#think about it in like.. a similar way to separating fictionkin from source

[alterhuman-culture-is]

computerkin culture is worrying way too much about whether the stuff you make is technically AI art or not (or maybe that's just me)

-

[quantumgender]

Day 3 of @radiomogai 's Experiences Event!

Talk about either your favorite identity term of yours or a random one that applies to you. Why is it a part of your identity, how does it apply to you?

TODAY WE WILL BE COUNTING DOWN: CABLE'S TOP 10 IDENTITY TERMS!

number ten - strikegender

strikegender is "a gender that can feels similar to, relates to, or can be represented by a lightning storm."

i've been trying to find a gender for ages that is solely connected to lightning (as a concept, symbol, but also a weather event) and strikegender is the closest i've found. lightning has always been an essential part of my identity, transcending even gender, but it's hard sometimes to describe that the connection isn't just about thunderstorms. still looking for that perfect lightning gender!

number nine - tessegender

tessegender is "a gender that originates from a higher dimension, or that intersects into a higher dimension."

when i look at my gender hoard especially, i find a lot of identities that feel "larger than life," strong, intense, and almost extradimensional. i think that's one of the reasons why xenogenders appeal so much - because they're described in ways that go beyond standard gender terms. tessegender is what i've chosen here to represent that, although i suppose i could have chosen xenogender (or any of my other xeno or strong genders as well). that feeling of being almost otherworldly is present in most of my identity.

number eight - nesp

nesp is "a gender related to the negative speed force in some way."

the first of the terms i've coined myself to make the list - this gender is related to the negative speed force from the dc/the flash. one of my strongest fictionkins is eobard thawne, the reverse flash, and the source of his power is the negative speed force. since i'm kin with him, i feel a connection to it as well, and that is partially present in my gender.

number seven - orion

orion is "an orientation in which one cannot distinguish between romantic and platonic feelings in the absence of sexual attraction, because their sexual and romantic attractions are intrinsically linked. due to their neurodivergence, this may be difficult to parse or understand, especially in situations where one is not free to explore their sexual attraction."

another term i coined myself, i have mixed feelings about orion because i feel like the term fills a void in my identity that i struggle to explain to others, but because of its complex nature, there was a lot of misunderstandings even on the coining post itself. i think if i were to post this term today, i would be able to describe it a bit better.

basically - my romantic and sexual orientations are intrinsically linked. i can't feel one without the other, and vice versa - to me, a romantic relationship has to also be sexual, and a sexual one also romantic. and if there's some circumstance where i'm not able to explore the sexual side of a relationship, i really can't tell whether what i'm feeling is romantic or platonic attraction. it's caused a strain on a few relationships in the past, especially with folks who fall under the split attraction model. it is a neuro-orientation, and it's difficult to explain to people who are able to easily separate and define their romantic and sexual feelings.

number six - barnean

barnean is "... in its basest form, a nonbinary gender that resulted from (or is currently forming as a result of) your designation as “child” while you were growing up. a barnean relates most accurately to the gender role of the “child” (whatever that may means to them), still as an adult, and this is a confusing experience because while they are currently moving into the social role of an adult, their gender is still tied to this experience of “child as third gender.”

barnean is another identity that i coined as a result of an experience i found hard to articulate. much like orion, i feel like now that i'm older, it's easier for me to explain this. i was always worried about sharing barnean because i was worried that certain unsavory people would think that i was saying "my gender is child" when that's just not the case.

i made the term barnean because when i was growing up, i was the only child in my family. most of my time growing up as i formed my concept of gender, i had no other children to reframe that identity around. in college, i did research on child gender formation, and typically those social roles are mainly reinforced by other children, not adults. because i was around adults more often than i was children, i feel like as i was forming that concept of gender, it was more like the societal structure of "men, women, and children." if you look as gender as a societal role based around certain actions and jobs that are fulfilled by the specified gender, then child is one - children are expected to study, play, and help with appropriate household chores. since my experience growing up was centered around filling that child role, and i was not pushed towards the roles or man or woman, i feel as if that childhood experience - that "third gender" or child - helped shape the way i understand my nonbinary identity as an adult.

number five - starwarsgender

starwarsgender is "a gender related to star wars in some way."

another one of my coins! starwarsgender is probably one of my favorite coined genders, not only because i think the flag is very pretty, but also because i feel like the term was necessary for the community, and i'm proud i could help provide it.

as it related to my identity in general, star wars is one of my most important interests. i feel connected to many of its elements - not only the force-system of "magic" but also the aesthetics of space, 1970s and 1980s technology and retro-futurism, and seafaring terminology used in space (like pirates, ships, and the like). all of these things are referenced within my gender in other ways as well, but star wars just seems to bring them all together so well, and will always be an important piece of media for me - especially the original trilogy.

number four - ulexitian

ulexitian is "someone who is mlm, mlnb, mlxe, mlw, nblm, nblnb, nblxe, mlw, xelm, xelnb, xelxe, xelw, wlm, wlnb, wlxe, and wlw. (or, someone who is a xenogender nonbinary man and woman who loves men, women, nonbinary people, and xenogender people)."

this is the last of my own coins, i swear! ulexitian is a juvelic or glg term i used to expand upon the glg term i used to identify with the most - pearlian. ulexitian instead includes xenogender in the genders of both the loved and the lover, which helps me represent my identity in a more accurate manner. while the term itself is pretty basic and it's not hard to explain my connection to it, it helped describe my own identity in a more accurate way.

number three - butch

butch is an identity that transcends most classifications and honestly has no single finite definition. personally, i associate my own butch identity with my gender presentation, my desire to protect and uplift the queer community, and a preference for an assertive, active, or "giving" role in a romantic+sexual relationship.

it took me a very long time to accept butch as an element of my identity. despite the fact that i always felt drawn to it, i have never once identified as a lesbian, so i thought that the term was off-limits to me. it wasn't until i took a queer history class in college, and later started researching the term for myself that i discovered its usage among bisexual women and sapphic nonbinary people.

while my gender is complex, and while obviously not everyone feels the same way about their agab, i consider it important to my identity. i am afab, and while i am polygender, i doubt that i will ever undertake physical methods to transition. as my body is similar to that of a cis woman, presenting butch not only makes me feel more connected with queer history and those that came before me - but it also connects me to my own background (a lot of butch "fashion" trends stem from clothing tradespeople would wear - and i come from a family of tradespeople).

and while i want to keep this post safe for everyone, the historical definition of butches - that is, the role they traditional played in butch/femme bar and hookup culture - is also a big reason why i connect to this identity. if i'm being honest, i knew i was butch in that way before i even discovered my gender identity. it's deeply intwined with who i am, and while not everyone is butch in the same way i am, i am grateful to finally feel comfortable identifying with this term.

number two - quantumgender

quantumgender is "composing of an identity (two or more genders) that’s in a [constant] state of fluctuation between [whichever the person identifies as] so fast that it forms a continuous stream/flow of “vibrations”–with the identities being/almost seeming as one continuous [blurred and homogeneous] identity, but the differences can be seen only close-up–like how “static” molecules vibrate on the quantum-level."

i really couldn't make this list without the blog name gender, could i? quantumgender - while not the only term that describes the way my gender works - is the one i feel most accurately represents me. while it looks solid and unchanging on the outside, on the inside is constant change and fluctuation.

number one - quantum

quantum is "an identity that’s in a constant state of fluctuation, so fast that it forms a continuous stream/flow of “vibrations”–with the identities being/almost seeming as one continuous [blurred and homogeneous] identity, but the differences can be seen only close-up–like how “static” molecules vibrate on the quantum-level. this identity composes of genders, orientations, pronouns, names, etc."

while quantumgender most accurately reflects my gender, i think that quantum, as a broad and all-encompassing identity, is really what defines me. while who i am will never change - i will always be multigender and bisexual, i will always respond to my chosen name and pronouns - my preferences, my internal state is constantly fluctuating. while i am ulexitian, maybe one day i feel more of a draw from nonbinary people as opposed to me. while i am quantumgender, currently i feel more connected to some genders that i do others, even though they are all a part of me. even my preferred names and pronouns fluctuate, even though i answer to them all. my queerness - my humanity, even - is deeply intertwined in the fact that while i value my past, and while i will always be me, that me is constantly changing, evolving, and fluctuating.

