#alt.horror.werewolves

[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!!

[jadeeyedwere]

A Short Therian History Lesson

Alt.Horror.Werewolves (AHWW)

The therian community began in 1993 on Alt.Horror.Werewolves (AHWW) which is a online werewolf Usenet discussion group formed on November 16, 1992. Over time its original directive changed and became more of an identity discussion board regarding werewolves and other were creatures. This is the first known appearance of "Therians" online.

Were

A term that was created in 1993 used to describe one who believes to be an animal and has experiences as an animal.

Theta-Delta

The most widely known and accepted symbol used to represent Therianthropy. It was created in 2003 by Jakkal, Crinos, Coyote Osborn and many other members of the community on an early version of The Werelist Forums. The intent was to create a universal Therian Symbol for the entirety of the community so paw and hoof symbols were not used for the reason of diversity. It was suggested by Jakkal to mix a triangle, which stood for "change", and a circle which stood for "equals". Crinos put the circle inside the triangle. Therianthrope was derived from the merging of the two greek words Therio (θηρίον) meaning "beast/wild animal/wild beast" and ánthrōpos (ἄνθρωπος) meaning "human being/man" so Coyote Osborne suggested to make it an official greek "theta-delta". Theta Θ, being a T, represented the word "Therian" and Delta Δ representing "change", as in a shift.

[silverfoxfauna]

November's full moon ✮

[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.

[creature-also-known-as-cypher]

Years of software engineering yet no use found for going beyond Usenet and Tetris

not to enforce gender roles but a computer should NOT fucking have apps okay. if I wanted an app I'd go on my phone my laptop is for Programs. I mean this.

[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.

[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.

[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]

[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

[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.

[satyring]

I hate to do this but PSA:

Otherkin is not the umbrella term for therian + other nonhuman identities. (that’s nonhuman)

The otherkin and therian communities are technically separate (at least originally). They’re similar, there’s a lot of crossover, and you can be both, but they’re still different! They have different histories! Otherkin(d) identities emerged from elfkind communities in the 70s whereas therian identities emerged from alt.horror.werewolves in the 90s.

Again, there’s obviously overlap between the communities and plenty of people identify as both interchangeably, but it kinda disappoints me to see otherkininity being treated like an umbrella term when it’s its own identity :/

[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!

[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.”

[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

[wolfgirlcoven]

Something about not really resonating with the terms therian or otherkin anymore bc of how the modern therian and otherkin community is, but also having to use those terms in order for people to understand what you mean.

I am still absolutely nonhuman. There's no changing that. But I'm realizing I'm non human in the Were sense. I WISH I was around for the time of alt.horror.werewolves. I WISH Spiritual Lycanthropy was a term that was commonly used because that's what feels the most correct for me. I don't like the term alterhuman because of reasons I won't go into on here.

[werethropy]

There's also archived past talks on Alt.Horror.Werewolves of what they'd name Therianthropy as a whole. Granted, I did not read all of it, but I saw many unique names, including Therian!

A Brief Alterhuman History

Here is a quick recap of the history of the alterhuman community, from 1972 onwards.

1972-1990

Communities of beings who believed themselves to be elves began to appear in the 70s. In 1990, the word “Otherkind”/“otherkin” is used for the first time in Elfinkind Digest, coined to include non-elf “others”.

1990-1999

Alt Horror Werewolves (AHWW) newsgroup is created to discuss werewolves; it became a place people felt safe to discuss identifying as an animal. Those in this group referred to themselves as “weres” and “lycanthropes”. The original users of this group became known as “greymuzzles”. Later, “therianthrope” would be coined as a more general version of lycanthrope. In 1999, “phenotypes” was used to discuss what “type” of therianthrope someone was.

In 1994, the first “howl”, was organized by a were in Ohio for members of the AHWW community to get to know one another. After this, several “howls” would be held multiple times a year, both by the AHWW community and other therian communities.

For otherkin, gatherings (or “gathers”) would be held by a variety of ‘types including elves, dragons, and unicorns.

2002-2004

The seven-pointed star (septegram) was used as a symbol to represent otherkin. Later, the theta-delta was created to represent therians.

Fictionkin was first used in 2004 on LiveJournal. However, for many years after this, “otakukin” and “mediakin” were the primary terms. “Fictionkin” was not the primary term until the 2010s.

2010-2011

The subreddit r/Otherkin is created. In 2011, the otherkin community blossomed on Tumblr. The community was reportedly focused on activism and validation and the term “non-human” was in use at this time. “Otherhearted” is coined on The Daemon Forum in 2011.

2014-2017

“Alterhuman” was coined by phasmovore on Tumblr to describe those who “differ from the common societal use of humanity”; it is now seen as an “umbrella term for otherkin, therians, fictionkin, dragons, vampires, plurals/systems, copinglinkers, and otherhearted individuals”.

Copinglink was coined by who-is-page on Tumblr in 2016, who defined it as “a nonhuman identity which is consciously created”.

In 2017, “Otherkin” was added to the Oxford dictionary.

2020-2024

The now widely used alterhuman flag was created in 2020 by Quiznoscoyote on Twitter and consists of green, white, and purple stripes with the theta-delta and septagram symbols interlocked.

In 2024, “holothere” was coined by Defrostedvertebrae on Tumblr to describe physical nonhumans.

——————————————————

Our history is in the making, where it goes is up to us. Keep in mind that some day, someone will look back at the community now and call us part of their history.

Sources

The House of Chimeras, Addendums to Scribner’s The Otherkin Timeline (November 2021). www.houseofchimeras.weebly.com

O. Scriber, The Otherkin Timeline (September 2012). www.orion.kitsunet.net/nonfic.html

The Otherkin Wiki. Alterhuman. www.otherkin.wiki/alterhuman

The Otherkin Wiki. Otherhearted. www.otherkin.wiki/otherhearted

The Otherkin Wik. Copinglink. www.otherkin.wiki/copinglink