#sol system's alterhuman writing challenge 2024

[talon-dragonbeast]

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

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

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

word count: 2422

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

[that-dreaming-dragon]

Media Representation and (a rant on) Draconity

I think it's natural to want to find something within the media that represent and reflects yourself. As a dragon, the option might seem like quite a few within various sources of media, but the realities are that I and my various alterhuman identities are not the typical or commonly seen dragons.

As myself, I'm orange, furred, white feathered wings, yellow horns, and the vibrant red belly. Those are not things you find common in animals, even amongst birds, that's some colors that don't exactly flow together. People drawn inspiration from around their world to create, people are also creature of comfort and habit--with the idea of dragon being "fire breathing, bat winged, scaly lizard" or "scale with mane, elemental control and sometimes deity, serpentine wyrm", and then variations based off of that, perhaps scaled beast with feathery wings, or great furred wyrm with webbed wings and fire breathing. Seriously what is with the fire breathing? Have I mention that I'm a shapeshifting sort of dragon? While that is often tied to the eastern sort of draconic beings, my exact combination of dragons are far and few in between. Even the dutch angel dragon within the furry community has certain limitation and character traits that don't align with me. If I hadn't got turned off by the idea of looking anywhere or being misidentify as a horse, I might have find myself drawn to the dutch angel dragon as a sort of maybe paratype, or just friendly dragons that I share similar traits with. But alas.

Every single piece of media or fictional source that has a representation I can find brings me joy. Games centered on collecting dragons like Flight Rising or Dragon Cave does a great job of acknowledging that diversity. I get especially grumpy when dragon maker only has webbed wings and scaly body. At one point I really did not want to put the 3D dragon maker by Dragonita on my Alterhuman Shifts and Self Discovery Tools guide (ohh, guess I finally got a name). You can call me petty however you want, but I was not very happy of something that denies my existence. I'm a strong advocate for draconic diversity, because I am not alone in being "unusual" sort of dragons. Nobody should feel like this, unseen. Dealing with the constant "he or she" as someone nonbinary is more than enough, thank you very much. I feel like as alterhuman, hell, even just within the confine of draconic community or even smaller the dragonkind community, there should be a sort of basic understanding that "dragon" is a abstract term. Like "what is human", "what is dragon" should be a default and nobody gets to decide who is or isn't dragon. To touch back onto what I wrote on Day 1 of this challenge, alterhumanity is a experience, it is a feeling, it is vague and abstract, it is something you know within your essence, or one day you will awaken to it. A dragon is all of that. I did end up finally putting the 3d builder on my guide. I will still prefer Lukas Sotrmskull's Dragon builder though.

Before I let my thought get away from me, lets talk about my other alterhuman identities.

The other side of the spectrum, when you have a almost exact match in sources that are well known, you end up keep getting mistaken as it. My kardiatype looks very alike to Haku from Spirited Away. It gets frustrating when I bring up my kardiatype, and people immediately go "oh, Haku!" It's the same problem with people seeing my self protrait and call that a horse or a goat. Seriously, is like people don't recognize a basic dragon head shape if it isn't scaled and spiked. Horses are neat, goat is fine, and Haku is a very cool dragon. But my kardiatype was not Haku. I'd argue that he was just your generic Japanese storm dragon that may or may not be local deity. Wild thought huh. I like that I get to see glimpse of that dragon through Haku, but I would really rather not deal with yet another case of misidentification in the form of "close enough". My human english name got enough of that treatment.

Amongst my other draconic identities, I have a vague-flicker of Flammie from the mana series. The vaguetype feeling has components of paratype within, precisely due to myself being the sort of dragon I am. Belly plate aside, Flammie looks very close to me. And with my discovery of how suggestive my wing count may be (currently in shifts of at least 4), Flammie is definitely a big contender for media representation of myself.

When it comes to intensionally created identity, me and Akumu, my headmate/mirror self, collectively linked a vaguetype of Aurelion Sol. Now, Aurelion Sol has nothing alike to me, maybe the color is more align with Akumu's, but generally, the eastern noodle form is my least favorite to partake in. It feels like a responsibility, and things are just heavier in a way when I'm in that form. It doesn't have to make much sense. Perhaps I will delve into this one day. One can argue we formed the link due to our kardiatype. But really, it happened because that's the one dragon we were really drawn to (and attempted to main) while playing League, and well, there were two others who were shyvana and smolder respectively, and we wanted to complete the draconic of LoL set for shits and giggles. There not much need to find a representation, because we are the exact representation from the source. But wait, we identify with the concept stage where people dub "unbound form" of Sol. Whelp, guess we gotta look elsewhere again.

It feels like I'm trying to start a topic and well, rant on draconity got me all over the place.

Sometimes it really is a exercise in patience. The more unique you are, the harder it is to find representation. Wouldn't change myself for the world though, I love my uniqueness, and I appreciate how crazily varied dragons can be. Or any other sort of creatures or identities or experiences. Life is wonderful like that.

[hello-there]

Communities are a new way to connect with the people on Tumblr who care about the things you care about! Browse Communities to find the perfect one for your interests or create a new one and invite your friends and mutuals!

[kpopwerewolf]

I noticed something earlier tonight. I was washing my hands and the water got so cold that I almost couldn't feel my hands anymore, but I didn't want to take my hands out of the water because as it was getting colder and colder, I realized that that's probably as close as I'm ever going to get to touching starlight again.

I am a star and my home is in the sky. I don't mind being in a human body so much as I am able to take on a human body as a star, but I realized while feeling that cold water that was reminding me of starlight and my home among the stars that I will likely never get to experience it ever again.

Which, is a strange feeling in of itself because I am a created headmate. My identity came to me on its own, but I shouldn't have any exomemories, as I was created by the other members of our system, so I'm confused why I feel so melancholic for the stars and view the sky as being my home and keep referring to never being among the stars/touching starlight again, since I was never there/touching it in the first place.

[fallen-and-holy]

Day eight of personal writing challenge!!

Star trek (hearthome, system ‘theme’, and more!)

I’m really excited about writing this one, since I don't think I've talked about it much here! Star Trek is something that is… part of me in every way possible. My grandpa Richard loved Star Trek. He watched when it first came out, looked up to and tried to imitate Spock. His wife, my grandma Lora, loves it too. When my dad was born, it was passed down to him too, and he loves it too. And he introduced it to me, passing an heirloom down three generations. 

There’s something so- powerful and wonderful about sharing a special interest. (i’m autistic, my dad isn’t diagnosed but he’s also neurotic, and so was my grandfather). So Star Trek was woven into my existence from even before I was born. It’s been my special interest for about four to five years now. 

It’s- hard to describe, and i havent found a perfect label for it yet, but it’s just- woven into my very being. I would not be who I am without it. I also refer to it as a hearthome, because it is my home. The universe, the characters, everything- I belong there. I thought for a while I might have Star Trek fictotypes, but I don't identify as any specific characters. I do have a closer connection to the Trill and Andorians- if I was in my hearthome, I would be one of them. 