[beastlybardou]

Alright, so lately I've been thinking about how my identities sorta overlap and separate from each other and I thought I would try and make a post explaining what each of my identities is and how they play into each other. I have no idea if this is gonna be coherent to anyone else but here we go.

KINTYPES:

Werewolf

This is my #1 core identity. If I wasn't a werewolf I wouldn't be me or anything even close to recognizable as me. This is just who I am. I don't view myself as human because I am a werewolf, when I say I'm nonhuman this is what I mean.

This identity has been with me since I was very little and I think it is a mix of "born this way" and trauma formed. I guess what I mean is I think I would have been nonhuman no matter what because I think I was born nonhuman, but trauma is what shaped me into a werewolf specifically. I think if I hadn't experienced that trauma I actually would have been a cat instead? But thats a topic for another day.

Physically I see my werewolf self as around the size of a polar bear (standing at about 10 feet tall on my back legs) with a thick dark black and brown coat resembling black phased Yukon Wolves like the one below.

I am largely quadrapedal but have the ability to stand on my back legs for short periods, similar to a bear. My anatomy is far more similar to a wolf than a human's, with just a few humanoid features like arm-like front legs and thumbs. Below are two of the images that feel most similar to me anatomically.

By Chasing The Silver Stag on deviantart

By Oroboros

I connect being a werewolf with living in a cold, mountainous area, living off the land, and having a small cozy close knit pack.

My species dysphoria from this identity is very strong and I am constantly shifted though I do experience strong flare-up in shifts occasionally to the point that I am barely capable of clear human reasoning and language. I would say even when I'm completely "wolfed out" I retain human level intelligence, just not human thought patterns - I am instead instinct driven.

Death and Decay

So, this is kind of a combo conceptkin and ficrionkin thing. I am a fictional character who is the embodiment of decay. Due to the nature of the fictionkin source I tend to not say who it is, and its not really important for this discussion either - he is a lich that acts as a minor god or eidolon of decay and thats whats important.

This identity is a little funky in that I have always been deeply connected to death, decay and the cycle of life coming from death but I did not identify as this character until very recently. I just came across him and he was so similar to me, almost 1:1 that my brain just kind of stuck and ran with it to the point that it became a full on "identify as" situation.

This identity mostly manifests as a deep feeling of kinship with death and the dead, I see a bit of myself in every bit of roadkill or scrap of rotted moss covered bones and goop. Not just the pretty #goblincore kind of rot either, I am the filthy stinking bloated and maggot filled mess as well.

I have a strong tendency to "tend" the dead in odd ways. While most like to put the dead away where we don't see them anymore as a form of respect, I like to keep engaged with them and surround myself with remnants of their life and body.

Heartedtypes:

Bats

I mostly identify with big brown bats and ghost bats but really I am hearted with all of them. Sometimes this heartedtype appears as a flicker but by and large its mostly a "with" not "as" situation. I don't know, I don't have much to say about this other than bats I love you.

Hyenas

All of them. I thought I was a hyena cladotherian for a while but I think really its another situation similar to bats where its a heartedtype that comes with flickers. Hyenas were also a very important part of me coming to realize that I am trans, and for that they'll always hold a special place in my heart. I still use them as sort of a personal symbol for my queerness.

Personal Symbol/Representative

Vesperulf

So a lot of you on this account probably remember when I identified as an original species called a vesperulf which was essentially an undead werewolf, bat and hyena hybrid. That was kind of a misstep on my part because this isn't its own kintype or full identity but rather more a representative of who I am made up of the sum of my parts. If you put together all the stuff that makes up me you get a vesperulf. Its sort of like a symbolic representation of me.

Black Shuck

What do you get when you mix a monster wolf and the concept of death and decay? A black shuck(ish). I don't exactly consider this a kintype, but I am a black shuck - I'm not sure how to explain it. I think if all our physical human bodies got zapped and we became our kintypes I would become a monstrous black shuck as the middle ground between my two kintypes. Its the overlap in the Venn Diagram of my identities.

[aestherians]

Odd question: Do you have any thoughts on writing about how your source feels real to you without mentioning being otherkin? Context is I'm writing about my source and how its photorealistic backgrounds might influence (audience) immersion within the world/show, and I want to mention my own experience/ opinions and think about why it feels real to me, but I don't know if it's possible to separate them from a fictionkin context. Idk if this makes sense. No pressure to answer this if you're unable to

You could approach it from the POV of experience-taking? That's a phenomenon non-alterhumans seem to understand, and it's kinda similar to what fictionfolk experience

You could also go over the multiverse theory without tying it to alterhumanity. Again, it's a thing a lot of non-alterhumans are familiar with and understand. Something like "the multiverse theory just makes sense to me and thus it just makes sense to me that fictional universes are real too, in a way"

[crescairis]

I was wondering if you had another source that otherlinkers were explicitly excluded from the original definition of otherkind in 1990? The source on AnOtherWiki leads to a 2001 FAQ that doesn't mention anything like that. Also, otherlinkers aren't the same thing as KFF.

(just as a warning, this is going to be a LONG post, but i'd rather not put it under the cut for archival reasons, in the case that for some reason this blog disappears)

firstly, i'd like to apologize for phrasing things as if KFFs and otherlinkers were the same thing; a better phrased way to say things would be for me to say that i think many KFFs would be otherlinkers, were they to acknowledge that their experiences don't fit the definition of otherkin.

something else i'd also like to note that i've been thinking about (while it isn't exactly related to this question) is that perhaps people are misinterpreting the terms "voluntary" and "involuntary".

i feel that many people think "voluntary" simply means the initial decision to willingly take on an identity, which is, in part, true! however, voluntary identities are very likely to become involuntary, simply because it becomes too emotionally/mentally difficult to separate oneself from the identity that they've chosen.

being drawn to something, or someone, enough to take it on as an identity can often be a sign of something deeper! i would see this as a form of awakening in and of itself—like cracking open a geode, or perhaps like putting on training wheels before you experience the real thing.

but back to your first question: the way i initially phrased that post was also rushed, as we were trying very hard to write it during a single lunch break at work.

the term otherlinker is a very recent invention (coined in 2018 on the alt-h discord server, while copinglink was coined in 2015 by who-is-page), as being otherkin has always largely been considered a serious, personal experience. only recently have people NEEDED to specify that it's involuntary, so the only sources i can give you are ones that cite otherkinity as being intended as a serious identity, as well as those that state that otherkinity is not as shallow as a game or roleplay.

also important to note is that many of these pages were made and existed before fictionkin were a largely documented (let alone accepted) presence, thus they are scarcely mentioned, (and typically with skepticism or even scorn,) save for on their own, smaller pages. for our own personal comfort, we will not be listing sources that discredit fictionkinity completely.

firstly, here's a full timeline of otherkin history by orion scribner, to show the scope we're looking at

Otherkin Lexicon by Orion Scribner: "Otherkin are real, non-fictional people who identify as other than human. Otherkin identify as creatures from myth and legend, usually elves, faeries, and dragons. This is a sincere identity, not role-play. Many otherkin identify as other than human for spiritual reasons; that is, they classify their identity as otherkin as a personal spiritual belief. Being otherkin is a very individualistic thing: each otherkin reaches his own explanation for how and why he is an otherkin. Some of their common spiritual explanations include that they are other than human in spirit, or they were other than human in past incarnations.187 Although spiritual belief is often involved, “otherkin” isn’t a religion. As such, each person who identifies as otherkin practices whatever religion he individually wants. It has always been the case that most of the otherkin community practices Neo-Pagan religions, and so that religious perspective shapes the common views and ideas in the otherkin community. Some otherkin don’t use spiritual explanations. Some otherkin believe that they are physically other than human, or that their ancestors were."

