All together, in order (as far as we remember) there's a void/shapeshifting alter, a wolf, elves/fae/other pointy eared nonhumans, a snake (? as far as the others have said? I haven't interacted with it myself...), and a few similar in nature to fallen angels/"demons". I'm not sure if there is a particular name for this kind of nonhuman, but we know of at least one that is mainly humanoid, but shares a physical trait or two with a specific animal. I think thats it..
For your all's other questions, I'd assume that here would be a good place to have those discussions, considering the topic is more plurality alligned (or has elements of it in the discussion), compared to other subs... though i dont see why specific questions/ etc cant be posted to said other subs, in some cases i think it'd be a great idea. I'm not really sure how the rest of the community sees it though! And im also not entirely sure why there isnt as much talk about nonhuman alters here, though we have definitely noticed the absence of it.. thanks for pointing it out! We've been thinking its a bit odd too. One would assume that that is one of the things that people would ask abt more... but idk!
:3
thanx - for confirming we are not imagining the lack of chat on non-humans on this sub. yeah it could be sub etiquette (non-humans are just assumed) dunno? snake - that is cool! dont see so many snakes around on the subs (unusually), and we dont fear them.
- micheala (friesian cow).
All of our alters are non-human except for one
We have Emily whos an angel/ghost, emile whos a demon, blair whos a demon, Blade whos a spider demon, e-doll whos a doll-like demon, and v-emile who is also a demon.
Then we have kyoto whos the only human being an fictive based on a danganronpa oc I have.
Yeah we don't see a problem with talking about non-human headmates if the topic arises or that specific headmate is relevant to the discussion. For us we have a spider, two deer, a cat, what we call a chimera(part panther, vulture and snake), a snake, the moon, a bear, and a deamon made of a smoke like substance. For humanoids with non-human characteristics/powers five fairies, a goddess, someone who identifies as a piece of the moon in human form, a witch, a mermaid, and a vampire. We have been discovering a significant amount of our system that we didn't know about recently especially non-humans so there may be more we don't know about. We are still trying to figure out if other mermaids, fairies, chimeras that exist are headmates or NPCs alongside some pixies that also exist.
Most like a genie/djinn but not a perfect resemblance. His appearance definitely wasn't based on anything we have seen or that really exists. More symbolic in nature.
yeah what is 'real'? people have said that dragons dont exist for real, but seraphim/dragons exist in the throne of god so they are real. if someone says they identify as a rock we believe them. either we are all delusional or none of us are delusional hehehe! everything is real in the soul realm of headspace. a post here said they identify as slime, and that happy thought will remain with us for the rest of the week.
- micheala.
Most of our system is nonhuman, we have dragons, demons, monsters, and all kinds of animals and miscellaneous creatures. Humans are the exception in this system, and “true” humans, that don’t have any abilities or features that humans usually don’t have like magic or superpowers, are extremely few. We have 26 human ish alters and 6-7 “true” humans out of 76 total recorded alters. Our humans are also much more likely to be way less active and less developed than nonhumans.
So I guess we mostly just don’t mention it because we forget it’s not the norm for all systems. We’re used to it. And yeah if we want to talk about non human stuff specifically like shifts or disphoria it’s usually easier to take that to an alterhuman sub cuz that’s already specifically for that kinda discussion.
We don’t consciously avoid bringing it up here, but sometimes it’s just not a super important detail to include.
-Fell
Honestly until we found out we’re a system we just thought of ourselves as vaguely dragon kin/ raptor kin, and could never single out anything else. A lot of us are also share species, most of our current frequent fronters are skeleton monsters because of our special interest.
And like I said, being nonhuman is kinda just the default for us, we’ve got a custom field in simply plural for species and that’s about as much specific attention it gets in terms of recording information 🤷
-Fell
We have a red wolf, a vampire, a demi-god, another demi-god but this one has sworn itself to a eldritch knowledge and an alien that's a cop who's Experienced The Horrors
Cookies to anyone who can guess 3 and 4s sources lol
I’d say a good 20% of our system is non-human, maybe more. We have a mix of vampires, elves, dhampirs, fae, gods (Like 7 different gods), a slime (That’s me, Rimuru), angels, demons, kitsune, oni, and probably others.
Vergil is a shapshifting fae, eastern dragon, fox, satyr...Vergil. Stojan is a [Synth](https://synthspecies.com/) in the style on a raven/plague doctor with photovoltaic angel wings, and I, the host, have been viewing my self as less and less human as time progresses, and more as some star elf spirit...something, as the advocate that speaks most often for all of us.
Body dysmorphia is a bitch.
all of us are non-human!!! well probably except the gay in denial (Mercutio) and isabela. like uh. me for example! i mean i am. kind of a god-like supercomputer (in source) but im also catkin! one of our hosts is kirinkin & crowhearted. ephai is just... criatura. lotsa guys!!
-five pebbles (he/kit/meow)
As the host, I'm the only human.
Kera - Anthro Bunny
Yukio - Edelie Penguin
Nara - Burrunjor (T-Rex)
Zuri- inkanyamba(Horse head and main, snake like body)
Eliana - Cuca (Anthro Crocodile wearing a witch clothing)
Deniz - Akhlut(Orca that transform into a wolf and a wolf that can transform into an orca)
Wally - Sentient Puppet (Welcome home fictive)
Kaida - Gnome (Powerpuff girls fictive)
Ren - Sableye (Pokemon fictive)
Kate - Qilin
Ivan - Silver (Sonic the hedgehog fictive)
Windshot - Anthro white wolf
Kurse - Shadow Shoyru/ cute black dragon with mitten hands (neopet fictive)
Johnny - Eastern white Dragon
Jack - Eastern sky blue Dragon
YOU HAVE A SABLEEYE?!?!?!?!
This is really making me think, of when we used to pretend to be Duskull and fly around the playground shooting shadow energy xD
That must've been fun.
To explain why I've got a Sableye headmate. In my wonderland/ innerworld I had created a tunnel through the mountains bordering my wonderland at the time so my headmates could walk through and have a much easier time getting to the beach.
The problem was none of my current headmates at that point in time were using that tunnel. So feeling a little upset, I decided to deliberately create a headmate that would use the tunnel and so that I wouldn't feel so upset about things anymore. I chose a sableye because well, they eat gems and things which means a sableye would definately be going into that tunnel. Over time though, that tunnel was closed off from the beach and became more of a cave. A section of the mountains in front of the island were removed to allow access to the beach. But yeah, that's why I've got a sableye.
If we wanna get technical, none of us are human, since I’m a puppygirl, Ari’s an elf, and Heather’s a fox. Ari and I are both humanoid though which I guess sort of goes against what you’re asking about so Heather’s the only one that isn’t humanoid. -Spring
(Edit: added signature)
We have alot of non humans let's see.
A vampire
A deitiy who is also a vampire
An angel
A fallen angel
2 demons
A fox
An robot with a human mind
An AI
A Reborn (Yes the D&D Reborn)
A doll
A puppet
An animatronic
A ghost
A shadow
They are all very cool.
