counterfictional

[counterfictional]

Following separation guides that aren't from tulpamancers (or use tulpa-specific terminology/worldview) has been very helpful in strengthening ties from the internal to external. Even if the guides are inspired by tulpa techniques, I associate tulpamancy with host-tulpa power imbalance and the tulpamancer's plight of constantly needing to 'force' one's tulpa to be 'sentient'.

(This has been my personal issue, not one that is worldwide nor factual.)

[counterfictional]

it's almost funny to me that the guy in my head who has collected the most likes / interests is the cat - the very, very silly cat. As opposed to anyone else, he is the one who has somehow, for some reason, has been very frequent in the front of the mind and has easily collected things about himself. He also took my OC as his own (joint custody ... we're sharing), and I realized the OC does in fact have the traits of what he likes in characters, which somehow surprised me.

The style of his 'fronting'(?) has been a sort of blending. Sometimes it feels like I'm a mask that has to be worn, sometimes it feels like we're mixing like slime or clay dough.

[counterfictional]

I am once again fucking begging the community to stop writing everything other than identify-as identities out of the word alterhuman and now fictionfolk too

Alterhuman does not mean everyone who identifies as nonhuman on some level (oh and maybe otherhearted people too). Please for the love of all that is good and holy stop saying that. It means anyone whose identity falls outside of society’s idea of “normal human” - anyone with an identity alternative to humanity or that’s an alternative form of humanity. It includes nonhumanity, yes, but also otherheartedness, hearthomes, archetropy, plurality, daemonism, furry lifestylers, othervague folks, constelics, and so much more. Here’s the coiner’s words to prove it.

Fictionfolk does not mean anyone who identifies as a fictional character. It means anyone with an alterhuman connection to fiction of any kind. It includes fictionkin and fictives and such, yes, but also fictional hearthomes, fictionheartedness, soulbonders, fictional vaguetypes, fictional constelics, and much more. Here’s the coiner’s words to prove it.

To collapse these words down to basically be synonymous with otherkin and fictionkin is to utterly defeat their purpose. Please stop defining us out of our own communities. Please stop erasing the existence of everyone outside of “identifies as nonhuman and/or fictional”.

[counterfictional]

I don’t think fictionfolk should be expected to renounce their source or rebuke themselves for what they’ve done in source unless those are actions they personally want to take.

Yes, even if they’re from that one “problematic” work of fiction you don’t like.

Yes, even if what they did is reprehensible to your standards.

We don’t exist to appease you. We don’t exist for your judgment based on who we are and where we come from.

We are members of this community just as you are. All of us should be recognized, not only a “valid” few because they fall within your standards.

Nothing in particular made this statement come up, but it is something that I feel should be said regarding etiquette towards fictionfolk in the alterhuman community.

[counterfictional]

if you are a fableing, can you tell me what it is like?

i’m curious if my experiences to the plural/fictionkin mixture is similar to the median experience.

[counterfictional]

origin, system experiences, and the need for separate spaces

hello! i want to collect some information about systems of various origins and how different system experiences are fundamentally. this questionnaire is going to be done in two parts, one part collecting answers for 9 questions and another having people read responses to them to try to determine which origin a response is from.

my goal is to see how different actual experiences are between different system origins in 3 major areas of life- daily life, leisure, and stress management. each section contains 3 questions each for a total of 9 questions to be answered.

my personal theory is that most system experiences are going to be indistinguishable by origin when made anonymous, however i'll need help to test that theory!

this questionnaire is open to all origins, syscourse stances, and ages, however i do need to ask that you keep all responses fully anonymous! thank you so much for checking this out, all tags are for reach. feel free to reblog for reach but please do not bring syscourse debates onto this post!

[counterfictional]

When An OC Foretells A Fictomere

by Sivaan of Candlekeep

Blurb: Ramblings on a recent connection I’ve made between a character I played in a D&D campaign and my position as a homebrew Celestial.

This started out as a normal blog post, but it got so long that I figured I’d make it a challenge entry.