A Field Guide to Otherkin by Lupa: "The definition for Otherkin I will be using for this book is: a person who believes that, through either a nonphysical or (much more rarely) physical means, s/he is not entirely human. This means that anyone who relates internally to a nonhuman species either through soul, mind, body, or energetic resonance, or who believes s/he hosts such a being in hir body/mind, is in my own definition of Otherkin. Some people do have more stringent standards. However, for the purposes of this book, I am including a wider range of people.

"This is not a roleplaying game. When a person says s/he is a dragon, or a wolf, or an elf, s/he is not referring to a character that s/he only becomes during a gaming session. That which is Other is a constant part of the person; s/he is the Other at all times. Grey, a wolf therian,says it marvelously: “Perhaps I should say that if a being is a color, or a sound, I am two items merged to form a different color/sound. The two are within each other. Sometimes plain to see, sometimes deeply mixed.”"

A Simple Introduction to Otherkin and Therianthropes by Orion Scribner: "Some real people think of themselves as kinds of creatures from mythology. These people call themselves “otherkin.” An otherkin has the belief that he is a creature from mythology, such as an elf. He says that elf is his true self. It is his identity. This is real to him. It isn’t a pretend person that he plays in a game."

The Otherkin Resource Center: "1 : one who identifies with various mythological archetype as vehicles of spiritual evolution and self-expression, similar to Native totemism only with a stronger level of self-identification.

"2 : someone who believes in reincarnation, and that not all of their reincarnations were as a human."

What are Otherkin? by Tirl Windtree: "By far the most common explanation from those who fit the definition (even if they don't claim this specific label) is that whilst their physical forms may be human, their essence, soul or equivalent term is not.

"Of those, the majority make their claim based on reincarnation - what they have been in a previous incarnation so strongly affects their current incarnation that they still identify with it. Obviously this requires a belief in reincarnation, and in the transmigration of souls. Both are reasonably common in a number of religions and spiritual beliefs across the world."

"The most frequent accusation is that all otherkin are lost in fantasy, they've played one too many D&D games and gone over the edge. Personal study seems to indicate this is actually one of the least frequent explanations. Most roleplayers know they are roleplaying, even if they are also otherkin, and roleplaying can be a very useful tool in self exploration."

The Lostkin Project by Gazer: "Otherkin are the supernatural among us. They are the elves, dragons, nymphs, and trolls that used to live more openly amoung humankind. Some are from other dimensions and other places. You may occasionally see them refered to as Otherkind. Otherkin is the more generally accepted term."

Otherkin Coalition by Kreyas: "What is Otherkin?

In a nutshell, Otherkin are a coalition of people who share in common the belief that some internal part of them is somehow incongruent with the rest of the human race. Beyond that, beliefs vary too widely to classify them into any one group.

Some of the most common beliefs are that the soul is somehow different from human. This may go in hand with a belief in reincarnation and “imprinting” (in which a past life as another species leaves an imprint on the soul which is then carried over into the next life), or the individual may believe that this is his/her first life and they are simply different.

Above all, Otherkin is a spiritual belief.

"Are Otherkin really a bunch of delusional, socially maladaptive kids like I read on that website?

NO. As with any group, not everyone fits the stereotype. Any community is going to have its bad apples which stand out in people’s minds better than the typical members. In my experience, Otherkin are usually levelheaded and able to question their beliefs and function in human society.

"Is it a Roleplaying thing?

NO. While some Otherkin may participate in roleplaying, strictly speaking the beliefs are separate from the roleplay - even if they are roleplaying as their identified “kintype”."

Otherkin FAQ v 4.0.1 by Arhuaine, Miaren Crowsdaughrer, Thistile Kachunk, Golden Syrpent, Knight of Ghosts and Shadows, Jarin Dreamsinger and The Crisses: "The Otherkin are those people who believe themselves to be spiritually and/or physically other than human. While mythological species (elves, satyrs, fairies, dragons, and so on) are widely accepted as being included under the term "Otherkin", many people in the community prefer to include aliens, vampires, furries, extraterrestrial humans, and other nonhuman races. A mythological or literary equivalent is not necessary to be included under "Otherkin"; there are types of otherkin that have not shown up in known legends or fiction (star-dragons, Elenari, etc.)."

What are Otherkin, Anyway? by Adnarel: "Otherkin is a term that is generally used to describe people who, In some way or another, physical bodies aside, do not feel that they are “human” in the conventional sense of the word. We (they) feel as though their spirits are not human, nor have they ever been, despite our physical bodies and outward appearance. Some otherkin have testified that they feel that this is their first time on this plane of existence, a.k.a. Earth. Others feel that they have been here numerous times to teach and to heal people. Maybe once they were here in their “true forms”. Otherkin use the term “true form” to describe what they feel to be the shape and nature of their true selves."

What Are Otherkin? by Arhuaine:

"Put simply, someone who is Otherkin feels that they have a soul (or souls) other than human. Usually this encompasses what are commonly regarded as mythical beings such as elves, dragons, fae, satyrs and so on. A broader view of otherkin might also include therianthropes (were-creatures) and those with animal souls (such people are sometimes known affectionately as "furries"), and also perhaps people who consider their souls are alien (often called star-born). The lines between Otherkin and Furries or Star-born are often blurred.

"Most Otherkin feel for most of their lives as though they don't belong. Human society seems alien and unfamiliar in many ways. They may feel isolated and unhappy, yet unable to explain these feelings at first. Then, perhaps they may begin to remember a life other than their own. Sometimes it is not easy to understand such memories, and sometimes the awakening to Otherkin-ness is a difficult and frightening process, especially if they are going through it alone. It is something not easy to share with others, for fear that they may consider you crazy.

"Being Otherkin is not something to crave, nor is it glamorous. It is a difficult and lonely path to tread, and sometimes it seems to bring only sorrow. Memories of loved ones long lost, a home that can no longer be reached, cause great pain. And yet, the life of the Otherkin is not all sadness. It is a life filled with wonder and magic, and a way of looking at the world that humans can never understand. Because magic is so much a part of an Otherkin's outlook, they may be drawn to Paganism or other New-age philosophies."

Are You 'Kin? by Gazer: "To really find out if you are otherkin takes searching. No, not on the internet, inside. You have to reach inside yourself and really look at yourself. This ,for the most part, is an inner journey. You have the answers, not me or anyone else. If you are otherkin then it is a PART of you, but you may be the only person able to find it.

The best others can do to help you is to provide pointers. Show you ways to search inside yourself, tell you how they found something inside themselves. We can hold a mirror up to you, but you won't see anything unless YOU do the looking, and what we see from our side of the mirror may not be the truth."

