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New flag for otherlinkers! (Not forcing to use!)

Loverlink;

Term to describe someone who chose to identify as a certain animal or thing with the intention of having something in common with a partner or to feel closer to their partner.

Chose to either identify as something your partner already has or can be a chosen identity between both of you that may symbolise something meaningful.

Loverlink is a chosen identity under the “otherlink” umbrella.

Flag:

Black symbol: otherkin/Alterhuman symbol

Heart links: to indicate it’s a link because of a love.

Pinks: common colour of love, for crushes.

Purples: soft tones for love & also commonly a valentines colour (red looked really bad), and symbolises partners, a deeper bond.

White: common ground, symbolism of wanting to be like someone admired.

This is used for romantic love.

This label can be used for any identity and is not exclusive to animals, it can be objects, concepts, songs etc.

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What I've Been Saying!

I know there was discourse a while back about p-shifters and "why don't they call themselves delusional" and "is the idea of p-shifting itself harmful" and the like. A new paper came out by Dr. Jan Dirk Blom (a clinical lycanthropy expert, he's talked about otherkin before) about clinical therianthropy and a comparison to non-clinical therianthropic and otherkin groups. What he's saying seems fairly relevant to the current discourse:

"Misdiagnosis of clinical therianthropy can also be made in terms of overpathologizing certain individuals who report strong identification with animals. In order to avoid this possibility, certain terms and group memberships will be discussed. However, in reviewing the professional and online literatures, there seems to be an unavoidable degree of fuzziness or overlap in current definitions (Plante et al., 2016) and, at least at present, a definitive definitional guide seems lacking."

"Another relevant group, already alluded to, is called therians. Therians overlap with furries to a degree, but the identification of these people with animals (or rather as animals) seems to be far stronger. This could range from a strong perceived connection to their fursona to a firmly held conviction that they are less than 100 % human or would even prefer not to be human (Grivell, 2014). Reviewing the literature, people may identify themselves as therians on psychological, behavioral, spiritual, metaphorical, or existential grounds (Scribner, 2012)."

"We would argue that misdiagnoses can be avoided by focusing on i) the nature of the animal identification, ii) the presence or absence of a belief in actual transformation, iii) one’s overall level of reality-testing, and iv) the presence of clinically significant distress and impairment."

"The notion of zoomorphism has such a long and impressive track record in the history of humankind that it is probably safe to say that it has always been around. It has been part and parcel of many cultures, and individuals may have felt attracted to the belief that human-to-animal transformations are possible under the influence of psychological, social, religious, philosophical, chemical, and cultural influences."

"That the number of published cases of clinical therianthropy is so modest is probably due to underdiagnosis, but it may also indicate that zoomorphism in its numerous different forms is a harmless trait that only leads to excesses in relatively rare cases where people feel misunderstood, become socially isolated, and start showing grossly erratic behavior."

"First, and consistent with prior reports, clinical therianthropy rarely occurs on its own, but far more frequently in the context of other serious psychiatric or somatic conditions and occasionally intoxications. It may therefore be a useful additional diagnosis or diagnostic qualifier with no assumption of it becoming a ‘standalone’ diagnosis. Second, we advise against applying this additional diagnosis or qualifier to nonclinical cases (i.e., to situations where people fulfill one or more criteria of zoomorphism in the absence of clinically significant distress or impairment in social, occupational, or other important areas of functioning). We thus hope to prevent a spurious epidemic of nonclinical or ‘minor’ cases of therianthropy, as well as to protect people who enjoy their perceived non-human animal characteristics - or perhaps simply tolerate them - from seeing their ideas and sensations being pathologized."

(bolding mine)

He also went into some interesting questions regarding clinical therianthropy (like if a person claims to turn into a mythical creature, are they still a clinical therianthrope? Probably not) as well as the -anthrope names for some common and uncommon animal transformations.

