#kinship terminology

[projectgalaxyfae]

Family & Childcare - Pixiula Ecology & Sociology

Family Unit:

Pixiula form family units are normally made up of 2 generations, the heads of the family and there partners are the first generation, with the second generation including all the young children and children who are adults but have yet to form a partnership with someone.

Family Hierarchy:

The oldest members / set of twins out of the original Partnership are the head of the family, with the rest of the members / set of twins of the original partnership being second to them. other members / set of twins who became part of the partnership are ranked in order of joining. 

As for the children the order is based on age with the oldest having a say in choices made and being the responsible one, and as they get younger there is less responsible and have less of say in the family.

In case of family gatherings and other such things ware non-immediate family is involved it is ether the ones who own / live in the house who are in charge OR is the oldest member / set of twins of the entire family (usually a grate-grate grandparents.)

Roles & Expectations

A role that everyone is expected to fulfill is to care and aid ones own twin as Pixiula see that ones twin is ones most precious family member and that one must show the most care to there twin.

All members of the partnership are expected to look after, teach and raise all the children in the family group even the ones that do not have any blood relation, as part of forming a partnership it to aid each other and to care for any children of the members of the partnership. It is also expected all members of a partnership to take turns caring for and protecting any eggs that are currently developing.

The oldest children are expected to some what aid in the care of there younger siblings and also to aid in larger family matters if they are of adult age. regardless of the age of children they are expected to show gratitude to there parents, thought it is not expected a child to follow all order a parent gives and that it is normal for children to be rebellious in some way. 

Kinship Terminology

Twu-Cara - One's own Twin sibling

Tul-Carant - One's own Birth / Hatching Parents (Biological Parents)

Sep-Carant - One's own Care / Foster Parents (the partners of one's biological Parents who are not the biological parents said person / aka step-parents) 

Eld-Cara - One's older Sibling (used for both biological and non biological siblings)

Noe-Cara - One's younger Sibling (used for both biological and non biological siblings) 

Tul-Clann - One's own children

Tuo-Carant - One's parent's Twin Sibling (close auntie / uncle)

Tou-Cara - the child of One's Parents Twin Sibling (Sibling cousin)

Oth-Carant - one's parents non-twin siblings (distant auntie / uncle)

Oth-Cara - one's own cousins 

Eld-Carant - one's own grandparents

Eldeld-Carant - one's own grate grandparents (add and extra eld for each grate)

Noenoe-Clann -  one's own grate grandchildren (add an extra noe for each grate)

Family Closeness

Immediate family is made up of ones own: twin / Twu-Cara, Tul-Carant (bio parents), Sep-Carant (care / step parents), Siblings / Eld-Cara / Noe-Cara, Tuo-Carant (closes auntie / uncle), Tou-Cara, Tul-Clann (children)

non-immediate Family is made up of ones own: Oth-Carant (didtent auntie / uncle), Oth-Cara (cousins), Eld-Carant (grandparents), Noe-Clann (grandchildern)

Pixiula Contents Page / Index

[azraelia-high-valyrian]

High Valyrian Kinship terminology, by David J. Peterson

Other words :

Mumuña : Maternal Grandmother

Kepāzma : Maternal Grandfather

Muñāzma : Paternal Grandmother

Kekepa : Paternal Grandfather

[dramatic-dolphin]

i keep trying to phrase a post as like a helpful tip for people who like worldbuilding but. i have to be honest with myself. it is not a helpful tip because no one asked for it. i just want to rant about kinship terminologies.

[makingqueerhistory]

"To do the work of suggesting how and why sexuality matters in a discussion of family and kinship, we reached out to community members to collect personal stories from queer Chicagoans for the section’s main video. We conducted inter- views with a wide array of people, but the most controversial interview came from Chuck Renslow, the founder of leather culture in Chicago. Renslow established the country’s irst leather bar, the Gold Coast, in Chicago in 1958. Over the course of a ninety-minute interview Renslow talked about the origins of leather in Chicago and how the city served as a mecca for people who integrated leather products into their sexual practices. He also described the dynamics of dominant and passive relation- ships and their role in leather-based sexual practice. Renslow talked about the use of the terms “leather daddy” to refer to the dominant partner and “boy,” not “son,” to refer to the passive partner. The distinction between boy and son was incred ibly signiicant, according to Renslow, because the terminology resisted the baseless attack that leather men were incestuous or pedophilic. Renslow spent a good deal of time explaining that leather people grounded their sexual practice in consent among adults, and described multiple relationships that encircled long-term ones, exempliied by his forty-three-year relationship with his partner, Dom Orejudos. He expressed a sense of family based on shared sexual and social practices. It became quite clear that Renslow belonged in the family section of the exhibition, but that he spoke about family in ways that might be anathema to many visitors, LGBT or straight, and therefore needed to play a critical role in how we curated this section. Trillium Productions, our video collaborators, produced a two- and-a-half-minute version of the interview that brought tears to our eyes with its poignancy. It began with the premise that while leather practices were often deemed immoral and illegal, they were in fact grounded in a deep and abiding respect for ideas that exist at the basis of our legal system — namely that adults, whether they refer to themselves as leather daddies or boys, can consent to one another. The museum’s leadership demanded that Renslow’s description of leather daddies and boys be removed for fear that people would deem Renslow a “pedophile.” While we tried to explain that this was precisely what Renslow struggled against, and that the presumption was based on a myth that gay men were predators and perpetrators of sexual violence against children, we failed to convince the leadership that our visitors would see the piece as we hoped they would. The vignette was reedited and the ref- erence to boys was removed, along with images that represented Renslow’s family as he described it. In the piece that appears in the gallery, alongside eleven other stories from LGBT Chicagoans, Renslow names himself a “leather daddy” but does not identify as a dominant or top, or call the men he cared for “boys.” Despite our serious concerns about the editing of Renslow’s testimony, the results bore out the leadership’s decision to change the content. Visitors, whether LGBT or straight, consistently report that Renslow’s piece is one of the most powerful and thought-provoking stories in the entire show and has fundamentally altered their sense of what family means."