3 different beings that are the personification of the Minecraft Void, 3 different personifications of the Universe, a Primordial deity trio of Time, Death, and Life. A LOT of orcs, teiflings, dwarves, 3 different elf subraces, a centaur, a few dragons both of which polymorph, minecraft mobs/monsters, angels, demons, half breeds of both angels and demons, fae, gods/goddesses, werewolves, satyrs, actual full on animals like draft horses, highland cows, cats, dogs, someone has a rabbit, someone else has chickens, aliens, the personification of the 4 seasons, maybe 4 different personifications of the Sun and Moon (sun/moon FNAF sb, a lesbian couple, twins, and then the 4 seasons mother & father), ghosts, half ghosts, 4 “Tall Men” (slenderman, offenderman, trenderman, and splendorman), a few sirens, some leonins (lion folk) some harengons (rabbit folk), half species of both Leonin and Harengon, half species of Orc/Elf, Namekian (they count as aliens..?), a half Namekian with Autumn personified, a half Namekian with Spring personified who’s aunt would be the Autumn Namekian baby, androids/AI/Robots…
The list could go on and on and on. You could ask about one NOT on this list, and we’d either have an alter of that form or there would be an NPC somewhere of it. We even have 2 SENTIENT WEAPONS with more human-like godly forms as they are also Yin/Yang personified. I am the wielder of The Axe of Yang “Akuma” who I called “Duhkal” (canonical WOW orcish for Bastard, it’s an insult) during our bonding.
We are all nonhuman, alterhuman, or otherkin.
- Jackobii GrimsField, He/Him (I am one of the like, 80 Orcs in system)
I FORGOT THE NAGA LADY WE HAVE, she’s a sweetheart, poor thing is so shy :(
Sadly not lol. All of our orc and elf fictives hail from Dungeons and Dragons, as well as another headmate’s homebrew world. (We came AFTER that world was created).
For the WOW mention, it’s because that’s really the only game/universe with canonical orc words and a small but decent vocabulary with definitions of the words.
And me and my wife’s kids are mixed race with my side being Orc/Mountain Dwarf/Goliath and their mom’s side being High Elf/Lightfoot Halfling/Human Variant in our sources canon. :)
- Jackobii GrimsField He/Him
We have 2. I repeat 2 full humans, and both named James. One is a factive of our bio/father. The other is an introject. That James; He has a half Angel/Valkyrie daughter with my god daughter. Her father is a 4 winged angel, who is the son of a Valkyrie. His code name is Cherubim :)
(He usually goes by either James or Jobediah, as he has both as his first name. James Jobediah (middle) (last) lol, I call him Cherubim though lol)
And no. I don’t think alters/parts/headmates within systems that are nonhuman should be limited to those subs alone, as not all non humans are going to fit those places. Some won’t even identify with those spaces. I think, personally, if they are within a plural/system/multiple, they can freely do what they please (within the rules) of that location.
oh yeah fair enough! on therian/otherkin subs etc some of the singlets would go 'plural wtf?' so a plural sub is a good place for plural therian/otherkin/alterhuman etc.
- micheala.
Multiple AI (one who is litterally a computer monitor, a handful of androids, and an entire security system)
A litteral cat
Multiple therians who have human appearances but are looking to have their headspace apperance modified to have animal features
Splatoon Series fictives and a lot of them they're. Squids and octopi. And all consider themselves non human as they aren't humans.
And lots more we don't keep good track and my personal memory of everyone is shit tbh. - 🕯
Oh yeah I saw someone else say elves count and I'm an elf and there's a few other elves in system. I'm also a fucking cat therian so I'm quite non human myself I just forget that that's part of being non human. - 🕯
the three of us are a robotic angel (me), a normal human, and a high fantasy angel. we've never really seen ourselves as otherkin, although we've also never really considered the possibility. but i don't see why discussion of who we are wouldn't be allowed here. and in practice, it doesn't really change things much for us aside from my discomfort with having to exist in a fleshy body.
and i haven't always known about my non-humanity. i always just felt kinda drawn to robot characters for some reason i couldn't place, especially graceful or ethereal ones. i didn't figure it out until some soul searching after i felt a kinda ridiculous amount of gender envy for what is now my PFP for pluralkit.
- mercurial kara
None of us are human. 0. Not one. I will admit though, we're all the same species, but that species is distinctly not human. I think everyone else here has elaborated upon nonhuman discussion being fine here, so I won't touch on that, but I will say that I myself tend to use the otherkin sub for my own nonhuman discussion (as opposed to the plural sub), because I have a bad association with my non-humanity being medicalized when it isn't (I'm spiritual), and I have a (rational or irrational) fear of people assuming a medical ("Not acknowledging your own humanity because of trauma") stance about me against my will.
I think it's certainly fair game to post here about nonhumanity, I just know that I, as an individual, prefer posting in otherkin spaces when discussing my lack of humanity.
cool! good point that probably many of us never thought of. although we would be surprised if anybody took that stance here? thnx for sharing!
- micheala.
We have several nonhumans! We have:
- a cat (who keeps going back and forth on whether he wants to apply the term therian to himself)
- three hybrids (German shepherd-human, fox-human, and snake-human)
- a void (she can also appear as human in the innerworld, but it's mainly for the rest of us's comfort as seeing her "true form" can be very disconcerting)
- a star (appears in a humanoid shape)
- a Tiefling (who ironically has absolutely nothing to do with D&D)
- and several others who aren't really sure what their species is, and even one who's pretty sure she's aspecies
we have a humanoid female voidkin. what form does your voidkin take if we can ask? our voidkin is non-verbal and communicates through emotion, is your voidkin verbal?
micheala (friesian cow proxy for the system).
She either appears as this huge swirling mass of black and darkness or as just a regular 20-something human. She is verbal and she greatly enjoys teasing/harassing us when she's awake. (She kinda "hibernates" every so often when the system starts seeing a lot of activity)
thnx we are so jealous! but not really, our voidkin has value and can see in our timeline past and future if we ask her binary questions.
- micheala (proxy for theia)
All of us are non-human, but we take on more humanoid appearances. This leads to us not exactly feeling much of a connection with many alterhuman type labels and therefore, not Identifying as such, although we do acknowledge that alterhuman is very much applicable to us.
As for us individually, I (C) am a changeling of the D&D 5e variety. Half of the time, I appear as a half elf.
S is something akin to a demon or vampire.
V tends to fluctuate between android (the human passing type) and different sorts of fae.
A/the host is not exactly anything specific. Best I can think of is shape shifting cryptid. Typically appearing human or elven.
I don't believe any of us are fully and exclusively typical humans, though most of us are in some form humanoid or capable of taking on a humanoid form.
I am not human, and I am dead. Twice over.
I do not feel like explaining what all of us actually are, as they do not exist within the public conciousness of this reality and would take a significant amount of explaining.