Otherkin Phenomena: "Otherkin are people who believe themselves to be something other than a human being on a spiritual, psychological, energetic and some even on a biological level, and choose to identify with that non-human fragment of themselves to the point where they count it as a permanent and ingrained part of their personal mythology and/or identity."

and there's plenty more! i'm just tired

i hope this helped answer your question, and perhaps gives others some insight as well!

[imjustaf444keriguess]

okay time to ramble about this

aka believing that they are *literally* said fictional character and encouraging others to do the same.

the post where this comes from was a joke post. you can acknowledge that you "are" a fictional character in some form, while still recognizing you are separate from the literal character. say i am a freddy fazbear introject, and i say "lol im freddy fazbear in real life im like the character but real" and i make jokes about being Really Freddy Fazbear. if i recognize i am freddy fazbear *in real life*, and not freddy fazbear *still in the pizzeria*, i don't see that as bad or unhealthy. especially because there's humor in that

does not fully separate the experiences of whether someone simply relates to a character or whether someone is in a delusional/psychotic state in which they can't recognize the difference between them and a character.

there's also a lot of nuance between those two states. there's relating a little, relating a lot, introjecting small bits of a characters traits, being an introject/fictionkin, and then delusion of being the character stuck in that situation. there are introjects that see themselves as "actually x character" but also recognize the difference between them as a sentient person in a living body, and they're different than those who think their body is in the fictional story of the media they think they're from.

There's no clinical sources exploring this [fictionkin/otherkin] phenomenon.

i am surprised that there's not a lot, especially to how similar it seems to fictional introjects and how common it seems to be. although i was more wondering because i see it as a sort of fictional introjection in singlets (at least if you ignore any personal spiritual beliefs and consider even the spiritual / reincarnation otherkin/fictionkin to be psychologically based), and as a system with fictional introjects, we do relate to fictionkin and their experiences.

to me, i think it's just a variant of human self identification. whether or not you see yourself as "a person with traits of freddy fazbear" or "a version of freddy fazbear" or "freddy fazbear reincarnated" or "literally freddy fazbear in a human body in this life" they're all still fine and dandy. when it gets bad in a delusional and anti recovery way is when you start mixing up the fictional world with this world, and believe you're in the fictional world instead of being a person in the real world.

and it's harmful because if you mix up fantasy with reality, that could lead to you hurting yourself or others, not expecting the outcomes that would happen (so being freddy fazbear, if you break skin, it wouldn't matter if you were an animatronic made of cloth and wires, but in our world you'd be hurting yourself and you might bleed, or you might think you're stronger than you are and break a bone or something). i can't think of why else it'd be harmful besides it can lead to harmful situations like that

i do think "source separation" as in letting yourself be canon-divergent and act different and more unique than source is good for self expression reasons, but that doesn't inherently mean you have to see yourself as less "you". you can be as canon divergent as you want and still see yourself as 100% freddy fazbear still. and that's not inherently unhealthy i think.

tldr theres lots more variation between just relating to a character and having a delusion, and joking about how you literally are the character doesn't inherently mean you're having an unhealthy delusion of believing you're the character in the characters situation. also imo fictionkin is singlet fictional introjection / singlet version of fictives. and uhhh freddy fazbear in real life is awesome. idk why i picked freddy fazbear as my example introject source but i did. yeah.

(also thanks this was meant to be a throwaway account/username bc i wanted to yell about syscourse and i've just kept using it to syscourse and occasionally not-syscourse-discourse. funny numbers in names fun. leetspeak is nice for usernames)

actually im going to straight up ask about this

@starlitvases if identifying as a fictional character as a part/alter/headmate in a system is bad and anti-recovery, what do you think of fictionkin? (specifically psychologically, regardless of if a specific fictionkin thinks its spiritual or psychological). what makes that different or similar to fictional introjects? is it just as unhealthy in your eyes? if being fictionkin is healthy, why are fictional introjects unhealthy/anti-recovery?

[chaotic-sporatic]

Otherkin and did/osdd

I wanted to make a thing about did/osdd because I feel like some of the people who are currently in the otherkin community may have it without knowing they do. I’m doing this because that was me not that long ago. Like a few months ago...

Quick vocab review

Some words people might not be that familiar with, especially if y’all don’t know what did/osdd is

Alter- alternate personality

Host- the person who is seen most often (may or may not be the “original”)

System- the collective group of alters

Fronting- being in control of the host body

Dissociatiation- disconnection from ones body, thoughts, and the passage of time.

What is did/osdd?

Did and osdd are dissociative disorders that develop before the age of 7 due to consistent trama. In order for the child to cope with what is happening to them, the brain causes the child’s personality to split into separate pieces that develope independently from the “original”. You may be familiar with the term “multiple personality disorder”. Essentially that is what happens, however the correct terminology for this condition is known as dissociative identity disorder (did). This is due to a better understanding of the illness as a dissociative disorder. People with did have alters (which are more like separate people than personalities), suffer from amnesia, experience depersonalization and dissociation, get frequent headaches, and may have confusion regarding gender and sexuality.

Osdd (other specified dissociative disorder) is extremely similar to did, and is usually grouped together with it because of it. However, it is diagnosed when a person does not fit all of the requirements to have did but still suffers from many of the same things. There are two types of osdd (osdd 1a and osdd 1b). In osdd 1a, the alters are harder to differentiate between one another. In Osdd 1b, there is little to no amnesia like there is seen in did.

People with these disorders can often describe it sometimes feeling like you’re watching you’re body from a 3rd person perspective. They also can describe it feeling like a haze or fog surrounding them, dulling their senses.

New alters form throughout the hosts life due to the brain having learned that new alters=coping with trauma at an early age. Some people might have many alters wile some people only have a few. It just depends on the person and the circumstances that they have been in.

Why does this have anything to do with otherkin?

Well dear reader, you’d be surprised to know that within these disorders there are many alter types that mimic the same things seen in otherkin. It is quite possible for non-human alters to exist. They can be animals, demons, angels, cyptids, and so on. All things that are common kin types. Alters like this form when someone is, for example, treated like an animal. The brain, in order to cope with this, may create a wolf alter because it thinks that you must be one if you’re being treated like one. Similar things happen to demon, monster, and ghost alters.

And for fictionkin and factkin, these kinds of alters are called introgects. Introgects form in the image of something that the host may be familiar with, and can even be in the image of friends or family. Most of the time, these alters will form because the brain thinks that that person might be able to help you if they were really here. That they could make it better, or simply not as bad.

Not all alters are nessisarily good and can cause anxiety, depressive episodes, self harm, or harm to others. These alters are called persecutors. They form when the brain wants you to be stronger than what happened to you. Not all persecutors are bad and they shouldn’t be demonized. In their minds, the things they do are all to make you stronger, even if what they do is awful.

What about my memories?

Alters can have memories from a time before this one. An example from me would be that one of my alters is Spinel from Steven Universe. She remembers the garden, the ingector, beach city, and even things that happened outside of the source. I used to think she was just a character who I kinned, but in fact she was an alter all this time. She formed because at the time of watching the Steven Universe Movie, I felt abandoned by someone who I thought cared about me. She however over came what happened to her and grew stronger because of it. Because of that correlation, in order for my brain to cope, I formed an alter.

What does my shifts have to do with this?

It is quite possible that when you experience a shift, it is acctualy an alter fronting or even coming closer to the front. I used to have a lot of issues with this when I was first part of the otherkin community. It felt like I didn’t have control of who I was.

How do I know if I suffer from did/osdd?