Day 13 of the Alterhuman Writing Challenge

I was wondering when I’d eventually make a “fictionality is weird!” type of piece. One that is in the same vein as my “polymorphism is weird!” writings. Not “weird” as in… well, we’ve seen how non-fictionfolk view us, but weird as in “my identity is such a funky thing, and I love it for that!”.

This morning, I made an interesting realization regarding my species as a Celestial. I think it’s been lying dormant within me all this time, and it’s because of an Aasimar I played a while ago.

I will preface this by saying I’m not this character nor am I an Aasimar in general. To claim I’m OCkin, or anything akin to that, because of this realization would be disingenuous.

That said, I do believe the creation of this character gave me insight into what I am as a Celestial. I just didn’t realize it at the time.

Before I get into the connections I made, I will give some background on this character. This Aasimar was a statuesque being by the name of Aeon. When referring to Aeon, I will use they/them/themself and he/him/himself pronouns interchangeably. After all, this is how I referred to them when I played him.

Aeon was a bronze, winged figure that looked like a sentient suit of armor. Much like my homebrew race, their armor was a carapace of sorts. This bronze being also had an expressive helm, just like this race of mine. They had another form underneath their armor, but any exposure of this form would be too much for one’s comprehension (hence the carapace). As some players and/or dungeon masters could gather from this description, I certainly took a lot of creative liberties with Aeon’s appearance.

Something kept nagging at me to avoid making an Aasimar that was the usual human person with wings and a halo. At the time, I thought it was me trying too hard to be different when I’m only presenting this character to a group of friends. Make no mistake, I loved how Aeon came out. I just couldn’t shake the feeling that there was something more to Aeon’s design, at least more than just making them stand out from a lot of concepts I’ve seen.

That wasn’t all. I personally love Aasimars and playing Paladins, but I hated the holier-than-thou, Totally-Not-Archangel-Gabriel type of Aasimar Paladins that people would typically play. I decided to make this Aasimar an Oathbreaker.

They weren’t the Luciferian type. I decided I didn’t want to do the disgraced fallen angel angle (which is ironic considering one of my archetropes). I’d rather do something a little more realistic, a side of a Paladin I’ve yet to see.

Instead, Aeon had broken their pact with their god (a god of “justice” and war) and abandoned them alongside their queerplatonic partner, Quintus. Both realized that their god was weaponizing his paladins to enact cruelty against their own people, all in the name of “justice”. Yet, instead of rebelling directly, they took the coward’s way out. They went AWOL, or so they hoped.

Their god eventually caught up with them, and as punishment, smote Quintus before Aeon’s very eyes. Aeon got to keep their freedom, but at the cost of carrying the weight of the truth alone. Since then, Aeon had renounced the act of faith. They became a sell-sword to any in need of guardianship. He doesn’t dismiss believers of any faith. Instead, he warns them as they continue to worship.

He knows that faith can be a powerful, binding act. He also knows that gods are fully capable of being vindictive and callous, just as they are loving and virtuous. After all, they are a firsthand witness, perpetrator and victim of it. One could argue that Aeon realized the system was corrupt and didn’t support it. That much is true. However, Aeon didn’t do much to confront the system he contributed to. They abandoned it and did nothing to help the people most affected by it, largely out of fear of the god he abandoned.

I deliberately wrote Aeon and Quintus taking a coward’s route because it was the most convenient for Aeon’s position in the campaign. It also gave me an opportunity to explore Aeon’s character development as I played them.

Sure, I could’ve made the grandiose decision of telling our dungeon master that this Oathbreaker sparked a movement against their god, inspiring political mobility amongst the people. That would reflect my own ideals regarding the removal of abusive systems of power. Yet, where would that land Aeon in the story?

Unless it happened in a distant past, it wouldn’t make sense for such a public figure to suddenly leave their people and move in silence with the party. I can understand how it would fit in context to the campaign’s themes (a critical insight on organized religion), but I also understood that it wouldn’t work well in the scope of the plot. I needed to make Aeon a character that flew under the radar but understood the dangers of theocratic control.

I recall a discussion in the Archetroper’s Guild server, which brought up how the trope surrounding knights and paladins can often overlap with tropes surrounding cops. I never commented on it, but it reminded me of Aeon in a way. Aeon is someone who once took park in an exploitative, unjust system. Upon making this realization, Aeon renounces religious systems altogether. Yet, instead of using their position to aid the people, they abandoned everything to save themself.