It’s also tied into my system- specifically, the subsystem makes up ‘me’. I coined a term a bit back to try and explain it, you can see that here. Basically, the Trill are a species that are capable of hosting a symbiont, and about 1% do so. The symbionts are a lot longer lived then the hosts, easily living beyond 600 years, and so they go through many hosts. The memories+personalities of the previous hosts are passed down onto the next host, so when a Trill accepts a symbiont, they become a combination of themself/their body and the previous hosts. My subsystem is almost identical to that! I'm a combination of all my kintypes/my past lives and the current body. I also have a very strong connection to the Trill in a way I cant really describe- its not quite a kintype, I dont identify as a Trill individual, but my subsys is Trill, if that makes sense at all. I wonder if it could be more like conceptkin- i identify as the concept of the Trill species, but am not an individual from it. 

So! In conclusion, Star Trek is the best and everyone should watch all of it. Sorry if this isn’t my best work, i’m sick and kind of out of it.

[who-is-page]

Fall 2024: Achievements, Goals, and Thoughts

[Crossposted from my Patreon]

The fall equinox is just around the corner, heralding the arrival of one of my favorite times of year (although our arthritis and its poor relationship with the cold certainly begs to differ). With a new season on the horizon, I wanted to get my bearings on where we're at, where we're going, and our thoughts about all of it.

Achievements. 💡

We were volunteer staff and lecturers at this year's OtherCon! We co-lectured the Alterhumans & Relationships panel with our husband Thomas, which involved going over some of the data gleaned in our Alterhumans & Relationships Survey. We also assisted with the data collection and visualization for our partner Orion Scribner's massive survey, boasting over 1,200 respondents, which was used in their OtherCon lecture Phantom Limbs and Phantom Sensations, Human and Otherwise.

The Alterhuman Archive has reached over 1,400 entries. This is not something that would have been possible without the incredible help of the other archivists and curators working on the project--our friend Nova, our partner system House of Chimeras, and our partner Orion just to name a few--but it's an absolutely phenomenal and unbelievable milestone to reach.

This year's first Centaurus Festival was a massive hit, with 150 people registering and a peak attendance of 134 people. There were 11 panels in total, not including movie showings. Once again not a project I could have wrangled on my own without the incredible support of my friends and the staff team.

Goals. ✒️

Inky Paws #3 has been put on the back burner for a significant part of this year while college and my job took precedence, but I'm set and determined to once again have it published by or before December 31st.

Retail Werewolf is a comedy-fantasy solo RPG about being--you guessed it!--a werewolf stuck in a awful and fantastical retail job, where you're just trying to get through your shift without mauling someone. It's something that I've had in the works for a few weeks now. It's around half-way to completion, and I hope to have it done in time for Black Friday.

The Centaurus Festival website, Discord, and Tumblr need to be updated in preparation for next year. I've already touched base with the staff team on this, and I'd theoretically like to have at least the website updated before the equinox. (With that said, I'm working 55 hours this week, have at least 15 hours of college work left to push through, and will be celebrating my four-year anniversary with House of Chimeras, so we'll see if that timetable holds.)

Thoughts. 💭

We were extremely disappointed to see NaNoWriMo's stance in favor of generative AI earlier this year. If you don't know what debacle we're referring to, I made a short post on my Dreamwidth about it, and several news organizations have written deep-dive articles discussing and dissecting the matter such as Slate's Inside the Heated Controversy That’s Tearing a Writing Community Apart. We grew up writing with NaNoWriMo, and we even won the challenge in 2013 with a cheesy horror story that will never see the light of day and again in 2021 with The Sol System’s Alterhuman Writing Project, where we wrote an alterhuman-themed piece for each day in November. But with that said, the enormous outpouring of support for archiving and creation that we've seen at both OtherCon and the Centaurus Festival and our own past success with NaNo for writing about alterhuman topics make us wonder if it might not be time to reclaim November, which also conveniently happens to be the month in which Therianthropy Day is celebrated, and create an alterhuman writing event or group for it. Let us know your thoughts on this idea, or if you're feeling like you want to take a whack at it yourself!

And on that note, we really want to see people rally and support some of the major community projects out there more-- things like the Otherkin Wiki, AnOtherWiki, Otherkin News, Radiant Obscurities, and similar! We also want people to feel more assured in their own capabilities to create projects themselves, either collaboratively or alone. Seeing Nova's plans for HowlCon next year is incredibly exciting.

In sadder thoughts and news on projects, we must all bid a sad farewell to Project Shift and the Werelibrary, which are currently no longer being maintained. These resources were some of my favorite when I was a high school otherkin over a decade ago, and were also a major inspiration for my creation of the Alterhuman Archive. Although some of the works hosted on them may have been dated, these sites will be sorely missed.

[talon-dragonbeast]

El anglocentrismo en las comunidades alterhumanas: divagaciones de una dragona y un gato hispanohablantes

[para mayor claridad y divulgación de este escrito, he proporcionado una traducción al inglés en una publicación aparte. puedes encontrarla aquí] • [for further convenience and outreach of this piece, I have provided an english translation in a separate post. you can find it here]

este post fue escrito originalmente como parte del Desafío de Escritura Alterhumano del Sistema Sol. escrito por @talon-dragonbeast, con la ayuda de mi hermano @watcherwingedcat. esperamos que os guste!

recuento de palabras: 2418

Este escrito, que es más una diatriba conmigo misma que una redacción propiamente dicha, es uno que llevo mucho tiempo queriendo escribir; desde que me uní por primera vez a una comunidad online, para ser más exactos. El anglocentrismo, según Wikipedia (y sí, soy consciente de la ironía de que el artículo no esté disponible en Español), es "la práctica de ver el mundo principalmente a través de la lente de la cultura, la lengua y los valores ingleses o angloamericanos, a menudo marginando o despreciando las perspectivas no angloparlantes o no anglosajonas".

Si eres monolingüe y tu idioma materno es el inglés, es probable que nunca te hayas parado a pensar en la ventaja que esto te aporta sobre los que no somos tan afortunados como para nacer con la lingua franca en nuestros labios. Sí, es posible que hayas tenido que estudir algo de español en el colegio, pero seamos honestos, muy pocos recuerdan lo que aprenden en la escuela primaria. Como angloparlante, todo el mundo está construido para ti, y somos los demás los que tenemos que adaptarnos a vuestro molde. La cultura, los artículos científicos, las películas, los libros, los videojuegos, el internet, las comunidades online, el lenguaje técnico, los vídeos educativos: incluso en los espacios más internacionales, todo gira alrededor del inglés. Lo que me lleva al tema de este escrito: La comunidad Alterhumana.

