#alt.horror.werewolves

[dolphins-cove]

I found an intro template werecreatures used back in AWHH times so i will fill it out now :))

Name: Loki

Were Name: Loki

Email Address: \

Phenotype: Brown eyes, 1,60m tall, idk what else belongs here

Shifting Ability: Mental and phantom shifting mainly.

Birthdate: not sharing

Birthplace: earth

Home Territory: Forest near my home. It has a pretty river :))

Dream Territory: the ocean.

Physical Description, Were: Im a striped dolphin, mostly grey with a lighter belly and side, stripes going from my beak to my tail.

Human Career: future ride operator

Hobbies/Interests: Themeparks! Rollercoasters specifically and i play the guitar

Favorite Movies: the last unicorn

Favorite Were-movie: my favorite were-related movie is probably princess mononoke but im not sure right now

Favorite Literature: i usually dont read but i remember liking the fox craft books

Favorite Were Literature: i guess fox craft is were enough

Favorite Art: idrk what to answer here tbh

Favorite Were-art: same here

Favorite Quote: "its a dolphins birthright to swim in a straight line in the ocean as far as its heart desires." - Ric O'Barry 

Favorite Were Saying/Quote: i really like the scene in princess mononoke where san tells ashitaka that shes not a human but a wolf. I think this fits here well

Favorite Personal Quote: i dont make creative quotes :(

Favorite Song/Band(s): I like IMAscore alot

Favorite Season: spring

Favorite Holidays: Christmas!

Preferred Prey: fish! And octopus/squids

Hunting Tips: you dive, swim fast and catch your prey with your mouth and go NOM

Preferred Method of Attack: NOM

Favorite Non-Were Mythological Beast: not a beast but Unicorns, i am a unicorn kin tho so its were related actually

Feelings Toward Vampires: my best friend is one!

Feelings Toward Normal Humans: i tend to avoid humans.

Personal Therianthropy: I awakened between 2017-2018 in winter, i discovered the term therian and i knew, this is me. From then on i thougt i was a wolf then over the years i found out im a dolphin. I have multiple were identities but being a dolphin is the most dominant. I identify as a dolphin psychologically and physically, i view my body as the one of a dolphin. Being a were influences my life daily because i am always dolphin. I always feel dolphin and it sometimes affects the way i perceive things. I also tend to talk in a simpler language when fully transformed.

Ill update this at some point when i thought abt certain questions more!! :)

I changed some things up in the template btw, since i am not human i had to adjust the points to neutral words!

[vagabonds-howl]

Piece of history right here

this therian post from 1997… i hope ur doing well now AJ i feel ur pain

[moon-the-therian12]

Bored as an alterhuman/otherpaw/feraveli? Here's 30+ things to do ^^

- Make your kintypes out of clay

- Crochet your kintypes

- Make a cardboard mask

- Make treats that look like what ur kintypes eat

- Watch documentaries of ur kintypes

- Collect random stuff that make u think of ur kintype

- Make a den/nest

- Play in the fallen leaves/snow/sand

- Go for a walk in the forest (or whatever natural area u have near u)

- Make outfits that make u think of ur kintype

- Make a scent maker

- Start an alterhuman/therian journal

- Make alterhuman stickers and stick them to random sings in ur city

- Make jewlery w feathers on it (I heard we are trying to find eachother by wearing stuff w feathers)

- Make a yarn tail

- Go bone hunting

- Make your alterhuman symbols out of clay

- Paint your alterhuman flags

- Read random posts on a.h.w.w. (link: https://alt.horror.werewolves.narkive.com/ )

- Find your territory

- Make a map of your territory

- Build a swing in your territory (MAKE SURE ITS SAFE!!)

- Paint ur paw print

- Hunt plushies

- Turn gloves into paw gloves (example: glue paw shaped fabric on them)

- Try to make alterhuman friends online

- Play games where u play as ur kintypes

- Make an aesthetic pinterest board that makes u think of ur kintypes

- Link with an animal u like

- Start a journal/notebook where u write abt plants/animals u see when u go on adventures

- Visit your hearthome

- Research the history of alterhumans (dont know where to start? Elf Queen's Daughetrs, Alt.Horror.Werewolves, Sylvan Elves)

NOTE: YOU DO NOT NEED TO DO ANY OF THESE THINGS TO BE AN ALTERHUMAN, OTHERPAW OR FERAVELI!!!

