kaedegitsune

[kaedegitsune]

“you’re the reason people don’t take us seriously!!!”

im going to take that as a compliment

[kaedegitsune]

You, a human, were accidentally assigned dorms typically reserved for non-human students, and while your roommates are great, they keep trying to get you to reveal your monster form. You wonder who its gonna be harder to explain to, them, or the housing office

[kaedegitsune]

ngl after having repressed my therianthropy for nearly my entire life it feels so validating to get phantom shifts

getting excited or locked in and feeling all 5 of my tails? heck yeah

when I'm angry and I feel my fangs and sometimes my claws? heck yeah

feeling my ears, wings, and/or horns literally any time? heck yeah

I am a creature

[kaedegitsune]

“Thespiad”: Proposing a New Term for Fictionkin Who Involuntarily Identify as Fictional Characters (Under Discussion...)

This proposal contains extensive research and thoughts that I have spent considerable time processing and organizing. It is still in the early stages despite hours poured in, and I am finally opening it up for public feedback. I value your perspectives, as they will help me identify areas I may have overlooked while developing this terminology. If you have suggestions for a more fitting term or wish to share your own experiences, please feel free to contact me.

Purpose

While the term “Fictionkin” is predominately used, it is often now associated with fandom culture and the 'voluntary' exploration of new identities. The community no longer fully captures the complex experiences of those of us who view our fictional identities as intrinsic rather than chosen.

The current community primarily emphasizes exploration and acquisition of new fictional identities, much more than the further development and understanding of existing ones. As a result, I have struggled to find a sense of belonging within community spaces in recent years as I actively seek to express my fictotype in my daily life as that is who I am. My fictotype expands beyond just online expression and would exist regardless as to my involvement in the community.

For those who involuntarily identify as fictional characters and have a desire to live them out physically, I believe we deserve our own distinct community. The fictionkin community faces challenges in being taken seriously, both internally and externally, and it is crucial that we begin to assert our identities with the seriousness it deserves.

The “New Term”: Thespiad (Θεσπιάδης)

Pronunciation: /THES·PI·AD/ Etymology: The prefix "Thes-" is derived from Thespis, the ancient Greek actor who is often credited as the first person to perform as an actor in the context of Greek theater. The suffix "-iad" is a classical suffix used to denote a group of people with shared characteristics or traits.

Usage:

Thespiad: A person who involuntarily identifies as a fictional character and actively desires to express it.

Thespic: An adjective to describe traits or actions related to being a Thespiad.

Thesp/Thespiotype: A specific fictional character that an individual identifies with (e.g., Pikachu from Pokémon).

Thespiades: Plural form of Thespiad.

This term, though rooted in the Greek language, is not synonymous with the modern term “Thespian” (actor), which has become more generalized.

Who This Term Is For?

The term “Thespiad” is intended for those who experience an involuntary identification as a fictional character; When you are a Thespiad you identify 'as' that character. This distinction is critical: it is not merely an identification or connection with a character, but a deeply felt, intrinsic sense of self. In contrast to the broader Fictionkin label, “Thespiad” emphasizes the desire for active transformation and alignment with one’s fictional self physically.

This can involve actions such as changing one's name, relocating to a place reminiscent of your source's setting/location, or altering one's appearance to match that of the fictional character. These practices reflect an attempt to embody the fictional identity in real life.

The Process of Development

In developing a new term, I explored various linguistic roots from Latin, Greek, and Old English. However, many of the terms I curated with this method were too vague or didn't come across as practical. These terms didn't feel inclusive and seemed shaky in definition.

So, I turned to researching about historical people who showcased a similar nature to that of fictionkin (though maybe not exactly) or significantly influenced the storytelling we create and consume today.

Historical Origins

Thespis (Θέσπις) could provide a meaningful historical precedent for this term. Often considered the first actor in the context of Greek theater, Thespis revolutionized storytelling by stepping out of the chorus to portray individual roles, thus creating the idea of the actor as someone who "becomes" the character they portray. His contributions laid the groundwork for modern theater, in which performers transform themselves into characters, not merely to portray them but to bring life to them.