-When the Erotic Becomes Illicit Struggles over Displaying Queer History at a Mainstream Museum, Jill Austin, Jennifer Brier, Jessica Herczeg-Konecny, and Anne Parsons

[onesidedradiostatic]

aromantic alastor headcanons for aro-week (with some ace in there as well, because I think for alastor those things are so entwined, it's hard to separate them):

tried going out with girls a couple of times when he was alive, to make his mother happy, but always found a way to extricate himself from the attachment. this ties into his learning how to have complete control over any situation he's in

I wonder as well about whether or not he "passed" as white, or whether his community knew that he was creole, and how that affected his dating opportunities, and his paranoia, his need to be in control, basically his constant hyper-vigilance

got a lot of fanmail for his radio host work, women (and men, but more furtively) loooved his voice. this was acceptable, because (apart from some of the weirder ones) he could use this as a metric for how accepted he was in society, as well as how well he was passing -- both in terms of race and orientation, but also youknow, as someone who is definitely not clockable as a serial killer

although of course we know he also enjoyed company. he'd go out drinking and dancing a lot. was mimzy a bit in love with him? I just like the idea that people kept being incredibly taken with his charm and his politeness and his poise, because he does have all those traits. whether he notices...? (no). I mention this point not so much as headcanon, I just like that alastor as aroace and repulsed on both of those points, was never a shut-in about it. he's always been very lively (ha) and outgoing, and clearly likes being in the company of others... but maybe that last point has gotten to be a little difficult during his time in hell, due to having to be so careful about showing any kind of emotional "weakness." speaking of...

post-death became a more extreme version of himself -- that is, a man on a mission to be in control and create emotional distance between himself and others through the power of voice, rather than having to faff about pretending emotional connections where there were none. very suited for hell because of his precarious political lived reality whilst alive, and because hell is built on who has power and who doesn't. these are rituals he understands better than the strange romantic ones during life

the smile as mask and unhealthy coping mechanism -- wonder if when he was alive people swooned over his having a lovely smile (as well as its being useful to placate and to disorient people who had more violent intentions, and in both cases potentially to lure in victims). so the smile likewise became the most extreme version of itself. the smile in essence as the signifier of someone who doesn't fit into any boxes and needs to hide that fact, both by being mixed race and aroace, but then the smile itself becomes something that effectively owns him, because he literally cannot let it drop, ever (honestly if alastor ever stops smiling, it'll be the biggest gasp moment on this show)

all that being said, surprising connections do occur: rosie, I think, sees through him from the beginning, and she's so disarming (ha, disarming... cannibal joke) that she never feels like a threat + they're both cannibals, so there's a relaxed kinship there and maybe she reminds him of the parts of home he (secretly) misses a bit

I wonder how rosie figured out that alastor wasn't into dating. I think at first she might have thought he was gay, but then quite quickly seen that that's not it, he doesn't even like men much, and she feels like she's been around the block enough to piece together peoples' natures from one of a million other people she's known, so way before she knows the terminology, she knows, and crucially, she never judges or tries to force the point

I wonder how vox and alastor met -- whether vox was able to gain power on his own and this attracted alastor's attention, or if alastor saw something of himself (that turned out to be surface level) in vox, that is, they both wear smiles as masks, they're both presenters, their mediums may be different, but their aims feel similar. perhaps alastor was comfortable enough in hell at this point -- probably in a way he never was whilst alive -- that he was feeling magnanimous towards what must have felt a bit like an upstart. and most importantly, the constraints of alloromantic ideas are a comfortable 20 years in the past by now, alastor can barely remember that this was ever anything that was expected of him, or that others' could possibly feel about him

cue vox falling head over heels, the way people so often did while he was alive, and he... does not notice at all (barely a headcanon). I kind of feel like I don't have much to say on these two, because this blog is already a treasure trove of vox and alastor hcs!

I think rosie is the only one who knows alastor is aroace, although... maybe husk? not in so many words, but he knows alastor isn't interested in those things. nifty Does Not Notice Nor Care (in a good way). charlie i will forever think will at some point do a deep-dive on modern queer lingo and get everyone flags (this is practically word of god canon considering that older piece of art you shared). vox definitely doesn't know. val....... sort of kinda knows but in an evil way. vaggie does not care, but she'd be chill about it. mimzy... I don't think knows, mainly because she never cared to think about his behaviours, as someone who's quite self-centered on what alastor is to her. jeez, who am i missing... angel, does not know, head empty

speaking of angel, I think if he ever found out, especially with where he's at in his journey rn, would be very unhappy in some way about having stepped over his boundaries so often so casually at the beginning. dunno how he'd act about it, but i like the idea of vigilantly (and crudely, and bluntly) supportive angel if they ever manage to get alastor out on the town. more on the ace side of things but i can see him going: "do not try to fuck this guy! this guy is unfuckable!"

(i like hypersexual and deeply romantic angel + sex and romance repulsed alastor as unlikely friendship in my head. opposites finding common ground type stuff is always good)

at the end of the day, alastor living and dying in an amatonormative world and having to orient himself within that by building walls that persist/worsen after his death because of the culture of hell being predicated on who controls whom, veeeeery slowly discovering that he can be vulnerable on his own terms without people demanding things from him that he cannot give (smthinsmthin the hotel gang as the opposite of vox in that sense -- not only that sense, but also that)

also something about imagining his mother hoping he'd find a nice girl and settle down (in the way parents often do, because that's the metric of happiness right.....) and how he never could give her what she wanted, and maybe feels some very locked away guilt about that, which he thinks he'll never be able to deal with because his mother is in heaven, but perhaps in this story she'll get to see what he's built with the people at the hotel and that's really all she wanted for him in the end

OH MY GOD ANON THIS IS ALL SO GOOD?? THANK YOU SO MUCH HAHAHA. happy aro week everyone!! (x2)

[thenightfolknetwork]

Hello. I'm, um, not entirely sure how to talk about this. I hope it's okay if I misspeak. I'm a human, right, so I think that needs to be clear more than anything, but I've been very involved in the creature community for years now. I live by a great big lake and I always liked to walk down the shore late at night or early in the morning, you know, just to try and get out of my own head, and one night ages ago I accidentally tripped over someone's jacket and twisted my ankle. It was a gorgeous fur jacket, too, not like any kind of fur I'd seen in a jacket before, but just stunningly soft and thick as Hell.

