#chimera theriomythic

[tiredarts-alterhuman]

TAIL!!

[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.

[liongoatsnake]

Website Update

“Symbols Found In The Alterhuman & Related Communities” – Our most recently created alterhuman related article. This 22-page document lists some (and information about each of them) of the symbols created throughout the history of alterhuman communities.

Can be found at: https://drive.google.com/file/d/19UJKlWZH-fZ8l7FuD9RYUUkHqnEFJggN/view?usp=sharing

  “From the Blue Fleet” by Ocean Watcher – A 25-page about Ocean Watcher’s experiences as  a frilled shark & blue sea slug polytherian and Tetsu Hayami fictionkin (from the anime, Blue Submarine No. 6).

Can be found at: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1UX2crVYAqYuzpLjlk5fYNy5UagicVtkv/view?usp=sharing

  “Iridescent Green Feathers and Scales” by Quatz – A 12-page personal essay by Quatz explaining a bit about being an emerald tree boa & resplendent quetzal polytherian (and thereby how being a polytherian leads him to also be an amphithere theriomythic). 

Can be found at: https://drive.google.com/file/d/18DwsVv3RYXJ5MMQQXqMWS5YDV_WmcG_A/view?usp=share_link

 (These and more are found linked on our website, The Chimeras Library, at https://houseofchimeras.neocities.org )

[sanctifiedmind]

Hello, and welcome to Chimera's alterhuman sideblog! Non-alterhuman folk are welcome to follow, just please be respectful.

Some info, as well as my identities:

22 years old

It/Its pronouns exclusively - My sonas all use he/they/it though.

This is a sideblog! All follows come from my main, @chimerabytes

My alterhuman identities:

Nonhuman

Transspecies (Click this to read about what it means - it is NOT r*dqueer!)

Therian ; Rabbit, Irish Cob, Feline (majorly clouded leopard, some house cat), Dragon theriomythic

Fictionkin ; Soundwave (Transformers - mainly WFC / Aligned universe), Jinx (Arcane / League of Legends), Moondancer, Trixie, and Fluttershy (My Little Pony)

Miscellaneous ; Chimerakin, Fox Otherhearted

I am not interested in kin dating or forming / joining packs. I am 100% OK with "doubles" of my fictionkin identities following me.

[tiredarts-alterhuman]

I got a new belt with cool silver inlays and it matches my collar ::D

I also made this pin out of an old bottle cap I found lying around in my hoard

[tiredarts-alterhuman]

can’t tell if chimera or manticore

on one hand, I like the term chimera. A hybrid of many things- a trans guy, intersex, therian… plus chimeras are a lot less niche than a manticore

on the other hand, the traits I feel line up more with a manticore. I don’t have extra heads or a snake/scorpion tail. I’m just really spiky and fluffy. I do have wings tho, but both of them do too

one point against both is that I’m dragon and wolf/dog/coyote-like, not a lion

Maybe I’m just some weird hybrid thing (Which could be a chimera anyways). Results inconclusive lol

[tiredarts-alterhuman]

Some work doodles

[tiredarts-alterhuman]

I know I’ve posted these on my main art blog, but I figured it’d be best to have my design on this blog as well

Not a chimera in the bat-dragon-goat-lion sense, but in the “hybrid of animals” sense

[tiredarts-alterhuman]

brain: thinks abt my partners

tail: wagging so hard my back starts to hurt a little

[tiredarts-alterhuman]

super fluffy paw half-gloves

I can sleep with these on and it gives so much vessel euphoria

[tiredarts-alterhuman]

really euphoric rn

I’m home alone so I can wear my tail about

and I just saw my shadow and brain is super happy

[tiredarts-alterhuman]

creature

[tiredarts-alterhuman]

More doodles

[tiredarts-alterhuman]

as always, 4am is the best time to draw /j

[tiredarts-alterhuman]

ABOUT POST

Hi! I’m Tired. I’m a moron who’s still new to this whole theriomythic/alterhuman/otherkin thing

Please excuse and correct me on any mistakes I make as I figure this all out. I’m here to learn more about myself and the communities I join.

About me:

Tired, he/him, transmasc (AFAB, biological intersex), 21yrs old

ADHD, anxiety, autism, depression

Questioning chimera alterhuman (not sure in which way) (also not sure what else has the traits I feel… further research required)

Vessel/body prone to strange and phantom feelings (spikes/quills, wings, fluffy tail, wolf ears, claws and digitigrade legs)

Other Blogs

Main: @tiredarts-main

Art blog: @tiredarts-sketchbook

Tagging and Text Rules

I highlight links in blue, tag my own posts as #tired talks and #my art, and tag stuff I reblog as #tired reblogs (with commentary tagged as #tired talks in tags, and art as #art)

I also umbrella-tag things at the moment since I’m not sure what’s what and would like polite feedback/guidance from others in the alterhumanity communities