Mi nombre (como se me conoce en internet, al menos) es Talon. Soy miembro de la comunidad alterhumana, y más específicamente, la comunidad otherkin, desde hace poco más de un año. Los otherkin (palabra que viene de other, en español otros; y kin, forma acortada de kind, en español tipo) son personas que se identifican como no humanos de alguna manera. Por ejemplo, yo me identifico como dragona (entre otras cosas), y eso es lo que soy; aunque por fuera parezca humana y me confundan como tal. Hay muchas razones por las que alguien puede creer que no es humano, pero no estoy aquí para discutir eso, así que volvamos al tema que nos ocupa.

Desde que estoy en esta comunidad, no he escrito ni una sola publicación en español. Y no por falta de ganas, ni porque me intimide compartir algo tan personal como mi lengua materna. No, la razón es simple: La comunidad no existe en otro idioma que no sea el inglés. Con esto no quiero decir que no existan no-humanos fuera de Inglaterra o los Estados Unidos, porque por supuesto que los hay (aunque se encuentren en otras plataformas como TikTok o Instagram), y hablaré de estas más adelante. Pero sencillamente, la razón por la que no se ven muchas comunidades de alterhumanos en otros idiomas es porque todos los recursos, las introducciones, las cronologías de la comunidad (inglesa) alterhumana, las definiciones de los términos, los términos mismos, todo está en inglés.

Siempre he sido bilingüe. Bueno, trilingüe en realidad, aunque mi tercer idioma no es demasiado relevante en mi día a día y solo lo uso en clase o cuando alguien comienza una conversación en ese idioma. Es difícil explicar cómo funciona tu cerebro cuando hablas varios idiomas con fluidez, pero básicamente es como ejecutar dos sistemas paralelos al mismo tiempo, pero con pensamientos. No suelo pensar con palabras, pero cuando lo hago me suele pasar que algunos de mis pensamientos están en español, y otros en inglés, más o menos en una proporción 50/50. O también puede pasar que empiece el pensamiento en un idioma, pero lo termine en otro. O que intente usar una palabra específica en inglés que no tiene una traducción exacta al español, por lo que al traducirla literalmente la frase no tiene sentido. Básicamente, todo lo que escribo o digo en voz alta tengo que pasarlo primero por varios filtros, uno para eliminar las palabras del otro idioma, otro para encontrar las palabras con las que reemplazarlas y otro para hacer que la frase tenga sentido. Suena agotador, ¿verdad? Lo es. Ahora imagina que para poder expresarte a ti mismo como realmente eres, para poder participar en una comunidad con seres que te entienden y te aceptan como ningún otro, tuvieras que suprimir básicamente la mitad de lo que eres, todo el tiempo.

El problema no es sólo no poder utilizar mi lengua materna para expresarme. Como he demostrado en el último año y medio que llevo en esta comunidad, domino el inglés lo suficiente no sólo para que me entiendan cuando hablo, sino también para expresar conceptos tan complicados como el yo, la naturaleza humana, la psicología del ser y todo lo que conlleva existir como ser no humano. El verdadero problema viene cuando intento expresar conceptos alterhumanos relativamente comunes en mi lengua materna. No estoy hablando solo de etiquetas como otherkin o theriántropo, que se pueden adaptar al español con relativa facilidad (como acabo de hacer ahora). Son las cosas pequeñas, las más simples.

Por ejemplo, el término shift. La palabra en sí ya es de difícil traducción; durante mis búsquedas, encontré un glosario de términos en la web Otherkin Hispano en la que los llaman "desplazamientos", la cual... es una traducción exacta, supongo, pero imposible de usar cómodamente en el día a día. También hay términos cuyas definiciones utilizan expresiones que simplemente no es posible traducir a otros idiomas. Por ejemplo, otherkin y otherhearted. En inglés, la diferencia entre estos dos términos radica que otherkin significa "[to] identify as" (identificarse como) mientras que otherhearted es "[to] identify with" (identificarse con). Pero ésta es una expresión puramente inglesa. En otros idiomas, la distinción no existe, o no tiene sentido utilizarla; por lo tanto, estos términos son totalmente inaccesibles para cualquier usuario internacional. O palabras compuestas como "catkin", que son difíciles de expresar en otros idiomas. Según Otherkin Hispano, en español se diría tal cual sin traducir, Soy catkin. Pero eso... no es gramaticalmente correcto, ya que estaría mezclando dos idiomas en una misma frase. Lo más adecuado sería decir Soy gatokin, que suena incorrecto y tampoco tiene sentido de todas formas, porque kin sigue siendo una palabra inglesa. O "hearttype", que en español podría traducirse aproximadamente como "tipo del corazón". Al decir que tienes un hearttype específico, por ejemplo "corvidhearted", una forma de expresarlo podría ser un simple Soy corvidhearted, que conlleva los mismos problemas que catkin. O podrías, como aconseja Wikipedia, decir Soy corazón de córvido. A mí no me disgusta, para ser honestos, pero para algunos podría resultar demasiado metafórico o poético.

Finalmente, y antes de llegar a la conclusión, quiero dedicar algunos párrafos para hablar sobre la comunidad alterhumana que existe en otros idiomas. Mencioné antes estas comunidades; que aunque existen, se encuentran muy diseminados por plataformas como TikTok o Instagram, con las que no estoy familiarizada. Pero como no puedo hablar sobre el anglocentrismo sin hablar al menos de la comunidad hispanohablante alterhumana, así que le pregunté a mi hermano Watcher @watcherwingedcat qué opinaba del tema. Esto es lo que escribió:

Hola gente, soy Watcher, y vine a hablar un poco sobre la comunidad therian hispanohablante, la cual me parece el ejemplo prístino del hate que recibimos tanto por parte de gente de fuera de la comunidad como por la gente de dentro, tanto española como de América del sur. Si bien esta publicación se centraba más en las barreras del idioma, yo quiero mostrar cuáles son las verdaderas consecuencias de esta barrera, cómo esto nos divide en la forma en la que interactuamos unos con los otros: La parte social de todo este asunto (como dije ya alguna que otra vez y algunos de mis seguidores saben, estoy estudiando Educación Social, por lo que desde mi punto de vista la parte social es muy relevante para todo lo que hacemos). Como ya dijo mi hermana (hola Talon!), la comunidad inglesa es mayoritaria en los espacios alterhumanos, pero, cómo es realmente la comunidad hispanohablante? 

No muy grande, es la respuesta. El término de por sí no está muy extendido, y la comunidad es bastante pequeña. Sin embargo, después de un tiempo de búsqueda, la encontré en un pequeño rinconcito de internet. Al encontrar una comunidad en mi propio idioma, estaba entusiasmado, pero mi curiosidad y alegría se extinguieron pronto… Al ver las reacciones de sus vídeos y publicaciones en tiktok principalmente. Estaban repletos de mensajes de odio. Repletos. Si pensáis que el odio en la comunidad inglesa es malo, no estáis preparados para el odio que se recibe en otras comunidades, especialmente la española. Esto se debe más a una cuestión de cultura, un poco también debido a la mente cerrada que se tiene en países como España, Argentina, o Colombia.

