fallowyrm

[fallowyrm]

[fallowyrm]

About the sketches! A spotted or brown hyena with headphones around its neck and a small scar across the top of its snout?

Alternatively, a namielle (monster hunter) esque aquatic dragon, or a bully mutt dog with floppy ears and white fur with grey spots? All with headphones and the scar. Just choose whichever you'd like to draw, tag @pawlybius for it please!

spotted hyena for @pawlybius !!

sorry that i literally forgot i was doing requests LMAO a lot of things are happening in my life right now so i got super busy suddenly. they're good things! just things that take up a lot of my time and energy ^.^

[fallowyrm]

[fallowyrm]

Our garden, at the edge of the forest. Värmland, Sweden (July 26, 2021).

[fallowyrm]

Types of British Animals. Written by Frederick G. Aflalo. Illustrated by Edmund Caldwell. 1909.

Internet Archive

[fallowyrm]

I think it’s unfortunate that this community, for whatever reason, often equates “seriousness” with validity. I this is where a lot of the “more therian than thou” misinterpretation stems from, and also how you get folks saying “just otherhearted” and etc in a somewhat demeaning fashion.

I think it is ridiculous to expect everyone to be “as serious” about their therianthropy/nonhumanity. On some level, this will simply not be a lifelong identification for some, but that does not mean that they were incorrect (or “invalid”) in calling themselves a therian when they did. There will be some who dip their toes into therianthropy before deciding, actually, this is not for them, or perhaps a different community serves their needs better. For some, therianthropy might be a small facet of their identity. None of these individuals have forfeited their claim to the space.

There’s the added complexity that often more physical/embodied experiences are shorthanded as more “serious” by default. The perception of validity, of “realness,” becomes: spiritual < psychological < biological < physical (or similar). Hopefully this is ridiculous on its face, but for clarification, none of these frameworks is more or less real than the other. The same goes for involuntary vs voluntary identities. The assumption that one is, at its base, more serious (and, following the “seriousness equals reality” paradigm, more real) than the other is just a mischaracterization at its heart.

I think both of these conflations are obviously unfair and not productive to the long term health of the community. Those with physical experiences should be able to talk about said experiences without being lambasted for “trying to make their experiences seem more serious [read: more valid].” And there should not be pressure for other folks in the community to justify their existence as oppositional to “less serious” (whether that is a true characterization or not) identities. Fundamentally, individuals will come to this community with a variety of frameworks. Some will view their nonhumanity more lightheartedly than others, some will be here for longer than others, some will have permanent shifts, some will have no shifts at all. No one is “less therian” than anyone else for these reasons.

[fallowyrm]

Yolk submissions!

sorry for being inactive for a while lol

Yolk is accepting art and writing for their fall print issue! Keep in mind only Canadians can enter (the digital publication is open to everyone but submissions for those start next month) and the submission fee is $3 (can be waived if necessary)!

Submission link with guidelines

[fallowyrm]

Inner Worlds!

Inner Worlds is a digital zine dedicated to "speculative stories about our inner lives; our thoughts, our emotions, our perceptions, our dreams" (their About page).

Their reading period is now open until July 31st, although the zine has reserved July 1st-14th for marginalized writers (ie women, BIPOC, queer, neurodivergent, disabled). More guidelines here.

Their interest in ideas from genre fiction and new experiences make them a perfect fit for the alterhuman community! In fact, their example work on Chillsubs, "Wolf Mother" by Shantell Powell, might resonate with wolf therians in particular ;) Good luck to anyone entering!

[fallowyrm]

another intersex alterhuman poll ...

same clarifications as last time :

intersex is not applicable to changes from HRT . unless happen to also have intersex variation which naturally develop , select not intersex .

alterhuman can be any identity and experience that fall under alterhuman umbrella , not just therian , otherkin , etc . however , posts can only use so many tags , and smaller tags already often flood with irrelevance , so opt to only use biggest ones .

these lists of examples not exhaustive .

some examples of intersex variation lead to alterhumanity :

identify as something nonhuman because of alienation due to intersexism and cruelty

connect to hearthome because people there would consider variation to be natural / beautiful / sacred

fictionfolk of character specifically due to character's intersex status ( canon or headcanon )

some examples of alterhumanity lead to intersex variation :

reincarnate in way that resemble previous life , under human conditions ( ie species with pseudopenis reincarnate with clitoromegaly )

physically nonhuman of species more likely to blur lines between sex traits , therefore human guise born or naturally develop into intersex classification ( ie some kinds of faeries , divinity )

plurality affect body ( ie hosts change during puberty , and also have variation that become apparent at puberty )

please do note that kossai provide these examples as personal theories and explanations that some may have , and not as explanations for everyone . do not want this post to be where people hash out complaints with religion or physical nonhumanity , please . :')