Now, of course I didn't take it, that'd be awful, but also I had just hurt myself in kind of a nasty way and so it wasn't like I had anything else to do but sit by the shore next to the jacket and waited, and yeah, a few hours later one of the lake seals popped its head out of the water, looked at me for a good long while, and then...well, I mean, you know how the rest of the story goes, I'm sure.

Anyway, it's been a few years now and I've become really close to this family. I didn't really know anyone in my town before meeting them and I'm not on speaking terms with my own folks, so in a lot of ways these people have become my family, and it's an honor that they trust me to keep guard of their cloaks and such when they go out. But I've got this problem, right, and it's just...over the years it's felt less and less like I fit in with other humans. All my friends are nightfolk now, my family hates me even more because they're bigots--in this night and age, can you fucking believe it--and it's just like every night I get further and further away from the shore.

I'm just scared because...I don't *want* to stop drifting away. I've had dreams of joining them down there in the lake, practically every night for months on end. I've tried doing research into methods of joining the community but I don't want to become a vampire, I don't fancy any lunar-aligned nonsense, nothing has felt right except selkies, but I can't decide if I'm just self aware enough that I need a push from an outside viewer to try and accept something I already know full well...or if no, actually, that little voice in my stupid head that won't go away that keeps calling me a fraud, an invader, an appropriator--what if the reason it's not going away is because it's right and I really don't belong?

Just...please be honest with me. Am I a complete asshole for spending hours every day trying not to just outright beg my family--sorry, chosen family--to help me sew myself a cloak, or is there something to this?

First of all, reader, please rest assured. As long as you are speaking from a place of kindness and a willingness to learn, you don't need to worry about using all the correct terminology. I always try to listen generously when people come to me in need, and I encourage our followers to do the same.

Unfortunately I can well believe that bigots like your biological relatives still exist. I'm glad you've been able to extract yourself from their hateful society, and have found comfort, support and kinship among the nightfolk.

You say there is a little voice in your head calling you a fraud, casting doubt on the validity of your feelings. As much as you might want to push it away and stop your ears, I want you to listen to that voice, just for a little while. Pay attention to the language it uses and what ideas it seems to have about the world.

And then ask yourself: is this my voice? Does that sound like me? Or does this sound like a last, desperate, wriggling remnant of the people I've worked so hard to distance myself from?

Every one of us is raised with a narrative, a story about the world and our place in it, and how we should treat the people around us. We're told that story by our parents, by our teachers and schoolmates, by television and books and a million other sources. The story is so vast and so all-encompassing, it takes an enormous effort to be able to see any single part of it clearly.

Imagine, then, how hard we have to work to realise some of that story is untrue, or harmful, fed by hatred and fear. To start untangling ourselves from the rotting, strangling roots of the story we've known all our lives, and start planting something new and fresh and honest.

It sounds to me like this little voice is one of those lingering strands of the story you were raised with – one where liminality is nothing to admire or strive for, and where you cannot be trusted to know your own mind, and your own needs. It's time to tell yourself a better story.

You've found people who honour you with their trust and who make you feel supported and loved, as you deserve. You admire them, and want to be like them. None of this sounds “stupid” to me.

This is not a decision to be taken lightly. By all means, take your time, and talk your feelings through with your family. But I think you already know what story you want for yourself, reader – and for what it's worth, I think the world will be better for its telling.

[For more creaturely advice, check out Monstrous Agonies on your podcast platform of choice, or visit monstrousproductions.org for more info]

[yuk-tepat]

Kinship Terminology in Swiric

Let’s talk about kinship terminology in Swiric. (This has gotten long.)

Swira, mentioned occasionally, are a mostly nomadic nation living north of Tepat. They are many other steppe nomads belong to a larger language family I call Macro-Swiric. The protolanguage has been previously introduced here. Although society has evolved and gotten more complex, of course, like their ancestors the nomads are largely migratory and live in small groups, but have shifted from primarily hunting to herding.

The proto-Swiric most likely migrated in small bands - becoming larger bands throughout history. The group could be seasonal, with people gathering in larger groups at certain times. Within bands, people lived in small family groups, sharing one dwelling, the *igʷpi. This would include parents and any unmarried children. Married children often stayed nearby but moved into a separate dwelling.

Thus the nuclear family was prominent, as in modern industrial societies. But unlike American/European families there was an additional consideration for age that sometimes overrode characteristics such as gender, generation, and so on.

In Proto-Swiric, we can reconstruct words for parents and other family members - many have a reduplicated form which is otherwise unusual in Proto-Swiric: *nana ‘mother,’ *tata ‘father,’ *xaxa ‘grandmother,’ and *dladla (or *dlada or *dlala) ‘grandfather.’ Parents were also known as *qʷabtoʔi ‘one who sent me down’ i.e., gave birth to me. Common terms for siblings were divided by relative age. Older brother was *ɯχʷa, and older sister *ini, but younger siblings were *lig regardless of gender. Siblings in general could be called *tampid(-ʔi) ‘father [is] one’ or *nampid(-ʔi) ‘mother [is] one,’ regardless of age or gender. The whole nuclear family, parents and siblings, was *igʷǝmpitʔi ‘house [is] one.’

The reduplicated family terms were often possessed, and often occurred in non-reduplicated form when they were possessed: *qʷetata or *qʷeta ‘my father,’ *qʷena ‘my mother,’ *dlena ‘your mother, etc. The simple forms of the terms were also used as suffixes, for example on names: *-ta for men, *-na for women, and *-(d)la for old people. Depending on the overall word, they might have reduced forms *-tǝ, *-nǝ, and *-lǝ.

A son was *mu and a daughter *mag, but children overall could be called *kus, which also meant ‘small,’ and there were also compound terms, *mukus and *makkus.