En general, los no humanos de la comunidad hispanohablantes publican sobre quadrobics y máscaras. Al menos, yo no he visto mucho más allá de eso, y la comunidad está en su mayoría en tiktok. Y el recibimiento de su expresión de forma de ser? Repugnante. Para poner un ejemplo de cuan malo es el hate, en uno de los vídeos que encontré (creo que era un therian haciendo una máscara o algo así), humanos y no humanos estaban insultando al therian que publicaba el vídeo, discusiones sobre cómo estamos locos y mal de la cabeza y deberíamos estar en instituciones mentales… Era horrible. Lo peor eran las amenazas de muerte, incluso, que deseaban que los therian murieran, o se colgaran, o cosas peores (he visto incluso amenazas de violación). Comentarios que decían cosas como: “Si mi hermana me dijera que es un perro le quitaría la ropa y le obligaría a dormir fuera y comer comida de animales, si quiere ser un perro le trataré como tal”. Amenazas de abuso, tanto físico como sexual… Absolutamente repugnante. Y lo peor es que la plataforma de tiktok no eliminaba estas cuentas de odio, los mensajes copia y pega de insultos, las amenazas…

Estoy orgulloso de la comunidad hispana por ser tan abiertos sobre su identidad, no me malinterpretes, pero hay veces que es más seguro simplemente no compartir esa parte de quienes somos con otros, especialmente si uno es menor y vulnerable. Esa es otra cuestión que me preocupa, ya que he visto gente saliendo del armario con padres, hermanos, amigos, y ellos simplemente menospreciándoles. Eso, juntándolo con la desinformación, es una receta para el desastre. 

No pude evitar notar la profunda raíz de desinformación en la propia comunidad no humana. Confunden las definiciones, los diferentes términos, lo que les lleva a extender aún más desinformación. Esto no creo que sea culpa suya del todo, o de ser tan jóvenes en su gran mayoría, ya que no he visto therians hispanos mayores de 18 años. Creo que esto se debe, en gran parte (como ya mencionó Talon), a la diferencia del idioma, y a la falta de traducción de ciertos términos. En general, yo al hablar con amigos con los que soy abierto de mi no humanidad, uso términos ingleses. Es un poco raro usar esas palabras en inglés mientras hablo en español, pero yo soy bilingüe y por ahora no hay solución a eso. Creo que la comunidad española se beneficiaría de extender información correcta, y de tener una plataforma en la que expresarse con los suyos, como es tumblr para la comunidad inglesa. Algo en lo que mi hermana expande en su post. Por mi parte aquí termino con mi pequeño comentario, os dejo con Talon ahora. Watcher fuera.

Como conclusión, me gustaría hablar de las consecuencias que el anglocentrismo podría tener en alterhumanos que no hablan inglés, y después proponer algunas ideas sobre cómo podríamos empezar a resolverlo (o al menos paliarlo) como comunidad.

En primer lugar está lo evidente; la inmensa mayoría de alterhumanos no angloparlantes simplemente nunca se dan cuenta de que son alterhumanos en primer lugar, por culpa de la barrera del idioma. Todos los recursos para seres que cuestionan su humanidad o falta de ella están en inglés, por lo que no son accesibles para personas que no entiendan el idioma; por tanto, una persona que no angloparlante tendría muchas más dificultades para acceder a ellos. Otra consecuencia es no poder expresar tu alterhumanidad al completo, tanto interna como externamente. ¿Recuerdas cuando mencioné que mis pensamientos se distribuyen equitativamente entre el inglés y el español, manteniéndose siempre en una proporción 50/50? Bueno, recientemente, he observado que al reflexionar sobre mi identidad como dragona, todos mis pensamientos se generan automáticamente en inglés. Considero esto profundamente impactante, ya que siento que se está desdibujando una parte fundamental de mi identidad. Es devastador sentir que sólo puedes expresar la mitad de lo que eres, suprimiendo lo que de otra forma podría ser una identidad compleja y multifacética. No poder expresarme en mi otro idioma limita mi capacidad de explorar esa parte de mí misma.

El anglocentrismo es un ciclo que nunca termina; como todos los recursos están en inglés, no se pueden unir miembros en otros idiomas, y como no hay miembros en otros idiomas, todos los recursos que se crean están en inglés. Y aunque me gustaría poder decir que tengo una solución para terminar este anglocentrismo de una vez por todas, desgraciadamente, no la tengo. Solo soy una persona (dragón), y este es un problema que yo sola no puedo resolver. Es cierto que ha habido algunos intentos dignos de elogio por parte de la comunidad internacional (traducciones de escritos, blogs de alterhumanos en idiomas distintos del inglés, el servidor Eurokin en Discord); sin embargo, estas iniciativas a menudo no suelen llegar muy lejos por culpa de la propia naturaleza de la comunidad. Como ya he dicho, la mayoría de los alterhumanos son norteamericanos o ingleses, por lo que cualquier intento de internacionalizar la comunidad se vería restringido por el hecho de que no hay muchos miembros a los que esto pueda interesarles en primer lugar. Entonces, ¿qué podemos hacer para cambiar esto? La respuesta está en ti, lector. Si tienes un segundo idioma, anímate a crear escritos en él de vez en cuando. Si provienes de una cultura distinta de la dominante, habla de cómo eso afecta a tu identidad. Si tienes tradiciones específicas de tu país que crees que son alterhumanas por naturaleza, compártelas. Y si formas parte de la mayoría angloparlante, te invito a contribuir de manera positiva mediante acciones sencillas, como escucharnos cuando nos expresamos en otros idiomas, reconocer que no todos compartimos la misma cultura, y mantener una mente abierta al discutir temas que pueden no ser familiares para ti. Nuestra fuerza como comunidad radica en la diversidad de nuestros miembros; aprovechémosla.

[hello-there]

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[that-dreaming-dragon]

Origin Theory

Asking someone's origin feels like asking someone what's their assigned gender at birth. That's like, undermining who they are as a person, correct gender and all. Maybe there's value in knowing where one came from, but that's pretty personal.

At the least, the alterhuman community at large don't really hound on people for their origin from what I'd seen. It's a lot of people offering up their origin story. Is this a need to be validated due to all the past discourse surrounding spiritual vs psychological origin?

On the same vein, voluntariness. It's another form of origin theory that gets a little, I'm not sure redundant is the right word, but it takes away a lot of personal agency when dealing with something that's your own, one's identity.