Well, it can be hard for some people. Especially when most people are in denial about it. I know I still am. Not every person who is in the otherkin community has did/osdd though. Relating to an animal, entity, or character is not the same as haveing an alter. I still firmly believe that otherkin is something that exists outside of having a dissociative disorder. I am in no way saying that everyone in the otherkin community has did/osdd. Spirituality and mental illnesses are not always correlated!

Did/osdd is just as common as people with red hair, so it’s not something a select few suffer from. It’s not as rare as some people think it is, and many suffer from it without even knowing it. People who suffer from it aren’t supposed to know about it. It’s a defense mechanism that is there to protect the host from trauma and the memories that come with it.

Can it be cured?

There is no medication that can cure or even treat did/osdd. It can be treated through therapy and integration. Integration is when one alter “fuses” with another alter and even the host. You can’t control when this happens and it can be extremely emotional for the system. During this process, traumatic memories will most definitely surface. For this reason, many people are not open to the thought of integration. It can be hard to remember what happened to them for some people. For others, it’s easy and they are able to handle the knowledge much better.

All trauma should be seen as something you can’t ignore. Yes, it was bad enough. No, you are not weak or exaggerating what happened. Yes, you can heal!

[system-of-a-feather]

Two questions regarding fictives: 1. is Riku your fictive? I thought that was a cool name you picked out for online purposes. 2. Can fictives change to become their own "person" over time or will they stay like that until other events happen?

“2/2 Aha, you can not answer my first question, I have trash reading comprehension.”

Nah. Actually it’s fine. I think a part of me was kinda waiting for someone to ask about it but I am awkward around the topic a bit to bring it up myself and it is a bit of an interesting topic?

To the first question, it is technically both. I was split off around the time our original host / current Little went through a really hard time and idolized / played pretend to be Riku as she had just gotten into the source material and found him really cool and all that. When I split off I didn’t really take much of a conscious awareness of my existence so to say as much as I realized I was there and just kind of did what my gut told me to do and went ahead with what I knew was my job externally. I don’t really remember much of my formative years as I was kinda really up in the air for the first three years after my split as I really did my job and often left and I have continuous dissociative amnesia myself so even without switching I don’t tend to remember much of my life / days.

But essentially I was strongly based off of the character Riku, having taken a majority of my ideals, personality traits, appearance, and so on from the source - or at least what our old host interpreted the character as at the time. 

At a certain part in my time as an alter though, our host faded away and it kinda forced me to be out a lot and I kinda became jaded with how bad our life was and reclused to “living only online” and when going to pick a username, I went with what felt the most natural and the most comfortable thing to be called other than our body name and Riku felt like a really natural and comfortable name to be called since “some part of my brain told me that was what was right”.

I wasn’t even that large of a Riku fan personally (as I was also a fan of the source, albeit not too huge until later) but a part of my brain - now in hindsight likely our little - insisted it was the best fitting name and so I took it up.

Truthfully before I knew fictional introjects were a thing it was always kinda a weird connection that I typically blew off a lot of the time, and then I had some really bad experiences with fictionkin community and actively went 100% into denial about connecting to any fictional character at all because I was terrified of the community. With that I ACTIVELY denied anything to do with my character source and despite being the character I felt the most connected to / relating to since ages, I refused to acknowledge any similarity for years cos it made me uncomfortable. 

((I actually used to say I really felt like the entire source was home / something I identified with before I knew about DID or fictives and before fictionkin were messed around))

It was only when I started to work over a lot of things that I kinda came around and had that discussion with my system and ACTUALLY took a look at myself in the inner world and pretty much its well established that I >was< a fictional introject since pretty much day one so… XD

It’s an interesting topic. I personally am a lot more comfortable being a fictive than I used to be and I’ve kinda found comfort in certain aspects of it now that I am not actively denying it. Some of the things from the source and embracing the minor psuedo-attachments and memories with some characters can really help me feel safe or at home when I am having bad moments and all.

Personally, the reason I am a bit awkward / havent talked too much about this on this blog is partially due to 1) Bad experiences with fictionkin community that still have me partially wanting to deny that I am a fictive due to association ((which I know is not meant to be related but trauma brain association be like that)) and because 2) I dislike people going into knowing me / listening to me thinking about me from my source before myself.

Which ties into your second question. It is VERY possible for fictives to develop their own sense of self (I imagine that is what you meant by ‘person’). Personally, I developed one by strongly rejecting a part of myself and actively trying to find an identity beyond it since the idea of identifying with my source scared me. Over the years of fearing the nature of which I was split off, I kinda really developed a lot of myself as a separate alter. 

As a result, a lot of the time, my fictive roots don’t actually brother me or come up to my mind as much as it would others. I am Riku - Host of the System of Feathers - most of the time. ‘I am me, and no one else’ for those that get that reference XD

But it isn’t like my fictive roots aren’t still there and I quickly realized that when I started telling myself I identifying with a fictional character isn’t innately cringey / toxic / harmful / crazy as I kind of came to understand the nature of fictives and all that. Once I got past that unhealthy generalization and defense mechanism, it kinda came in bit by bit and while it was insanely uncomfortable embracing that part of myself again, it really has made me a lot more comfortable with my existence accepting it rather than running away from it XD

But yeah, when someone approaches me too directly seeing me from my source it really messes with my head and sets off part of my brain that makes me feel like I am loosing my sense of self as a Riku the host of this system rather than Riku from this source. I find interacting with my source comfortable when its a personal thing, but when I share it with someone else, I tend to find it warps with my mind, sense of reality, sense of self, and ability to rationally think and function in this world.

Really though, I am kind of new to the topic of fictives since it was the one aspect of DID that I kind of spent a lot of time avoiding cause bad experiences TM, but that is just my personal experiences as a fictive.

My personal stance, which is likely different than others and if someone’s system believes differently that is 100% valid if it helps, is that fictives honestly should work towards existing and having an identity beyond their source as it helps assimilating into the world that we are in now. It helps cope with memories and attachments that won’t return and it helps functioning in my experience.

With that being said, if you are a fictive, I also feel its best not to reject your nature entirely because that in it’s own sense can be harmful. It’s best to try to embrace yourself for everything you are, roots, origin, reason of splitting, flaws, skills, strengths, weaknessess and all and try to find a way to love it. At least that is how I see it.

But like, this is just fictive rambles from someone still figuring shit out. XD

If anyone is interested in knowing more about my psuedo-memories / attachments, I will consider talking about it, but currently I prefer to leave my source / nature as a fictive being a smaller part of this blog since I dislike the idea of people following me because “Oh its Riku from source IRL”. 

To me, people coming to talk to me / get to know me for my source makes me feel a bit fetishized / objectified in a like… platonic way. I only tried talking to a fan of the source who knew of my fictive nature once and it really was a weird, euphoric but also uncomfortable af experience. 

It is partially this reason that I don’t mention the source name directly - partially since it is a really popular franchise XD If people know where the name is from and they know the source, thats aight to me - but if they don’t then that’s preferable. I just don’t want people to see me Riku from Source rather than Riku from the System of Feathers.

-Riku (Host)

[aquariium-ediits]

Take this as your opportunity to talk about your source!! I'd love to know more about it!

OMG ANON YAYAYA OKAY WHOEEVRR U ARE. HUGS YOU.

Long post. Probably. There's a lot.

CW: Quick occasional mention of blood as it's relevant to my quirk, although no graphic descriptions of violence or anything similar!

