houseofchimeras

[houseofchimeras]

[houseofchimeras]

The world ended. 75% of plant and animal life was gone forever. Then tomorrow came. So it goes; happy new year.

[houseofchimeras]

A few people come to mind:

- Darahagh is a southern live oak. Trees a fairly.

- Kardegray is... we've never even come across a term decribe his species. He's a six climbed, two mouthed, six-eyed, four horned beast with scales like a perentie on his legs, but his back and neck are covered in brown hyena fur. His body has an over almost theropod-like quality but he can walk on his back legs, all sixes, or just his first and third sets of limbs with ease. Overall details of his body also take after either a perentie or brown hyena: hyena ears, etc. He's just an overall mess of a beast of decribe.

- Joker is a bargest, a Monster Rancher monster, but decribing his species is wild. He looks vaguely like a wolf but he's the size of a tiger with a wolf skull for a head, a thick dark gray mane, a set of long curving forward yellow horns, dark gray front legs, light gray barrel, the fur past his waist is deep red with tiger-like stripes, and his feet have only three toes.

We were wanting to try something new and hear from people, so to systems, alterhumans, etc:

Do you have any more "uncommon" non-human identites or headmates? We don't hear too many about non-human alters specifically being very mixed, like not half and half and maybe more like a lot of different backgrounds here (1/4th one thing, 1/6th another). Objects are also some more non-human identites we don't hear much about either.

We don't know what tags to use for the alterhuman community since we're pretty new to it ourselves, so please let us know if there are tags that would be better suited here!

Reblogs are alright, and feel free to elaborate in the tags!

[houseofchimeras]

"This Users Simply Plural is a mess." -🎴

Versions for Systems, Collectives and Plurals:

Requested by No One. These were redone - the original post can be found here: link

Feel free to use! Credit is not necessary, but always appreciated!

Edit: Fixed the missing background behind the Simply Plural Logo. 🎴

[houseofchimeras]

i'm doing some soul searching rn with regards to my nonhuman identity and i'm a bit confused about the terminology.

theriomythic and fictotherian especially confuse me because i thought therianthropy specifically referred to animals and not fictional or mythical creatures and there are terms like otherkin and fictionkin etc to describe those for example.

is this just a result of communities evolving differently and independently coming up with terms to describe very similar stuff? is it just a matter of preference?

Firstly, Daski has created a great essay (or if you prefer, here is a recording of deir’s panel covering the same points) explaining how the concept of therianthropy being Earthly animals only arose within the community.

But to summarize, it’s a little bit of collum A and a little bit of collum B.

The online therian community and the otherkin community arose separately around the same time period in the early 1990s and had little, if any, interaction between them for many years.

In the therian community, people identifying as weredragons and other mythical creatures actually appeared really early on while the community was still forming. (There was even an infamous, werepontiac on AHWw.) Also, in the past, the therian community did not make a distinction between people who identified as natural Earthly animals and those who identified more as an actual werecreature, which mixed things up even more. Yes, a large majority were Earthly animals, but there were non-Earthly animals in the community as well. The early therianthropy was a lot more concerned with shifting and related experiences than what form the shifting and such took.

Over in the early otherkin community, there is some evidence there were people who identified as animals there as well alongside the non-Earthly beings and creatures. Yes, the early otherkin community appears to have been more geared towards or popular too people who were mythical but how the otherkin community defined itself wasn’t exclusive to mythical beings or creatures.

Even once the two communities started to become aware of each other, people more or less kept to whatever community they vibed with more or had discovered first.

However, in the late 2000s, people began pushing the idea that therians were strictly Earthly animal only and the discourse grew from there. The terms theriomythic and fictherian actually arose because of the rise of people trying to strictly define therians as being Earthly animals only.

Either way, in present day with both communities overlapping so significantly, label choice between therian (or theriomythic or fictherian) and otherkin comes down to personal preference and such, more or less.

That is a brief summary of it all, anyway. A lot has happened in the online communities in 30+ years.