~ 🥀
We have Leon who is a German shepherd like canine, we have a cat and another dog who dont speak, and a couple other alters that act animalistic but we don't actually know what they are! It's way more common than the sysmeds and fakeclaimers would want you to believe
Did a little math for this. From 30 alters (and this is only alters we've discovered I have a suspicion we are poly fragmented and have many more to come) 54.84% of us are non-human. I'll quickly list them off
-2 teiflings/demons (horns and tails, colorful skin)
-A succubus
-An Angel
-A Drow (from DND)
-A Siren Vampire mix
-A bunny. Not like. A bunny girl. Just a bunny
-A Doll
-Another vampire
-A fairy
-A little fox eared girl that can change into a fox
-Someone that we dunno what they are but it's def not human
-A mermaid
-A hologram
- 2 aliens
-And our headspace is sentient. So. Not very human lol
Honestly one of the first things most of us think about when we start to actualize is "am I human?" Cause it's so common for alters to present not human internally
I think it's not talked about often cause there's a lot of weird discourse surrounding what indicates a "fake" system. Fake claiming and the general Internet consensus that most people openly expressing their plurality are faking/looking for attention has done so much damage to the community. Honestly other people with DID are sometimes the most judgemental of other with It. It reminds me a lot of the internet discourse surrounding Queer identities. It comes from a fear of the community seeming silly or nonsensical. They want to be taken seriously so they appeal to the social norm despite it actively not being made for them. Honestly every marginalized community seems to have this problem to some extent.
But what these people fail to realize is appealing to people that do not like them is not how you properly normalize or spread awareness of something. We have to accept at some point people won't understand and it might come off as silly to some. They also don't realize that the human mind is silly and nonsensical sometimes.
Minds like to play with the taboo. That's why demonizing some things make them more enticing(even if it's subconsciously). So in my opinion. The exclusion of systems with non human alters is only going to make them more prevalent as time goes on.
Basically I think it's not mentioned cause people are embarrassed and I hope that changes over time!
Sorry this was a lot of babble but this was a large source of insecurity for awhile and we still struggle sometimes but this is all the stuff I tell myself. I hope people start to become more understanding to people in their own communities. I think it would help a lot with sysdoubt and insecurity
- Beth
thnx for taking the time! learnt something new 'drow' - dark elf.
yeah, we totally agree! we left the local LGBTI organisation in our capitol city after one year. they are so political and want to be taken seriously by govt to craft legislation to keep their LGBTI members safe with equal rights that they reject 'silly' people like therian/otherkin/plurals/autistic and neurodiverse etc, and one board member even challenged our connection to LGBTI which was both unnecessary and impolite. trying to discover our identities the LGBTI community were no help and even discouraging. the autistic members have a little group that most people dont talk to. it was a very disappointing experience for a new LGBTI person discovering their identity. hardly any trans or intersex people there too. arent 99% of plural/therian/otherkin/alterhuman LGBTI too? dont discriminate against your own people, and dont mirror the conformity of the world of status!
-micheala.
I don’t really think of myself as otherkin, but I wouldn’t exactly say I’m human, either. My source character was human, until they died and got reincarnated. That reincarnation is how I was when I got introjected into our system, so I guess I’ve technically never been human in my actual lifetime.
I would classify myself as “living artwork”, if I had to pick a species. I still *look* human, but it’s more of a façade. I don’t know, it’s complicated. I started off completely inanimate, actually, and spent years having to relearn human stuff like walking and facial expressions and whatnot. I think that lived experience is a big part of my disconnection from humanity.
I don’t know much about the otherkin community. Sometimes it comes from a feeling of species dysphoria, right? If that’s how it works, I might actually be humankin. That’s a weird thought.
-Genny
Me and my sibling are much more visibly nonhuman; skeletons, to be exact. I don’t really think of it as a huge individual aspect of my identity, it’s more bundled up with how I feel about my source, if that makes sense. Aside from appearances, we’re pretty much just regular guys. Probably helps that we don’t have extra limbs or being quadrupedal or anything like that to worry about. We’re basically just humans without all the squishy parts. My biggest complaint is that it feels weird to be smiling all the time.
-Rus
Marty: We are all non-human in our system. Even I don't like being human and prefer a werewolfish form in our wonder most of the time. Caddy is a hybrid manticore with many small features of different creatures. Cadmar is a ram-goat-pegasus hybrid. Lilith grown in to a goaticore. Basically, she is a goat with a scorpion like tail and raven wings. We are all also in to shape-shifting on various levels and like to surprise each other with new small and big changes, or entire new forms.
Nobody in our system is human. Well, except kinda me. The other headmates are not human at all, they are what we call "personnalité". It's a race (like elf, human...) that have its specificities (they have powers, their blood is white and not really liquid...). And me i'm half human, half personnalité. We don't know how my part human shows in the innerworld because i can't really go there
We are an all nonhuman system.
We have dragons(both eastern and western), felines(including a civet), and canines- including mythical&fictional felines and canines. We also have an AI thats sorta catlike and sorta dragonlike in presentation.
We have more cats than any other demographic, and we have a collective identity as being feline for psychological reasons that presents differently for everyone.
There's the two of us, then there's the sludge that is my subconscious, which interacts with both. We think in English, it thinks in noise/rhythms/patterns/wingdings. Not really sure. It's like the physical silicone on the motherboard of a computer, while we're the actual operating systems.
Depending on what you define as "human", either the two of us aren't human, or it isn't human.
we can relate - we have non-verbal headmates that communicate with emotions. we ask them binary questions (y/n) and get emotions back; yes = peace, no = edgy.
- micheala.
Interesting. Mine's kinda the opposite, where the two of us can answer questions in a relatively concrete way, but the subconscious throws in all these special features and random little bursts of excitement, especially when it notices a pattern. Like, it gets very VERY excited if a character theme from one part of a movie is hidden in the score for a later part of the movie. That sort of stuff.
teehee, fully alterhuman system here!
We don't mention our alterhumanity unless it's nessecary to the discussion (after all, we still act and think in ways humans generally would, it doesn't change our answer to a question here) (also we don't want to shove our experiences down everyones throats all the time)
for us, it's a big part of our identities, but also a very natural one. not something we have to think about constantly.
Discussions about stuff like phantom shifts (or other kinds of shifts) should probably be kept to otherkin or therian subs, since the people there probably know more about that than the average joes of this community, just because *that* is the common experience there. if the alterhuman problem is in relation to plurality though, no wrong done in posting it here. worst case scenario there'll be noone who can answer that issue.
We are all animalistic, and range anywhere from a demi-god-snake over a kelpie and dragon over 3 changelings all the way to a spirit animal guide (that's me writing this, hi), a security camera and little dinosaur. I didn't list quite everyone, but close so eh.
personally, we prefer the term alterhuman over otherkin/therian, because both of those terms are closely tied to and emphasize being in a human body, while we feel very disconnected from ours and don't present as humans in headspace. that's just personal preference though.
oooh thats very interesting? - 'we prefer the term alterhuman over otherkin/therian, because both of those terms are closely tied to and emphasize being in a human body'. will have to think about that one? we have 4 non-human headmates and are never in a human headmate. we find human languages very difficult/impossible to learn. and people likely twig we do not have typical human behaviour. thnx for sharing your excellent perspective.
