#berserker shift

[interstellarsystem]

Berserker/Absolute Shifts and Plurality

We've been seeing talk about berserker shifts on here lately and it's got us thinking. For those who don't know--berserker shifts are, in a way, a type of mental shift where you feel so much like your identitype that your mindset is entirely changed into theirs and your regular human brain rationale has been changed to match. We prefer "absolute" instead of "berserker" so we'll use that for the rest of this post.

Anyway, it's mainly used in older therian and otherkin spaces (with some criticism that's not relevant to this post)... but we've seen fictionfolk describe their experiences with that whole mindset shift as well recently, which wasn't something we thought about being a possibility before now.

Which led us to thinking... Is this a thing headmates like fictives and extranths get? I mean, if it's experienced at least once then it's a thing that can happen of course, so yes! But it's not really talked about from what we see--especially not in those terms. It's a vulnerable state to be in so it'd be understandable why it's rare to find talk of... But in our experience, it absolutely happens! It feels almost in the same sort of way that an emotional flashback might, with some added intensity and usually less traumatic origins. Maybe that's what other plurals use, if they even have a word for it?

Sometimes--though not often--we wake up in the morning and get completely disoriented because we feel like we're not where we're meant to be and our body is wrong, in a way deeper than regular dysphoria. A fictive will wake up in the front and for a little while, feel completely as if they were in their source and get very confused as to whose house they're in and why they're wearing the clothes they are. How did they get here? Where's their family? Their friends or partner(s)? Maybe they'll freak out that our body is different and wonder what happened to it, maybe they'll get up and move to get ready for work before realising that's not a thing we do. It happens in different ways but I think we would call those absolute shifts now that we've thought about it. More animalistic headmates of ours have had similar stuff on occasion but they're much more rare so we can't really speak too heavily on those.

It's most common when we just wake up but it happens at other times too. Shrapnel for example has had what he calls "memory flashbacks" where he'll remember a tiny bit about his life as Bakugo Katsuki, then for a few seconds after, he just feels like he's 100% his fictive identity and gets a bit concerned as to why he doesn't recognise his surroundings. He snaps out of it pretty quick but he's our main example and guy who experiences them.

We've known that shifting is not an exclusive thing to otherkin for ages. I mean hell, we see fictives and fictionkin as basically the same thing aside from origin (in most cases) and extranths and otherkin get the same sort of thing in our mind too. We don't see a huge reason to draw a big divide between them for us. And we know our headmates get phantom shifts and mental shifts of their identities all the time... But I guess we just never thought to attribute those flashback states to what is essentially an absolute shift.

We didn't really think we ever experienced one of those shifts until we leaned that yes, fictionfolk can get them and those things do pretty much count. Interesting to think about, and interesting to wonder if there's any other plurals out there who can relate.

[lamitails]

Had a hell of a shift today. Not the fun kind—the kind where stress grabs you by the throat and drags you deep into instinct.

Everything built up too much, too fast. Too many noises, too many demands, too much everything. My body decided it had enough before my mind could even catch up. Next thing I knew, I was yelling, fists pounding against my chest, tail lashing like it had a mind of its own. My breath was ragged, heart hammering like a war drum. Every muscle in me was ready to fight, to defend, to escape.

I wasn’t thinking in words—just raw, wild energy tearing through me. The kind of shift where the human world dissolves, and suddenly, I’m nothing but a Marsupilami. A cornered animal with no choice but to thrash, growl, make noise. Because noise means survival.

It took a while to come down. My body still aches, and my mind feels wrung out. But in a way, I get it. Stress pushes, and instinct pushes back. I just wish it didn’t have to explode out of me like that.

I know I’m not alone in this. If you’ve been through a shift like this—if the world ever squeezed you so tight you had no choice but to snap—I see you. We exist in a space where instinct and civilization clash, and sometimes, instinct wins.

Hope tomorrow’s calmer. Hope next time, I can catch myself before the shift takes over. But for now, I’m just breathing. Just existing. And that’s enough.

🌿💛

[werewlf-boy]

Just found out one of the terms I experience for shifts is called a feral shift! But unfortunate news.. Found out how many people hate it :(

[o-xurxur-o-sosoj]

I recently experienced the most intense somatic + mental shift Ive had in years.