~ Sky Singer (he/him)

Sources:

Daski. “Therian: Dispelling the Earthen Animal Myth,” Othercon 2022, https://theriversystem.neocities.org/essays/EarthenMyth

Daski. “Therian: Dispelling the Earthen Animal Myth,” The River System, [Tumblr insists on url become embed video? Tumblr, no. You're messing with my citations...]

House of Chimeras. A Timeline of the Therianthrope Community, Version 1.1. Updated 19 November 2021. www.houseofchimera.neocities.org

Scribner, Orion. “Otherkin timeline: The recent history of elfin, fae, and animal people, v. 2.0.” Last modified Sept. 8, 2012 in The Art and Writing of O. Scribner.

[houseofchimeras]

[Essay] MissingNo Therian: An Exploration in Identity, Labels, and the Fictotherian Experience

We've seen a few posts of people wanting more personal essays in the community, so I thought I would write this and crosspost it to Tumblr. -Rex

I am a MissingNo. My exact form is one that's been fluid throughout my life, with Kabutops and Aerodactyl fossil forms having preference, but occasionally switching to the Lavender Town Ghost. I identify as a Pokemon therian or Poketherian for my species - or fictotherian for a broad term. This identification is one which can confuse people - after all, therianthropy is more traditionally associated with animals, and I identify as Pokemon that isn't real. My species only exists in four games that are well over two decades old and is a failsafe the game spits out. Why should I identify as a therian? Despite how strange it can seem, I still prefer therian over other labels such as otherkin and fictionkin. My therian identity is deeply intertwined with my hyperempathy, created by a bias of my animality, comes from viewing a MissingNo as a type of animal, and from experiencing common therian traits.

Therian over otherkin, fictionkin, or fictive

Some may be saying "why don't you call yourself fictionkin?" or even "Isn't otherkin for mythical species, while therian is for earthen species?" To address the later point, there have been better written essays dispelling this. I would highly recommend Therian: Dispelling the Earthen Animal Myth by The River System for a well written and researched essay.

To address the former point, it is personal preference. I did use "otherkin" for years and still do identify as both otherkin and fictionkin, but the term "therian" is more in alignment to how I experience identity. I am an animal, I experience shifts, and I experience instincts.

I don't perceive MissingNo as sapient on the level of elves or some dragons. For me, being a MissingNo is also a "real" thing, as tangible as a dog, bird, or dragon. I don't consider myself glitchkin despite being a glitch, nor conceptkin. I am like the theriomythics who label themselves for being an animalstic gryphon or phoenix.

When it comes Fictionkin and fictive, to me they can be too focused on identifying yourself in the framework of being a character, which I'm not. I'm not a creepypasta character anymore than one of the Hypno species would be. I still do identify as fictional - I can comfortably identify as "fictherian" or my preference "fictotherian" (Which comes from "fictotype". I believe I started this term usage - since when I started using it, I could find no results to it, but I did use it in forum posts, Discord servers, and other methods).

Fictive falls under a similar problem - but with slightly more alienation. While the term is open to me, my identity history makes me feel out of place in a community of walk-ins and introjects when it was one that developed later in life.

How I became a MissingNo and the grip of hyperempathy

My identity as a MissingNo came later in life. I began existing in my system as a canine pup - which I know from behaviors and mannerisms that I later connected to me in the present, and genuinely expressing feeling like a dog as a child. Years later, I identified this species as a manned wolf.

Then at around the age of ten, my identity shifted to a glitch Pokemon. What at least contributed to it was developing a special interest in Glitch Pokemon around this time. This combined with our natural hyper-empathy and perhaps being conceptum to subconsciously alter my identity over time.

These interpretations can cause me to be out of place. While I still love glitch Pokemon and I am fascinated by them, I rarely find anyone who also has an intense interest and fascination while having this level of hyperempathy - even if I encounter others who have some alterhuman or even gender or sexuality connection to glitch Pokemon. Almost uncontrollably do I see glitch Pokemon as genuine Pokemon. I might grow attached to certain Pokemon in the way I would a pet.