With how vastly diverse and just generally limitlessness of alterhuman identities, having something so finite and restrained is so strange. Maybe for presentation towards the newcomer and orthohuman outside the community it's important to keep things simple--box labeled and everything organized like a file cabinet. But within the community? Conversation flows easier, as I observed, when people put not as much stock with the origin theory. Although it is still fun to talk about, speculating one's own "how I came about", it really shouldn't be the "oh no, I'm psychological/spiritual" then proceeds to panic. I donno, I fortunately haven't seen this. Though, I can't remember how it was when I first found the community roughly 5 or 6 years ago, I vaguely recall the emphasis on spirituality with implicitness of how much more important it is than psychological. I guess there is still that lingering around. Although I'd heard how in some circle, it's the reverse. This whole thing is just so dumb and really not cool. I don't have the right word here, but please hear my frustration.

A lot of things with alterhumanity by itself is fascinating. I like hearing about people contemplating whether they are spiritual, psychological, I love hearing the one alien that has a philosophical relationship with their alterhumanity, I know of a couple dragons who start their draconity as artistic expression of the self. These are really cool! And knowing for some the cause of their alterhumanity is from their neurodivergence made me think about myself. Knowing about people that have other lives, whether it's living in parallel with other universes, inside time loops, or having a identity because they will become that one day? That's all really neat.

We don't need to proof who we are within the community. Isn't that one of the point of having a community? We shouldn't need to validate ourselves to the folks who are suppose to be just like us, or at least understand what we are going through in some way.

I mentioned just now how some have identity that they become due to artistic expression, there is a implictness of the voluntariness in there. They are still who they are in the end. (do the end justified the mean? That's when on making decision to do something. not dealing with identity stuff) Personal journey such as alterhuman self discovery are, the whole thing would matter differently to people, some would care for the path they'd took, some only look at where they are, some care for every single moment, some just goes with the flow, and it is all perfectly okay! Because we are all unique individual experiencing our own thing.

I mean, if we are talking about explicitly intensionally created bond towards something, aka linking, that's something explicitly voluntary. Yet quoiluntary exists as a term for people's use, and there is a need for it! There's this focus on a linktype as something you can drop, but there's the concept Anteatype--a identify-as (kin/theriotype) that has been dropped, which makes the whole "something that can be pick up voluntarily and then drop as easily" as the definition people point to kind of null. It's the one post Poppy on tumblr had said

'Paratype' only tells you about the origin of the connection/identity, not its substance.

To me, “otherlinking” only tells me that it was from without, external, applied with a will, to actively create or strengthen a connection, preexisting or not. And then later on if someone feel the need to shift their terminology to better fit their experience, it's a option. Though it can be scary, the community is there to support.

I know at one point I myself also put emphasis on how much my origin is. I mean I did mention me finding that my hearttype is far more spiritual inclined than my kintype. I ascribe to the metaphoric in origin for my kintype these days though. It's not important a conversation, though I do like to ruminate on it myself for my own curiosity.

Course I wish we can completely move away from the need to define these boxes, but I suppose we can treat them like alterhuman identity training wheel. You can use them when you first found the whole concept, it might help to keep things simple and more concrete. Later on, when you are ready to fly, you can gently let them go, or pin them up on your pin board hoard, say "okay, I'd done that, now let's see what else there are". Be a little explorer, except the vast beyond is the little universe within your very self.

[that-dreaming-dragon]

Expressions of Alterhumanity: A Shared Experience

When we talk about alterhuman expression, like the concept itself, it is often something personal, singular, and individualized.

But as a community, we do have community expression.

These come in the forms of inside jokes, in-community memes, events like howls, or as a convention hosted. It’s in the form of various collaborative digital zines, the data presented from the many surveys, even as some within a system engage in these miniature community expression through the creation of a collective sona.

The soup meme (Daski, Othercon), the various community mascots out of the “create a creature” panels in conventions (Daski and Nova), slogans and sayings like “feed your local archivist” (Page) or “you can do whatever you want forever” (Centaurus Festival).

It’s us putting forth ideas together, and all of our personal experiences combined into an amalgamation of expressions.

It can also still be a mixture of personal and community. In character maker shared, and everyone presented what they’d used the character builder to make something as close to an approximate of their identities, and showed it to their fellow community members. It is sort of amazing how even when using the same tool, we all are each so distinctively ourselves.

We may come together to put together a playlist with songs that connect to each of us differently, and maybe when others listened, they also found new songs they resonate with.

We may participate in community-wide art trade or gifting, getting to learn about our fellow alterhumans via expressing via art their various identities. Or maybe visual artists put down their brushes to paint scenes that capture the moment between members.

It is always in between the terminologies created to speak of our experiences, the long discussion we shared about our perspectives and stories, the prompts inviting folks to create and express our identities or selves, and the very community we made in various forms, physical meetups or virtual—on discord, dreamwidth, tumblr, reddit, tiktok, amino, bluesky, facebook, forums, etc.

And sometimes, we just want all flock and lounge on a sunny rocc, making noises at each other and sharing our food together.

[that-dreaming-dragon]

Intentional Connection - the Linking Process

Sometimes I like to refer to my linktype shorthanded. Sometimes as either just heartlink, vaguelink, or if I really want, para-linked hearttype, and collectively linked vaguetype.

I like the extra denotation, because near everyone else is talking about linking as if only identify-as. The community does generally put more focus on identify-as identities.

Both our linktypes are important for different reasons. One is to bridge the different paratype feelings, and the other is for bonds with friends (and for general shenanigan).

How we go about linking the two are slightly different because of that.

For the three-tailed enfield, there's already something there, the paratype element from both myself and my hearttype makes for a good foundation, I didn't have much work but to build on top of whatever was already there, all I needed to do was to link them together.

The way we did it was taking more interest in fox related stuff, or more in particular multi-tailed kitsune. We plan to watch some kitsune focused anime eventually, and make a art for our heartlink. At the moment, we have a number of fox and spirit foxes pins around.

Honestly, we aren't sure if the linking started the process or if it was already a thing, and linking just strengthens the connection, which is probably due to the paratypes.

But I think a large part of it was just simply engaging it with a "I have this feeling of a spark, I want to retain that feeling, and fan it to make it large". It's sort of how it happens with a number of my shapeshifter forms. I go around, holding this thing close to my heart, and whenever something pops up that reminds me of the enfield, I will perk up. That sort of feedback loop is what makes the linking stick. I make it happen more via me actively engaging or seeking these reminder. I feel like it trains the brain to hold onto it that much longer, and eventually you just let it be, and it will be fine on its own.

Now I'm not actively looking for stuff, but I don't need to, I can probably take away the link suffix and the three-tailed enfield is there to stay as a parahearttype. But I like it, I like the reminder of where it came from, and I like being in that community, and exist as a reminder to other questioning alterhuman that yes, my way of linking exist.

With a linktype that came from a preexisting fictional source, you'd think all I had to do was to engage with said fiction. I mean, I could, but this whole thing happened after I long left the source environment. Or perhaps not quite.