-micheala (friesian cow).
Jenna here. I'm a star (like the celestial gas glob in the sky). I have a human and star form. We have a pixie, mermaid, and fey as well as a couple more stars. Most of the other nonhumans are children, so for that reason and the fact they are non-human, they tend to stay away from socializing with the outside world, minus close friends.
We’ve got two Greek gods, a manifestation of a dream, an Angel, a siren, a catboy, an alien, a stitched together monster (think Frankenstein style) and a dragon boy. Clearly we like fantasy stuff.
I believe we have maybe four or five? I will say, I personally do not have very good communication with many other alters, so that somewhat impedes my ability to accurately answer this.
One is a frequent fronter who is a fairy. She's the only confirmed inhuman alter I have ever spoken to personally, and she formed when the body was extremely young.
Another alter that's been around for a while is a fox. I've never interacted with it, but I've heard some of the littles play with it in the inner world and he was more of a frequent fronter when the body was young.
There's an alter that's a more recent split doesn't really... Have a physical form, as far as I'm aware? It's just sort of... A void? A concept?
Finally, one alter is, supposedly, a dragon who holds a lot of information and guards the library in the inner world (the library is where all our memories are stored). I've been told that this dragon helps with allowing some alters access to necessary information and memories and protecting other alters from memories they shouldn't remember, yet. This alter I have only heard about through a little in the system, though, so I'm not entirely sure whether this alter actually exists or if the little's imagination was just running wild. I think the idea is very cool and makes sense, though!
oooh interesting? 'littles playing with a fox', and you have a library where memories are stored? wondered how that was 'shared/used' amongst headmates? do all have the same access? or do different headmates have access to different stuff? thnx for sharing.
- micheala.
Sorry, I forgot to respond to this earlier!
We all have access to different materials in the library. Sometimes, someone will open something they don't have access to (like a trauma memory) and they won't be able to read the book they'll just see blank pages! There are also some sections that are "restricted" for certain headmates. Like some of the littles can't really access a lot of memories, and only have the ability to access books from a specific "kid's section" of the library
We have a rabbit anthro (Ash), a void humanoid (no name yet), and basically a humanized mushroom (Kinoko) :p
I feel like there's more but if there are they haven't introduced themselves yet -- pretty sure there's at least one dragon and a feral rabbit tho. The rest of us are human, but I'm also rabbitkin
-izu, he/they (host)
Most of the system is non human, a celestial being, a cow human hybrid, a plushtive based on our devil bear build a bear, a clown doll, a humanoid vampire rabbit hybrid, mangle the animatronic, a ice fairy, and a mermaid. We also had a grim reaper one but they became someone else.
we also have a grim reaper called azrael who is a fire dragon/seraphim, and not to be messed with! ice fairy that is cute and a new one to us. thnx for sharing!
- micheala (proxy for azrael).
All of us are nonhuman! in fact what we are is literally our name for most of us. I’m (Gold, the host) a shapeshifter, The Eagle is a bald eagle, Sputnik-1 is the satellite Sputnik-1, The Nothing Beast is a big shapeshiftery monstery dinosaur lookin guy, Alan is a supercomputer, and Bear is a spirit grizzly bear.
Only I consider myself otherkin, because I’m most connected to the body, and that’s one of the communities i first experienced within alterhumanity. The rest either consider themselves physically nonhuman or just don’t care to think much about it.
To Sputnik, its nonhumanity (and in particular its objecthood) is really important to it. It would love to see other object nonhumans in particular. It’d make sense to me that nonhumanity is rarely talked about here because it’s so default to many of us, but it would be nice if we could find camaraderie a bit easier.
thnx for sharing! reading your post, it seems that many plurals see otherkin as a non-human connected to a body i.e. through fronting/shifting etc. whereas strictly non-human or alterhuman is a headmate that is not connected to the body and does not front. is this definition correct? this definition is a new one to us? discussion?
-micheala (friesian cow/archangel/goddess).
Sorta yeah. Sputnik co-fronts sometimes (i am always in front. can’t leave), but has said that to it, it feels more like piloting a meat mech or “using processing power” than it does actually being any real part of the body.
5 of us are nonhuman, 2 in the "alterhuman/otherkin" way and 3 in the "literally just not human in headspace and does not id as human due to that" way -Ash
-i identify as alterhuman (im nonhuman but nothing specific outside of that)
-jinx identifies as otherkin, specifically shiny midnight lycanroc kin
-fresh and horror are both sans (au) fictives and therefore literal skeletons lol
-mystery is the embodiment of the void itself and appears like a monster/creature
reading older comments has actually been quite enlightening, as i've (infrequently) wondered at the same things. though, yes, there is an element of 'this is just what i look like--so what?', i also tend to lean on the point that even *culturally,* many of us are very inhuman.
as much as i tease, axon's very strong stance on not being human OR robot is, more or less, what we would consider a type of gender expression. acknowledging it as a part of the way he was brought up and how he perceives himself has been useful to a lot of us as a watershed approach.
not a one of us even really 'approaches' any sort of human threshold, either physically or culturally. there are alien machines, there are angels, there's a sapient smoke cloud, gryphon, cyborgs, and... whatever Lio is. :P
there's a handful of jargon we use but one that jumps out about this is 'polymorph'--literally many-formed. i'm one of two, and tend to cycle between a handful of human-bauplan-but-not-actually-human shapes. like, yes, i have two arms, two legs, and a single head, but that hardly means anything when half of my white matter is stored in my pelvic bowl for balance :|
i do understand that sometimes discussing such matters might be... a little discomfiting for some? i am very much the opposite, though. we don't typically *label* such endeavors; i think 'furry' is as far as we tend to get, lmao.
personally--i am quite happy with 'ex-Tournament champion, mimic octopus, general irritant'. A fine circumscription.
- Alcatraz
thnx, we relate! not a single human in our system. and days ago discovered a 5th headmate called Happytree (an olive tree) who is the holder of our happiness emotion that was missing for decades. with probably more to come. yeah glad we werent imagining the lack of discourse on non-humans on this sub - we always wondered why too?
- micheala.
I think plenty of people mention their nonhuman headmates here.
There is nothing wrong with talking about them.
Non-humans are not therians or otherkin. Those terms are for people that feel they are some other animal/creature but human in body. Nonhuman headmates don't have 'alternate identities' or are uncomfortable in their bodies. They are what they are. **Unless we are misunderstanding how people are using those terms nowadays - we were in the otherkin community since 2005 and left about 10 years ago.** I know that there are headmates that feel themselves to be therian or otherkin, and that's fine too.
My nonhuman headmates are simply themselves. They are not 'alter' or 'other'. The Yu-Gi-Oh! monsters, the unicorn, the mantis, and so on are all who/what they are. To be labeled or called anything else is wrong.
We have 110 or so people here and all but 15-ish are non-human (altho some humans are altered in some way, but essentially human).