Aunts and uncles could be specified by compound terms (notice the non-reduplicated form):

*tan ini ‘father’s older sister’

*tan ɯχʷa ‘father’s older brother’

*tan lig ‘father’s younger sibling’

*nan ini ‘mother’s older sister’

*nan ɯχʷa ‘mother’s older brother’

*nan lig ‘mother’s younger sibling’

However the words for older siblings could also be used generically to refer to older relatives, of any generation. So a person could say *ɯχʷa to his older brother, but also an older male cousin, or an uncle, and *ini to an older sister, older cousin, or aunt.

Conversely, the words for grandparents might also be used for older siblings of the parents, especially if the speaker was young. A term such as *dladla or *xaxa might have been used politely to address any old man or old woman.

Cousins - people in the same generation - were also distinguished by age, with older cousins being *iksi (female) and *utsu (male). All younger cousins, however, were lumped together with younger siblings as *lig. If necessary they could be specified as *iksinlig or *utsunlig, which evolved into terms of their own.

Beyond *dla ‘grandfather,’ there are words for further generations. The third generation above a person was known as *sab, and the fourth one is *gʷin. The female counterparts were *xa sab/sab xa and *xa gʷin/gʷin xa. Further generations might be indicated by compounding or reduplication. However the compound form *sab(ǝ) gʷin, as well as the plural forms *dlalod, *sabud, and *gʷinud, could all refer to ancestors collectively, or to the clan or tribe.

Going the other direction, *kus meaning both ‘small’ and ‘child’ generally could be appended to the grandparent terms to indicate grandchildren. Hence a grandchild is *dla kus, great-grandchild *sab kus, great-great-grandchild *gʷin kus etc.

Returning to the plural form, , this plural is not strictly a plural in the English sense, but also referred to collective groups, typified by one member. So the plural form of ‘mother,’ *nanod or *nǝnod, did not mean that Heather had two mommies; it meant ‘mother and women of her generation, aunts,’ or even more broadly ‘maternal relatives.’ In parallel, *tatod/tǝtod was ‘uncles’ or ‘father’s relatives,’ or simply ‘clan, tribe,’ among groups with paternal descent. Paternal relatives / clan were also called *ahimud / *isod ‘bloods,’ and maternal relatives / clan were *χʷəlod ‘bones,’ reflecting the belief that one inherited one’s ‘bones’ from the mother, and ‘blood’ from the father, while either kin group might be *qalod ‘fleshes.’

The oldest male in a group was the *axʷǝn ‘chief’ or ‘master.’ Hence the *igʷ-axʷǝn or ‘home-master’ was ‘father’ or ‘husband’ - but also the *axʷǝn kus referred to the oldest son.

Upon marriage, the bride usually moved to the groom. The *akanisʔi or *akǝnesʔi was the bride or ‘one who is brought in [to the house].’ (Becoming enetsi.) The one who brought her in, her father, was *akanuʔi or *akǝnoʔi (> *eno’i). The mother-in-law was *akǝnoʔina, and the brother-in-law to the groom was *akǝnesʔin ɯχʷa or lig.

*Dibil referred to a variety of inlaws, including brother-in-laws. The basic meaning was related to ‘succeed,’ ‘inherit,’ ‘replace,’ or ‘exchange.’ It could refer to a youngest son - the youngest son was often the ‘heir’ of a family. In some historical Swiric families, older children would receive gifts on marriage and move away, while the last child would stay with the parents and receive whatever they had left. Dibil could also mean the son-in-law of a family without sons. But it could also refer to other in-laws, such as a brother-in-law. Many tribes had a custom of levirate marriage, where a man would marry a deceased brother’s widow, as a second wife if need be, and among later tribes where chiefs had multiple wives, whoever succeeded the chief, including his son, might marry the former chief’s wives (excluding his own mother).

The word *qɯd ‘part, side, half’ plays two different, important roles. In western languages, it evolved into a prefix or modifier in front of kinship terms, referring to more distant, thinner relationships, such as distant cousins, or to inlaws. Hence,  *qɯd ɯχʷa ‘brother in law,’ *qɯd ini ‘sister in law.’ (E.g. > Swiric kulini ‘sister in law.’) In Nasic languages, it referred to a side of one’s family, such as mother’s side, father’s side, becoming a suffix -χt forming words for groups of people.

Aside from the terms above, Proto-Swiric had several prefixes referring to particular categories of kinship, which could be added to some of the same terms to create several sets of other terms for kinds of relatives, such as in-laws, etc.

*O- paternal relatives (with vowel reduction)

*o-dlǝ grandfather

*o-lig uncle (father’s younger brother)

*o-χʷǝ father’s older brother

*o-xǝ paternal grandmother

*o-ni father’s older sister

*NA- maternal relatives (with vowel reduction)

*na-dlǝ maternal grandfather

*na-lig uncle (father’s younger brother)

*neni *neni mother’s older sister

etc.

*IB- husband’s relatives

*ib-pa husband

*ib-lig husband’s younger sibling

*ib-ta husband’s father

etc.

*UGI- wife’s relatives

*ugi-pa wife

*ugi-ta father-in-law

*ugi-na wi:na mother-in-law

*ugeni wife’s older sister

etc.

*SO- younger in-laws (with vowel reduction)

*so-mu son-in-law

*so-mǝg daughter-in-law

So, overall, there are a lot of possible relationship terms, but that’s fine; I have a lot to choose from in constructing later Swira’s words & can forget the ones that don’t sound OK.

[anghraine]

Switching back to Tolkien for today's trivial headcanon poll: Tolkien explains the origin of the House of the Stewards in various ways that don't really contradict each other, but his clearest statement is this one from NOME:

Húrin the First Steward (from whom Denethor was directly descended) must have been a kinsman of King Minardil … of ultimately royal descent, though not near enough in kinship for him or his descendants to claim the throne [Tolkien's italics]

He [Húrin] was evidently the chief officer under the crown, prime counsellor of the King, and at appointment endowed with the right to assume vice-regal status, and assist in determining the choice of heir to the throne, if this became vacant in his time.

For those not familiar with the terminology:

Your second cousin is the child of a first cousin to one of your parents.