[frameacloud]

Some basics about alterhumans, otherkin, and therianthropes

Alterhuman is not another word for nonhuman. It’s not another word for otherkin, either. Alterhuman is an umbrella term for therianthropes, otherkin, nonhumans, and more. It can also be for some who do identify as human, just in some unusual ways. The word alterhuman is short for alternatively human. It was coined by Lio of the Crossroads System in 2014. Its purpose was so all of these kinds could unite under a word, without erasing what makes each one distinct.

The otherkin and therianthrope communities started without any relation to each other. The word otherkin was coined in the year 1990 in the Elfkind Digest mailing list. Its participants were elves, dragons, dwarves, wolves, and more. That’s where the otherkin community started.

Elsewhere, the therianthrope community started in 1993, in an internet group for fans of werewolf stories, alt.horror.werewolves. The participants started talking about how they related to those stories. Therianthropes are often kinds of animals that live on Earth, but not all of them are.

Later, in the late 1990s and 2000s, the communities of otherkin and therianthropes started to mingle because of what they have in common with each other. The two still exist side by side, with their own distinct qualities, and so do many other sorts of alterhumans.

[indornaga]

Hey, Lets Talk About Therian Gatekeeping.

If you've ever seen my work, you know that I'm a very inclusionist therian. People & creatures who have read my work or been to one of my presentations of Therian: Dispelling the Earthen Animal Myth have been very receptive of the information and have passed it on to others in the community that havent been so fortunate as to have experienced and learned along side me. There's still a lot of work to be done in this venture, and every person & creature who shares it is a crucial part of history.

So why does the "therian = earthen animal" belief exist and persist? My favorite theory is that there's a pervasive need to be seen as legitimate. Fictional and mythical animals arent seen as real, in their therian-worldview. Not real enough for exclusionists, and that theory is constantly reinforced by exclusionists who insist that inclusionists are the ones trying to rewrite the term's history.

Let me show you what I mean.

Here's a link to where I got this screenshot. Please note the date in the upper right hand corner of the screenshot. For context, this is from a thread on the community's originating website, Alt.Horror.WereWolves. This is the thread that originates our current usage of Therian/thrope/y. (The censored info is the members' real names. You can see them uncensored at the link, unfortunately. I've censored them here for privacy.)

As I see it, therianthropy applies to *any* human/animal form, regardless of history, powers, or other attributes.

The original defining discussion thread of therianthropy includes "any human/animal form". Gatekeepers are the ones in the wrong here.

There's an argument amongst exclusionists, "if therianthropy can extend to include non-earthen animals, what's the point of therianthropy as a concept?" For those who arent aware, although therianthropy and otherkinity significantly overlap in their experiences and the way those experiences are described, the two communities developed separately, with overlap in experience and terms used, depending on which of the two a member found first. It's so deeply ingrained in these exclusionists that therians can only be real animals, that they choose a narrow inclusion or non-existence.

On top of this, it's incredibly disturbing that these people & creatures are encouraging revisionist history by completely denying original, first hand sources that tell them they're wrong. They delete messages that inclusionists reply with, giving them these primary sources. So I'm here showing you the truth.

If you've been led to believe, threatened even, that you're "not a real therian" if you believe therians can be non-earthen animals, then I'm here holding your paw, telling you that your inclusion in a term/experience doesnt hinge on how well you uphold the standards of a few.

If you would like more reading about this, I have a whole essay, linked at the beginning of the post, with dozens of citations to primary sources about this issue. If you agree that "therian = earthen animal only", I challenge you to read the essay. Read and really analyze the sources linked there. Engage with your history in it's purest form, not from others telling you things. Learning and expanding your worldview is the most powerful way to grow as a person.

[radwolf76]

So I didn't actively join the community until February of '95, so I missed the first Howl by 3 months. But the second in April of that year, the Spring Thaw Howl, was a formative experience for me.

If I can figure out where I stashed it, I need to get a photo of the crude nailed wooden stake sign roughly painted with AHWW that marked the dirt road turn off to the campsite, so I can share it with everyone.

Best I can do right now is a bottle cap from a Red Wolf Beer I had that weekend.

Yes, it was the '90s.

And while my memories from 30 years ago are somewhat hazy I do have some life lessons from that weekend to impart.

Just because an event is billed as "Spring Thaw", it doesn't mean temperatures won't drop below freezing after dark.

No matter how good a masseuse the cute werepanther is, getting a full body massage from her in 30°F weather might not actually be the best idea. That shivering your body does when cold? It's small & rapid muscular contractions; something that well massaged and relaxed muscles can't do well at all.