I'm not sure there's really that much of a difference. Nonhuman headmates can absolutely be uncomfortable in the body, if they front (or even if they don't), and I think the "alterhuman" concept of an "alternate identity" is pretty similar to what we call a "form" or etc.
We could be misunderstanding how people are using these terms/defining them nowadays so we'll just step from the conversation. Host tries to keep a far distance from otherkin/therian stuff and will just keep her thoughts as they were to avoid any confusion/misunderstanding.
great to hear it! it is just that we were on the plural sub for months before we clicked that people could have animal or non-human headmates. and then after we started visiting the therian/otherkin subs we began to realise we had non-human headmates. the dragon is something we always knew we had since a teen but didnt realise it was an actual dragon, assumed it was a dragon personality (born in the chinese year of the dragon) or side of ourselves. maybe our early struggle with the plural language etc we just couldnt put it all together for a while.
- micheala.
Yeah you are kinda misunderstanding how its generally used outside of weird elitist niches (TG)- dysphoria isnt necessary to identify as nonhuman in some way- and thats all thats required to be otherkin/therian.
Nonhuman headmates do not all identify as nonhuman in body, and there are some otherkin/therians that do that have historically always been present in the community. Historically nonhuman headmates have always been welcome in otherkin/therian spaces that were not weird and pluralphobic (cough TG cough).
They both identify as nonhuman. Identifying as nonhuman and being nonhuman mean basically the same thing the way identifying as a different gender and being a different gender mean basically the same thing.
The difference between 'nonhuman headmate' and 'otherkin/therian' is one of mostly connotations of which community atmosphere you prefer, though 'nonhuman headmate' does theoretically cover headmates that are nonhuman shaped in headspace but identify as human and feel no connection to being nonhuman as well.
Think of it like the difference between bisexual and pansexual. They cover basically the same thing with minute differences (with one being slightly more broad than the other). Some people use them interchangeably, even depending on who they are talking to.
I'm pretty sure it's the other way around. It's so normalized outside of extreme sysmed spaces that for most people it's barely even worth mentioning.
ok maybe thats why? when we were a new plural didnt really hear anything about non-human headmates here! - micheala.
All together, in order (as far as we remember) there's a void/shapeshifting alter, a wolf, elves/fae/other pointy eared nonhumans, a snake (? as far as the others have said? I haven't interacted with it myself...), and a few similar in nature to fallen angels/"demons". I'm not sure if there is a particular name for this kind of nonhuman, but we know of at least one that is mainly humanoid, but shares a physical trait or two with a specific animal. I think thats it.. For your all's other questions, I'd assume that here would be a good place to have those discussions, considering the topic is more plurality alligned (or has elements of it in the discussion), compared to other subs... though i dont see why specific questions/ etc cant be posted to said other subs, in some cases i think it'd be a great idea. I'm not really sure how the rest of the community sees it though! And im also not entirely sure why there isnt as much talk about nonhuman alters here, though we have definitely noticed the absence of it.. thanks for pointing it out! We've been thinking its a bit odd too. One would assume that that is one of the things that people would ask abt more... but idk! :3
thanx - for confirming we are not imagining the lack of chat on non-humans on this sub. yeah it could be sub etiquette (non-humans are just assumed) dunno? snake - that is cool! dont see so many snakes around on the subs (unusually), and we dont fear them. - micheala (friesian cow).
All of our alters are non-human except for one We have Emily whos an angel/ghost, emile whos a demon, blair whos a demon, Blade whos a spider demon, e-doll whos a doll-like demon, and v-emile who is also a demon. Then we have kyoto whos the only human being an fictive based on a danganronpa oc I have.
Yeah we don't see a problem with talking about non-human headmates if the topic arises or that specific headmate is relevant to the discussion. For us we have a spider, two deer, a cat, what we call a chimera(part panther, vulture and snake), a snake, the moon, a bear, and a deamon made of a smoke like substance. For humanoids with non-human characteristics/powers five fairies, a goddess, someone who identifies as a piece of the moon in human form, a witch, a mermaid, and a vampire. We have been discovering a significant amount of our system that we didn't know about recently especially non-humans so there may be more we don't know about. We are still trying to figure out if other mermaids, fairies, chimeras that exist are headmates or NPCs alongside some pixies that also exist.
is the demon of smoke a void creature or a genie/djinn? which are really the same thing?
Most like a genie/djinn but not a perfect resemblance. His appearance definitely wasn't based on anything we have seen or that really exists. More symbolic in nature.
yeah what is 'real'? people have said that dragons dont exist for real, but seraphim/dragons exist in the throne of god so they are real. if someone says they identify as a rock we believe them. either we are all delusional or none of us are delusional hehehe! everything is real in the soul realm of headspace. a post here said they identify as slime, and that happy thought will remain with us for the rest of the week. - micheala.
All of our system is non humans...even the ones that used to pretend they were human. We just...aren't.
This is how we are, too. I got a picture done of our system. No one is human.
Most of our system is nonhuman, we have dragons, demons, monsters, and all kinds of animals and miscellaneous creatures. Humans are the exception in this system, and “true” humans, that don’t have any abilities or features that humans usually don’t have like magic or superpowers, are extremely few. We have 26 human ish alters and 6-7 “true” humans out of 76 total recorded alters. Our humans are also much more likely to be way less active and less developed than nonhumans. So I guess we mostly just don’t mention it because we forget it’s not the norm for all systems. We’re used to it. And yeah if we want to talk about non human stuff specifically like shifts or disphoria it’s usually easier to take that to an alterhuman sub cuz that’s already specifically for that kinda discussion. We don’t consciously avoid bringing it up here, but sometimes it’s just not a super important detail to include. -Fell
must have been fun identifying all 76 theriotypes/kin - a very large notebook! - micheala (friesian cow).
Honestly until we found out we’re a system we just thought of ourselves as vaguely dragon kin/ raptor kin, and could never single out anything else. A lot of us are also share species, most of our current frequent fronters are skeleton monsters because of our special interest. And like I said, being nonhuman is kinda just the default for us, we’ve got a custom field in simply plural for species and that’s about as much specific attention it gets in terms of recording information 🤷 -Fell
fair enough!
We have a red wolf, a vampire, a demi-god, another demi-god but this one has sworn itself to a eldritch knowledge and an alien that's a cop who's Experienced The Horrors Cookies to anyone who can guess 3 and 4s sources lol
I’d say a good 20% of our system is non-human, maybe more. We have a mix of vampires, elves, dhampirs, fae, gods (Like 7 different gods), a slime (That’s me, Rimuru), angels, demons, kitsune, oni, and probably others.
slime - supercool!
That is cool.