Uhmmm where to start. I'm a villain (22yrs in-source) and was recruited to the League sometime shortly after Dabi and Toga and have been with them ever since! My quirk doesn't have an exact name, however my blood has healing properties if people consume it. (I remember hearing that Toga insisted I join because it was an excuse for her to be able to drink.) Shigaraki was reluctant at first because I had never had any experience with actual villain-y things (according to Asahi, intro later, and neither of us know what he meant but ok), but realized a healer who could come along on missions would probably come in handy, even if the healing was through unorthodox means. Soo that's basically the long story short of me joining the league.

I also have other non-canon sourcemates! Uhmm Asahi (28yrs), who has a tarot related quirk and is basically the big brother I never had. Asahi's adopted kid, Bee (11yrs), a very nice boy who never really does any actual villain work but uhm. People like him (including me! He's polite and doesn't cause trouble so nobody really minds him) so he stays. Also Asahi would hate being separated from his son soo. Yeah. Keiko (16yrs), a girl with a cat quirk who's like. Weirdly good at using weapons? I don't even know how she learned to use them but. Oh well. There's also Mio, Riku, Hatsumi, Seiko, Lucy and Eighty-One but if I talked about them all we would be here for way too long. This is about me! However I may also talk about them some other time.

This is not going to be organized at all. Uhm. Oh gosh. Let's talk about relationships?? Obviously what I say here does not apply to other irls, fictionkins, fictives, etc of these characters, it is simply how they were in the timeline where I existed. Ok? Ok. Right off of the bat, me and Shigaraki were dating for a while (I say this because my memories of the more recent events in the series- Because of things being complicated as the final war started, dating makes things complicated so. Uhm. Yea?). Obviously when we first met we weren't anything special, but as time went on we became official, although Shigaraki never really liked being affectionate in front of anyone, even the League. This is why I consider him my f/o and get upset if people say they're his partner or whatever :'D (although in the end, the only thing that matters to me is that he's happy and doing alright.) He was also bi in my timeline, if that means anything to spinaraki/shigadabi shippers, lmao.

Uhmm other canon characters.. Dabi and I were on pretty good terms, I guess? Not bad, not amazing, but naturally because I was the healer of the group, he didn't really have a bad opinion of me. As far as I know, nobody really did. You know how people call the LOV something like a family? The way I remember it, I'd say that isn't very far-off. The League allowed Bee to have a father, Hatsumi to have acquaintances and even friends, Toga to have some friends her own age who wouldn't think badly of her because of her quirk, etc etc. Sure, us being villains certainly added a lot of complication to us being friends, family or romantic partners but nonetheless we cared about eachother.

Nothing was really canon breaking aside from there being like, eight extra villains with their own backstories that may or may not affect a few things. Like, for example, because of Riku, there's now a well-known family who's responsible for lots of the pharmaceutical industry. Because of Seiko, who screws with the canon a solid bit more than the rest of us, there just so happened to be another Todoroki child. Because of Lucy, there's a well-known pro hero who went rogue. Mio is another assistant of AFO's, specifically aiding Garaki around his lab (apparently at first it was just cleaning, but she's eventually became a very good scientist herself with some knowledge of medicine and such). So I mean.. On our own, none of us (me, my noncanon sourcemates) really break the canon, but I guess us all existing together has kinda made our canon uh.. a little tiny bit canon divergent, to put it softly. But I love all my sourcemates, the only thing that sucks is I'll never see my noncanon ones ever again. Shigaraki is definitely the one I miss the most, though, but because I'm noncanon I heavily doubt there's any Shigarakis out there who remember me :'D

Okay, wow, that was a lot for something that didn't even really scratch the surface of who I am or who my noncanon teammates are, but uh.. Maybe I should continue that rentry wiki thing. I was working on a massive rentry with information about me, my past, my relationships/opinions of others and as well as some mini bios for my noncanon sourcemates because. I guess. If there's no fandom wiki for you, make one yourself! But it's been taking a VERY long time, sadly, just cuz there's so much to work on. But hey, who knows, maybe someday I'll finish it (or have it done enough that I feel comfortable sharing it with you guys, for those who want to read it?)

Anyways this is getting really long, even with the small text, so thank you so much again, Anon! T'was a truly kind thing you did for me !! /gen

I have some doodles of my sourcemates so let me see if I can find some..

The images got squished so you should totally click on them to see them better. The first two are doodles of me, then one of Asahi and Bee, then Riku, Riku+Seiko and then just Seiko :D

[starrun]

30 Day Fictionkind challenge - Day 1-30

@chrysochus fictionkin challenge looked like a lot of fun. I'll try to make my responses thorough as a way to explore my kintype, so some answers may end up a bit off-topic or rambly depending on how much I want to edit my thoughts. The original post and prompts are located here.

Edit (1/16/24): I am choosing to condense all of my answers into one long post, rather than continue to have 30 separate posts. It was fun to keep them separate while I was doing them, but now I dislike having them all separate.

》》》》

Day 1: What is your fictotype? Are you a specific character, a nonhuman species, or both?

My kintype/fictotype is my own OC (or non-canon character, if you prefer) in a canon-divergent version of the Star Wars setting. The character was created as my player character for a D&D game set in the Star Wars setting, and after some time I realized they were a kintype.

I had some kind of intense connection to this character once I started playing in the campaign and their personality began falling into place. I never considered this weird or abnormal for myself, but the level of this connection was far more intense compared to my other D&D PCs.

When I began feeling this connection, I had already considered myself an archetrope with at least one archetypal-kintype. I assumed that my connection to this character was a result of an archetypal connection and a link to my hearthome being sci-fi settings. I still think this is at least partially true, though it is clear that my character themself is the kintype, and not just an archetypal connection.

I never intended them to be anything more than my PC. I've been playing D&D for quite a few years and have had a number of characters that I have connected deeply with and who, to this day, are still incredibly important to me. I also enjoy self-insert fiction and find it fun to write stories with self-inserts. However, not long before I made this blog, something "clicked" with this character and I had sudden and intense feelings of being my OC in a way that was similar to how I feel my other longstanding kintypes. It felt drastically different than my other D&D characters or self-inserts. It was very much a "Well, shit," type moment because I just knew something was different.

I believe at the start I still didn't want to consider them a kintype, it felt alien to me to possibly have a fictotype. But one day I decided to stop worrying about it and started calling the character a kintype. Since then, calling them my kintype, considering myself to be them, has felt a lot more comfortable and has brought me a lot more joy than I would expect. It still confuses me from time to time, and I am still working through my own thoughts and biases, figuring out my philosophy and exactly how and why this character is a kintype, but I don't think I would be able to not consider this character a kintype at this point.

Day 2: Do you experience dysphoria? How so?

I do experience some dysphoria related to my fictotype. My 'kin-related dysphoria is typically caused by my feeling too short, not being stronger/more muscular, and the general shape of my face. I do also get some discomfort from not being skilled in some of the things my kintype is particularly skilled at.

While I wouldn't say it is dysphoria, during intense shifts it can feel odd not to have my scars, or have phantom sensations but the scars not actually being there.

My fictotype is human+, so I don't necessarily feel dysphoria related to species, though I do get a homesick longing for a world where being "human" as a species is far less important. There is something that still feels not quite right with calling myself "human" when this-world meanings of the word put far more importance on it than feels right to me. Missing and Longing for my setting/source/hearthome often feels as intense as dysphoria.

Day 3: Who are you open about your otherkinity with?

Very few people. Being fictionkin is still very new and very confusing to me - and there are also some feelings of shame involved that still pop up from time to time. Even in semi-private spaces like smaller discord servers, I am incredibly hesitant to speak openly about my fictotype. The only place I am open about my OC fictionkinity is in a small discord server where I know I won't be chastised for questioning or having non-standard views on things.