This historical figure could serve as a metaphor for our experiences as Thespiades—individuals who identify with fictional characters not as an act of fan admiration, but as a form of personal and transformative expression.

Metafiction and Fictional Identity

Fictionkin identities often intersect with the concept of metafiction, which explores the boundary between fiction and reality. For Thespiades, the experience of identifying with a fictional character is not purely imaginative but is an essential part of our reality. By acknowledging the gap between the real and the fictional, we can better understand the nuances of this identity. This intersection underscores the need for a term that encompasses the lived reality of these individuals—one that acknowledges both the fictional nature of the identity and its deep roots in personal experience.

Our Symbol: The Drama Masks 🎭

As part of this proposal, I suggest adopting the drama masks—symbols of comedy and tragedy—as a unifying emblem for the Thespiad identity. These masks have long been associated with theater, transformation, and self-expression, making them an apt symbol for those who seek to align their real-world selves with their fictional counterparts. Just as these masks convey the performative nature of theater, they also reflect the process of self-discovery and transformation that many Thespiades undergo.

If you find that this new terminology resonates with your experience, I would greatly appreciate your feedback. Similarly, if it does not fully align with your perspective, I welcome your input as well. Please note that this post is still a work in progress, and I will continue to refine and update it over time. Thank you for taking the time to read and engage with this content.

[kaedegitsune]

@funnier-as-a-nonhuman

[kaedegitsune]

actually you know what. we have GOT to get weirder about fictotypes. i don't wanna tone down or hold back anymore.

[kaedegitsune]

i reblogged this one almost a year ago (on my main blog lol) but things have changed since then for me, so here's an updated one!

L O N G warning, sorry :p

1 - which category of alterhumanity do you belong to?

i am a physical nonhuman, and fictionkin... though i don't use the -kin suffix, haha

2 - what/who is/are your type(s)?

i am a kitsune (white shrine/zenko/"good" fox, 7 tails - 764 years young!) and kaedehara kazuha from genshin impact :)

3 - do you experience shifts? if so, what are your most common shifts, and what was your strangest cameo shift?

yes and no? as a physical nonhuman i am, obviously, always this way, though aspects of my form change at times. tail(s) (usually one, sometimes all 7), ears, claws, teeth are permanent; eyes, hindpaws, neck fur (which is a very stilly feeling, while on two paws) and muzzle are common, and forepaws are about 50/50. the more tired i am, the more human't i am!

the same goes for my mental state. i don't "shift", but i get worse at acting "normal" when i can't put the energy into it. this is when i either a) go fox mode (fewer words OR stereotypical Powerful Being Who Can Talk phrasing, hiding in a corner somewhere and probably losing most strong emotions) or b) go wandering samurai mode (flowery-ahh language and poetic one-liners, extra chill vibes, too many philosophical thoughts, prone to zoning out).

i don't really have cameo shifts, but my weirdest phantom... thing, is that when my paws are hand-shaped, i get the sensation of the old scar/wound on my right palm. apparently, at least in my timeline/canon, dying visions release a burst of elemental energy! genshin people will probably get what i'm talking about but for people who don't know, basically i've got electrical burns on my right palm/a little ways up my arm. always thought it was weird paw pads until i figured out i was fictionkin lol

4 - how do you experience your alterhumanity in daily life?

am fox, must live in human world. i've always been this way so it's hard to explain what is and isn't different... though i will say that as time goes on i get less and less "human". like i get worse at it. probably because i'm discovering and accepting myself more? anyway if i act "weird" at all people don't really mention it so i have no real idea if it actually shows. that said i dislike being forced to engage with society like a human would (or even just the fact that i can't simply wander again) and sometimes that gets pretty rough. feels very restrictive.