Coincidentally I am now no longer going to be present at family functions where my younger sister-(not)-in-law is going to be, because I would catch some assault charges. :V

Shifts for me, especially when I was a preteen first awakening to them, were very intense and often triggered by people violating my boundaries or purposefully upsetting me. One time, when I was like 13, I remember being smacked really hard in the back during a play fight, blacking out in rage/pain, and coming back to, only to find i had done something to that friend who hit me and made her cry. She caught my teeth *hard* another time when she participated in holding me down and shoving grass up my nose.

And I got in-school suspension for biting a kid i knew so hard that he bruised multiple colors for a week or two -- he took something from a friend, held it up to taunt me, triggered my chase instinct, and then made me get creative to make him drop it- which always ends in teeth.

Therianthropy has always been a thing that I've had to mask and control in order to not get in trouble with humans around me. I have to hide it actively, not passively. And now I cant see my evil monster of a SIL because if I hear her talk about administering ABA "therapy" or being racist or sexist or ableist or whatever the fuck, I WILL attack her. This is like, advanced levels of bullshit she puts out, and Im no longer allowes to see her.

Because the last time I heard about her bullshit, I shifted, and my gaze changed, and my pupils actually narrowed to an absolute pinprick as I felt my vision tunnel and focus on my QPP telling me about his sister. He said I looked like an animal about to attack, and he felt afraid and not sure what to do. I *felt* like an animal about to attack. My body knew what to do when I heard something that made me feel like attacking someone, and narrowed my pupils to focus on my prey. It was kind of wild.

But uh. Yeah this is a thing, in case anyone else out there is struggling to feel seen in having similar shifts to mine. Ones that are about the hunt, the predatory drive, self defense, but all end in teeth and claws and sometimes severe consequences. Im not gonna glorify attacking people, but I will be frank about how often I have bitten people in response to being fucked with, or blacked out and hurt people bc they hurt me so bad the pain made me go berserk.

Shifts for me are often triggered by anger and self defense, come out in the form of me looking like an actual aggro'd predator animal, and are something I had to learn to control. Thats just how it is for some of us. This is why we need acceptance and support now, because animalfolk like us are gonna be the first on the chopping block, and are even stigmatized within our own communities. We're the ones who need the "coping with and control of therianthropy" resources the most, and those just dont seem to exist anymore? :(

[autumn-coins]

δ ⚠️ General feral shift flag ⚠️ δ 🍁This was made by me -> Use with credit, ask before reposting

🌕 A flag for those who experience any type of feral shift, whether that be feral shifts, berserker shifts, basercal shifts etc. So individuals, specifically alter/nonhumans who experience shifs where one acts more feral, have less/no control over themselves.

🍂 Flag colour meaning: Reds + orange = The external feralality and loss of control Blue = The inner sense of self, comfort and identity Jagged red line = The potential discomfort, harm and fear that feral shifts can induce/cause. 🍁 Symbol meaning: The lower case delta, symbolising the transformation and change between being "human" and feral. (Such as how it's used in the werelyth symbol or in @/angelfluffyp4ws 's shift flags on pinterest) 🐾🍄 Flag and banner ID in alt text ^ ^ 🦴 Note: If your feral shifts frequently and or they cause a lot of harm I'd reccomend reaching out to someone about it, though note *2, I am no medical proffesional and you of course do not have to. Also, yup me trying out a new post format, feedback appreciated :3 /nf

[petr1kov]

crazy to think how this was the happiest moment of griffith's life. literally everything was coming up griffith

[sk-yay-sk]

I don't like any of the maps I've seen for HTTYD so i'm playing a puzzle game w all the locations. This is the 3rd version so far

[shubbzebubs]

Category 5 hurricane barreling right at me AND period cramps???? Transfer that shit to Wyald

[vaathnaos]

Happy (late) eclipse day!

In Shifting Sands and also Linked Universe Time is heavily inspired by Guts! Even in canon the hero’s shade was probably inspired by the skullknight! So i just wanted to poke fun at that!

That Skullknight took me AGES to make.