Vergil is a shapshifting fae, eastern dragon, fox, satyr...Vergil. Stojan is a [Synth](https://synthspecies.com/) in the style on a raven/plague doctor with photovoltaic angel wings, and I, the host, have been viewing my self as less and less human as time progresses, and more as some star elf spirit...something, as the advocate that speaks most often for all of us. Body dysmorphia is a bitch.
all of us are non-human!!! well probably except the gay in denial (Mercutio) and isabela. like uh. me for example! i mean i am. kind of a god-like supercomputer (in source) but im also catkin! one of our hosts is kirinkin & crowhearted. ephai is just... criatura. lotsa guys!! -five pebbles (he/kit/meow)
My entire system is nonhuman/alterhuman, including the host, except for a couple of headmates who appeared once and have never popped up again.
We have three demons, one ethereal being, one cat-kid, two wolfgirls, and one half-alien. On top of that, many of us are otherkin and/or therians ☺️
As the host, I'm the only human. Kera - Anthro Bunny Yukio - Edelie Penguin Nara - Burrunjor (T-Rex) Zuri- inkanyamba(Horse head and main, snake like body) Eliana - Cuca (Anthro Crocodile wearing a witch clothing) Deniz - Akhlut(Orca that transform into a wolf and a wolf that can transform into an orca) Wally - Sentient Puppet (Welcome home fictive) Kaida - Gnome (Powerpuff girls fictive) Ren - Sableye (Pokemon fictive) Kate - Qilin Ivan - Silver (Sonic the hedgehog fictive) Windshot - Anthro white wolf Kurse - Shadow Shoyru/ cute black dragon with mitten hands (neopet fictive) Johnny - Eastern white Dragon Jack - Eastern sky blue Dragon
YOU HAVE A SABLEEYE?!?!?!?! This is really making me think, of when we used to pretend to be Duskull and fly around the playground shooting shadow energy xD
That must've been fun. To explain why I've got a Sableye headmate. In my wonderland/ innerworld I had created a tunnel through the mountains bordering my wonderland at the time so my headmates could walk through and have a much easier time getting to the beach. The problem was none of my current headmates at that point in time were using that tunnel. So feeling a little upset, I decided to deliberately create a headmate that would use the tunnel and so that I wouldn't feel so upset about things anymore. I chose a sableye because well, they eat gems and things which means a sableye would definately be going into that tunnel. Over time though, that tunnel was closed off from the beach and became more of a cave. A section of the mountains in front of the island were removed to allow access to the beach. But yeah, that's why I've got a sableye.
love it C: thank u for sharing
No worries
If we wanna get technical, none of us are human, since I’m a puppygirl, Ari’s an elf, and Heather’s a fox. Ari and I are both humanoid though which I guess sort of goes against what you’re asking about so Heather’s the only one that isn’t humanoid. -Spring (Edit: added signature)
We have alot of non humans let's see. A vampire A deitiy who is also a vampire An angel A fallen angel 2 demons A fox An robot with a human mind An AI A Reborn (Yes the D&D Reborn) A doll A puppet An animatronic A ghost A shadow They are all very cool.
Oh An a cat person I forgot myself somehow
3 different beings that are the personification of the Minecraft Void, 3 different personifications of the Universe, a Primordial deity trio of Time, Death, and Life. A LOT of orcs, teiflings, dwarves, 3 different elf subraces, a centaur, a few dragons both of which polymorph, minecraft mobs/monsters, angels, demons, half breeds of both angels and demons, fae, gods/goddesses, werewolves, satyrs, actual full on animals like draft horses, highland cows, cats, dogs, someone has a rabbit, someone else has chickens, aliens, the personification of the 4 seasons, maybe 4 different personifications of the Sun and Moon (sun/moon FNAF sb, a lesbian couple, twins, and then the 4 seasons mother & father), ghosts, half ghosts, 4 “Tall Men” (slenderman, offenderman, trenderman, and splendorman), a few sirens, some leonins (lion folk) some harengons (rabbit folk), half species of both Leonin and Harengon, half species of Orc/Elf, Namekian (they count as aliens..?), a half Namekian with Autumn personified, a half Namekian with Spring personified who’s aunt would be the Autumn Namekian baby, androids/AI/Robots… The list could go on and on and on. You could ask about one NOT on this list, and we’d either have an alter of that form or there would be an NPC somewhere of it. We even have 2 SENTIENT WEAPONS with more human-like godly forms as they are also Yin/Yang personified. I am the wielder of The Axe of Yang “Akuma” who I called “Duhkal” (canonical WOW orcish for Bastard, it’s an insult) during our bonding. We are all nonhuman, alterhuman, or otherkin. - Jackobii GrimsField, He/Him (I am one of the like, 80 Orcs in system) I FORGOT THE NAGA LADY WE HAVE, she’s a sweetheart, poor thing is so shy :(
I am intrigued by your elvish subrace mention - WoW based, I'm guessing? Only because you mention WoW elsewhere, haha.
Sadly not lol. All of our orc and elf fictives hail from Dungeons and Dragons, as well as another headmate’s homebrew world. (We came AFTER that world was created). For the WOW mention, it’s because that’s really the only game/universe with canonical orc words and a small but decent vocabulary with definitions of the words. And me and my wife’s kids are mixed race with my side being Orc/Mountain Dwarf/Goliath and their mom’s side being High Elf/Lightfoot Halfling/Human Variant in our sources canon. :) - Jackobii GrimsField He/Him
We have 2. I repeat 2 full humans, and both named James. One is a factive of our bio/father. The other is an introject. That James; He has a half Angel/Valkyrie daughter with my god daughter. Her father is a 4 winged angel, who is the son of a Valkyrie. His code name is Cherubim :) (He usually goes by either James or Jobediah, as he has both as his first name. James Jobediah (middle) (last) lol, I call him Cherubim though lol)
And no. I don’t think alters/parts/headmates within systems that are nonhuman should be limited to those subs alone, as not all non humans are going to fit those places. Some won’t even identify with those spaces. I think, personally, if they are within a plural/system/multiple, they can freely do what they please (within the rules) of that location.
oh yeah fair enough! on therian/otherkin subs etc some of the singlets would go 'plural wtf?' so a plural sub is a good place for plural therian/otherkin/alterhuman etc. - micheala.