5 - what do you think of the community?

i love the community! tiktok therians do bother me because they're very gatekeepy (and often wildly incorrect about it too) and aggressive about it to boot, but i try to be patient with them since a majority of them are children really. but aside from that, most all the alterhumans of various kinds (shoutouts esp to my fictionfolk, you guys are extra cool ily) i've come across have been super chill! and it's nice to have a community of people who just Get It without me having to explain in painful detail what the hell i'm even yipping about.

that said people have gotta be more chill about physical alter/nonhumans bc... oof.

6 - what are the things that make you the most comfortable/euphoric?

rain, mist, pine forests, various smells, tea (a local tea shop has a flavor that is PEAK kazuha), japanese maple leaves, really anything with (ancient) japanese aesthetics, pretty much everything about fall, fanfic, kin-coded clothing, it/its pronouns, fox viviterms, cosplay, being myself online AND irl, painting my claws black, theming things around my identities (fox designs, the aforementioned ever-present maple leaves, etc), eating type-related food (FISH! fried tofu! mochi! and yes, maple syrup lol), engaging with my source material and exploring the world as myself... i could make a book-length list of all the little things i do honestly but i'll stop myself here. just wanted to give folks ideas maybe for the common "how can i connect to my 'type more" question!

7 - do you experience species dysphoria?

not really. sometimes my current genetics are irritatingly Wrong (i am trans, for instance), but aside from people being silly and not quite immediately understanding that i am not human, i'd say probably not.

8 - what advice would you give to a young alterhuman who just awakened?

take your time! please take your time, you will not have all the answers right away. it took me several years to figure it out, and i am still figuring it out. there may come a day in a year or more where i completely redo this q+a post yet again because i have something new to share.

also do your research. if you're strongly attached to a fictional character but fictionkin doesn't feel right, are you maybe fictionhearted? you feel canine, but the common ones don't fit, so are you maybe a rare species or breed? are you maybe even mythical? or further, have you considered that you might be conceptkin, objectkin, an archetrope, or any number of interesting identities? "alterhuman" is a big umbrella, and there's a lot to explore. this is also why i say to take your time, because it can be pretty overwhelming when you're unfamiliar with most - or all - of the concepts i just mentioned!

and again i want to reiterate that it is ok to not know what/who you are immediately. labels are not set in stone and you can change them at any time. if calling yourself something doesn't seem to be working, change it or get rid of it. this can be very frustrating, i know, but try to give yourself the grace and patience to find something that really works. and your identity is valid, don't let anyone convince you it isn't.

one last thing - ask questions! loads of us who have been here a while will be more than happy to help you understand some things or share our experiences.

9 - do you want/have gear?

i have some! ears and tail, and i'm going to be making myself some paw gloves here soon! i will also be getting a cosplay eventually, and i've got quite a lot of kazuha-coded accessories in general. i'm almost finished with crocheting my scarf! oh and i have a collar :p

10 - do you have any theories about the origin of your alterhumanity?

ehhhhhhhmmmmmmm... good question. neurodivergence probably plays a role, but i would probably place myself more on the spiritual side? i have exomemories of both.

truth is tho that i have NO idea. why am i here? dunno! i ask myself a lot but i haven't found anything i really like. not past lives for sure, but beyond that, eh. that's for future kaz to figure out honestly

11 - tag someone!

nah. already did last time. instead, anyone who made it though my yappin and wants to do this themselves, go for it!

If you are a alterhuman, reblog and answer these questions!

(don't be afraid to write a lot, do what you want ¯⁠\⁠_⁠(⁠ツ⁠)⁠_⁠/⁠¯)

1/ Which category of alterhumanity do you belong to?

2/ What/who is/are your type(s)? (if you have any)

3/ Do you experience shifts? If so, can you tell us your most common shifts and your strangest cameo shift (if you've ever had a cameo shift)?

4/ How do you experience your alterhumanity in everyday life?