I wanted to make some Berserk art for the eclipse! but a doodle turned into something else and now i’m late…

[daphrona]

The First Berserker: Khazan — Skalpel's coffin grab ⚰️

[beevean]

To be fair: Serpico and Farnese barely have any interactions even in Conviction. Most of their bond is presented during Serpico's flashback at the start of Millenium Falcon, and even then that's mostly through Serpico's pov

Really when you think about it their relationship is a bit one sided: it's Serpico who has a near admiration for Farnese, especially due to him knowing the truth about their parentage. But to Farnese Serpico has always just been her loyal servant. Past her trying to propose her love for him and escape together even Serpico notes that their relationship stayed as just a master/servant type. Farnese certainly cares about Serpico, given that he was the first person she's ever had any type of relationship with and has been with her since forever, and it can be seen when she was about to fall off the Church roof as she kept screaming his name while he was fighting the Kelpie ,but it doesn't seem like she harbors for him the same type of affection that he has for her

Case in point: you always see Serpico thinking about Farnese but never the other way around

They have certainly interacted more back then - I'm thinking of a scene where Farnese reminds Serpico that she and only she is his master, IIRC because he didn't want to blindly obey an order of hers.

But you're right that the story doesn't explore Farnese's feelings for Serpico after that rejected love confession. I can understand her acting coldly towards him when she's still leader of the Holy Iron Chain Knights, because she wants to pretend nothing happened between them because she is still in denial about her true emotions, but afterwards you'd think she'd reconsider him, even as a way to say "I don't see you as my servant anymore, but as my friend".

Serpico was, from what I have interpreted, the human equivalent of Farnese's blanket: a reliable source of safety, the one she has always desperately craved. But now, that source is Guts. And between her feelings for him and her focus on taking care of Casca, it does feel like Serpico has been pushed to the side, while Serpico is still unwaveringly loyal and cares for her both as his Lady and as his sister.

I don't mind the idea that he's more attached to her than the other way around, or even that she detached herself as a way to grow more independent, but it was a missed opportunity to develop them even more.

[that-dreaming-dragon]

Shifts

I want to talk about something I seen again and again, and I myself also have a hard time getting away from, language.

In specific, I’m talking about shifting terms and definitions.

A lot of the times, it’s basically kinshift.

“What’s wrong with kinshift?”

No no, nothing’s wrong. Just that it being strictly otherkin/fictionkin/therian shift is the issue—it’s too limiting and exclusive. Nothing wrong tacking on it being a kin/therio shift. But we are the alterhuman community. There are more than just identify-as shift.

There is the term cameo shift for anything not kinshift, but there is the implication of its impermanence. Perhaps it’s not that important a distinction, and people would be fine using it, but I find that shifting language should be automatically vague. “Getting closer or the fluctuation of one’s alterhuman state”. It’s a workshop item, I’m not good with exact wording of things.

Well, that’s a community discussion topic.

Let me talk a bit about my own experience, that’s easier to talk about.

I have a good number of shifts that I experiences. Not all of them I know the respective terminologies off the top of my head.

== Phantom Shift ==

I’m most constantly experiencing phantom shift, and can probably call it being perma shifted. Just fluctuate in intensity. It’s why I attempt to word a definition that covers this sort of situation where it isn’t “getting close to the state of being one’s ‘type from typical human” (that ending part regarding what to put as the “starting” state gave me a lot of pauses, because how can I cover human fictionfolk or orthohuman but otherhuman?) My type of shifting is not uncommon, with a baseline which one is already their alterhuman ‘type, and just the intensity that changes.

Anyways, phantom shift. I mostly feel my own wings, tail, body parts and what have you. The change comes from the shapeshifter shenanigan, which, amongst the shapeshifter of otherconnect discord, we talked about a possible couple of terms for basically a “shapeshifter’s changing form shift”. Shapeshifter shift is a mouthful.

Gosh I kept getting side tracked.

Beyond my kintype shift, I’d once felt a near full body phantom shift of my three-tailed enfield hearttype. And it’s a linktype born out of paratype feelings!! You know how excited I was? To feel something, to have a confirmation of its success (of the linking process), and to just get to feel something that is unusual in a way.

I don’t think I feel other sort of phantom shift. If I do, it’s so far too hard to tell with the amount of draconic type I have, as for the humanoids…

== Mental Shift ==

I don’t really get this as much anymore. Which, I think it is a good thing, because the times I feel closer to my Naruto hearttype is usually when I’m feeling close to the negative part of his situation—when he was a isolated boy, seen as a freak, maybe bullied by other kids, it’s fuzzy now, what is the exact scenario that would trigger this sort of empathetic mental shift. I think I prefer it that way. I don’t think I could ever embody the positive or even neutral part of Naruto himself, considering my hearttype is of a AU version. But hey, my alterhumanity likes to surprise me, I’ll be sure to yell about it if it happens.