I don’t view Aeon as a sympathetic character. I can see how they can be read that way since a couple of party members sympathized with him. That’s fine by me. Yet, as his player, I see Aeon as a character who had the chance to utilize the truth but didn’t. They were an authority figure who realized that they were a part of the problem, but rather than face said problem, they left their post without a word.

As a party member, Aeon made use of their newfound opportunity since there were even greater stakes at hand. Even so, making good on that opportunity won’t change the fact that he left his people in the shadow of oppression. They did nothing to challenge other paladins for executing their god’s demands without question, no matter who or what was hurt in the process.

Were they a changed person? Absolutely. Yet, what happened before those changes lingers like dust on a shelf.

They took the most self-serving approach, and they suffered as a result. They had no choice but to move on. All that remained was a godless apostate with nothing to show for it. That was Aeon, at least in the beginning of the campaign.

With that said, it’s time that I get into the connections I’ve made between my species and Aeon.

Right off the bat is the physical similarities. Both of us are beings with metallic caraspaces, shaped like very ornate suits of armor. Our helms are highly expressive, which accommodates for how limited our bodies can be. There is a lack of certain parts in our forms as well; both my species and Aeon’s body lack genitals.

We have our differences as well:

Members of my species are born with halos, but we shatter them as a rite of passage once we mature. Aeon never had a halo to begin with.

Aeon is contained within a bronze carapace, whereas I am contained within a golden one. Although my carapace has cracks that reveal myself underneath, Aeon’s carapace does not.

Aeon is only capable of detaching the helm of their carapace, as it is the least physically infused part of their being. That said, it takes a great amount of strength and can only be left exposed for a short amount of time. No part of my carapace can be detached. I can technically open up parts of my carapace (like a cabinet), but I cannot remove the metallic aspects of my being. That said, I can be seen beyond my carapace. Only other Celestials and Planetouched can see what my kind looks like underneath our armored shells.

Aeon only has four wings: two small ones on his helm, and two larger ones on his back. They are a bronze-red color. They also sprout from an open part of his carapace’s backside. I have several wings: a small set on my head, where my ears would be, and a multitude of them on my back. They appear golden due to my carapace, but underneath, they are black with a yellowish-orange tint like that of a solar eclipse.

Aeon uses traditional weaponry to fight, supplied by blacksmiths and the like. My weapon is my heart, quite literally. I must pry open my chest cavity, remove my heart, and transmutate it into a halberd. For my species, it is a cultural choice to fight with our greatest weakness.

With this information in mind, it makes me wonder if Aeon was created from a place of familiarity.

Did I subconsciously create Aeon as an example of the not-angel, not-demon celestial being I am, or did my subconscious remind me of Aeon’s existence to get an idea of what I am?

I can see the likelihood of either concept.

The last thing I wanted to touch on is the name I gave this homebrew species of mine: Apostates.

Admittedly, I did not settle on this name because of Aeon. Last week, Gabriel from UltraKill crossed my mind. I recalled one of his final boss fights, or more aptly, what he was called during it: the Apostate of Hate. Going off of Oxford’s definition, an apostate is a person who renounces a religious belief, political belief or principle. Something within me felt like this was it, that this was the name of my species.

In the case of Aeon, they renounced faith and theocracy respectively. They are an apostate in the literal sense. They abandoned their god for the sake of their freedom and with the intent to never follow a god again.

In the case of Apostates (as in my species), these are Celestials who renounce any and all worship. In Dungeons & Dragons, many Celestials exist because they serve some kind of divine being or force. These Celestials, however, are essences of the Planes given life. They align with no being.

While Apostates can align themselves to a Domain, Domains are not beings. They are universal constants. Here’s an example: Ares is a god of war. War is the domain that Ares upholds. Ares is worshipped, either for what he ensures with war or for what he represents in general.

Apostates do not worship Domains. We recognize that these concepts will exist regardless of a higher power, thus we ensure that these domains maintain their presence and that said presence(s) is balanced across the Planes. Moreover, supporting a Domain is a communal effort. To ensure the continuity of these universal constants, such as Life and Death, Apostates work together as one, not as the agents of a few.