The overall psychological influence means that this identity comes down to personal interpretations and personification. I'm not a natural animal and you cannot read about me in a textbook or find any bits of lore within the games, but rather, I am an animal that came from the mind of a mentally ill person.

MissingNo the animal

What defines "animal" varies. Humans are biologically animals and primates, but not all humans identify with those terms, with some taking offense to it. To someone with hyperempathy, a stuffed animal may be as much of an animal as a living one, or even a car might be a type of animal to certain minds. This connection is what makes me feel a MissingNo can be a type of animal.

Additionally, Pokemon are their world's equivalent of animals, and this is how most of my system views Pokemon due to one of our deepest parallel life connections being a humanlike Mewtwo. This sentiment is also one I've seen many Poketherians have. In the world of our origin, we are animals. For another essay on a similar experience, I'd highly recommend "The Fire Burns Bright" by Jasper, an Alolan Marrowak therian.

Within the contexts of the games and many interpretations - including my own - MissingNo is also a bird. It is one of few Pokemon which use this glitch beta typing. Being a bird can be equally as much a part of it and I'd consider birds as a paralleltype and one where I may confidently call myself a bird. Albeit a very odd bird.

The wolf and animal bias in my core

In addition to the bird of the MissingNo, the manned wolf at my heart is still important to my identity. It's in between otherhearted and therian on a sliding scale, and I identify it more as manned wolf-hearted for convenience, but it's closer to "kinth". I don't know why I am or was a manned wolf, but it doesn't quite matter to me either way. What matters is that there is the manned wolf.

To me it feels as if despite my core being or "soul", my mind became a MissingNo while the core remained the same. To my soul, a MissingNo is a type of dog. Then, to my mind, a manned wolf is a type of Pokemon. Both of these identities came about and exist in harmony rather than opposition.

Another comparison that the heart and soul makes is being "feral". Glitch entities in video games to me are almost like an animal which can't be domesticated. They may act fine, but every so often you'll encounter something that reminds you that at their core, they're wild. MissingNo still scrambles sprites and Hall of Fame data - and you can't have a "normal" experience with it. MissingNo is to Pokemon as a wolf is to a dog.

The instincts that made me tear apart playsets when playing house pretending to be a dog are still present in the instincts that make me want to tear apart meat when I eat it.

The Experience of a MissingNo Animal

I fit into many traditional therianthropy experiences and unto a hybrid canine/avian experience - just perhaps with more twists towards the bizarre.

I am a contherian when it comes to mental shifting and almost always feeling like an animal. However, I do experience phantom shifts. I get the sensations of skeletal fangs, claws, and a body that's far heavier and taller than my tiny, human form. Though the bizarre comes when during these shifts, I don't feel like I have skin and much of my body feels transparent, I feel like I should be able to stick my hand through my lower jaw.

I feel the sense of freedom and flight when I ride a bike downhill. For a few minutes when I bike, I can imagine myself flying. I sit in rivers and ponds among the wading birds feeling like I belong. I treat the chicks and chickens we raise like a part of my flock.

I still want to hunt. Sometimes I need to fight my instincts to recognize chicks as flockmates and not food. I like to eat wildly and I like to taste blood and fat in my food. When I eat, I feel like like the blood should dribble through my skinless jaw bone. Skeletal claws should be typing this essay instead of fleshy human fingers.

Conclusion

I am an animal, and despite doubts, I am a therian.

This label fits my experiences better than the alternatives. I don't feel as much alienation or out of place compared to other communities even though my species isn't an "animal" in the traditional sense. Hyperempathy has created this experience for me in that I feel more comfortable saying I am an animal than I am from fiction.

My center being is animal and always has been, it's just how its presented through my life has shifted. The animal instincts have only developed as my species has.

It is my hope that more unusual therians might come forth and be encouraged to examine their experiences - and for both earthen therians and potential theriomythics or fictotherians to explore what exactly "animal" means to them. I want others to also examine where their mind's biases may lead them, how that can impact their identity, and use it to feel more at peace in what the heart wants.