Mental shift with my other ‘type are all rather vague. When am I not a creature? I flip on the dime depending on who I am with, so “mischivious chirpy creeture dragon thing” is a constant state of mind. I did have the beastly Berserk shift, though that needs me to be in a certain state, like a set of requirement has to be met first in order to let the Beast out (ha, the pun, Beast is my inner beast in a lot of ways, so the double entendre is very intentional). So far, rage is one, but not always since anger is a constant emotion I deal with. The other is lust, with good dose of dominant personality. I’m not sure if the Berserk shift caused the dominant nature or if it is the other way around.

I’m trying to recall if I get any mental shift from my kardiatype or our Aurelion Sol vaguetype, but with Sol, star is a unbound version instead of the hauty, self-sured, egoistical version within the game. I’m guessing my kardiatype would be a sort of wise, eldery guardian, caring and proper, sophisticate? I’d felt a little like that when I’m in my eastern tatsu form.

And yes, my personality can have shifts here and there depending on the form I’m in. A lot of the times, I can’t control how the form will influence me, sometimes I almost think it’s my personality shift that trigger the shapeshift shift (see what I meant about it being a mouthful?).

Feels like if I keep saying shift, it will start to lose meaning. Why are words so limiting? Maybe it’s a English thing too.

== Astral Shift ==

This is a weird one. I can never tell the line where it’s considered phantom and where it’s astral.

I think the one time I would more firmly categorize this is when I was doing a meditative session, and as I visualize, my “body” (possibly astral body) grew, and grew, and grew until I’m a two or three stories tall eastern dragon. From that point, I guessed that my eastern dragon form can grow indefinite in length. But now I think that can apply to any that’s not strict in form “condition”.

== Dream Shift ==

Save the best for last. Well, kinda. Since I plan to talk a little bit about my miscellaneous shifts that I don’t remember the term or don’t know how to categorize later.

Lucid dreaming, one of my favorite activity. Word contradiction aside, I have a lot of dream shifts. Frustratingly enough, I’ve only get to feel my orange fur and fluffy white wings like, twice, as far as I can recall. One was your typical european western form, another time is vague, but I know it happened. I will need to check back on my notes.

I’d jotted all of them down, the ones I can recall.

Here is where I will actually use cameo shift, and sort of ties into my whole grumpiness about shifts being always tied to one’s kin/theriotype. Because here, my cameo shifts are shift into things that are none of my alterhuman identitype.

I have become a sort of water spirit, humanoid and blue liquid body, circling around a low hanging new moon as if I’m enacting the Dream Work iconic opening.

I have shifted into a number of draconic creatures, once with cheek fins (that actually hurts when I touch them, inside a dream!!), once with pitch black scaled tail and batty wings (isn’t it bats?), once with ranbow scale down my body into a tail that has a tufted tail. I was a tiny dragon once, probably rivaling my fae dragon form, just a whisp of a whelpling. I also was a strange blue dragon, no scale, no fur, the skin texture almost leathery, and wings you’d seen more on Pixiv. Kind of sci-fi fantasy mixture but it’s fully organic. Alien.

I also had once took on a form of somewhat anthro, red scaled, webbed winged, and it felt like a fire-breathing dragoness, with breasts and all. I rarely call my dreams nightmare but that one, that was truly a nightmare scneario, I had echo of combo dysphoria both in species AND gender, that I hope to never feel like that again. Y’all that are that sort of dragon, you’re fine, but me? I can’t. That is everything I am not.

*Shivers*

I also have dream shifted into this hulking black mess of anti-matter, man-made dragon—dark, chaos, the sense of wrongness pervasive to my whole being. I think I looked a little like if ender dragon meet digimon. That was a level of bad only rivaled by the red scaled, webbed winged, and fire-breathing, anthro dragoness.

I think one of my favorite dream shifts though, is shifting into my kardiatype.

There is a sort of preciousness tied to that life, whenever I get to have a glimpse of it. Treasured and held dear. The plot of the dream wasn’t a happy one, edged with despair and desperation, but important nonetheless.