It is possible to stand two inches away from a blazing roaring bonfire, if you're exceedingly careful and your need is great.

Scrapple is a decent enough breakfast as long as you don't think too hard about where it came from. (No worse than eating hot dogs, really.)

"Twee" is a fun word to say.

"Heineken!? Fuck that shit! Pabst Blue Ribbon!" — Dennis Hopper, Blue Velvet

On the carpool up, I found out that Ohio had the best Q-zar. But Laser Tag after eating Buffalo Wings for the first time in your life will murder you with heartburn.

Mark ur calendars!! 🗓️

Therianthropy day 2024 falls on 16. November!!

Edit: Since most ppl aren’t reading the context: It does not fall on the 16th every year. It takes place on the first full moon of November, therefor falling on the 16th this year. Sorry to disappoint anyone who thought it was on their bday every year, it changes. /nm (just informing u)

Context: therianthrophy day is celebrated after the first howl (therian meet) ever done, which was organized to be on the first full moon of November so that’s why it is always celebrated on a varying date!!

[transspeciesculture]

We keep mentioning how transspecies as a term has existed long before the radqueer & transID communities formed, and started claiming it as part of those communities despite it's actual usage within nonhuman/fictional/unusual human species identifying spaces and objections from said spaces.

As a sort of quick thing to back this up, here are some examples before the year of 2020 (estimated beginnings of the radqueer/transID community)!

All of this excludes troll posting/mockery, and is focused on NH/FICT community's discussions. Some additional content warnings are provided for some of the e-mails, however.

This is not extensive, feel free to show us any other finds (excluding alt.horror.werewolves e-mails, we've already scoured trough everything. There is actually more mentions via that, but all from the same person).

Mentions of term:

01 - "Gender-bender" e-mail, 1999. Included in this section due to the unclearness of if the original author of the e-mail identifies as otherkin or transspecies personally.

[Link] [Link 2] [Archive] [Archive 2]

02 - "On cosmic surgery and personal identity" e-mail, 2005

[Link] [Archive] [Archive 2]

03 - "Da Jakkal's work revisited" e-mail, 1999. Warning: has some outdated terminology/beliefs.

[Link] [Archive] [Archive 2]

04 - "Re: Introduction" e-mail, 2002

[Link] [Archive]

05 - "Re: Shifters: in need of Help." e-mail, 1999. Warning: thread has mentions of an un-nameable native American creature.

[Link] [Archive] [Archive 2]

06 - "Re: Musing of the Week" e-mail, 1999

[Link] [Archive] [Archive 2]

06 - "Re: define were" e-mail, 1997. Warning: thread has mentions of an un-nameable native American creature. (This is the second time we've have to issue this CW. Sucks.)

[Link] [Archive] [Archive 2]

07 - "Re: Fun with Faith" e-mail, 1997. Same warning as above, unfourtunately.

[Link] [Archive] [Archive 2]

08 - "Re: Questions on Were's/Shifting/etc" e-mail 1997. Same warning, a lot of early instances of the word being used seem to all be from this one being, sorry.

[Link] [Archive] [Archive 2]

09 - "Re: Slithering into AHWW" e-mail, 1997

[Link] [Archive] [Archive 2]

10 - "Re: Odd Dreams" e-mail, 1998

[Link] [Archive] [Archive 2]

11 - "Shifters: WereBreeds" e-mail, 1999. Warning: has some outdated terminology.

[Link] [Archive] [Archive 2]

12 - "On the appropriation of trans narratives by therianthropes" article, 2013. Contrary to the title, it is supportive. It does mention the native creature again due to excerpting an AHWW member's ramblings, so thread with caution.

[Link] [Archive] [Archive 2]

13 - "An Introduction to Animality" article, 2009

[Link] [Archive] [Archive 2]

Usage of term for clear self identification (flags and symbols are included):

01 - "Re: A question to everyone out there" e-mail, 1997. Warning once again for mentions of an un-nameable native American creature, and questionable identity that may or may not be considered cultural appropriation (we have no place to say as we are not native). Still, it is an clear account of identification with the label and experiences that'd come to be associated with it.

[Link] [Archive] [Archive 2]

02 - "Chewing and biting (and intro)" e-mail, 1999. The poster at the time of posting already specifies that they do not identify with the label anymore, but used to.