I have my own suspicions on what my domain(s) may be:

Knowledge is one that I’m questioning the most. It wouldn’t surprise me, considering my own dedication to pursuing knowledge and sharing it with who I can through whatever means I can. Lest we forget, there is my connection to Candlekeep which speaks for itself.

There’s also Creation. Storytelling and worldbuilding are essential fundamentals to the structure of my realm. As a writer, I could easily fit within that too.

Then, there’s Change. This is a domain I support as The Manticore. It is also a domain I’d technically embody, seeing that I am polymorphic.

Lastly, there’s the Light Domain. I specifically suspect the Sun Domain, a subset of Light. This is relative to the connection that I feel towards the sun, its energy and its symbolism.

To be honest, each domain makes sense to me. I haven’t determined which one I align with the most, but they’re the ones I narrowed down while workshopping my species through homebrew.

Funny enough, Aeon’s domain was nowhere near close to mine. As I mentioned before, Aeon served under a god of war, justice, and governance; therefore, the domain of their god was a domain that they upheld.

Despite the contrasts between us, it’s fascinating how Aeon came to reflect this part of me. They were created around the time I had dropped my angel kintype, so their presence feels almost ironic. Whether they evolved with me, or they’re just a very specific consequence, I don’t think I’ll forget the part they played in helping me piece together who I am.

It reminds me of Daski’s essay on identity and its transcience. Perhaps, this is a case where my identity exhibits its own transitory nature; I know it’s done so before. I am not Aeon, but Aeon mirrors a part of me that I have long neglected.

I’m ready to embrace it.

All I need to do is put the pieces together.

[counterfictional]

Polymind is a bit fascinating because it ends up unintentionally showing why system terminology ends up not being exclusive to any one specific group.

Like when you try to describe plural experiences in a way that tries not to use an existing plural definitions, it shows a lot more blatantly that at its core we do all have the same experience of being more than one. Any term you make has a high chance of applying to the other group.

Then when you get into the terminology needed to actually describe those experiences, you find you kind of need most of the shared terminology otherwise you need to recreate the whole damn lexicon.

Like the reason terms get shared is more like "We have DID need a fast and easy way to describe fictional alters. Oh, soulbonders have a lot of terminology for this already that fits what we need, we'll start using fictive and source."

Or "We're a non-disordered system and need a way to describe one headmate taking over. Oh, medically there's switching and front, that's a fast and simple way to describe it."

And like a lot of subcultures online are like that and when you try to fight it you end up with complicated and not very practical terms. Especially when there's terms that have been used for over 30 goddamn years that are simpler and easier to use.

Hell even trying not to use any existing plural terminology, Polymind ended taking a lot of them unintentionally (i.e. part, ageling, little, protector).

It also highlights an issue where unless you do deeper introspection, which is not always practical for... obvious reasons, you probably won't know exactly what you fall under. Expecting people to look in depth trauma history to figure out what terminology they're allowed to use is despicable.

Also that the problem is at its core that people don't think we should exist at all and that the terminology stink ends up being more of a way to make harassment and fakeclaiming seem "justified" and also a method of erasing history and separating systems from resources/making them harder to find but eh

[counterfictional]

Panelist Applications are OPEN!

The applications to be a panelist at the Centaurus Festival are now open! These applications will close February 1st.

[counterfictional]

Anglocentrism in alterhuman communities: ramblings of a Spanish-speaking dragon and a cat

[original in spanish here, though i have no doubt that this version will be disseminated more widely] • [original en español aquí, aunque tengo la certeza de que esta versión se difundirá más ampliamente]

this post was originally written as part of The Sol System's Alterhuman Writing Challenge. written by @talon-dragonbeast, with the help of my sibling @watcherwingedcat. we hope you like it!

word count: 2422

This writing, which is more of a rant with myself than a proper essay, is one I've been meaning to write for a long time; ever since I first joined an online community, to be more precise. Anglocentrism, according to Wikipedia (and yes, the irony of the article not being available in Spanish is not lost to me), is "the practice of viewing the world primarily through the lens of English or Anglo-American culture, language, and values, often marginalizing or disparaging non-English-speaking or non-Anglo perspectives."