It was a small Japanese village, almost like a scene from a anime.

I was with my family and my partner, it was all joy and happiness. But then suddenly, there was panic.

The whole town had to escape and run towards the really high mountain where was this sacred temple of some sort at the top.

Running was too slow. Whatever was making everyone panic was too fast. Dark and all-encompassing, approaching fast, black fog at the edge of my vision. So I turn into a white serpetine dragon, white jade colored mane and tail fading out of existence, grabed my people and putting them on my back along the way, theb just start flying towards the mountain while having everyone else grabbing each other and climb on.

When we reach the mountain base and started flying up almost vertically, I saw the mountain wall depicting various scenaries and of strange rune of history and legend and myth. The answer was at the very top of the mountain when we reached it. But I can’t remember what was it.

Let’s not end this section with too big of a cliff-hanger that even I don’t know the ending to. Here is a list I keep on the sort of dragons I turn into within my dreams. I’m a little awed by the amount and variety myself.

List of Dragons I turned/dream shifted into

white colored jade maned eastern dragon (my past life/kardiatype)

small teal-blue colored chubby dragon

tiny wyrm dragon

tiny hatchling dragon

my core form (kintype)

my large formme (kintype)

human made pitch black mess of bio dragon

human form with water dragon scale tail and ear fins (touching the fins hurt for some reason)

human form with black scale bat wings and tail

human form with rainbow scale and black marking, furred tail with mane, two pairs of feathered wings

just ram horn on human form

(a photo of) me with red scales as anthro, webbed wings, feminine shaped (dysphoria)

Colossal size webbed wing dark colored body with beak like snout

bipedal spiky, webbed wing big scales large horn

chimeric sludge/goo hydra

Salamence shaped wings

White red pink hues scaled european. Spikey tail and spine, several spikey behind head

== Unknown and Vague Shift ==

I really like grey area terms or the idgaf terms, like vaguetype or quoiluntary, I also learn a term called quoiian. Not sure if I will use that one yet since I’m pretty happy with the ones I have.

There are the possibility of shifts I don’t know how to categorize because of their vagueness. But I definitely felt some that I can’t easily put them into one of the other ones I can give name to.

Things that are maybe sensory shift, how do people even capture them in the first place? And do you categorize them as the ‘tism? Hypersensory. Aura shift seems confusing, and potentially the same blurriness that maybe-astral shift provides. I can’t be sure if I’d ever gotten envisage or shadow shift, but in the back of my mind, I know to put a pin on them.

So with all that, we could perhaps talk about shift not just as a kin/therian sort of thing. I have seen many ask of “can I have [non-kin/theriotype] shift?” enough that I just want to scream “YES”. Because you absolutely can, and the term definition can use a slight update to reflect that inclusion. If not a community wide acknowledgement at the very least.

[butcherships]

Prime Asset and Ex-pop ocs/self inserts are soo cool but in my heart I know I'm a paranoid prey animal being hunted for sport which is why I'm a reagent. And that aside it's good for my enrichment to experience the horrors

[earthtoizzy-whereuat]

Introduction:ig, I just started up my profile, thts why I got no posts lol.

Stuff im into:Berserk, Astral projection, shifting, Twd, Spiritually, religion, fnaf,creepy pasta, parallel universes, history, Cyberpunk like future, dystopian stuff, dark fantasy, Apocalyptic type shyt.

I have no DNI list. Idgaf what u like and what u don’t, if u want to interact, interact. Just don’t be racist or homophobic.

Abt me: I’m a minor, I’m black, cis-female, I’m straight but I do find women attractive

[pandaemoanium]

some guy just came in, chugged 5 glasses of water back to back like they were shots with a loud af "ahhhhhh 🤤" inbetween each drink AND THEN HE JUST PUT THE GLASS BACK IN WITH THE CLEAN ONES??????????????

[epickiya722]

Some villain mocking Miruko by calling her "cute and tiny" would be her berserk button, but she doesn't get like loud angry. She's just quiet for a while and goes "you think it's funny, but I'm literally at the perfect height to take your kneecaps, headbutt you in the stomach and because I'm small, I'm also harder for you to catch me. So, yeah keep laughing and taunting me and maybe I'll take your ankles, too".