[Link] [Archive] [Archive 2]

03 - "Transspecies Pride stamp" flag/pride graphic, 2017.

[Link] [Archive] [Archive 2]

04 - "Transspecies Flag" flag, 2018

[Link] [Archive] [Archive 2]

05 - "Why I call myself Transspecies" personal article, 2018

[Link] [Archive] [Archive 2]

06 - "Gender: Furry II (Now With More Scales)

[Archive]

07 - "Real Dragons: Transspeciesism" article, 2001

[Archive]

[sillyfreakx5]

every time i see nonhumans+ complaining about "tiktok therians", i get reminded of how "tumblrkin" used to be a derogatory term for those not taking their identity seriously and only doing it "for the aesthetic", or even earlier, in the early 2000s, how the weres/therians on the alt.horror.werewolves forum were complaining about the new community members not taking it seriously. XD

i suppose us complaining about the youth doing nonhumanity wrong is a tradition lol. Like of course kids aren't posting philosophical essays about nonhumanity, of course misinformation amongst them is rampant (especially considering the medium of tiktok), of course some of them aren't taking this very seriously or might "grow out of it". It's ok!!

Obviously, we should lend them a helping hand in clearing up misinformation and teaching them about the full variety and wonder of the nonhuman or alterhuman experience. But we shouldn't look down on them, and treat them as if they're bad somehow. As well as that, sometimes we should just accept the generational and platform based differences between us. It's ok. We've been through this before, and we'll be through this again when the next wave of newbies rolls around.

[wxlfbites]

A Werewolfs Guide to Terminology - an update

Authors Note: Below is an ever developing glossary which will be used by a new, yet familiar, branch of the nonhuman community known as the were community. For all those who wish to distance or no longer associate themselves with the current alterhuman, otherkin and therian communities, respectively, this glossary provides ways of describing one's experiences and identities that are more reminiscent of the "old days". While terms used within all of these communities will be listed here, you'll notice they're written a bit differently, to distinguish between "new" and "old" variations. Any and all questions about terminology are welcome. Any terms coined by individual Were's may not appear in any official Were community glossary unless it proves to be a useful, popular term; we want to avoid as much micro-labeling, excessive coining and term hoarding as possible.

A

Animality - the experience or state of being an animal.

Awereness - when one comes to understand their nonhumanity/animality; they become "awere".

Alt.Horror.Werewolves (AHWW) - a usenet group created in 1992 to discuss werewolves and the werewolf genre, it became the birthplace of The Were Community when others began discussing their experiences with nonhuman identity.

C

Calling - feeling drawn to something, someone or someplace as part of ones nonhumanity, this could be used for a nebulous experience that one might not be able to label otherwise, a placeholder while one is discovering what an experience means to them, or a standalone label : "I feel the call of x" or "I'm having a strong calling toward x".

Clinical Zoanthropy - a psychological condition wherein one experiences delusions of being, transforming into or having previously transformed into a nonhuman animal.

D

Daemon - a thoughtform representation of someone's subconscious, inner thoughts, or soul which is given a name, animal form, gender and, in most cases, sentience.

Daemian - one who has a daemon.

Drop - to no longer identify as or with a specific identity for whatever reason; typically seen in the context of voluntary identities.

F

Flicker - one who experiences a nebulous or temporary identity which is often brought on by the consumption of some source material; the thing one identifies as : "my x-flicker" or "I'm flickering as x".

G

Gear - accessories, including jewelry, clothing, taxidermy, etc. worn to express and connect to ones nonhumanity and/or relieve species dysphoria.

Greymuzzle - an older, well respected member of the were community who has been active for several years; equivalent to an elder.

H

Hearted - the strong connection one feels to something nonhuman which may include an affinity for, relation to, resonance or familiarity with; the thing one feels a connection with : "I am x-hearted".

Howl - an organized gathering of Were's, typically in a physical location.

L

Link - a nonhuman identity that is voluntarily chosen or created; the thing one voluntarily identifies as or with : "my x-link" or "I link to/as/with x".

M

Mundane -  indicating those who are not part of any nonhuman community and do not consider themselves to be nonhuman in anyway, particularly those who do not know of these communities or who do not believe in them.

N

Nonhuman - someone who identifies as something other than human.

Nonhumanity - the experience or state of being nonhuman.

P

Pack - a tightly knit group of Were's who communicate regularly and function as a chosen family; may or may not have ranks.

Polywere - a Were whose identity is that of multiple separate species at once.