If you are monolingual and your native language is English, chances are you have never stopped to think about the advantage this gives you over those of us who are not so fortunate as to be born with the lingua franca on our lips. Yes, you may have had to study some Spanish in school, but let's be honest, very few people remember what they learn in elementary school. As an English speaker, the whole world is built for you, and it's the rest of us who have to fit your mold. Culture, scientific articles, movies, books, video games, the internet, online communities, technical language, educational videos: even in the most international spaces, everything revolves around English. Which brings me to the subject of this writing: The Alterhuman community.

My name (as I am known on the internet, at least) is Talon. I've been a member of the alterhuman community, and more specifically, the otherkin community, for a little over a year now. Otherkin (a word that comes from other, in Spanish otros; and kin, shortened form of kind, in Spanish tipo) are people who identify as nonhuman in some way. For example, I identify as a dragon (among other things), and that's what I am, even if I look human on the outside and am perceived as such. There are many reasons why someone might believe they are not human, but I'm not here to discuss that, so let's get back to the topic at hand.

Since I've been in this community, I haven't written a single post in Spanish. And not for lack of desire, nor because I am intimidated to share something as personal as my mother tongue. No, the reason is simple: The community does not exist in any language other than English. By this I don't mean that there are no non-humans outside of England or the United States, because of course there are (even if they are on other platforms like TikTok or Instagram), and I'll talk about those later. But simply put, the reason you don't see many alterhuman communities in other languages is because all the resources, the introductions, the chronologies of the (English) alterhuman community, the definitions of the terms, the terms themselves, everything is in English.

I have always been bilingual. Well, trilingual actually, although my third language is not too relevant in my day to day life and I only use it in classes or when someone starts a conversation in the language. It's hard to explain how your brain works when you speak multiple languages fluently, but basically it's like running two parallel systems at the same time, but with thoughts. I don't usually think with words, but when I do it usually happens that some of my thoughts are in Spanish, and others in English, roughly in a 50/50 ratio. Or it can also happen that I start the thought in one language, but finish it in another. Or I may try to use a specific word in English that does not have an exact translation into Spanish, so that when translated literally the sentence does not make sense. Basically, everything I write or say out loud I have to run it through several filters first, one to remove the words from the other language, one to find the words to replace them with, and one to make the sentence make sense. Sounds exhausting, doesn't it? It is. Now imagine if in order to express yourself as you really are, in order to participate in a community with beings who understand and accept you like no other, you had to basically suppress half of who you are, all the time.

The problem is not only not being able to use my native language to express myself. As I have demonstrated in the last year and a half that I have been in this community, I am fluent enough in English not only to be understood when I speak, but also to express such complicated concepts as the self, human nature, the psychology of being, and all that comes with existing as nonhuman. The real problem comes when I try to express relatively common alterhuman concepts in my native language. I'm not just talking about labels like otherkin or therianthrope, which can be adapted to Spanish with relative ease. It's the little things, the simplest things.

For example, the term shift. The word itself is already difficult to translate; during my searches, I found a glossary of terms on the Otherkin Hispano website in which they call them "desplazamientos", which... is an accurate translation, I guess, but impossible to use comfortably in everyday life. There are also terms whose definitions use expressions that simply cannot be translated into other languages. For example, otherkin and otherhearted. In English, the difference between these two terms is that otherkin means "[to] identify as" while otherhearted is "[to] identify with". But this is a purely English expression. In other languages, the distinction does not exist, or it makes no sense to use it; therefore, these terms are totally inaccessible to any international user. Or compound words like "catkin", which are difficult to express in other languages. According to Otherkin Hispano, in Spanish it would be said as is without translation, Soy catkin. But that... is not grammatically correct, since it would be mixing two languages in the same sentence. The most appropriate would be to say Soy gatokin, which sounds wrong and doesn't make sense anyway, because kin is still an English word. Or "hearttype", which in Spanish could be roughly translated as "tipo del corazón" (kind of [the] heart). When saying that you have a specific hearttype, for example "corvidhearted", one way of expressing it could be a simple Soy corvidhearted, which carries the same problems as catkin. Or you could, as Wikipedia advises, say Soy corazón de córvido ("I am heart of corvid"). I don't dislike it, to be honest, but some might find it too metaphorical or poetic.