[houseofchimeras]

Hello! I cannot for the life of me remember if it was you who argued that Dionysius was a dog alterhuman, so my question is if that was the case?

Either way thank you for taking the time to read this. =]

*Asker sent this ask fixing a typo:

DIOGENES! I MEANT DIOGENES!

We did include Diogenes in our document, A Timeline of People with Alterhuman Experiences & Related Subjects, though I wouldn't go so far as to argue that he was alterhuman. The document's purpose is to showcase persons or beliefs that have existed outside the alterhuman communities that yet feel reminiscent to what we call alterhumanity day. The document this information is in is currently under a rework as we've been doing research into the methodology and ethics around looking back into history to find examples of people who seem to fit modern day labels that relate to identity. As far as Diogenes, we're also looking into more/better references that go into his life. As the document exists as of yet most of our sources come from the book, Diogenes The Cynic the War Against the World by Luis F. Narvia. The current text we have regarding Diogenes is this:

323 BCE to 404 BCE: Diogenes was born in Sinope. Diogenes was a philosopher from Greece. He was one of the founders of Ancient Greek Cynicism and Cynic philosophy. One of Diogenes’s most famous traits that is referenced throughout the many accounts of him, is that he personally referred to himself as or described himself as a dog and there are just as many accounts of him exhibiting dog-like behaviors or thinking from the perspective of a dog. He is also on record many times likening himself to a dog or even stating for others to call him so. When introducing himself he would call himself, translated into English as, “Diogenes The Dog” but he has also become known to be called “Diogenes The Cynic” as the word “cynic” itself means “dog” or “dog-like” in Ancient Greek. Thus, his name, completely translated into English literally meant “‘a man from God who acted like a dog’” Throughout much of Diogenes’s life he was referred to as simply “The Cynic” or “The Dog.”  [1]

Many points of Diogenes’s life were written down by other phosphors and many of the most well-known accounts include Diogenes pointing out his dog-like nature or his preference toward dogs over humans. For example, it is recorded that upon Alexander the Great meeting and introducing himself to Diogenes by stating “I am Alexander the great king,” Diogenes simply stated, “I am Diogenes the Dog.” In another account, once, Polyxenus became angry upon hearing people openly refer to Diogenes as a dog; however, Diogenes simply said to him: “‘You, too, Polyxenus, can call me a dog. To me, ‘Diogenes’ is only a name that was given to me. In truth, I am really a dog, a dog of high breed, one of those that keep watch over their friends.’” There are also many accounts of him behaving in dog-like ways: he rejected and questioned customs and societal norms, he would bark (sarcastically or otherwise) at people, and so on.[2] He is also famous for living out of a tub on the streets as well as regularly eating raw meat. As a final example, Diogenes also apparently supported the idea primitivism and the idea of humans transforming into animals, especially into dogs. [3]

The philosophy of cynicism bares its name thanks to Diogenes. As the word “cynic” in Ancient Greek means “dog” Thus, Diogenes The Dog and Diogenes The Cynic are the same name. Also, in many accounts of Diogenes he was simply referred to as “The Dog” and thus he was also called “The Cynic.” Thus, the ways of thinking Diogenes helped to found, which viewed animals as being better models of life and behavior while viewing the ways of men poorly, became tied with being “a Cynic” and thus cynicism. [4]

Diogenes was not alone in his classical cynicism. There was apparently a group called the Pasupatas, who were, as described in the book, Diogenes The Cynic the War Against the World, a “strange group of people who since times immemorial found themselves attracted to dogs and to a doglike life. They had become apparently so divorced from their human context that, instead of speaking like human beings, they would bark among themselves and at other people, seeking to imitate the behavior of dogs in whatever they did. […] The Pasupatas displayed in their doglike behavior the exhibitionism and primitivism associated with Diogenes.” [5]

[1] Navia, Luis E.. Diogenes The Cynic the War Against the World. Amherst: Humanity Books, 2005, page 7-9.