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how many times does it have to be said?

plural is an explicitly pro endo term, coined by endogenic systems to be a word explicitly for endogenics and pro endos. do not use the word plural or the plural tags if you are anti endo. use multiple instead.

still cannot believe you have the audacity to say we invade your spaces and steal your terminology, and then turn around and use our own word, made because you were whining about us filling your space.

i repeat: if you are anti endo, do not use the word plural or the plural tags.

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Let's not go so far one way we loop around

People under the age of 15 can be Therians

You can be a Therian and like and post about gear

You can be connected to your Theriotype

You can be a Therian and do quads

I understand being upset that Therianthropy is looked at by some both in and out the community as just gear, quads, and a simple connection but don't live long enough to be the villain.

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I love that I am currently able to express my species cultures and traditions when it comes to courting rn. The individual I am courting totally goes through all the courting phases with me before we agree on a relationship and I love it.

I'm a bird, he's a bird. We're courting. like birds.

↓ me btw

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"woah this post looks creepy who would like this??"

it's not for you

"this art piece makes no sense and is so ugly"

it's not for you

"this post is so weird I have never thought like that?"

it's not for you

"what they identify as an animal? no one does that?"

it's not for you

the world doesn't revolve around you

neither does the internet.

we exist, cringe culture is dead, fuck normality

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°•★ Nari's Nest discord server ★•°

This server is a safeplace everyone, centering the topics of alterhumanity and plurality.

★ safe for all identities ★

We do not discriminate against any identity, including non traumagenic systems and any Alterhuman identity.

This extends to physical Therianthropy, and other controversial identities.

This server is friendly for all ages. SFW and 13+

★ Alterhuman centric ★

The main theme of the server is Alterhumanity, therefore all non human identities.

We have 100+ theriotype and otherkin roles for that reason and are very open to create new ones, just for you!

★ Bots ★

- plural kit & tupper box for systems.

- Arcade for leveling roles.

- Appy for a secure verification system to keep out trolls.

★ Activities ★

We try to hold regular events such as art and writing contests.

We have fun activities like Question of the day and animal of the day.

We have an advertising channel, so you can promote your own projects and ideas

★ Research ★

We currently have a growing section for research on Alterhumanity and plurality. This includes a dictionary of over 100 terms.

We are doing our best to keep this server a friendly, welcoming and non toxic environment!

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I post on Tiktok, and the "Tiktok Therian" stereotype has gotten better there.

But Instagram? That place is a hellhole. They're arguing with me over the basics. That I am excluding therians (read: Otherhearted individuals) from the word Therian by saying it's an identity, and not a spiritual connection

...

By saying.

The definition

Of the word

"Therianthropy"

...

I might just stop posting there overall. It's really getting annoying atp.

The YouTube shorts community is the kindest. I love my few YouTube subscribers.

Sorry for the rant

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vest update

there's a few patches that I've temporarily removed to make room for the blue jay piece i added, but I'll probably reattach those to the back

here's a close up of the blue jay, which i made out of clothing scraps and embroidery thread

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Ok beings of Tumblr! After many interactions with the r/Therian mod team and interactions with you all I have decided 5o make my own reddit community!

Come on over to r/physicalalterhuman if you would like to be around other PAI creatures. I have flairs and rules below. Please lmk if there's things I'm forgetting. I'm making this at 8am XD

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Nah fuck this I'm making an actual post abt this bc my mutuals have posted venting abt this type of shit at least once a week for like months

CANINES OF THERIANBLR. TAG YOUR FUCKING PREY DRIVE POSTS. Prey 'types do not want to constantly see images and text posts abt our species being mauled brutally and eaten. That shit is distressing and not fucking cool

I don't care if you talk about your prey drive, BUT FOR FUCKS SAKE, *TAG IT PROPERLY*

"Tw prey drive," "cw prey drive," or "prey drive" are ALL appropriate things you can tag your posts with. ALSO, if you're going to post images of REAL PREY ANIMALS BEING EATEN AND/OR KILLED BY PREDATORS, FUCKING TAG THAT SHIT AS GORE OR NSFL