Finally, and before reaching the conclusion, I want to dedicate a few paragraphs to talk about the alterhuman community that exists in other languages. I mentioned before these communities; that although they do exist, they are very scattered through platforms such as TikTok or Instagram, with which I am not so familiar. But since I can't talk about Anglocentrism without at least talking about the Spanish-speaking alterhuman community, I asked my sibling Watcher @watcherwingedcat what it thought about the topic. This is what they wrote:

Hi guys, I'm Watcher, and I'm here to talk a bit about the Spanish-speaking therian community, which I think is the pristine example of the hate we receive both from people outside the community and from those inside, both Spanish and South American. While this post focused more on the language barriers, I want to focus on the real consequences of this barrier, how it divides us in the way we interact with each other: The social part of this whole thing (as I already said some other time or another and some of my followers know, I am studying Social Education, so from my point of view the social part is very relevant for everything we do). As my sister already said (hi Talon!), the English community is the majority in alterhuman spaces, but, what is the Spanish-speaking community really like?

Not very large, is the answer. The term itself is not very widespread, and the community is quite small. However, after a while of searching, I found it in a little corner of the internet. When I found a community in my own language, I was excited, but my curiosity and joy were soon extinguished... When I saw the reactions to their videos and posts on tiktok mainly. They were packed with hate messages. Packed. If you think hate in the English community is bad, you are not prepared for the hate received in other communities, especially the Spanish one. This is more a matter of culture, a little bit also due to the closed mindedness in countries like Spain, Argentina, or Colombia.

In general, the non-humans of the Spanish-speaking community mostly post about quadrobics and masks. At least, I haven't seen much beyond that, and the community is mostly in tiktok. And the reception of their expression of way of being? Disgusting. To give an example of how bad the hate is, in one of the videos I found (I think it was a therian making a mask or something), humans and non-humans were insulting the therian posting the video, discussions about how we are crazy and sick in the head and should be in mental institutions... It was horrible. The worst were the death threats, even, wishing the therian to die, or hang themselves, or worse (I've even seen rape threats). Comments that said things like, "If my sister told me she was a dog I would take her clothes off and force her to sleep outside and eat animal food, if she wants to be a dog I will treat her like one." Threats of abuse, both physical and sexual... Absolutely disgusting. And the worst thing is that the tiktok platform did not remove these hate accounts, the copy and paste messages of insults, the threats....

I am proud of the Hispanic community for being so open about their identity, don't get me wrong, but there are times when it is safer to just not share that part of who we are with others, especially if you are a minor and vulnerable. That's another issue that concerns me, as I've seen people coming out to parents, siblings, friends, and them just belittling them. That, coupled with misinformation, is a recipe for disaster.

I couldn't help but notice the deep root of misinformation in the non-human community itself. They confuse definitions, the different terms, which leads them to spread even more misinformation. This I don't think is entirely their fault, or that they are so young for the most part, as I have not seen Hispanic therians over the age of 18. I think this is largely due (as Talon already mentioned) to the language difference, and the lack of translation of certain terms. In general, when talking to friends with whom I am open about my non-humanity, I use English terms. It is a little weird to use those words in English while speaking in Spanish, but I am bilingual and for now there is no solution to that. I think the Spanish community would benefit from spreading correct information, and having a platform to express themselves with their own, like tumblr is for the English community. Something my sister expands on in dreir post. As for me here I finish my little comment, I'll leave you with Talon now. Watcher out.

As a conclusion, I would like to talk about the consequences that Anglocentrism might have on non-English speaking alterhumans, and then propose some ideas on how we might begin to address (or at least mitigate) it as a community.