My experiences often don't line up with "traditional" fictionkin belief systems, and the way I currently navigate my kintype makes it difficult for me to talk openly about. My non-typical belief system mixed with internalized shame makes it really difficult to feel comfortable talking about my fictotype; even in spaces that will be accepting. And when it comes to questioning and self-reflection I also end up feeling a little lost, unsure of what direction I should be going in, and it leads me to be further uncomfortable with talking about things because I worry I am not doing it "right."

Day 4: Do you participate in the fandom of your source? How do you do so?

Yes and no. I enjoy reading/reblogging others' posts and creations from the fandom, but I don't necessarily post my own content. I more enjoy interacting with the source content itself, usually books and video games, rather than the Tumblr fandom.

However, I am currently working on writing a narrative for the things that have happened in my game/canon. Basically, turning the things that happened in my game into a sort of fanfiction type deal. - I can't really predict how long that will take to finish, or if I will ever finish it at all.

Day 5: Do you fictionflicker?

I don't think so. I have definitely had characters that I questioned being kintypes in the past, and I have a couple characters that could be considered paratypes and hearttypes, but this happens so infrequently (as in: basically never) that I wouldn't consider myself to be a flickerer.

Day 6: When did you realize you were fictionkin? How long have you been in the community?

/ Checks when I made this blog.

About 8 months ago was when I first started considering my OC a kintype (wow, has it been that long already?); but I have considered myself otherkin for around 13 years now. I also don't really interact with the greater fictionkin community, though I am active in some otherkin spaces.

I think it could be interesting to interact with fictionkin more, but between the kinnies (derogatory) and hostilities between spiritual and psychological fictionkin, the fickin community doesn't feel very welcoming.

Day 7: What was your introduction to fictionkin?

I have known of my otherkinity for well over a decade, so I was probably properly introduced to fictionkin back in the earlier days of tumblr when fandoms were larger, where everyone had "kinlists" a mile long, and where the idea that "kin = relates to a character" was started (Remember when "Tumblrkin" meant people who didn't take otherkinity seriously?). - Not a very exciting answer, but that is about it.

Day 8: Are you similar to your fictotype in personality? How so?

This one is a little tough to answer because of the fact that my kintype is my OC, and I am one of those people who like to put little pieces of myself into my OCs. I would say my kintype's personality is who I could be if I was a little bolder and was not limited by the standards of this-world society. A lot of their personality is much like my own.

They are loyal to a fault, they put value on trusting others, and are open to forgiveness even when people hurt them. They want what is best for the people around them and the people they care about. They will put themselves in danger for those they care about. They have a lot of fears and self-destructive behaviors, all while knowing that these behaviors are self-destructive. They are a private person who tends to keep everyone at arm's length, but once they trust somebody it takes a lot to break that trust. They have a hard time believing that other people would care about them simply for the sake of caring about them.

I think that our personalities are very similar, but their personality is the "unlocked" version of mine, if I was a little bolder and was not limited by anxiety, social expectation, and the mundane limits of this world.

Day 9: Are you similar to your fictotype in appearance? How so?

The only things that are similar are body type, a similar skin tone, and I recently got a haircut that was somewhat similar to my kintype's.

I think it would be nice to make changes that make me look more like my kintype. Exercise more to gain more muscle, dress more like my kintype, and possibly dye my hair.

Otherwise, my kintype and I do not look very similar.

Day 10: Link to/tag your favorite fictionkin Tumblr.

I don't follow a lot of fictionkin, and most of the 'kin blogs I follow don't primarily talk about fictionkin, but some of the blogs run by fictionkin that I always make sure to catch up on and read their new posts are users Swift and Poppy. For other blogs, Rani's is all around a great blog for otherkin info and thoughtful discussion.

Day 11: Have you ever met other fictionkin? In real life or online?

It might be a bit of a trick question asking if we have met other fictionkin online lol :p

I've never met any other otherkin or fictionkin in real life, but I have met plenty of fictionkin online. Sadly I have never made friends with another fictionkin, but there has been plenty of fickin I have been friendly with. I think it would be nice to have a 'kin friend who I can have complex discussions with.

Day 12: Have you ever met canonmates? In real life or online? How did it go?

Stars no, and I would be worried if I was to find someone who said they were my canonmate. There are a number of reasons why, so I will try to do a brief rundown.

My connection to my OC kintype is primarily, if not entirely psychological - any similarity to another's canon would be coincidental.

My canon is one my partner and I intentionally created, taking from the source-canon and changing things to our liking.

I don't believe in the multiverse theory, but even if I did, the chance of finding someone from the same universe as me would be so infinitesimally small that I wouldn't be able to believe that they actually came from the same universe.

Practically every time I have seen someone be "canonmates," it ended up turning into a codependent or overtly abusive situation.

It is so easy to lie, or otherwise misinterpret 'kin experiences or noemata/memories in order to fit in with the experiences of other 'kin. The majority of our memories are made up to begin with, so it sounds like wishful thinking to say "we knew each other in a past life/alternate universe."

I think it would be really cool to make friends with a sourcemate, or someone else from the Star Wars universe, and it would also be really cool if their experiences or canon were similar to mine. But I don't think there is any way I could actually call someone a canonmate and have it be good for my own mental wellbeing.

Day 13: Have you ever met doubles? In real life or online? How well did you get along?

Nope! Because my kintype is my own character I don't think I ever would find a double, nor would I want to. The frustrating part is that, even though I now the cances of a double ever happening are practically zero, but the thought of it unnerves me so much I have some anxiety about posting my experiences and canon specifics. It would be like somebody else trying to say they know my life better than I do.

Day 14: What are shifts like?

Compared to my other kintypes, my OC kin shifts make me feel more connected to my body and make me feel more like "myself." I think this is a result of my kintype being human, rather than nonhuman like my other kintypes. I find it easier to do self-care when in a shift, and I will try to force shifts if I need to be productive. My shifts tend to be very mentality-based and involve a lot of mind-eye visualization, ruminating on noemata, and just a passive existence as my kintype. The only thing that is overtly noteworthy is if the shift is especially strong, I can get phantom sensations of my kintype's scars, which can be a bit jarring.

Day 15: How do you deal with kin-for-fun?

I block them and move on.

See, I don't have a problem with kin-for-fun as a concept. I think that finding aspects of the self through roleplay, projection, and heavily relating to fictional characters is normal and even beneficial. My problem with KFF is the fact that they stole the word "kin" to mean "relate to," ignore anyone knowledgeable about otherkin history, and then harass actual otherkin and call us delusional.

Other people have talked about this topic ad nauseam, so I will just link to some other posts which describe my thoughts rather than rewriting stuff others have already said.

[Link 1] [Link 2] [Link 3]

Day 16: What are your thoughts on symbols, flags, etc.?

For the most part, I am ambivalent about symbols and flags. I never resonated with the otherkin/elven star, the fictionkin key symbol sucks, I am personally not a fan of microlabels and flags thereof (I don't care if others use them, but I am still allowed to have an opinion on the concept), so I don't really go looking for flags or symbols.

That being said, I do really like @hraefngeyst fictionkin symbol and I do wish it was used more.

There are only a handful of non-standard flags I really resonate with. I like the symbol-less xenogender flag, this spacekind flag (this is the flag in my icon), this OC kin flag is nice, and the alterhuman altkey flag is nice.

Day 17: Does fictionkinity connect to spirituality for you?

So far, my understanding of my fictionkinity is psychological. However, there does feel like there is something more there that I cannot quite put my finger on yet.