5/ What do you think of the community?

6/ What are the things that make you most comfortable and euphoric in your alterhumanity?

7/ Are you experiencing species dysphoria?

8/ What advice would you like to say to a young alterhuman who has just awakened?

9/ Do you have/want to have gears?

10/ Do you know/have any theories about the origin of your alterhumanity? If so, tell us! (all beliefs are legitimate)

11/ Tag someone/a creature to answer these questions!ㅤᵕ̈

[kaedegitsune]

that's him, that's my man right there. i'll probably wish him a happy birthday like 20 bajillion more times because i love him <3

anyway, typically for his birthday, i'd take him out for dinner (fried, ofc, because anything else is a crime and he'd probably arrest me... that's not true. tempting, though. hehe.) and then we'd walk through chinju forest, go stargazing. we did that a lot actually but usually only on rooftops - forest was more special. and, yknow, i'd always get him a new form of puzzle.

anyway hei wasn't - isn't - super big on large celebrations and fortunately neither am i really, so that was all more or less.

and today, it's actually making fried food, going for a walk at night, and... i want tea. tea. and also apparently a drawing that possessed me for like a week apparently. it's pretty! hhhhhh

whatever. happy birthday, starlight <3

hi, btw. hi tumblr :)

it's teyvat's prettiest detective's birthday today, and i'd be remiss if i didn't do something to celebrate! so i drew (painted?) this.

happy birthday, heizou! <3

[kaedegitsune]

”✨things to do when your a therian🐾” type of videos/posts lowkey piss me off. It’s always “draw your theriotype! Make therian masks! Jump over things! Build a den!” Not that there’s anything wrong with doing these things obviously but they’re so annoying to me because they just say literally the exact same things every time, the exact same, basic, stereotypical “tiktok therian” activities. And I doubt that any alterhumans who are bored will see these posts and think “oh!! I’ve never thought of that! How fun and exciting, I’ll go do these activities now!”

Anyways, if you have any “things for therians to do” suggestions I’d love to see them in reblogs

[kaedegitsune]

Breaking Away, Unbound, and Be Beyond

The community at times has a big issue when it comes to making tips, advice, resources, terms, flags, or symbols, etc.

Often these are made with specific stereotyping and generalization, with only “common” ‘types in mind. It isn’t just “alterhuman means identifying-as nonhuman aka otherkin and therian only, or sometimes even only as beastly wild animals” (which, mind you, alterhuman is in fact, a gigantic umbrella), or “fictionfolk equals to fictionkin and fictive” (because that’s an erasure of other fictionfolk, it is essentially fiction-based alterhuman), it is also these too

Dragons are associated with “stereotypical eurowestern dragon”, fire, scales, webbed wings, animalistic (I’ve ranted about it more than enough in a couple of my postings on this topic [1][2][3][4])

Therian tends to mean mammal, especially earthen, ground-based, wild, predator type, and nature, always nature (therian just means identifying as animal, inclusive of any animal [1])

Avian or winged is equated to feathered wing type (it isn’t just webbed wing vs feathered. Like dragons, there are so many winged sorts that have all types of wings—made of light, energy, metal, or any other substances. Also, not all winged species are birds)

Mythical covers elf, fae, dragon, and—??

Fictionfolk are just specific, anime, human, characters (what about just relating to the concept of fiction? what about not a specific character or nonhuman species? what about the setting or the environment? what about film and game and old shows that’s on paper machet or stage play?)

Spiritual alterhumanity is always just past life, no other explanation that is under spirituality

To name a couple.

We are the community that challenges “normative identity”. We don’t want to be “only autism or sometimes ADHD in neurodivergency”, or the binarism in queer or the forgotten a-spect, or the LGB without even T.

Be outside the confine of boxes, be considerate of your fellow community members who were told, just like you, that we can only be a very narrow and specific way. Remember the wonder, the magic, the freedom, the comfort of discovery that there are worlds beyond worlds when you first found your community.