S

Shifting - when one feels more like their nonhuman identity at any given moment; refer to part two of this glossary.

Species Dysphoria - a type of bodily dysphoria (i.e. anxiety, distress, dissatisfaction) arising from the perception that ones body is of the wrong species.

T

Transspecies - one who identifies as a species that is different from the one they are assigned at birth; typically used only by those who are also transgender, experience species dysphoria and desire body modifications which may resemble medical transitioning to resemble their species more on a physical level.

The Were Community - the overall population who identify themselves as Were's.

W

Were - one who identifies as nonhuman, specifically as some creature or animal; this can be a physical, spiritual, psychological or mixed-belief identity : "I am a Were" or "I am a Were-x".

Werefeels - the feeling of being closer to or reminded of one's nonhumanity; sometimes triggered by an image, item or sensation.

Weresona - a character created by a Were member of the furry fandom, based on their nonhuman characteristics; for use in furry circles.

Part Two - Shifting

Astral Shift - a shift where one takes on the form of a nonhuman creature within the astral plane

Aura Shift - when one's aura changes to reflect their nonhumanity.

Berserker Shift - when one's animality takes over, characterized by loss of control or an altered state of consciousness.

Bilocation Shift - a shift where one's spirit leaves their body and takes on the form of a nonhuman creature.

Cameo Shift - a shift of any kind that is not representative of one's established nonhuman identity.

Dream Shift - a shift experienced in an unconscious state or dream, where one takes on the form and/or mentality of a nonhuman creature.

Mental Shift - when one experiences what they believe to resemble the mentality and cognitive processes of a specific nonhuman creature.

Phantom Shift - when one experiences non-corporeal body parts associated with a nonhuman creature.

Sensory Shift - when one experiences heightened or altered senses that they feel resembles that of a nonhuman creature.

Transformation - a physical shift which is acknowledged by the one experiencing it to be a hallucination.

[digidrakncreature]

alt.horror.werewolves

in uh... when was I 13... 2005? I'd just gotten more or less free range on the internet and almost immediately looked up werewolves and stumbled onto therians

[a-dragons-journal]

I am Very frusted and confused and hope that maybe ive just misunderstood something and that you could clarify ... ive started seeing posts asserting that therian = kinning non-human/humanoid animals that exist in meat space (regardless of extinction status) and otherkin = everything other than that. That's not true afaik. As long as ive been in the community Therian has meant either a synonymon for otherkin, a loosely defined portion of the otherkin community that experices mental/spiritual shifts, or a cluster of loosely connected spiritual beliefs surrounding reincarnation, animism, and non-100%-human souls inhabiting human bodies...iirc the first therians to write abt their experiences were elves

I am a fairy but not kin but i like to look in the various blank - kin tags sometimes and like a good chunk of the top posts in fairy kin tags are by non - fairies with large portions of the posts asserting ( supportively not malicously mind you !! ) that fairy kin are some how not therians by Virtue of being capable of being bipedal and superficially Humanoid in shape OR are not therians in some different unique way **other than that a fairy may or may not self identify as a therian**

Have I been wrong abt this for over a decade somehow?

I am however a mushroom kin (Clathrus ruber) to assure you I am not infact some stranger stumbling into things I don't understand

"your mushroom kin but you being a fairy isnt kin ?? how ??" It's a complicated mix of "our brain interprets fairy as too broad of a category/is a loose affiliation of non-human cultures not a single specific species" and irl adoption trauma

Sorry for the delay in answering this!

So... I really hate to say this, but while the thing you're complaining about is inaccurate, the definitions you've presented are also not really historically accurate. ^^;

People saying that therians are earthen animals and otherkin are mythical creatures are wrong on both points. Otherkin has historically been dominantly mythical creatures, yes, but it has always been an umbrella term for all nonhumans, including earthen animals. And while the "earthen animal" myth became popular for a time, therian historically has not been restricted to earthen animals (one of the earliest therians, before the word therian was even popularized when the term was still were, was a werePontiac!).

That being said, therian and otherkin aren't synonymous either. The two aren't defined by shifts - there are therians who don't shift, and many otherkin who do - and there's no inherent spirituality to therianthropy. (And the elves you're thinking of are the Silver Elves, who were the source of the otherkin community, not the therian one. The therian community came out of alt.horror.werewolves (AHWW), a werewolf fangroup, and was dominantly, well, wolves and werewolves from the start.)