Similarly, your third cousin is the child of a second cousin to one of your parents (your grandparents were first cousins).

Your first cousin once removed is your first cousin's child or the first cousin of one of your parents. The "once removed" refers to the number of generations between the original first cousins and the descendant of one of them from a later generation. That is, "once removed" = someone is one generation further down from a set of true first cousins. Your first cousin twice removed is two generations removed from your generation (your first cousin's grandchild or your grandparent's first cousin). Galadriel and Eärendil are first cousins twice removed because Eärendil is two generations removed from Galadriel's first cousin, Turgon. Aragorn and Denethor are first cousins a zillion times removed to Arwen, because they're descendants of her first cousin Vardamir, son of Elros.

[steelsartcorner]

Tenakth world building thoughts

I’ve had this idea for a while that not wearing face paint among the Tenakth is akin to being naked, way more taboo than actually not wearing clothes.

Even children are wearing face paints at all times and are never ever totally bare. Way before they have tattoos they’re already wearing face paint.

It follows, imo, that there must be a binding ritual for partners or friends who wish to become family that demonstrates the level of intimacy reserved to kinship.

Borrowing from military terminology, I suggest that the Tenakth bring special people into their “confidence” through a symbolic mutually agreed ceremony, called the Confidence Rite. Through the rite paint is symbolically removed by the loved one and the bare face beneath is revealed, solidifying the pair’s platonic, romantic, or familial bond.

Anyway just some thoughts from my little headcanon corner. Here’s a Kotallo in the different stages of face paint. Click for better details.

[beifong-brainrot]

Man you had me so intrigued by Aiwei that it’s honestly unfortunate to me that there’s very little on his character in terms of fanwork TvT and fun little question! If you would ship Aiwei with anyone, who would it be and why?

YEAH. I'm genuinely so sad the fandom isn't interested in him more he's genuinely cool. I like his vibe, his mystery and the fact that he doesn't embody the 'kill kill murder' edgy stereotype of anarchists the rest of the Red Lotus sometimes fall into, since he helped run a city that seemed to reflect the Red Lotus' ideals to an extent, with seemingly little to no murder involved.

As for Aiwei ships, he really has so little interactions with other characters that I do have to grasp at straws. Aiwei is canononically mlm, but I'm not sure if that makes him exclusively into men, since the post that revealed that didn't get into detailed terminology. Nevertheleas, for some reason I always headcanoned Aiwei as gay. He's Su's gay best friend ok?

Ofc I think I first jokingly started shipping Aiwei with the chef of the Beifong family, bcs I thought it'd be cute for them to be basically jist the Beifong babies' gay uncles.

I also find the idea of Aiwei and the acupuncturist (whose name is apparently Guo) being together extremely funny, since he wa sthe one to point Lin towards the guy and also giving some high praise. HE WAS PLUGGING HIS BF'S BUISINESS.

I could could imagine he and Lin might also hook up but honestly that would be a DISASTER.... but then again. I would say Aiwei was part of the Red Lotus polycyle but I think they did not want him there.

I have also jokingly shipped Aiwei with Baatar Sr (especially in pairing with Suyin/Kya ii) because they seem like they'd have some kinship in being the calm and collected counterwrights to Suyin's chaos. Though also since Aiwei's sexualiry is not 100% confirmed, I kinda love the idea of him Su and Baatar being a throuple. Suyin and her husbands who both wear dorky glasses have slay beards and are so, so tired. She probay pegs them both tbh. Plus, his betrayal stings so much more if you think about it in terms of him literally being one of Su's partners.

Another Aiwei ship that came at me from left field but I kinda love is Aiwei and Tenzin? Like they're both spiritual lads and I feel likw they'd be meditation buddies. And I think Aiwei could do a good job telling when Tenzin is stressed or ready to blow up [due to seismic sense] and be able to calm him down. Like imagine an AU where Aiwei survives with the red Lotus but tunes on them to save the airbenders since he didn't sign up for genocide or smth.

And finally, my favourite Aiwei ship, an absolute crackship that could actually work and is somehow ectremely dleicious....

Aiwei x Zhao

Now listen, I know it sounds crazy. But walk with me. We learn that Zhao did not die, but he was sent to the Fog of lost souls. And Zaheer also threw Aiwei into the fog of lost souls.

So like, they could meet. And maybe in their more lucid moments they can bond over their torment, and slowly get their bearings, and maybe find a way to get out of the fog. Since their physical bodies would be dead, I don't know if they could leave the Spirit World, but perhaps they should not be allowed with other people. Maybe thwy can have a cottagecore house in the corner of the spirit world like Iroh [god Iroh and Zhao seeing each other and its like that spiderman meme]. And they can unlearn the ideologues that led them astray together

Or you know. They can just fuck nasty in the Nightmare Soup.

[who-is-page]

Digital Bloodsports and Inked Paws: What I Love About the Alterhuman Communities

This is an essay from my website that I wrote in 2021 for my alterhuman NaNoWriMo project, about the things I appreciate and adore in the alterhuman community. I wanted to post the edited, finalized version on here, too. It's a little over 1,600 words long and about an 8-minute read.

It’s easy to talk about what I find aggravating or difficult to deal with in the alterhuman communities—complaints are a dime a dozen, especially since I’m rapidly approaching my ten-year anniversary of activity (is that the barest hint of salt-and-pepper I spy in my muzzle?) But even with all my criticisms, there’s a lot I love about the various parts of the alterhuman communities. There are more wonderful quirks in these groups than I think we ever realize or genuinely acknowledge.

And if there’s one thing that I don’t think the alterhuman communities are given enough credit and love for, it’s our collective ability to never shut the fuck up.

In these spaces, people are always doing, or saying, or creating something. In some ways it reminds me of college, with something always happening somewhere, no matter the weather, time, or day. Whether dead of night or coldest winter day, you’d always be able to find a party, or a study group, or a sportsball match—and in the same way, wherever you are in the alterhuman communities, there’s always something going on: a debate or discussion, a convention (big or small), a newbie asking for help with their identity, a bunch of older alterhumans shooting the shit, a new term being banged out, art and games and comics being created and commented on, collaborative projects or surveys or groups being advertised. The list goes on and on—someone, somewhere, is always dipping their paws in ink, it seems.