First of all it is the obvious; the vast majority of non-English speaking alterhumans simply never realize that they are alterhumans in the first place, on account of the language barrier. All of the resources for beings who are questioning their humanity or lack thereof are in English, so they are not accessible to people who don't understand the language; therefore, a non-English speaker would have a much harder time accessing them. Another consequence is not being able to express your alterhumanity fully, both internally and externally. Remember when I mentioned that my thoughts are evenly distributed between English and Spanish, always keeping a 50/50 ratio? Well, recently, I have noticed that when reflecting on my identity as a dragon, all my thoughts are automatically generated in English. I find this deeply shocking, as I feel that a fundamental part of my identity is being eroded. It is devastating to feel that you can only express half of who you are, suppressing what could otherwise be a complex and multifaceted identity. Not being able to express myself in my other language limits my ability to explore that part of myself.

Anglocentrism is a cycle that never ends; since all the resources are in English, no members in other languages can join, and since there are no members in other languages, all the resources that are created are in English. And while I wish I could say that I have a solution to end this Anglocentrism once and for all, unfortunately, I do not. I am only one person (dragon), and this is a problem that I alone cannot solve. True, there have been some commendable attempts by the international community (translations of writings, alterhuman blogs in languages other than English, the Eurokin server on Discord are some examples); however, these initiatives often don't often get very far because of the very nature of the community. As I have already said, most of the alterhumans are North American or English, therefore any attempt to globalize the community would be restricted by the fact that there are not many members who would be interested in this in the first place. So what can we do to change this? The answer lies in you, reader. If you have a second language, encourage yourself to create writings in it from time to time. If you come from a culture other than the mainstream, talk about how that affects your identity. If you have traditions specific to your country that you believe are alterhuman in nature, share them. And if you are part of the English-speaking majority, I invite you to contribute in a positive way through simple actions, such as listening to us when we express ourselves in other languages, recognizing that we do not all share the same culture, and keeping an open mind when discussing topics that may be unfamiliar to you. Our strength as a community lies in the diversity of our members; let's embrace it.

[counterfictional]

i understand the need for posts abt how introjects arent their sources and i understand why everyone insists that source separation is so important but my god we feel very alienated as a system with fictives who are like, at least currently unable to detach themselves, to the point of like genuine Actual delusion

we have limited options here and these fictives' identities are very important to them to the point that it feels cruel to take them away, and it's honestly kind of alienating and miserable that source attachment is so fundamentally taboo on its face that whenever it's brought up it's in the context of it being bad.

because i understand that it is bad for some people! there are a lot of things that happen wrt mental illness that is bad for a lot of people! and it's amazing to me that "dissociate until you think you are literally a fictional character" is for some reason like, So Bad To Do as someone with a Dissociative Disorder that it's actively immoral to do it where anyone else can see it!

like im really really sorry if seeing my alter talk about Actually Not Being Human or Literally Being A Fictional Character triggers your own dissociation but it is not "ableist" and if i am apparently a danger to you then you need to like. Leave my blog. yk?

so i keep sighing when i see like, "source attachment bad" posts, or even related posts that Mention it as though it's something you'd never want. theres very little acknowledgement or positivity for people who Are source attached, whether or not they want to be, and that feels extremely isolating and kind of unfair. bc dissociation and depersonalization are symptoms of the disorder you are trying to advocate for and youre all just straight up saying like, "remember not to have these symptoms guys :) and if you do keep it to yourself" about something that i dont think needs to be that taboo

[counterfictional]

*Content specifically published as fan content, not just kin/fictive content (ie. posted as fanart/fanfiction)

[counterfictional]

I see! Thank you again for sharing, it gives me much to mull over :-)

if you are a fableing, can you tell me what it is like?

i’m curious if my experiences to the plural/fictionkin mixture is similar to the median experience.

[counterfictional]

if not fableling, then soulbond. i usually see the way a lot of fictional experiences i have as soulbonds, not so much kintypes although it often begins as me feeling extremely influenced by them.

[counterfictional]

INTERESTING... Thank you for sharing! Are fableings able to communicate with you? I think for me, I relate to the incredibly strong kinshift aspect, but I often understand them as separate entities from me.

if you are a fableing, can you tell me what it is like?

i’m curious if my experiences to the plural/fictionkin mixture is similar to the median experience.

[counterfictional]

if you are a fableing, can you tell me what it is like?

i’m curious if my experiences to the plural/fictionkin mixture is similar to the median experience.