The actual distinction, as per community history, is classically that therians are animals, animalistic, whereas otherkin includes sapient, human-like beings as well. An animalistic dragon fits the term therian; a 100% sapient dragon who lived in a city probably doesn't. The same would apply to fae - many faeries are animalistic in some capacity, many are not.

Daski of the River System @indornaga did an excellent project researching, writing up, and presenting the history of the term therian - that would probably be very helpful to you here. Here's the link to that for more details and also sources on most of the things I've said here.

[who-is-page]

i heard that youre a good resource on therianthropy/otherkinity so uh

i know that you can be a therian for animals, real or otherwise (im a cat therian) but can i be, like, a scoutbot tf2 therian? is that allowed?

also can you have multiple theriotypes (i think thats the term) at once?

There's a longstanding history of therians who have had multiple theriotypes at one time, so you don't need to worry there. The idea that therians could only ever have one theriotype arouse around the mid-2000's, and was propagated largely due to the grilling and gatekeeping culture that was ongoing at the time-- the circles you will mainly see parroting that language nowadays usually are similar in the ways they micromanage the ideas around what does and doesn't count in terms of someone's personal therianthropy.

The Scoutbot TF2 question is trickier to answer. In terms of "is this a thing you're allowed to do," the answer is yes (as the saying goes, you can do whatever you want forever) but you might run into an issue where people assume your experiences are different than you may intend to represent them as.

The therian community traces its roots back to the were community of the 1990's, specifically to alt.horror.werewolves (which is often shortened to AHWw). On AHWw, there was a were-Pontiac who went by the name Ponty. I've seen arguments for and against the legitimacy of this user, but there's still the fact that they were an active participant in the community, and they specifically identified as a Pontiac car. There have also been other inanimate objects within the community, such as a broom who was on the Werelist forum for a brief period of time (and I think I've heard talk of a violin on a different forum elsewhere, too-- but take that one with a grain of salt, since I can't remember exactly where or when it was, and I could be misremembering).

So is there historical basis for non-animal therians? The answer is, absolutely, yes! However, when people use the term therian or reference their theriotype, there is an underlying assumption that there is an inherent form of animality connected to their identity because of the history and culture around the community and term. For some non-animal therians, that works perfectly into their paradigm and is exactly why the term therian appeals to them so much-- they may not be an animal, but they still experience that animality and ferality that is so often closely associated with therianthropy and which is often assumed to be a relevant part of the concept, so the term perfectly encapsulates everything they hope for people to understand about their identity and its experiences.

For other non-animal identified folks, they don't experience anything they'd want to label as animality, and so they don't find the term therian useful to apply to themselves. If they were to use it, they would end up in a situation where they would be presenting their identity in a way that implies importance on specific things that aren't actually relevant to them.

What terms someone uses are going to come down largely to personal preference, how accurate they feel the term is in application to their experiences, and how well that term conveys their experiences to others on a surface level. Therian isn't necessarily a term everyone will find applicable, but for those who do resonate with it, it's perfect for what it needs to do.

I hope this made sense!

[liongoatsnake]

Hello I hope this finds you well. I don't mean to sound overly formal but I feel a bit awkward asking about this.

As the person known to wrote down a lot of the history of the communities, do you happen to know or have any information on the were Pontiac that sometimes gets mentioned?

I awkwardly feel like by the vague meaning of what were/therian history I think I may also consider myself a therian vehicle and I simply hoped maybe there was more on that person's experience or others like it. I'm very nervous being in this extreme out-there way of identifying, though I am thinking to make a side blog for it with a friend's help.

If there isn't much that's alright. Or if you can't help me at all that's fine too! No pressure. I don't want to over step in the community or misunderstand anything.

All I know at base my identity as a vehicle (for vagueness) is animalistic and also affected by my view point as an alter who is an animal at base.

-a vehicle fox

Unfortunately, little is known about the whereabouts of Ponty after alt.horror.werewolves. (Or at least, we’ve never come across any information personally.) Ponty was active on AHWw between the late 90s to the early 2000s, but we’ve never seen anything to suggest Ponty moved onto any of the forums created around and after that time frame.

And there is so little information out there about or by machinekin/objectkin.

Perhaps someone else who sees this post might have an idea for resources or other vehicle-identified people?

Apologies for the lack of any information or answers.

