Shadowheart, it is possible to form a poly relationship in-game with Halsin or Minthara. This has lead to the popularity of Astarion/Halsin/Tav and other poly ships.
*Bandits - a 2001 movie featuring a canonical poly relationship See: Wikipedia:Bandits (2001 film)
*Bandom - GSF was incredibly common in bandom's heyday, as was shipping a band as a unit. Modern bandom, thanks to some radical shifting of the core bands (namely Panic! at the Disco), leans more towards monogamy but is still poly friendly.
* BTS - OT7 is relatively common, although harder to track on sites such as AO3 because fans often tag it as "[character]/Everyone." Other threesomes and moresomes are also common.
*DC Comics - Bart/Kon/Tim, or Impulse/Superboy/Robin, is a common trio in Batverse fanfic. Following the canonization of Tim/Bernard, Timberkon gained prominence. Batman/Superman/Wonder Woman is known as "Trinity." Superhero teams are often the subject of poly fic.
*DBSK - The members of this boyband are sometimes written as an OT5.
*Fire Emblem - Geoffrey/Elincia/Lucia and a number of threesomes involving twins Ephraim and Eirika. 
**Hinata/Oboro/Takumi in Fates fandom is being embraced lately, and Niles/Leo/Odin is already quite popular.
**Echoes fandom embraced the trio of Lukas/Python/Forsyth. Clair/Gray/Tobin and Fernand/Clive/Mathilda are also common.
** Three Houses has Felix/Ingrid/Sylvain, a trio of childhood friends. Edelgard/Byleth fans also tend to add Hubert to the mix due to his devotion to Edelgard and growing trust in Byleth. Ferdinand/Edelgard/Hubert is popular due to the two men butting heads over how to best advise and serve her, as well as developing a friendship of their own.
*Haikyuu - Akaashi Keiji/Bokuto Koutarou/Kuroo Tetsurou/Tsukishima Kei is a popular polyship in the Haikyuu fandom. Since the fandom is very open towards multiple ships, polyships are easily formed out of already popular pairings.
*Harry Potter - Harry/Ron/Hermione is a very popular ship. Other fairly common poly arrangements include Snape/Harry/Draco, Harry/Ginny/Draco, and Neville/Luna/Ginny.
*House, M.D. - Lisa Cuddy/Gregory House/James Wilson is the most popular grouping but others, both slash and mixed are often written.
*KPop - such as SHINee, EXO, and BTS where all members are shipped as OT5
*Leverage - The ship Alec Hardison/Parker/Eliot Spencer, also known as the "Leverage OT3", is the most popular ship in the fandom.As of January 4, 2020, 1376 of the 6606 works in Leverage are Hardison/Parker/Eliot. Snapshot: Leverage works, January 4 2020; Hardison/Parker/Eliot works, January 4 2020.
*Lockwood & Co - Lucy/George/Lockwood are often paired together. They're often referred to as COT3.
*MCU - A variety of polyamorous ships are popular due to the multitude of shippable characters. This has been true since the early days of Avengers fandom, giving rise to the fandom saying, "Everyone's poly because Avengers."Everyone Is Poly Because Avengers tag on AO3. Accessed 7 Jan 2020."everyone is poly because avengers" tag on Tumblr. Accessed 7 Jan 2020.
*Merlin - the OT4/5 relationship that included Arthur/Gwen/Merlin/Morgana and sometimes Lancelot
*Noumena (book series) - Noumena contains canon human/alien polycules, which are mixed and matched by fandom, such as Cora/Ampersand/Kaveh and Cora/Ampersand/Kaveh/Nikola.
*One Direction - One Direction has contains a multitude of OT3+ combinations, including Zarriall, Zaniam, Stylinshaw, Lilourry, and Zianourry. See List of One Direction Ship Names for more.
*One Piece - "Merryshipping" involves shipping the entire crew, sometimes sexually, sometimes not.
*Ouran High School Host Club - The members of the Host Club are paired in any and every combination from OT3 to OT7.
*Pirates of the Caribbean - Jack/Elizabeth/Will may be the most common, but there are other combinations.
*Popslash
*Pundit RPF - Stephen Colbert/Anderson Cooper/Keith Olbermann/Jon Stewart and sometimes Rachel Maddow
*Rooster Teeth - AHOT6, or the entire Achievement Hunter team, is the fourth most popular ship in the fandom.Teeth*s*Achievement Hunter RPF/works Rooster Teeth/Achievement Hunter RPF tag on AO3. Accessed 7 Jan 2020. Numerous other polyships, including FHOT7 are also popular.
*Sense8 - Capheus/Kala/Lito/Nomi/Riley/Sun/Will/Wolfgang aka cluster ship is seen in some fanworks. Additionally, two triad relationships were made canon in the series finale: Kala/Wolfgang/Rajan and Lito/Hernando/Daniela.
*Sherlock - Sherlock/John/Mary arose as a popular "everybody wins" OT3 when the character of Mary Morstan was introduced as John's love interest
*Siren (TV series) - Ryn/Ben/Maddie is both a popular and canonical OT3 polyship.
*Stargate: Atlantis - OT4 in SGA fandom usually refers to Ronon Dex/Teyla Emmagan/Rodney McKay/John Sheppard, but is sometimes used for groupings with Aiden Ford instead of Ronon Dex. There are also a few works focusing on Jennifer Keller/Rodney McKay/John Sheppard, building on the canon ship of Jennifer/Rodney. John Sheppard/Rodney McKay/Carson Beckett was popular for a time for a time amongst slashers.