I can't stop anyone from posting abt their prey drive, and I don't WANT to, but not all of us wanna see that shit, ESP about our 'types specifically

Signed, a caninekin who ALSO has 'types of the three most commonly posted about prey animals who is SICK AND TIRED of my mutuals seeing literal animal gore in these tags

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Art fight 2025! I'm a beginner artist, but I would love to have some other Alterhumans to attack! ← non Alterhumans also welcome

Drop the link to your profile :)

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This will probably be my last post on semantics for a while, since I want to focus on other things, but I know a lot of people really dislike “otherkin” being an umbrella term and want something else, so a while back I wrote up this little idea. Please note to take it with a grain of salt and, if you don’t like it, please feel free not to consider yourself part of it. This is simply a suggestion based on common complaints I have seen in various communities - it is in no way absolutely flawless. In general, do what makes you comfortable - if this isn’t something that makes you comfortable, don’t feel that you have to use it!

Alter-human/Alternative Humanity Personal Identity “AHPI”

A category of personal identity which encompasses identification that is alternative to the common societal idea of humanity.

For the sake of this categorization, the “common societal idea of humanity” is classified as such:

The common human identity involves:

-Identification with the body in the sense that the body is part of the self, unrelated to a sense of gender or any form of personal expression; at the basest level, a common human identity is an identification with the mechanical human form, bodily function, etc - feeling correct in a human body, the one given to the self at birth, when gender, race, and societal concepts are removed; not feeling that the body is not one’s own. (Simple/Example: A transgender person is not/may not be AHPI because they still consider themselves human, and still consider the body to be theirs - just incorrect. Of course, transgender people may be AHPI, but being trans is not an AHPI identification, unless the gender of said trans person directly correlates to a nonhuman concept of gender.)

-Identification involving a singular persona within a body present from birth and which has not differentiated from the original-born persona which is attached to the body. (Simple/Example: A multiple system would be AHPI due to multiple persons existing in one body. A walk-in (which occurred after birth, or by their own identification this way) is also AHPI as they are not the “original.” A median who experiences their multiplicity as facets of self or other similar but still non-singular sense would be AHPI.)

-Identification as a human with no supernatural personal basis BY SAID PERSON’S OWN DISCRETION. (Simple/Example: A person who identifies as human and as their born persona in this life but who has an identity involving past lives may be considered AHPI if they so decide their experiences dictate as such. A person who believes themselves to be human in this life but spiritually angelic would be considered AHPI, assuming they identify as their angelic spirituality and not as a human. Some religions and spiritualities might include reincarnation but those who follow said spiritualities may not feel they fit in this category.)

-Identify as human regardless of personal subculture. (Simple/Example: A furry would be human if they consider themselves to be, but a furry who identifies as a furry more than anything else may be AHPI due to identification as a member of said subculture as part of one’s overall personal identity.)

AHPI identities may include, as per personal discretion: -Therian, phytanthrope, otherkin, and fictionkin identities -Multiple, plural, median, and walk-in identities -Spiritual self-identities which may still include degrees of humanity such as angelics, celestials, starseeds, god shards, reincarnated gods, vampires, etc -Identities involving shared self-identification with nonhuman or other alternative human entities/concepts such as animal-hearted, godspouse, soulbond, and spiritual medium identities -Identities of alternative humanity through disassociation, trauma response, or non-neurotypical mental status

Of course, all of these may either agree with or deny identification as AHPI, depending on personal discretion. Don’t feel a need to subscribe to any one label just because it exists. Do what makes you feel good!

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I have made something to point at and say "literally me".

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New sticker idea Ive been playing around with, not sure how I feel about it

(Left: therian, right: transspecies)

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Reblog if you're not human.

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Make the Therian community positive again.

complaining about haters does not help, leaving positive comments everywhere does. join me in my mission 🐾