[fallowyrm]

i think i would feel more connected to my unicorn 'type if i interacted with other unicorns more frequently, but it seems like no matter how hard i look, i cannot find others like me. im a unicorn archetrope, not a unicornkin, so i already struggle to relate to the unicorns that i see in the tags... but i also feel like no one really thinks of being unicorn the way i do?

when i look at the tags, all i see are "white horse with a horn" type unicorns, or even "magical rainbow pink glittery pony" ones. and dont get me wrong, i have nothing against these individuals! they are free to interpret unicorns in a way that best reflects their self-perception. but that just... isnt me. i very much vibe with the older interpretation of unicorns, the one i identify with as a unicorn archetrope: a wild deer-like beast with a lions tail and a curved horn so sharp it could kill men; a creature that embodies nature itself, something that cannot be tamed or contained.

i feel like there are almost no unicorns like this out there? when i read older texts, from before the unicorn community joined the larger otherkin community, i find that i can relate to them so easily. they are just like me! the modern unicornkin community, on the other side, feels almost... foreign. i feel like i dont belong there, both as a unicorn and as an archetrope. and it sucks.

btw if any unicorns wanna be friends feel free to reblog this and say hello... the purpose of this post is so i can find others like me :>

[fallowyrm]

i am a gargoyle in a world of grotesques

[fallowyrm]

We’d luv 2 submit a request for a lil doodle but we’re a lil worried abt having our commissioned artwork that we paid for being out in an ask. Would it be okay 2 dm u abt a doodle? :]

yea for sure!! I totally understand :3

[fallowyrm]

I want to draw your awesome alterhuman selves send me an ask and ill do a little sketch of you!!! i want to make these doodles more personal so if you want to add themes you like or anything specific feel free to do so!!

[fallowyrm]

I believe that therianthropic culture became materialistic partially because most of its media moved to visual-based platforms sometimes around 2020: TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube.

These platforms encourage you to upload videos and images as a way to connect with the other users. Typically these are videos and images of yourself. And since gear is a way to visually represent your theriotype, creators will want to wear their gear in their posts. This signals to others that they are therian and what their theriotype is.

Having gear then becomes the norm, since you only see therians with at least one or two types of gear on them. It doesn't matter how many times you say "you don't need gear to be therian" because actions speak louder than words; the action of only showing yourself in gear tells others that gear is a norm, a necessity.

Its also in part of pre-existing consumerism, likely because a lot of therian influencers (if we can call them that) tend to be from western and more capitalistic countries. Theres the belief that having stuff in general will alleviate your discomfort, in this case it's owning gear to alleviate species dysphoria. You could very well just spend time doing something that connects you to your theriotype for free, but since theres a decline in those skills (and the willpower to learn those skills), people feel the need to instead buy something to avoid the learning curve it takes to learn those skills and do those activities.

[fallowyrm]

Therian/Otherkin Journal Prompts

I journal often and over the past few years Ive slowly accrued a bunch of therian/kin specific writing prompts so i thought id share in case anyone else journals as well.

How did you first discover your alterhumanity? What was the process like? Did you accept it right away?

Do you feel more connected to your alterhumanity in certain environments or seasons?

How has your understanding of yourself changed over time?

What does a shift (mental, phantom, dream, etc) Feel like for you?

Do you enjoy your shifts? Or are they a negative experience for you? How do you manage them?

What physical things or activities make you feel more "you" during your shifts? Are there specific items that ground you in your identity?

Do you have memories from another life, timeline or world? Write one down in detail

how do you differentiate between a memory and a dream or feeling?

What emotions come up when you revisit your source, species environment, etc

What challenges do you face being alterhuman, and how do you cope

are you "out of the closet"? if so, how do others react. If you are still in the closet, what keeps you from telling others/certain people?

Write a letter to your younger self about your identity

Write a letter to your kinself

How do you explain your identity to others (if you choose to at all)

How do you balance being alterhuman with the expectations of society?

What misconceptions about alterhumans frustrate you the most?

Are you active in the community? What about the community itself frustrates you the most?

Do you believe your identity is spiritual, psychological or something else?

What are your beleifs about the soul, consciousness and past lives?

Do you feel a calling or "purpose" related to your identity?

How does your identity fit into your beliefs about reality and existence?

Do you meditate or do any sort of dream work? what are your experiences?

Do you practice any form of spirituality (Witchcraft, a pagan practice, folk magic, etc) If so, what role does your alterhuman identity play in this? Bonus creativity and expression section:

Design/plan a cozy selfcare day centered around your kintype. What do you do?

Write a poem/song expressing your identity

Use a page to doodle/draw some vent art

Draw or describe your nonhuman self/form

Write a letter from your kintype to your human self, or vice versa

[fallowyrm]

Lesser Dragon

[fallowyrm]

Rolling hills of Mid Devon, United Kingdom by Simon Ward