Our community thrives off our interactions with one another, and that’s fundamentally shaped both the subcultural elements—such as the way we so highly value content creators and writers, and people who have been in the community for long periods of time and can share stories and experiences that we might otherwise have no knowledge of—and the bizarre forms of (n)etiquette and discourse that we constantly see evolving and changing. It’s a beautiful thing to witness in real-time, watching the customs and terminology and language we have change and shift over the years, and watching the wheels of discourse turn their spokes into previously uncharted waters, a new subject to be written and examined by an invested collective.

It’s a testament to the diversity and fluidity in alterhuman experiences and identity, the fact that so many people with so many different experiences and different explanations can come together time and time again; space and space again; all to hash out their ideas and their thoughts and their differences and their similarities. All to share in the beauty of being other with one another. It’s a sight to behold, like an ocean of a thousand different blues all forming wave after wave of colors, and I get to be a lucky painter who’s too stunned to even figure out where to look first.

Our community’s perchance for debate (or, more accurately, for digital bloodsports) is also something I absolutely adore. Maybe I’m just a young hooligan who’s ready to fistfight the first person who comes through my door at any given moment, with my Ye Olde Discourse days still singing through my veins, but I love the willingness of so many people and groups in this community to throw down over what they believe and their opinions. It’s an admirable fighting spirit that I see in so many alterhumans and, whatever the reason for it, it’s something I feel a deep kinship regarding.

People in these communities care with their whole chest. It gets us in trouble often, but I don’t think these groups and subcultures and identities would be the same without it: we’re loud. We’re stubborn. We inevitably butt heads, but it’s what makes us, us. But it’s more than just our tenacity that I’m talking about here. Being alterhuman, at least in the spaces that I personally find myself in, is about being unabashedly yourself, in whatever wacky, interesting, bizarre, wild, feral way that might translate to.

It’s reminiscent of the queer spaces I’ve been in previously, both in how it harnesses a sense of aggressive pride sometimes, with attitudes of “Yeah, I’m not human—if that’s a problem for you, get lost!” and in how it just purely makes me feel unafraid and unashamed to be nonhuman. This is something I’ve experienced especially at Howls and other in-person group meet-ups.

When I spend time in-person with other alterhumans, it’d be silly to say there’s outright some sort of spark on connection or feeling of family—but there is a feeling of recognition. Of not an “us vs. the world” spark, but of an “we can all be ourselves here,” understanding. It’s so much less dramatic than some accounts I’ve heard, but it’s still a powerful, comfortable, enjoyable feeling. It’s knowing that you can go chasing after a squirrel with reckless abandon without getting judged, or can stop to roll in a pile of especially crunchy leaves just for the sensation of it, and isn’t that its own form of freedom?

And then there’s the beauty of individual identity. One of my favorite parts about my archival work is getting to learn and hear about identities that I’ve never seen before, especially if someone’s written a lot about the “how”s and “why”s. I love getting to not only see how other people experience things differently than I, myself, do, but I love getting to watch the gears in their brain turn as they explain how they got to one conclusion, or other possibilities they’ve considered, or any number of detail-oriented information. Getting to hear about shifts, especially shifts from identities we don’t often see like species-specific fictionkin, conceptkin, machinekin, and phyanthropes, is always such a treat. Hearing how it feels to experience phantom shifts as Southern Live Oak tree, or getting to read about mental shifts from an Alolan Marowak, or any other number of things I’ve been lucky enough to learn about in these communities, is sincerely, genuinely just the absolute coolest. Group experiences and concepts are amazing, but individual experiences are just as, if not more, spectacular.

And speaking on individuals…as a young, teenage nonhuman, I probably would have included a section about how much I admire or value the efforts and works of older alterhumans who are still in the community, and how much I especially enjoy getting to see their content in the communities. How they’re such “inspirations” for me and other such cheesy words. But that feeling has grown and changed a lot as I’ve gotten older: while I still appreciate all the greymuzzles and oldfruits in the community (shoutout to all you grey-furred and grey-scaled rapscallions out there), I feel like the individual age group I particularly appreciate is a lot of the younger folks and ‘new blood’ I’ve seen pop up in the communities.

It’s such a strange feeling to look at someone and go, “Oh man, you’re going to be an absolute force to be reckoned with when you’re older!” but that’s something I’ve definitely experienced. It’s a strange mixture of wistfulness, thinking about my own budding years in the alterhuman communities with probably rose-glassed fondness, and of before-the-fact pride, watching how passionate people are and already being proud of them: for achievements they haven’t yet made, and goals they haven’t yet realized, and selves they’re just now discovering.  It’s genuinely great to see the new, uncharted directions that a lot of the older teenagers are starting to pull and shove the communities in, bringing up old ideas in new ways or just throwing out new perspectives entirely. It makes me feel excited, filled with anticipation for what the future holds and how everything will look like in ten, twenty years.

It also does make me feel a little left behind and out of the times, admittedly, but that’s not a wholly bad thing: times change. Communities change. Our communities are based almost entirely on evolution, where they either continuously change, or they stagnate and die out. The fact that I’m feeling a little out-of-place more and more these days just means I’m settling into the aspects of my identity and the language that I grew up with for describing it is falling more out of use—it just means that I’m getting older and taking on a different niche than I inhabited when I was younger. When I was still a teenager in the community, I was the teeth-bloodied, hot-headed discourser who was willing to shout down and fight anything with a pulse, who was always in the thick of it no matter what “it” was. Now, I think I’m a lot closer to a scholar; jokingly a warrior-scholar, like my patron, if you had to reference the way I came into these communities, but overall, I’m a lot more content to sit it out on the sidelines these days and focus more on my own research and creation.

I wouldn’t stick around these community spaces if I truly didn’t want to be in them, but there’s so much I love wrapped in them that I don’t want to go, anyways. For every physical shifter that drives me up the wall, there’s a million more things that make me want to keep interacting with other nonhumans and alterhumans and that makes me want to keep being a part of specific alterhuman spaces. I love getting to be here, getting to watch how these communities evolve, getting to hear everyone’s stories; I’m glad I get to be a piece of it all, and I count myself lucky for any positive changes I can help affect just by being here. I would do better to remind myself of that more often.