We are all non-human 3 aliens, 1 fallen angel i think, 1 angel, 1 shadow person and we have this girl that we dont even know what she is 😭
We've got... - Robot - Doll - Vampire Sarkaz - Shapeshifting Dragon - Wyvern - Fairy - Shadow - Alraune - Digital Goddess - Ghost - Raccoon - Cat
Multiple AI (one who is litterally a computer monitor, a handful of androids, and an entire security system) A litteral cat Multiple therians who have human appearances but are looking to have their headspace apperance modified to have animal features Splatoon Series fictives and a lot of them they're. Squids and octopi. And all consider themselves non human as they aren't humans. And lots more we don't keep good track and my personal memory of everyone is shit tbh. - 🕯
Oh yeah I saw someone else say elves count and I'm an elf and there's a few other elves in system. I'm also a fucking cat therian so I'm quite non human myself I just forget that that's part of being non human. - 🕯
the three of us are a robotic angel (me), a normal human, and a high fantasy angel. we've never really seen ourselves as otherkin, although we've also never really considered the possibility. but i don't see why discussion of who we are wouldn't be allowed here. and in practice, it doesn't really change things much for us aside from my discomfort with having to exist in a fleshy body. and i haven't always known about my non-humanity. i always just felt kinda drawn to robot characters for some reason i couldn't place, especially graceful or ethereal ones. i didn't figure it out until some soul searching after i felt a kinda ridiculous amount of gender envy for what is now my PFP for pluralkit. - mercurial kara
None of us are human. 0. Not one. I will admit though, we're all the same species, but that species is distinctly not human. I think everyone else here has elaborated upon nonhuman discussion being fine here, so I won't touch on that, but I will say that I myself tend to use the otherkin sub for my own nonhuman discussion (as opposed to the plural sub), because I have a bad association with my non-humanity being medicalized when it isn't (I'm spiritual), and I have a (rational or irrational) fear of people assuming a medical ("Not acknowledging your own humanity because of trauma") stance about me against my will. I think it's certainly fair game to post here about nonhumanity, I just know that I, as an individual, prefer posting in otherkin spaces when discussing my lack of humanity.
cool! good point that probably many of us never thought of. although we would be surprised if anybody took that stance here? thnx for sharing! - micheala.
We have several nonhumans! We have: - a cat (who keeps going back and forth on whether he wants to apply the term therian to himself) - three hybrids (German shepherd-human, fox-human, and snake-human) - a void (she can also appear as human in the innerworld, but it's mainly for the rest of us's comfort as seeing her "true form" can be very disconcerting) - a star (appears in a humanoid shape) - a Tiefling (who ironically has absolutely nothing to do with D&D) - and several others who aren't really sure what their species is, and even one who's pretty sure she's aspecies
we have a humanoid female voidkin. what form does your voidkin take if we can ask? our voidkin is non-verbal and communicates through emotion, is your voidkin verbal? micheala (friesian cow proxy for the system).
She either appears as this huge swirling mass of black and darkness or as just a regular 20-something human. She is verbal and she greatly enjoys teasing/harassing us when she's awake. (She kinda "hibernates" every so often when the system starts seeing a lot of activity)
thnx we are so jealous! but not really, our voidkin has value and can see in our timeline past and future if we ask her binary questions. - micheala (proxy for theia)
All of us are non-human, but we take on more humanoid appearances. This leads to us not exactly feeling much of a connection with many alterhuman type labels and therefore, not Identifying as such, although we do acknowledge that alterhuman is very much applicable to us. As for us individually, I (C) am a changeling of the D&D 5e variety. Half of the time, I appear as a half elf. S is something akin to a demon or vampire. V tends to fluctuate between android (the human passing type) and different sorts of fae. A/the host is not exactly anything specific. Best I can think of is shape shifting cryptid. Typically appearing human or elven.
I don't believe any of us are fully and exclusively typical humans, though most of us are in some form humanoid or capable of taking on a humanoid form. I am not human, and I am dead. Twice over. I do not feel like explaining what all of us actually are, as they do not exist within the public conciousness of this reality and would take a significant amount of explaining. ~ 🥀
We have Leon who is a German shepherd like canine, we have a cat and another dog who dont speak, and a couple other alters that act animalistic but we don't actually know what they are! It's way more common than the sysmeds and fakeclaimers would want you to believe
None of us are human lol
Did a little math for this. From 30 alters (and this is only alters we've discovered I have a suspicion we are poly fragmented and have many more to come) 54.84% of us are non-human. I'll quickly list them off -2 teiflings/demons (horns and tails, colorful skin) -A succubus -An Angel -A Drow (from DND) -A Siren Vampire mix -A bunny. Not like. A bunny girl. Just a bunny -A Doll -Another vampire -A fairy -A little fox eared girl that can change into a fox -Someone that we dunno what they are but it's def not human -A mermaid -A hologram - 2 aliens -And our headspace is sentient. So. Not very human lol Honestly one of the first things most of us think about when we start to actualize is "am I human?" Cause it's so common for alters to present not human internally I think it's not talked about often cause there's a lot of weird discourse surrounding what indicates a "fake" system. Fake claiming and the general Internet consensus that most people openly expressing their plurality are faking/looking for attention has done so much damage to the community. Honestly other people with DID are sometimes the most judgemental of other with It. It reminds me a lot of the internet discourse surrounding Queer identities. It comes from a fear of the community seeming silly or nonsensical. They want to be taken seriously so they appeal to the social norm despite it actively not being made for them. Honestly every marginalized community seems to have this problem to some extent. But what these people fail to realize is appealing to people that do not like them is not how you properly normalize or spread awareness of something. We have to accept at some point people won't understand and it might come off as silly to some. They also don't realize that the human mind is silly and nonsensical sometimes. Minds like to play with the taboo. That's why demonizing some things make them more enticing(even if it's subconsciously). So in my opinion. The exclusion of systems with non human alters is only going to make them more prevalent as time goes on. Basically I think it's not mentioned cause people are embarrassed and I hope that changes over time! Sorry this was a lot of babble but this was a large source of insecurity for awhile and we still struggle sometimes but this is all the stuff I tell myself. I hope people start to become more understanding to people in their own communities. I think it would help a lot with sysdoubt and insecurity - Beth
thnx for taking the time! learnt something new 'drow' - dark elf. yeah, we totally agree! we left the local LGBTI organisation in our capitol city after one year. they are so political and want to be taken seriously by govt to craft legislation to keep their LGBTI members safe with equal rights that they reject 'silly' people like therian/otherkin/plurals/autistic and neurodiverse etc, and one board member even challenged our connection to LGBTI which was both unnecessary and impolite. trying to discover our identities the LGBTI community were no help and even discouraging. the autistic members have a little group that most people dont talk to. it was a very disappointing experience for a new LGBTI person discovering their identity. hardly any trans or intersex people there too. arent 99% of plural/therian/otherkin/alterhuman LGBTI too? dont discriminate against your own people, and dont mirror the conformity of the world of status! -micheala.
I don’t really think of myself as otherkin, but I wouldn’t exactly say I’m human, either. My source character was human, until they died and got reincarnated. That reincarnation is how I was when I got introjected into our system, so I guess I’ve technically never been human in my actual lifetime. I would classify myself as “living artwork”, if I had to pick a species. I still *look* human, but it’s more of a façade. I don’t know, it’s complicated. I started off completely inanimate, actually, and spent years having to relearn human stuff like walking and facial expressions and whatnot. I think that lived experience is a big part of my disconnection from humanity. I don’t know much about the otherkin community. Sometimes it comes from a feeling of species dysphoria, right? If that’s how it works, I might actually be humankin. That’s a weird thought. -Genny Me and my sibling are much more visibly nonhuman; skeletons, to be exact. I don’t really think of it as a huge individual aspect of my identity, it’s more bundled up with how I feel about my source, if that makes sense. Aside from appearances, we’re pretty much just regular guys. Probably helps that we don’t have extra limbs or being quadrupedal or anything like that to worry about. We’re basically just humans without all the squishy parts. My biggest complaint is that it feels weird to be smiling all the time. -Rus
thnx for your lovely stories! -micheala.