[tempestgnostic]

On Therianthropy

or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Label

As with all identity groups, the therian community has dealt with its fair share of misinformation, ignorance, and exclusivity throughout its storied history. For quite some time, I felt connected to the label—in that profound way when something just fits—yet, I wasn’t certain if I fit the bill. I had seen the common misconception that therians were limited to only “Earth animals.” There are many issues with this definition, and plenty of folks have gone over this already. This discussion between irritatedandroid and spiritus-sonne was one of the first posts I saw that gave me some background on this misconception, and it struck a chord with me.

As I began to look into it more, I kept finding challenges to what I thought I knew about therianthropy. Below is a snippet of the forum post that ultimately led me to identify with ‘therian’ as a werewolf rather than ‘otherkin.’

You can find the page right here if you’d like to check it out for yourself! The author is Lynna Landstreet/Lynx Canadensis at time of posting. (9/18/1999 on alt.horror.werewolves)

This might get a little lengthy, so here’s your courtesy readmore.

This word, ‘liminality,’ is everything that I am. Liminality, balance, breaking down false dichotomies—this is what it means for me to be a werewolf. As a quick disclaimer, there are almost certainly werewolves out there whose self-perception is similar to mine, but they use ‘otherkin’ instead. That’s completely fine! As who-is-page points out in this post, “While it’s important to understand the definitions of various labels for a variety of reasons, these labels are not the end-all be-all to what you can or cannot call yourself or identify yourself by.”

I’ve written previously about how my werewolf identity is deeply intertwined and ultimately inseparable from my queer identity and my experiences as an autistic person. I don’t just toe the line between person and animal—I practically live in the split tongue of therianthropy. I’ve made a home at the crossroads as an autistic, nonbinary butch who’s had top surgery and is on HRT, who rejects boxes and binaries like the plague.

I embrace the ways in which I challenge norms, call out injustice, ask “Why?” and “Why not?” of my society. It’s the reason I named myself Taliesin, after the influential Brittonic poet and bard. He lives on as a creative genius and master satirist, and—according to legend—a figure who can be invoked and channeled by poets who continue his legacy. I carry on the name of a trickster figure who connected with the universal creative spirit—the Awen—and aim to do the same myself whenever I create art of all kinds.

I see my own ‘purpose’ in life as self-defined, not fated, and I find strength in the fact that I can be part of an ever-shifting process of change. Above all, it is transformation—the divine lesson of The Werewolf—that lies at the heart of my therianthropy, and that’s pretty damn therian, isn’t it? The word resonates with me almost as much as my own name, and that’s enough for me.

I encourage all of us to consider how our language can help us understand each other, and how the hard-and-fast rules and restrictions proposed by even the most well-meaning folks can be counterintuitive. It’s not that any label can “just mean anything” — rather, labels can offer a general framework to describe and relate our experiences to others. A label should be the start of a sentence, not the period at the end.

I’ll close on my favorite part of Page’s post, linked above: “Identity is unique, it’s not something that can be charred well-done and then flipped into a tupperware container for tomorrow’s lunch.”

[lunespaws]

Qu'est ce qu'un therian?

Ce texte est basé sur les informations de la communauté therian anglophone, car plus avancée sur le sujet. (la commu francophone est encore assez arriérée sur certains points, c'est justement pour ça que je crée du contenu dans cette langue ;3)

Bonne lecture ⚝ !

Avant de commencer : ce n'est pas le post le plus original, je sais, mais je pense que ça va permettre de commencer sur de bonnes bases. Dans la communauté francophone, quelques informations erronées errent un peu partout. Beaucoup moins que sur Tiktok, bien sûr, mais je pense que ça serait bien de fournir une définition fiable (j'essaie d'etre fiable autant que possible, j'espère que c'est le cas ^^) de ce qu'est cette identitée, en français.

donc

Qu'est ce qu'un therian ?

Définition :

Un therian (ou theriantrope) est un individu ayant le sentiment intense, réel et profond d'être partiellement ou entièrement un animal nonhumain (ou plusieurs animaux nonhumains). C'est une identité involontaire le plus souvent vécu à un niveau mental (non-physique) mais peut également s'étendre à un niveau physique*.

L'animal auquel un therian s'identifie est appelé "theriotype". Il est possible d'en avoir plusieurs, un therian s'idendifiant comme plusieurs animaux à la fois est appelé "polytherian". On ne peut pas choisir son ou ses theriotype(s).

Un theriotype peut être un animal dont l'espèce existe encore actuellement, un animal dont l'espèce est éteinte ou même une créature imaginaire dont le comportement est très animal!

⚝Un concept récent ?