[2] Navia, Luis E.. Diogenes The Cynic the War Against the World. Amherst: Humanity Books, 2005, page 62-65.

[3] Navia, Luis E.. Diogenes The Cynic the War Against the World. Amherst: Humanity Books, 2005, page 166.

[4] Navia, Luis E.. Diogenes The Cynic the War Against the World. Amherst: Humanity Books, 2005, page 9-11.

[5] Navia, Luis E.. Diogenes The Cynic the War Against the World. Amherst: Humanity Books, 2005, page 103-104.

~ Ocean Watcher (he/they)

[houseofchimeras]

Hey, sorry if I sound dumb but what is a bestialist?

A bestialist is someone who commits bestiality. So, a person who has sexual relations with nonhuman animals.

[houseofchimeras]

I'm really sorry if this question is a bit of an overstep, but I'm genuinely curious!

You've been around in the Alterhuman community for so long, and you're such a prevalent name as well! How did you (and other Alterhuman folk, like Page and Orion) end up being such big names in the community? And since you guys have been around for so long, do you have any advice you'd like to pass along?

Again, really sorry if this seems pushy, but curiosity killed the cat, y'know?

I hope you have a great day!

Your question isn’t overstepping at all! (So sorry for the delayed answer, offline life has been busy and seasonal depression has left our "writing energy" a bit low for now.)

To the question on how we became “big names in the community,” our system honestly has a hard time understanding it ourselves. To be fair, our system suffers from some serious chronic Imposture Syndrome and self-esteem issues from trauma from childhood echoing mean stuff said about ourselves long ago, plus we’re just overall kind of social anxious creatures, (all while simultaneously desperately wanting validation and the idea that we’re ‘liked’ by people.) Because of all that, internalizing that people like us, let alone look up to us in the community has never been something we have been able to do. We seem to be psychologically incapable of feeling about ourselves and our work half as highly as others view us and our work. We always see ourselves as just “some guys,” in our own eyes.

We just… like writing. We have a lot of special interests and one of them revolves around the history of the communities we are a part of, and we have a lot of tendencies towards hoarding links and copies of materials relevant to these communities. So out of these two things we’ve ended up becoming a community historian and archivist of sorts. Our academic background in history (and to a lesser extent anthropology and library science) certainly has helped us develop skills towards these projects of ours.

And sometimes people like what we write, I guess. We’re always just flattered and happy people like things we have made or done.

As for advice,

A lot of our advice on community engagement is echoed in  Page and Orion’s “YOU ARE NOT A MUSEUM PIECE: Putting Yourself Out There in the Alterhuman Community” 2023 Othercon panel. Our partners, @who-is-page and @frameacloud explain dozens of things there 100 times better than we ever could on that matter.

Other than that -

- Be kind; not just to others but to yourself as well. - Create stuff you want to see made in the community and things you enjoy making, first and foremost. - Every project ever, no matter how large or small, has all started out as nothing but a blank page. Try to not see it as intimidating and instead see it as a blank canvas of endless possibilities.

We hope that answered your questions, and may you have a great day as well. - Earth Listener (she/her/hers)

[houseofchimeras]

Dragons are extraordinarily good mimics, escaping human predation by disguising themselves as common airliners, some even going so far as to sport crude copies of carrier logos. This makes them difficult to track, though most sources agree that the dragon population is critically endangered.

While there has been some success with halting large-scale dragon hunting, conservationists are still concerned about a recent spate of crashes in otherwise healthy adults.

Given that dragons communicate via radio signals and that most crashes occur near military radar stations, it is theorized that the radar may be disorienting the dragons. Investigations are still ongoing.

[houseofchimeras]

Our collective name, House of Chimeras was chosen for a lot of symbolism reasons.

We liked how the Greek Chimera was made up of multiple different animals and yet they all existed together as one despite their differences. Something we really related to both as a plural system made up of nonhumans and as just a bunch of nonhumans trying to exist with a human body.