I still retain the knowledge of the source. And because of this, when others within the alterhuman community engages with it, I took special interest towards the happening. What pretty much started the linking process, was the want to connect to others who are from that same source. Perhaps we previously held fondness towards the source, or the character in specific. We know we have things going on with what the character's "element" is--stars and cosmos. So that had helped our desire to link.

It's definitely not enough to help maintain the link. The failed dragonite hearttype link was also made happen due to the desire to form stronger bonds with other pokemon alterhuman.

I suppose when put side-by-side like this, my successful linktype are due to either paratype element, or other factors to reinforce the overall linktype structure.

Furthermore, the Aurelion Sol vaguelink was a collective decision, something both Akumu and I(Ryuu) are interested in linking. The linking could have fade without both of us there at the same time, and Akumu tends to disappear to places half the time. It made linking this specific identity a little trickier.

What made it start to grow and "stick" properly was perhaps when I put it on as a proxy, for a bit of a joke. It felt wrong without Akumu there during that time, but trying to be Aurelion Sol for a day has done wonders for the linktype. It felt right, it felt like it could really work.

We kept the proxy.

After that, it's like a little tug at the back of our mind, telling us that it's still there, all we need to do is pick it back up. We also aren't really active with this linktype. We never are all that active with our alterhumanity. But at the same time, it's like a tab opened on the browser, whenever draconity or prompt topic came that we can talk about our relationship with Aurelion Sol in, it's like another boost to the linking process--active discussion with the alterhuman community while keeping in mind of this connection. It makes sense, we wanted to link this 'type because of connections to others, so to make it stronger, we need to connect more with others.

Maybe that's how our method works, going in full circles. Start the desire to link, try around for other stuff, and then go back to what first prompted the linking desire.

The fact that we are gaining noemata for this vaguetype tells me that, like the enfield, this one is here to stay. Because when thinking and talking about it, and the rare noemata, the link became self-sustaining.

I feel a bit uncertain to call this linktype done, but it seem to be doing alright. Perhaps more writing and pondering will help more.

[that-dreaming-dragon]

Noemata and Exomemories

I don’t really get much exomemories. Not from other lives at least. Depends on when and how you or I count lucid dream world, it’d be a toss up for me to call all of them exomemories, but I also wouldn’t say some of them aren’t. It gets fuzzy at time whether it truly is just made up chaos from mind, or if it has been a view into a different world. Sometimes they felt like that.

The dream I talked about last day has a bit of element of exomemories in there. How much? I do not know.

Other moments where I have exomemories are from vision. This was me doing a group guided mediation, and I sort of fell asleep, but then.

Thunder booming, flashing, the storm raging. The sky is dark, and the ocean is wailing. Peeking through the clouds, a sliver of form, a white dragon darting in and out of the storm clouds.

I don’t actually know if it was indeed my kardiatype, but there is a inkling of it being true, so I’d like to think so. And based on that, I do think they have a storm based power. Just like your typical generic east asian dragon. (You can see I have a lot of gripe of my kardiatype being seen as Haku)

You can say the rest of the thing I figured or theorized are based off of the exomemories, I would call some of them noemata, even if a bit wobbly. Because how am I sure my kardiatype was a prince of the ocean? To be honest, I’m not certain either. Sometimes there are just things we don’t or can’t know about our identitype, and that’s okay, their significance and for the identification ones, our self identifications, do not diminish just because we end up having created element within. After all, the phrase “to make memories” is not just a metaphor. You are “living, doing, creating, experiencing.”[1]

Talk about created memories vs exomemories. I also had a flash of vision with my hearttype that confused me to no end, because while it is a possible headcanon of mine, my mind was no where near thinking of a headcanon to even get there.

Laughter. A kid with bright blond hair running towards a village, a house. A pair of eldery couple came out to greet the young child.

I know that’s not Konoha. And I know that kid is me/not-me/Naruto.

It’s really interesting how I can remember it so clearly, compare to my dream memories that are faded at the edge, blurry. I think that’s why I see that as a exomemories. There’s too much other sensation, the sight clear, the sound loud, and maybe scent? You also see I had momentary confusion between the self pronoun there. That was the spark for me to ponder if it may be a kardiatype that was later disregarded, as while important to me, my Naruto hearttype wasn’t a foundational building block of who I am. I also don’t know if Kurama was with that Naruto. But here is where noemata comes in.

I have a lot, and a lot of noemata. Things I just know in my gut. Maybe for my fictomere they are influenced by the source material as well as fandom interpretation. But still. Headcanon and imagined story in my head had this ethereal feeling, like they are not all there, much more pliable, but also more distant from me.

My Naruto hearttype has a Kurama with him. And has a far strong tie to Uzushio. I don’t know if Uzushio was around, maybe that’s why that little bit of exomemory, that Naruto wasn’t in any place recognizable. It look like a random village, all wood hut. Maybe those are Uzushio people.

I think that is true.

A lot of the times, noemata just pops out of nowhere. Or sometimes, I ask questions, and something within me will answer. And I will know. It is why when I assist others in self discovery, I will ask questions, and the “no”’s and “maybe”’s are just as valuable as “yes”’s.

Sometimes you don’t even have to ask questions, something external will trigger and you had that lightbulb turning on moment. Like how I realized that three-tailed kitsune is specific is my Naruto hearttype’s paratype, and how my Aurelion Sol is the 5th concept version that people dub the “unbounded” form. Or that my kardiatype’s guarded village was one that was in ancient Japan, not one of the well known period people likes to talk about.

My own style of self discovery is very lax, “follow the flow” style, however. I got a lot of noemata jumpscare this way.

Like how out of the thousands of pokemon, it was Mew that resonated with me and become a archetrope, instead of say, dragonite or ditto.

Like I somehow figured out I’m not neccessary flying so much that I’m floating. Like how Mew does. Or that I don’t breath any elemental attack. Or the various detail discovery with each and every one of my forms, how the aquatic form have far more different physics than many of my other forms (shark head, sonar receptive ears, quill feather on back though that’s more from phantom shift than pure noemata, turtle flipper though that’s more a empathy moment from playing Ark Survive Evolved and seeing how the magmasaur’s hind leg moves), how I’m just certain that the dream dragon kintype is a present thing, current life thing.

It gets harder and harder to tell if some noemata are purely random, or maybe born from the churning of internal contemplation that always accompanied the discussion on alterhumanity within the community. Like when I figure that I do not eat physical substance, or how I know I as a dragon is a spirit, sort of like youkai and kami, sort of a energy being, sort of a pokemon like creature, a rpg monster.

Regardless of exomemories, noemata that are from random chances or from deliberately triggered knowledge, or created memories or personal “canon”, these are all the breadcrumbs of one’s alterhumanity, all important, all precious.