Nos identitées sont souvent incomprises, à cause de fausses informations circulant sur les réseaux. Et oui, avec l'arrivée des réseaux sociaux comme Tiktok et YouTube short, notre communauté à été rapidement mise en avant... et les haiters qui vont avec.

C'est souvent considéré comme un concept récent, une sorte de délire à la "hEy ReGaRdE jE sUiS à mOiTiÉ lOuP jE sUiS tRoP dArK AWOoOo" ou même carrément quelque chose créé pour décrédibiliser la communauté lgbtqia+. On est d'accord, nous ne sommes rien de tout ça.

La communauté officielle à été créée vers 1970, sur Alt.Horror.Werewolves, un forum à la base créé pour les fans d'histoires de loup garou, dont les conversations se sont tournées vers les sentiments étranges de certains membres, qui s'avère finalement être de la theriantropie.

Mais la theriantropie est loin d'être récente.

En Grèce antique, un homme dont j'ai oublié le nom était connu pour s'identifier comme un chien. Pour lui, être pleinement humain, c'est être un chien.

Avant la communauté, la plupart des therians ignoraient ce sentiment, le cachait ou étaient dans le déni. Nous nous fesions pas trop remarquer à l'époque.

Maintenant que notre communauté est mise au grand jour sur internet, de plus en plus de therians découvrent qu'ils le sont, et avec notre visibilité (malheureusement souvent négative), cela donne l'impression que l'on est apparu tout d'un coup, comme si c'était une mode ou un style. Alors que c'est loin d'être le cas.

⚝Les therians physiques

*Les therians physiques sont rares, mais ils existent et sont tout à fait valables ! Certains d'entre eux sont zoanthropes cliniques (la zoanthropie clinique est un syndrome psychologique où un individu à l'impression de pouvoir physiquement se transformer comme un animal). D'autres disent que leur corps leur appartient, et comme leur âmes sont animales, leur corps appartient à un animal, alors leur corps est physiquement animal malgré leur forme humanoïde.

Ces therians ont été présent dès le début de la communauté. Mais, dans le but de faire paraître la communautés plus "normale", quelques therians ont caché leur existence aux nouveaux membres... Je suis moi même tombé dans le piège, j'ai seulement découvert leur existence en arrivant sur Tumblr...

⚝Des expériences animales

En plus de s'identifier comme des animaux, beaucoup de therians vivent d'autres expériences animales comme :

Des shifts = variations dans l'animalité d'un therian. Il existe de nombreux types de shifts différents (clique ici pour découvrir beaucoup de types de shifts et leurs définitions!)

Des noema = informations qu'un therian connait instinctivement au sujet de son theriotype .

De la dysphorie d'espèces = sentiment de tristesse, désespoir ou même colère chez un therian par rapport au fait qu'il ne fait pas physiquement partie de l'espèce de son theriotype, ou que son quotidien s'éloigne de celui de son theriotype.

De l'euphorie d'espèce = sentiment de tranquillité, de paix, de joie car on se sent plus connecté à l'espèce auquel on s'identifie.

Etc

Il est important de noter que tous les therians ne vivent pas tous tout cet éventail d'expériences, certains n'ont pas de shifts, par exemple. Il existe aussi des therians s'idendifiant juste comme leur theriotype et rien d'autre, et c'est totalement ok!

Les therians ne sont pas les seuls à pouvoir vivre ces expériences, d'autres identités alter/nonhumaines peuvent en avoir. Même quelques humains """normaux """ en ont déjà vécu.

⚝Un symbole :

Le symbole représentant la theriantropie (et la communauté therian par la même occasion) est le thêta delta :

Le theta delta est composé des lettres grecques thêta Θ (pouvant être utilisé pour symboliser une certaine forme d'animalité, et symbolise le T dans "therian") et delta ∆ (symbolise un changement ou une transformation, ce qui fait référence aux expériences plutôt "transformatrices" que beaucoup d'entre nous vivons).

(et oui ça ressemble à un fameux symbole de Harry Potter, je sais ^^')

Le thêta delta peut être utilisé pour exprimer son identité et se reconnaître entre nous.

[theriancultureis]

Therian culture is HAVING AN AWESOME THERIANTHROPY DAY! :D

Today we commemorate the first howl <3

didn't know about this!

"therianthropy day is an unoffical dat celebrating Modern Therianthropy. It is celebrated on the first full moon of november, in remembrace of the first how organized in 1994 by the members of the Alt.horror.werewolves USENET group