We are all unique; let’s celebrate our colorful diversity.

[kaedegitsune]

people often think i'm doing it for the bit but unfortunately i Am the type of guy who just says shit like "pray tell" and "indeed" and "naught but the human heart can hope to capture the moon's beauty" (that was actually about my shitty phone camera) and nobody really knows what to do when they hear those words come out of my mouth. myself included.

[kaedegitsune]

Y'all

I

Made

Art

It's one of my theriotypes a Vancouver wolf!!

Also I made more art.. of another theriotype! (Leopard), but this one's for a chalk event imma participate in! It's a sketch :D

Also one more thing- LOOK AT THIS KEWL TRAIN and these m&Ms that expired in 2018 that I still ate :3

[kaedegitsune]

My identity doesn't dehumanize me. You can't dehumanize what was never human.

[kaedegitsune]

The Fox Fairy/Spirit has a lot of variations throughout East Asia. I chose to base mine off the Huli Jing, and Tang dynasty dress. The shapeshifting, predominately female nine tailed fox also takes the form of a Kistune in Japan and Kumiho in Korea.

One of my favourite interpretations of this being is Good Hunting, the short story by Ken Liu (though not the Love, Death, and Robots inspired short animation! :( )

Original art by me! More phenakistoscopes on my page.

[kaedegitsune]

i looked into this more deeply (not extensively, mind, as i'm quite tired atm) out of curiosity, because i've heard this too. it seems to be noted in the writings of older folklorists* but doesn't seem to be a very commonly recognized trait. kind of hard to say with the materials i can access atm (curse you paywalls).

i do know that the rumor about "moshi moshi" being a way to tell if the person on the other end of the line is a fox or not is almost certainly untrue.

also, some of the things in what i was able to access seem... iffy to me in the same vein, but those are thoughts for when my brain works and i have more ✨resources✨.

but i mean like... i myself have articulation problems so there's that lmao

*https://academia.issendai.com/foxtales/japan-lafcadio-hearn.shtml

*https://asianethnology.org/downloads/ae/pdf/a116.pdf <- kinda rough tbh lol

I remember a long time ago, back when I was researching my theriotypes, I read somewhere that Kitsune will sometimes mix up words or have other small communication stumbling points when in human form, and it was one way to spot them. Yet when I look for that information now, it isn't anywhere to be seen.

...weird.

[kaedegitsune]

me personally, i paint and file my claws to be more accurately claw-like, and generally move in a more fox-like way. this includes stuff like toe-walking (not all the time, that's hard on your feet), moving/standing/sitting like i have a tail (because i do), sniffing the air and occasionally glancing around like other animals do, and even physically moving the muscles on my head where my ears would be. yes, that's possible, with enough practice.

also engage with things that connect you to your animal self. nature sounds or a pine-scented air freshener, or wearing colors that match your fur, or listening to music that has, yknow, vibes. whatever it is for you. heck, things completely unrelated to your animal self could be what you're looking for! just take note of when something makes you feel more like yourself and do more of that i'd say.

granted i'm a physical nonhuman and therefore always fox no matter what i do, so ymmv, but these are the things i do most often that help me adapt to being stuck in a human shape.

Yk how there’s like “therian tips” and it’s just like “pounce on snow if you’re a fox” and “wear gear” and it’s like.. not that helpful? Like can I get some REAL tips on how to feel more like ME

Like the only thing that works for me is wearing my tail, out of the suggestions I’ve seen.

[kaedegitsune]

To all my fellow animals doing their best to be good humans,

This life we were placed in is not easy, not even for those it comes more naturally to.

We adapt.

We evolve.

We survive and thrive.

We are nature.

I hope your tomorrow is easier than your today.

I hope you find ways to connect with your environment and your animality.

I hope you are able to feed yourself and loved ones, spirit and body, with the fruits of your labor.

Stay strong, stay wild, stay true

Good job