Recognizing and accepting my fictionkinity has felt more like a "spiritual awakening" than accepting my other purely psychological kintype. That kintype felt more like it just 'clicked' into place, I never needed to dig deep or explore my internal sense of self; all of the pieces were already there, I just put a word/species to it.

I have no doubt some kind of metaphysics is involved, even if spirituality isn't involved. It may be because my fictionkinity is related to being an archetrope, and archetypal identity tends to interplay with elements of the collective unconscious and some idea of the "higher self." Or it could be related to some kind of change of my core-self/Freudian Ego. It is something I am still exploring and trying to put the pieces together. This is something I do really want to read more about from others' perspectives, but there have been maybe one or two people I've found with a similar line of exploration.

Day 18: Does fictionkinity connect to neurodivergence for you?

I don't think so, not directly at least. I can come to any conclusion I want to if I try hard enough, but I would have to say no.

The closest way I could describe my fictionkinity being related to neurodivergence is because I have a diagnosis very mildly on the autism spectrum (so mildly I don't self-identify as autistic, but it does explain some of my quirks), and Star Wars just clicked over to being a special interest at some point. I doubt my OC would have become a kintype if it wasn't for my deep interest in the setting.

Day 19: Do other people notice your similarity to a character or species?

I don't think there are enough people who know me or my kintype well enough to say I am similar to them. The only person who would recognize any similarity to my kintype (or other characters/species) would be my partner. He already makes jokes of me being my kintype, calling me Captain, etc.

It is sort of a joke that both my and my partner's player characters are self-inserts, even though my OC was never meant to be a self-insert. Now that they are a kintype, I guess they technically are, in a way.

Day 20: How do you express your fictotype? Clothes, merch, cosplay, maybe even name?

I want to go by my kintype's name more often, but I already have an alias that people know me by, so changing my name to my kintype's name might be a little tough. I also worry about being judged by my friends for wanting to go by my OCs name rather then my own alias. So for now, it is just an alt name I use in 'kin spaces (that I wish people used more often :p ). I do however think I want to change my last name IRL to my kintype's last name, even if I don't change my first name.

Otherwise, the way I outwardly express my fictotype is through clothes, merch, and cooking. I would love to do a full cosplay of my kintype one day, and I probably will once I get the know-how.

Day 21: What’s something about the fictionkind community that you wish was different?

I wish there was less exclusionism between spiritual and psychological fictionkin. I have found it really difficult to find serious, adult-oriented fictionkin spaces that didn't exclude psychological 'kin.

I like conversations and having philosophical discussions on experiences and beliefs, and because I am still exploring my fictotype and trying to learn I am really interested in hearing others' viewpoints. The trouble is, it has been difficult to get nuanced conversations in public spaces because the alterhuman community leans young. Whenever I do find a fictionkin server for older alterhumans (that isn't dead/inactive), every single time it has been specifically for spiritual 'kin and expressly excluded psychological 'kin. I have no problem with spaces made for specific groups, but it also would not be so frustrating if there were any places for psych-'kin or mixed groups. I don't even know if my fictionkinity is wholely psychological, but it is difficult to explore that when I am excluded for not thinking my kintype is a past life.

Day 22: What’s something about the fictionkind community that you appreciate?

I do appreciate that the community is becoming more welcoming to kintypes with psychological sources. I really struggled in the past to accept my kintypes because they clashed with my spiritual beliefs, to the point of pushing away and ignoring a kintype for over a year because "I could never have more than one past life." The introduction of psychological sources really opened up my eyes and let me be more accepting of myself.

I also appreciate the opportunities for discussion now. Between discord servers and public spaces, the ability to actually have dialogue about otherkinity and explore philosophy and discourse has been easier then ever.

Day 23: How do you approach consuming your source? Analytically, obsessively, casually, reluctantly, etc…

Somewhere between casually and analytically depending on the day. I love my source, but it has a lot of problems. I really love discussing the nuance of my source and how it could be better. But sometimes I also just want to vibe with my source, read a book or watch a movie and just enjoy my time.

Day 24: What’s the worst anti-fickin take you’ve ever seen?

I'm not sure, tbh. I tend to stay away from that kind of discourse because it usually isn't worth my time to acknowledge, so I don't have many "creative" anti-kin takes to pull from. The ever classic "It's delusional" is an easy answer.

Day 25: What’s the best anti-fickin take you’ve ever seen? Respond to it.

This question is pretty uncomfortable for me to answer because I still have some anti-fictionkin bias (trying to unlearn, or at least I am not a dick to people), and a lot of spiritual fictionkinity sounds like nonsense to me. I don't agree with the conclusions people come to and don't ever think I will, but per the flavor of discourse from a few months ago, I personally don't see that as a problem because I think it goes both ways; I don't expect everyone to believe or agree with me either.

If there are questions or opinions that poke holes into fictionkinity, I think that is fine. There are plenty of reasons why the concept of god is silly to some, but that doesn't mean other people aren't or shouldn't be religious.

Day 26: What are some songs that remind you of your fictotype or source?

I have a whole kintype playlist! I won't post it here, but kintype's "theme song" is REVIVED by Derivakat.

Day 27: What are some other characters/species that remind you of your fictotype?

Iden Versio is a paratype and is a character that is very similar to my kintype. She is sort of the character idea I had for my OC, but turned up and changed just a little. When I started playing the SW Battlefront 2 campaign where Iden is the protagonist, I had to stop and go "holy shit, this is how I imagined my kintype." They are very similar, which is pretty cool.

Xayah from League of Legends is also a paratype/hearttype, but it is because they are a vigilante of sorts and my OC kintype is a mercenary; both of them are fighting for what they believe in.

Day 28: Do you have a favorite piece of fanart? (Better to reblog for this day, do not repost someone’s art.)

My icon! It isn't fanart, but the lines were a commission I got, and I colored it! I also got a gorgeous piece done by somebody for ArtFight.

Day 29: Do you have activities that connect you to your source? (Food, hobbies, interests, etc.)

Food is a big one. There is something about cooking that makes me feel so connected to my kintype. It reminds me of being on my ship and using what limited supplies we had to cook meals for myself and my crew. Asian foods make me feel most at home, though I am not sure why. I really want to cook more, try new recipes, and play around with different ingredients to make things that seem more "alien" or like they would come out of the Star Wars universe.

I also play video games, which can be a way to feel more connected to my source, though it doesn't make me feel "at home." Star Wars games like Battlefront 2, Squadrons, or Jedi: Fallen Order are all really good at getting me into the headspace of my kintype or bring comfort. Starbound is also an amazing game as a spacefarer because I am able to explore different planets, build and customize my ship, I can make my character look like my kintype, etc.

The biggest one is probably playing D&D though! Because my source is my D&D game, being able to play of course makes me feel the most connected to my kintype and source! As an extension, writing things related to my game or kintype also helps me feel connected as I can solidify my noemata/memories of what actually happened by writing them down in a narrative format.

Day 30: Talk about what it’s like to be your fictotype.

I am not really sure how to answer this one. Because it is the last question, I feel like it should be some kind of big hurrah, a poetic description of what it feels like to be my kintype, but I am not sure how to do that.

Learning and understanding my OC kintype and how it connected to my inner Self is a journey that has brought me a lot of comfort and understanding within myself. Being my kintype is to be Me, whatever that even means. Being my kintype feels like self-acceptance, and being excited for life, forgetting the bad things or the mundane of this world and leaning into the excitement of another, because while they are my character, my kintype is still Me, and their experiences are Mine. I feel more at peace with my kintype, I understand myself and my own feelings better as I examine them and theirs. Being my kintype is to just be Myself, and finding joy and comfort in that.