[1] You’re Here to Make Moments, Not Memories

https://medium.com/mind-cafe/youre-here-to-make-moments-not-memories-249970eed41f

[that-dreaming-dragon]

Archetropy

In some way, I see archetropy as embodying one's own symbolism. Or is it perhaps becoming a symbol yourself? To take on a role, to be in the framework, to embody or identify in some way with a archetype, trope. Compare to being something monstrous, or mythical, or celestial, to have a archetrope feels like to wholly embrace and live being something, and a bit more. It gets a bit fuzzy and there has been discussion of how having archetropal identity can share similarity to having conceptual identity. Yet, the distinction is there, for one is a solid identity, being it, or existing alongside it (conceptual alterhumanity), and the other is something more like symbolic or metaphorical relationship (archetropal alterhumanity).

If I were to say I have a solid relationship with orange or dream, I'd call those conceptual alterhumanity. For me, Mew, ninja, and Affinity Weaver (name pending) are the roles, archetype that I have, took on, or is already. They are not solid identity, but almost like a lifestyle, something that has a shape, a hole which I myself fill in.

In the case of Mew, it's the mythical, whimsical, cryptid nature of Mew. But it's also a sort of special side character in a game that isn't all powerful like the big L Legendary pokemon, yet it fills its own niche. The little mischievousness are also tied in, and a flavor of chaos. I am not a Mew, or identify with mew, but because of all these attribute that I have, my impression of what Mew is, the role Mew filled, which I myself have, Mew is a paratype-archetrope (or, paratrope) to me.

I feel like ninja is self-explanatory. This is definitely one of those chicken-or-egg situation. Is it because of my Naruto hearttype being a potential past life that I have this something with the archetype of being a ninja? Or is it something more generic, a past life outside of Naruto, which I'd suspect to be some sort of Japanese warrior, potentially a shinobi. And it's not just ninja, I have a penchant for stealth genre game, sometimes you are some sort of assassin, sometimes you are some thief. I guess ninja wrap those two up neatly into a single package.

What is Affinity Weaver?

It is something I already embody and live by. I have a self-made title, 糸編むの夢化竜, Thread-weaving Dream Dragon. The thread in question, currently English translation is much lacking and doesn't translate well at all, possibly due to not having such a cultural concept. I'm talking about yuanfen, Wikipedia translate it as "fateful coincidence", a concept in Chinese (and other Asian culture that has Chinese root, potentially Buddhist root) that talks of one's potential connection in life that was due to past lives, like a seed that's planted, a web that had been woven over centuries. I like to talk about it a lot in my earlier alterhuman community life, and I really wish to introduce the concept more in a more official setting, it is such a wonderful concept. Some may thought of only "fate" or "destiny", or even "soulmate", and they are all kinda touching a bit on the concept that is yuanfen. It's like trying to translate certain Chinese word into English, the complexity within a single or two characters is so difficult to express, even with a dozen English word used, it still can't really encompass the whole thing. Yuanfen is like that. I had wrote a bit on my view of how it is very prominant within alterhumanity, and just in general what it could be. I will transcribe it over to tumblr and dreamwidth at a later date, or write up a new one.

What I do on the regular, is that I connect others. If someone express a need for specific sub-communities, and I happen to know or are in them, I try to get them a invite into those spaces. Or if some folks share similarity, if not identical experience, I try to connect them to each other. Sometimes it is me learning niche word and to toss them at people should they need it, but that's something the community already do. Sometimes it's simply me sitting down with someone, and help them figure out their alterhumanity, in their appearance, or any possible way they connect to something. These all seem like something any community member does, but I'd like to think that I especially embody the role of being someone that Connects others. In a punny sort of way, perhaps that's why I enjoy and like Othercon and Otherconnect so much. Maybe I can jokingly call it a Otherconnect archetrope.

Really though, if English weren't the community's primary language, or if it were to be more accessible, I'd probably call myself a Yuan Connector archetroper. Or just have my title directly used, ("Fate") Thread-Weaver archetroper.

[that-dreaming-dragon]

Legacy

As a community, we have our history—the tracks left behind by those who came before us. Some left trails of destruction, breaking ties and scarring minds. Others left monuments and legends, laying foundations and shaping memories. Even now, we continue to create meaning and forge new paths. Giving words to nameless feelings, forming connections, and fostering safe spaces. At this moment, we, as a community, are making history. This is our legacy.

[that-dreaming-dragon]

Knowledge and Information

I'd always witness confusion amongst newbie or old members rejoining community alike, or folks that don't interact with the larger, or just different community having these sort of confusion. Whether it's about the availability of a concept, the legitimacy of one's aspect of identity, the misunderstanding with terms due to lack of introduction towards the community or general misinformation floating around, or even sillier stuff about demographic of the alterhuman community.

I always encourage people to interact with the larger community, and if having the capacity, to attempt to interact with the community of different platforms and spaces. Because I understand that it's not always possible. Hell, you couldn't make me go on tiktok even if you threaten my draconity (I knew that thing was bad before it got popular in the west, now it's a literal wild west of alterhuman community).

That's why central hub communities are important. At least in my opinion.

(CW: Below cut will be mention of discourse topics, and the writings get a bit more on the negativity side of things)

I will always recommend folks to try out Othercon, and subsequently try to join Otherconnect just so they have a place where they can find more people and places. But more importantly, so that they can be closer to knowledge and information that are shared to and with a larger community.

Keeping communication is important. I try to bring whatever information I can into the smaller servers I'm in, to be a bridge between places in a way, fulfilling my archetrope being the Bond Thread Weaver. It does get hard and overwhelming at times. In fact, I'm constantly at a level of slightly overwhelmed and distracted, it sort of amplify my chaotic tendencies. I wish I can keep up my own activity, wishing I have my hearttype's Multiple Shadow Clone technique, drinking in as much knowledge as I can, or know the best and fastest way to acquire the answer any inquiry that I can help answer.

It is not a one person job. It isn't a job. But we are a community so I and many others do what we can, directing people to more people whom they can talk to or exchange experience with. Sharing what knowledge we have gathered, helping preserve these knowledge.

Sometimes I do wish they can do it themselves. But the next moment, I realize that a lot of problem stem from outside misinformation. Our stuff, the alterhuman knowledge, is truly all over the place sometimes. We are still fighting the folks who treat kin as not a identity but silly roleplay aesthetic. We are still arguing against those that think therian is only the existing animal currently on earth (also, human are animals too, did these people know that?). We are still dealing with so much, ah, what's the word, "missing stair" cases. There is also stuff like the confined idea of what dragons are. The constant idea that everything is nonhuman or otherkin only. We even still deal with those that disagree with plural folks who don't "abide" by some guideline made by folks that observe it from outside perspective. I could go on and on and on.

Do people remember that spiritual, singular kintype/theriotype, everything has to be involuntary, used to be a thing? A default setting? Do people know? I like the Chinese version better of this idiom, but the sentiment is better translate this way, how the tables had turned.

