Fanlore:Featured Article Archives/2023: Week 38
Pistilverse (피스틸버스) is a trope in South Korean fandoms wherein almost all humans experience an "awakening" during puberty that assigns them into one of two botanically-inspired groups. These groups are denoted by marks on the person's body, and can determine whether and how they bear children, as well as some other traits that govern sex, relationships and biology.
Its creation is credited to Naver blogger lee, and the earliest references to it online are dated to 2014.
In 2016, it rose in popularity thanks to a number of fanworks created in BTS fandom, and has spread to other K-pop fandoms, even making an appearance in some commercial works such as webtoons and webnovels. Fans have added to Pistilverse lore with additional worldbuilding, tropes and headcanons as its popularity has spread.