[puc-puggy]

For This Land: Writings on Religion in America, Vine Deloria Jr

The essence of the Indian attitude toward peoples, lands, and other life forms is one of kinship relations in which no element of life can go unattached from human society. Thus lands are given special status because they form a motherhood relationship with the peoples who live. on them. Too often this dimension is twisted when non-Indians make it a sentimental truism and the Indian philosophy appears shallow and without insight. But the true meaning of the motherhood of the land is that, like a mother, it shapes and teaches our species and, according to the peculiarity of the area, produces certain basic forms of personality and social identity which could not be produced in any other way. White Americans see the basic differences in peoples which are expressed regionally but they too often mistake historical experiences for the influence of lands on people. To find a "southern" identity without understanding the unique characteristics of the southeastern lands is to vest in the memories of our species a shaping ability which does not exist. According to geographical area radical differences occur which are more than historical accidents and which require reflective consideration to understand fully.

With respect to other life forms, this attitude manifests itself in what one could call "kinship" cycles of responsibility that exist between our species and the other species. Hyemeyosts Storm attempts to bring this unique web of responsibilities into play with modern terminology in his book Seven Arrows, when he allows non-human characters to participate in the unfolding of the story. This transformation brings out a dimension of life common to Indians but unique and unsuspected by non-Indians. For the responsibility of our species is to perform responsible tasks with respect to each form of life that we encounter, learning from them the basic structure of the universe, and ensuring that they receive in return the respect and dignity accorded them. And this acknowledgement of the dignity of other life forms, which is a simple but profound recogni tion, underlies all Indian attitudes toward the organic world. Our species is allowed to use them for food but in return we must ensure that their sacrifice becomes a means of fulfillment. Social scientists, observing Indian behavior toward animals and plants, usually describe this activity as "totemistic" or "animistic" implying that Indians intellectually believed the universe to contain uncontrolled and arbitrary powers. But the essence of this behavior is the maintenance of dignity throughOut the organic world. The struggle for dignity thus dominates Indian spirituality but the struggle is one of conferring dignity, not seizing or manufacturing it.

Many non-Indians come to understand the bestowing of dignity on others, even on other life forms, but they still fail to see the fundamental distinctions which flow from the Indian attitude of reflection. Perhaps the most basic of these distinctions is the recognition of sexual and age differences. The traditional ethical norm for non-Indians is the admission of the brotherhood of our species and the concomitant responsibility to treat others like we would like to be treated. Equality and unity easily become a homogeneity in this ethic. American Indians view ethical relationships with much more sophistication, allocating duties, privileges and respect according to a unique system of family relationships, older people becoming grandfathers and grandmothers, men and women becoming brothers and sisters, wives and husbands, and even strangers occupying the place of cousins within the network of specific relatives who must show concern for one another. Apart from participation in this network, Indians believe, a person simply does not exist. But within the network attitudes and behaviors must be expressed in particular terms, not in general and often unfulfilled rules of conduct.

Following directly from this ethic is the American Indian understanding of human personality and the meaning of life. If we are required to show respect and create dignity for others around us, then this respect and dignity cannot be simply a surface admission of social status. Dignity can be given even to the unworthy with devastating irony and people within the community can see in the most precise fashion whether or not the individual who is honored in fact deserves such praise. Such lavish but undeserved praise can be more damning than an insult.

Individuals strive as best they can to deserve the dignity which the community gives them and it is extremely embarrassing to be praised and honored by one's better while failing to perform according to expecta; tions. Giving dignity therefore encourages individuals to deserve the accolades they receive and the unified attitude of social groups towards the world and towards others is the cultivation of virtues. A person hailed as wise, strives to be wiser, a person acclaimed as brave, seeks to be braver, and a person honored as a parent seeks to become better in that endeavor.

The intense individual concern to deserve the respect and dignity which one's family and society accords one produces a mature attitude of reflection which grows with the passage of years and the accumulation of experiences. Experiences are hardly an individual affair, however, for within each community is the collective memory of past events and the behavior of people within that immediate history is common know-edge. Over decades of community life the leadership emerges as the community recognizes in the continual activities of individuals a sense of consistency, of commitment to the community, and of the course of wise decisions. As people come to deserve the respect and dignity with which they are presented, the community forms around the time-tested people of substance. In most Indian communities in the old days the most respected person was the one who gave freely of physical wealth, who showed a concern for the unfortunate, and who allowed weaker members of the community to rely on him/her. Reflection, then, is a way of life, the consistent direction and substance of individual existence, and not a unique intellectual ability. It is a matter of extended consis-fency in behavior, not a matter of correct or numerous beliefs.

The circle of these concepts can be seen to be integrated into a basic attitude toward life and its experiences. Rather than leading to a logical conclusion we see a network of attitudes and behaviors which characterize both individuals and societies. Nothing derives from a cause-and-effect chain of circumstances. Everything becomes an aspect of everything else, distinguishable only by the unique situation in which individuals are called upon to respond to new conditions. Without the

[rin-and-jade]

is there a term for like...an in sys group? subsystem doesn't QUITE fit but ive found that all our alters from certain sources find intense kinship in one another, and we've been pondering.

- @sleepysystem-blog

Well, i don't see any terms for it so far, which is why often use my own word, "subgroup" instead.

If you need to make a term to describe your experiences, that's okay! Terms are made for that specifically, i hope you got the insights you need to solve this man.

(okay if anybody knows, or if the terminology blogs did made one for this, help this buddy out, thanks guys)

- c

[bonefall]

You know what's a super classic conlang thing I'm shocked we haven't done? A kinship terminology chart! We should totally have one, get in those terms for uncle/aunt, grandparents, nesprings, the whole of it!

LETSGO, full list of the familial terms they use in Clanmew, plus a straightforward explanation of the concepts that have been floating around!

PARENTS

Blood relation is simply Gan. This is a term that's more related to bloodline; Nyams is for people you consider your family. Both of these are translated as 'Kin.'