It's hard to get everyone in the same place and talk. Even if we band together, we are still just a pocket of community. There will be those that refuse to, or simply couldn't interact with elsewhere than their one space. I had at times think of those that are less than nice while holing up in their own little club, with ideology that screams invalidating and hurtful towards others (like for example, treating fictionfolk as KFF) as "frogs at the bottom of the well", a Chinese idiom that refers to people who has narrow perspective and unaware of the limitation of their own experience.

I don't know how we can overcome this. Sometimes people need to sit back, and just check back, read around, do some research. There are others like us, there are more folks other than us. We are all unique, but it doesn't mean we live in isolation, certainly not amongst our fellow alterhuman community members.

[that-dreaming-dragon]

Vocalization

Vocalization is a interesting thing. Is it communication, or voice stim, or making voice just because?

I make a lot of noise. And I know that's a form of stimming for me. But also it provides a sense of euphoria in the ways that I'm free to express myself via making creature noise. I'm not sure how my nonhuman type that doesn't do speech would sound like. I make a lot of chirp, coos, screech, rwers. Partner call them birb noise, especially my chirps. We are pretty much in agreement that I'm a bird sort of dragon.

But I want to indulge in fox sound too, I suppose. The kitsune paratype has me perking up when there's fox video. Fox screaming at each other or that laughing fox. Parnter say my fox is like the Finnegan Fox, or just my general demeaner. I get like a excited puppy, or fox kit, I suppose.

Dragon noise is a funky one. I know the sound that Toothless from How to Train Your Dragon makes this low, purry cooing sound, and I find that one in specific to be something I should be able to do. Almost like a cat's purr. I vehemanly denies any sort of feline within my draconity though. Probably just a case of disliking the "meta" where dragons and cats are put in equivalent a lot. Beyond that, I don't think I make much sort of roar sound. Maybe growl or snarl.

The human voice box has its limitation to immitate the nonhuman sound. I do got my cooing purr down pat though. If you'd get to be in vc with me, I tend to speak in noises more than I do words. It's just easier. Probably a combination of ndness and nonhumanness.

The way I do it is

mouth in the shape as if I'm about to blow bubble

tongue close to the roof, but enough so air can pass through

push the air out. Not just breathing, but do it as if you are doing a vocal practice, and push the air out

adjust the tongue to roof distance as needed until you find the sweet spot that makes the air in your mouth vibrate

then add sound

I sort of learned that when I was a high school freshman. Someone amongst the classmate taught it to us, but only I picke it up fast and master it quicker. Could be my choir experience, could be the creature in me. I'd like to think that it's a combination.

The chirps and screech are just your regular throat really close, mouth open, tongue press up to close the throat, and do the same pushing air motion. Is it a motion if you aren't moving?

There are some cool vocalization that I'd heard folks do. My favorite one is probably Rani (@a-dragons-journal)'s. Still no idea how dre does it, that wobble wobble in the back of the throat sound. I couldn't immitate it.

Perhaps we as a community can collect everyone's voice technique and put together a tutorial. Even better yet, a video to present at a con panel.

[that-dreaming-dragon]

Beneath the Same Umbrella: Many Identities, One Community

Directly following yesterday, is this phenomenon prevalent within the alterhuman community, where some define terms too narrowly, or explain and introduce a term in a way that forgets what it actually is about, or completely misinformed about some concept within the alterhuman identification.

I'm talking about the situation where majority of the identity concept is seen only as identify-as nonhuman.

Before I get into the thick of things, a reminder that

Alterhuman is a umbrella term.

Alterhuman does NOT (only) mean otherkin/therian or identify-as.

Alterhuman DOES include human and human adjacent folks.

While we are at it.

-folk suffix is equivalent to ['type] alterhuman. Which means it does NOT just equate to ['type]kin!

Because of how centered the community is on the identify-as nonhuman aspect of alterhumanity, people often talk as if that's all alterhuman is. But just because something is a (arguable) "norm", does not mean it is correct. We are the very antithesis to what is considered “norm”, which the “norm” is not necessary the One Way. Our perspective might make it seem like what's immediately around us to be our personal norm, but we are in a community together.

Like I'd speculated previously, it's potentially hard for some to see beyond the viewing frame where everything is about identifying as nonhuman. And that's okay on a personal level. It's your identity, you can do whatever you want forever. The problem is, there are nuance to these things, and when it comes to terminology which tries to defines experiences that attempts to encompass the whole community, some will fail terribly simply for the fact of this very issue the community face (amongst many others). We, the alterhuman community, are held together by this beyond-the-norm-ness (of this earth's orthohuman society). But each of us vastly differs from one to the other on identification and experience.

Some forgets that alterhuman means "personal identity which encompasses identification that is alternative to the common societal idea of humanity."  - From Orion's reblog of the coining post of alter-human

It doesn't just mean identifying as nonhuman.

It could mean a deep longing for a place you may or may not have ever been to, yet it feels like home.

It could mean feeling as if you the very embodyment of a abstract concept.

It could mean you look and behave and function mostly like any regular orthohuman, yet your very essence screams of wrongness when you walk amongst them on this earth.

It could mean that despite you not being a certain animal, there is still this deep connection with them.

It could mean that the "you" are made up of many splinted selves.

It could mean that you feel all of the above and beyond at the same time, all at once.

Please remember us, remember your fellow funky fella. For we are all experiencing wonders, and the experience is myriad and many.

[hello-there]

Communities are a new way to connect with the people on Tumblr who care about the things you care about! Browse Communities to find the perfect one for your interests or create a new one and invite your friends and mutuals!

[that-dreaming-dragon]

Resonance

I've often use the word "resonance" when assisting others in their alterhuman self discovery journey.

Resonance happens when objects and subjects match in natural frequency. In a alterhuman context, that could mean maybe a trigger for shifts, maybe a sense of something once missed, maybe simply a sense of deja vu that is like a reflection.

Sometimes it is the specific setting in a world giving you a sense of familiarity, it makes you wonder if you'd been there, lived there.

Sometimes it is the gentle sound of ocean wave, something nostalgic. A home that is, yet never was here and now.

Sometimes it is the crickets symphony, you feel the need to join. Because you belonged.

Sometimes it is seeing the vibrant shade of car paint, and maybe that is a coat of something dear to you. Like a lost family.

Sometimes it is the feel of satin, a reminder of what your own actual skin feels like.

It's like the stargazer that looks up into the starry night sky, attempting to map out the constellations. We look, we hear, we smell and taste, we touch, and we just feel the world around us, finding pieces of ourselves echoing back in the forms of a book, a film, a song, a game, a species, a random object, a scape, or maybe we will be like the astronomer, naming things in the sky that reflects us.

We draw meanings and symbols from the outside, seeking memories and finding knowledge within ourselves, maybe something else can be the key to unlock them just as well.

The phrase goes that if you look into the abyss, the abyss looks back. But what if that's just a mirror?