The house part is fairly straightforward. We wanted to put forward the ideal of our body being like a house. We live together regardless of everything else.

So our name starting out was a big, symbolic verbal reminder to ourselves as what we were striving for together.

The chimera has gained a lot more symbol sense that time all those years ago, but starting out that is why we named ourselves House of Chimeras.

something that astounds me /pos is how every system i see on here has such aesthetic cool names for their systems. i’d love to hear any stories of how your systems got their collective names :3

(tags are for reach)

[houseofchimeras]

For Black Friday, itch.io says, "We're not taking our cut of all sales today." Get what's been on your wishlist there and support your favorite independent creators! I'm not selling anything on there, but I'll highlight what I found there. See these collections of alterhuman and related works by various creators:

Therianthropes, otherkin, and other alterhuman nonhumans. 33 items. Solo journaling games, personal zines, Twine games, a novel, self care tips for animal people, and a couple of big indie computer games.

Plurality. 60 items. Computer games, comics, community history research, advice for plural systems, personal stories, and more.

Fictionfolk and experiences of fictionality. 6 items. Most are in also the other two collections, plus another zine and a Bitsy game.

If you know other creations on itch.io that I missed and should be in any of these collections, or if I put something in these collections that shouldn't be there, please let me know in a reply or reblog.

[houseofchimeras]

I would like to put down my argument that Vlad is wearing eyeliner, and this is not just tired eyes/eye-bags. This doesn't negate that he might have dark under-eyes as well, but this is definitely eyeliner.

Exhibit A:

The line around Vlad's eyes are thick and solid black.

We know for a fact that they can and will animate dark under-eyes, as we see with Danny in Control Freaks here:

See! That's not eyeliner, that is the tired eyes look. This is shading, rather than a thick solid line.

Freakshow clearly has eyeliner, and this is not a leap of judgment, seeing as he is explicitly goth.

So when you compare Freakshow's obviously meant to be eyeliner, and look at Vlad, it is very clear that he's wearing eyeliner.

Now his isn't as thick as Freakshow's and the thickness depends on the frame, but it's clearly thicker than other adult characters. See Maddie in this same scene:

So there. This is my submission. Vlad is an edgelord and he's wearing eyeliner and we love that for him.

[houseofchimeras]

What words or phrases become curse words within our system is never not funny to us. Because so often the words used as curses and insults have a notable nonhuman flavor. (Like Sky Singer's "pinfeathers!" is a notable one that comes to mind.)

Just a bit ago, Earth Listener, rather than calling a company "a leach," like a normal person, called Youtube "ticks." (We were ranting amongst ourselves about Youtube's adblocker stuff.) Oh my gosh, EL, in her little wolfy brain clambering for a word meaning a bloodsucking creature, barked out "Ticks!" of all things. We're still laughing about it. - Damian (he/him)

[houseofchimeras]

Documentary: look at all these cool mammals

>Goes outside

>sees a dozen types birds

>sees some fish

>sees about a bajillion different bugs

>only mammals i see are other humans and their dogs

Easiest way to realize mammal bias might be a thing is literally just to go outside

[houseofchimeras]

Deinonychus Takedown for animation practice

[houseofchimeras]

So... have the anti-endos pushing the idea that dissociative experiences in spiritual practices require different "brain structures" just... never interacted with pagan communities???

I mean, these communities have a pretty big presence online and possession states, spirit channeling and similar practices are extremely common in them, and can reportedly be achieved by some relatively new practitioners.

So I'm just wondering if they think these experiences are completely made up since the converts don't have the proper "brain structures" or if they think those have to be some sort of mental illness. It's got to be one of the two as hard as they're trying to erase the religious/cultural exemption in the DSM for anyone who isn't raised into a culture.

This type of rhetoric seems designed to not only hurt plural systems, but also spirit channelers and other practitioners who are already heavily stigmatized by society and branded as faking or mentally ill because of their spiritual beliefs and practices.