So to start with, the only constant for a kitten is that they have a Mi.

A Mi is a Primary Parent. This is a non-gendered term; there are many reasons why a non-birthing parent may be the Mi of their litter. It also doesn't necessarily refer to whoever suckled the kittens. Whoever spent the most time and energy raising the litter is its Mi.

Fernsong was the Mi of his litter. Torear, biologically Harestar and Kestrelflight's uncle who adopted them, was their Mi. Breezepelt is the Mi of the litters in his polycule.

If, for some reason, the Mi was unable to care for their kittens, their Ba is expected to step up and become their Mi.

Most kittens also have a Ba.

A Ba is a Secondary Parent. This exclusively refers to cats involved in kittencare, to try and imply that an Honor Sire that has no role in raising their children is a Ba is something that supporters of Thistle Law do. It inherently means closeness.

For example, when TigerClan took over, Rippleclaw was considered the Ba of Swansong, even though Oakheart had raised him along with Stonefur and Mistyfoot.

Never use "Ba" for an Honor Sire unless the Honor Sire is co-parenting, such as with Firestar and Sandstorm. "Ba" can also be a title that a cat rejects completely, such as with Breezepelt to Crowfeather, Brambleclaw to the Three, and Dovewing to Lionblaze!

"Ba" applies to all kitten-involved members of a polycule. Heathertail and Harestar are both Ba to the kittens that Breezepelt is the Mi of. In cases of there being multiple Ba, usually a creative nickname is made up to differentiate them. For Harestar, his Clanmew name (Yywayayiaoyr) has so many Y sounds that his children call him Ya!

A Mwaow is a relevant biological parent. Usually a mother if referring to wild egg-laying animals who don't care for their young, though occasionally Wairre is used for "sires" specifically.

"Mwaow" is what Swansong feels is most fitting for his sire, Rippleclaw. Breezepelt wants to be extra insulting and call Crowfeather a "Wairre" sometimes.

To call your Ba a Mwaow is very insulting, and a rejection of them as your parent. Likewise, it is insulting to say that a cat's Mwaow is their Ba if they don't feel that way.

And finally, the term for Honor Sire in Clanmew is Kurruaow. Honor-Parent. They make no distinction between dams and sires in Clanmew.

To summarize;

Gan = Kin/Blood

Nyams = Kin/Family

Mi = Primary parent

Ba = Secondary parent

Mwaow = Biological parent, neutral but non-endearing

Wairre = Biological sire, used mostly for animals

Kurruaow = Honor Sire/Dam/Parent

AUNCLES AND COUSINS

What about the sisters and brothers of your parents? Their kids?

There are Mi-Auncles, Ba-Auncles, and First Cousins. Further than that is just thrown under Gan, if at all.

Myami = Mi-Auncle

Byama = Ba-Auncle

Rabir = Cousin

SIBLINGS

Multiple-births are very common to Clan cats, and furthermore, multiple litters are seen often. Defining your place within your parent's litters is very important socially!

So, in addition to having words for an older or younger litter of siblings, there are also words for your size within your own litter. Clanmew is more concerned if you were a large kitten or a runt than your birth order, but this could be crudely compared to the human concept of older and younger siblings!

This is an important concept because size growing up would mean you had the upper paw in brawls, to your suckler's milk, and were considered the 'most mature.' Runts are considered to need more protection and 'babying.'

If there was a situation where two littermates were equally sized, they often squabble over who was really the bigger sibling. This doesn't relate to adult size-- Fallenleaf was the largest of her litter, but Lionblaze is bigger than her now.

Firra = Siblings (Broad term, often assumed to be innately plural and referring to several types of siblings at once)

Kafrrif = Sibling of older litter

Eefrri = Sibling of younger litter

Wifeerr = Littermate

Wikfrra = Larger littermate

Weesfwa = Smaller littermate

OFFSPRING

A baby cat, referred to as a 'kit' or 'kitten' is simply called a "mew." But that's not typically the word they're using when they're talking about their children. There's also additional words in Clanmew for the children of different litters, and how an auncle refers to their sibling's kittens.

Nia'u = Child/son/daughter

Neewarr = Litter

Niak = Child of first litter

Niawi = Child of second litter

Nia'eef = Child of third/any more litters

Rabnif = Nespring/nephew/niece

Niauga = Grandchild (of child you were the Ba of)

Nini = Grandchild (of child you were the Mi of, can be given for closeness)

Kurrnia = Stolen kit, rightfully won through battle (Archaic)

GRANDPARENTS

Garrmwa = Ancestor (For non-ancient ancestors that can still be tracked with deduction. Great grandparents, not Thunderstar.)

Sharrarram = Ancestors (For ancient ancestors, far beyond modern memory, who live in the stars. Thunderstar.)

Ami = Mi of my Mi (This can also be applied as a term of endearment. For example, Heartstar is the Ba of her kittens, but Tawnypelt is still Shadowsight's Sharrmi)

Garrmi = Ba of my Mi AND/OR Mi of my Ba (Like Ami, can denote a type of closeness.)

Genrrarg = Ba of my Ba/Someone who is still a grandparent, but not a close one. (This is the term that Breezepelt's kittens eventually use for Crowfeather)

Shegarra = Descendant (For the sake of completion; typically used by StarClan)

[ranahan]

I remember reading a post you made a while back about mandalorian family dynamics, but I haven’t been able to find it anywhere. I was hoping to use the irl examples it gives to start figuring out what Amavikka family dynamics might look like. Would you happen to know where the post is? I’ve spent like half an hour looking

I’ve written about Mandalorian clans (politics & government headcanons) here, or it could be this post about kinship terminology?

The tags I usually use ought to be #mandalorian clans and #mandalorian family, if you want to keep digging.

[possessivesuffix]

signs of having clearly been too engaged with fan culture in my past: a database Kinbank was just announced, which lists kinship terminologies around the world ("what's the name for one's mother's older brother, and would that be the same for her younger brother" etc.) — and I am now repeatedly misreading mentions as people talking about a "Kinkbank" >_>