* Star Trek: Alternate Original Series - James Kirk/Spock/Nyota Uhura is the main poly grouping in the fandom building on the canon ship Spock/Uhura
*Star Trek: The Original Series - Kirk/Spock/McCoy
*Supernatural - Sam/Dean/Castiel and sometimes Sam/Dean/Castiel/Gabriel
*S.W.A.T. (2017) - Chris/Kira/Ty was a canonical OT3 polyship from season 2 to season 3.
*Top Gear - James May/Jeremy Clarkson/Richard Hammond
*Venom - Eddie Brock/Venom/Dan Lewis/Anne Weying is moderately common in fanworks.
*Voltron: Legendary Defender - "Polydins" refers to shipping the paladins (main characters) in poly relationships. Curtis/Shiro/Keith has also become somewhat common among Sheith fans who also came away appreciating Curtis and Curtis/Shiro.
*White Collar - Peter/Elizabeth/Neal is almost as popular as the predominant slash ship Peter/NealThe Tags Page on whitecollarfic on February 9, 2020 shows 776 stories tagged Peter/Neal and 592 tagged Elizabeth/Peter/NealWhite Collar tag on AO3. Accessed 7 Jan 2020. Peter Burke/Neal Caffrey has 1497 works and Elizabeth Burke/Peter Burke/Neal Caffrey has 1096.
==Fanworks With Poly Themes==
=== Fanfiction===
:For a full list of poly and moresome fanfiction on Fanlore, see :Category:Poly Fanfiction 
*Between Friends, believed to be the first published Kirk/Spock/McCoy story, and therefore, probably the first threesome story, was printed in Obsc'zine 4 in 1980.
*Convergence-verse, dombillijah (Dominic Monaghan/Billy Boyd/Elijah Wood) threesome in Lord of the Rings RPF. Very explicit BDSM.
*Pretty Good Year by Mary Borsellino, a long and popular series of Frodo/Sam/Rosie stories in The Lord of the Rings fandom that inspired shared universe fanworks by other authors and artists.
*In the Wrong Story and sequels by Katie have been cited You down with OT3? (Yeah, you know me!) by Tafkarfanfic, in the ship manifesto community on LiveJournal, accessed April 2, 2010 as some of the earliest examples of Jack/Sam/Daniel in Stargate SG-1 fandom written as a functional long-term relationship.
*Veritaserum by Calliope is one of the earliest Harry/Ron/Hermione stories written in Harry Potter fandom.
*A Pirate's Life by Elspethdixon - early and influential fic in Pirates of the Caribbean fandom that helped establish many tropes in fiction about the Jack/Elizabeth/Will triad.
*Deep Freeze by Kadorienne (Bucky Barnes/Loki/Steve Rogers, MCU, 2016-2018)
===Fan Vids===
* Apple Candy and Imma Be - two vids made by the same vidder, talitha78, explore poly themes in two very different ways. One is a plot focused piece that uses the song and the canon, and adds to it, to create a plausible poly story. The second is a character study, at once a celebration of the characters' individuality, and also an examination of their team dynamic as revealed by the canon and flavoured by the song.
*500 miles by theaquasarah, a video that explores the relationships between Kala, Wolfgang and Rajan using the songs and the canon to illustrate the development of their relationship (that did not have time to develop onscreen as much due to the show being cancelled)
*Parachute by thingswithwings is an extremely popular Eliot/Hardison/Parker vid that uses each verse of its song to explore a different dynamic between the three characters (Hardison/Parker, Eliot/Hardison, Eliot/Parker, and finally all three characters).
===Example Fanart Gallery===
File:Bissexual-poly Diana.jpeg|Diana, Steve and whoever if they want toDenimcatfish 🏳️‍🌈 on Twitter: "Not really, people can feel free to think of them as Steve and whoever if they want to. I just wanted to draw her and 2 other people happily cuddling xD" by denimcatfish, on Twitter (September 21, 2021)
== Archives==
*Polyamory tag at AO3
*I Saw Three Ships
==Communities==
See also List of Poly Fandom LiveJournal Communities.
===Multi-fandom===
*Polyfic - for fanfiction (Livejournal)
*Polyship - for all sorts of fanworks (LJ)(defunct; archive link)
*Polyamory Big Bang - a poly-themed big bang
*OT3_100 - an OT3 drabble community on Livejournal
*Polyshipping - Pillowfort community
*Triad Verse - Pillowfort community
*Polyshipping Day - Pillowfort community
*Pan-Fandom Polyamory Appreciation Polyshipping Day Tumblr acount (last updated March 31, 2019)
*Share and Share Alike Dreamwidth community for polyamorous ships.
*Polyfandom a multifandom polyshipping community on Dreamwidth
*OT3 Solutions Dreamwidth community, last updated 2015
*50 sentence challenge Dreamwidth community simmiliar to 3sentences or 1sentence , last updated 2011
*OT3 Prompt Fest Dreamwidth community with monthly prompts by members, last updated 2012
*Holly Poly Holiday polyship exchange (DW).
*I Saw Three Ships on DW Gift exchange for threesomes (DW).
*Polyamships is a tumblr blog and discord community that organizes Polyam Shipping Day, Multiamory March and Polyartober, month-long events to celebrate polyamory in fandoms.
=== Individual fandoms===
*DCX3 - DC Comics Threesomes
*Naruto_OT3 - Naruto
*merlin_ot4 - Merlin (Gwen/Merlin/Morgana/Arthur, though other foursomes and fivesomes are allowed)
*team_sga - Stargate Atlantis (both gen and poly Teyla/Ronon/Rodney/John, with optional Aidan)
*Trois Bang (lj community) - a KPop OT3 big bang, with rounds in 2010 and 2012
==Meta/Further Reading==
* by Melusina (2004)
* by petra (2010)
* by melannen (2011)
*Polyship Prompts
* on PixivEncyclopedia.
== External Links==
*Recs tagged as Polyamory at Fancake
==Notes & References==
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