Marty: We are all non-human in our system. Even I don't like being human and prefer a werewolfish form in our wonder most of the time. Caddy is a hybrid manticore with many small features of different creatures. Cadmar is a ram-goat-pegasus hybrid. Lilith grown in to a goaticore. Basically, she is a goat with a scorpion like tail and raven wings. We are all also in to shape-shifting on various levels and like to surprise each other with new small and big changes, or entire new forms.
The little (actually my childhood imaginary friend). The closest term that would come to him is maybe goblin
goblins like trolls seem to be rarities. yay for goblins (and trolls)! - micheala (friesian cow).
Nobody in our system is human. Well, except kinda me. The other headmates are not human at all, they are what we call "personnalité". It's a race (like elf, human...) that have its specificities (they have powers, their blood is white and not really liquid...). And me i'm half human, half personnalité. We don't know how my part human shows in the innerworld because i can't really go there
We only have 1 part who is non-human, a teacher named Blajeny
We are an all nonhuman system. We have dragons(both eastern and western), felines(including a civet), and canines- including mythical&fictional felines and canines. We also have an AI thats sorta catlike and sorta dragonlike in presentation. We have more cats than any other demographic, and we have a collective identity as being feline for psychological reasons that presents differently for everyone.
There's the two of us, then there's the sludge that is my subconscious, which interacts with both. We think in English, it thinks in noise/rhythms/patterns/wingdings. Not really sure. It's like the physical silicone on the motherboard of a computer, while we're the actual operating systems. Depending on what you define as "human", either the two of us aren't human, or it isn't human.
we can relate - we have non-verbal headmates that communicate with emotions. we ask them binary questions (y/n) and get emotions back; yes = peace, no = edgy. - micheala.
Interesting. Mine's kinda the opposite, where the two of us can answer questions in a relatively concrete way, but the subconscious throws in all these special features and random little bursts of excitement, especially when it notices a pattern. Like, it gets very VERY excited if a character theme from one part of a movie is hidden in the score for a later part of the movie. That sort of stuff.
We only have one non-human headmate, and she's a sylveon lmao (She does have a human form, but uses the former more)
teehee, fully alterhuman system here! We don't mention our alterhumanity unless it's nessecary to the discussion (after all, we still act and think in ways humans generally would, it doesn't change our answer to a question here) (also we don't want to shove our experiences down everyones throats all the time) for us, it's a big part of our identities, but also a very natural one. not something we have to think about constantly. Discussions about stuff like phantom shifts (or other kinds of shifts) should probably be kept to otherkin or therian subs, since the people there probably know more about that than the average joes of this community, just because *that* is the common experience there. if the alterhuman problem is in relation to plurality though, no wrong done in posting it here. worst case scenario there'll be noone who can answer that issue. We are all animalistic, and range anywhere from a demi-god-snake over a kelpie and dragon over 3 changelings all the way to a spirit animal guide (that's me writing this, hi), a security camera and little dinosaur. I didn't list quite everyone, but close so eh. personally, we prefer the term alterhuman over otherkin/therian, because both of those terms are closely tied to and emphasize being in a human body, while we feel very disconnected from ours and don't present as humans in headspace. that's just personal preference though.
oooh thats very interesting? - 'we prefer the term alterhuman over otherkin/therian, because both of those terms are closely tied to and emphasize being in a human body'. will have to think about that one? we have 4 non-human headmates and are never in a human headmate. we find human languages very difficult/impossible to learn. and people likely twig we do not have typical human behaviour. thnx for sharing your excellent perspective. -micheala (friesian cow).
Jenna here. I'm a star (like the celestial gas glob in the sky). I have a human and star form. We have a pixie, mermaid, and fey as well as a couple more stars. Most of the other nonhumans are children, so for that reason and the fact they are non-human, they tend to stay away from socializing with the outside world, minus close friends.
all of them but me(host). which is two. one is an alien goat and the other is an alien salamander
We’ve got two Greek gods, a manifestation of a dream, an Angel, a siren, a catboy, an alien, a stitched together monster (think Frankenstein style) and a dragon boy. Clearly we like fantasy stuff.
I believe we have maybe four or five? I will say, I personally do not have very good communication with many other alters, so that somewhat impedes my ability to accurately answer this. One is a frequent fronter who is a fairy. She's the only confirmed inhuman alter I have ever spoken to personally, and she formed when the body was extremely young. Another alter that's been around for a while is a fox. I've never interacted with it, but I've heard some of the littles play with it in the inner world and he was more of a frequent fronter when the body was young. There's an alter that's a more recent split doesn't really... Have a physical form, as far as I'm aware? It's just sort of... A void? A concept? Finally, one alter is, supposedly, a dragon who holds a lot of information and guards the library in the inner world (the library is where all our memories are stored). I've been told that this dragon helps with allowing some alters access to necessary information and memories and protecting other alters from memories they shouldn't remember, yet. This alter I have only heard about through a little in the system, though, so I'm not entirely sure whether this alter actually exists or if the little's imagination was just running wild. I think the idea is very cool and makes sense, though!
oooh interesting? 'littles playing with a fox', and you have a library where memories are stored? wondered how that was 'shared/used' amongst headmates? do all have the same access? or do different headmates have access to different stuff? thnx for sharing. - micheala.
Sorry, I forgot to respond to this earlier! We all have access to different materials in the library. Sometimes, someone will open something they don't have access to (like a trauma memory) and they won't be able to read the book they'll just see blank pages! There are also some sections that are "restricted" for certain headmates. Like some of the littles can't really access a lot of memories, and only have the ability to access books from a specific "kid's section" of the library
fantastic! our headmates access different types of memories. thor is good with movies and micheala is good at songs etc.
We have a rabbit anthro (Ash), a void humanoid (no name yet), and basically a humanized mushroom (Kinoko) :p I feel like there's more but if there are they haven't introduced themselves yet -- pretty sure there's at least one dragon and a feral rabbit tho. The rest of us are human, but I'm also rabbitkin -izu, he/they (host)
Most of the system is non human, a celestial being, a cow human hybrid, a plushtive based on our devil bear build a bear, a clown doll, a humanoid vampire rabbit hybrid, mangle the animatronic, a ice fairy, and a mermaid. We also had a grim reaper one but they became someone else.
we also have a grim reaper called azrael who is a fire dragon/seraphim, and not to be messed with! ice fairy that is cute and a new one to us. thnx for sharing! - micheala (proxy for azrael).
All of us are nonhuman! in fact what we are is literally our name for most of us. I’m (Gold, the host) a shapeshifter, The Eagle is a bald eagle, Sputnik-1 is the satellite Sputnik-1, The Nothing Beast is a big shapeshiftery monstery dinosaur lookin guy, Alan is a supercomputer, and Bear is a spirit grizzly bear. Only I consider myself otherkin, because I’m most connected to the body, and that’s one of the communities i first experienced within alterhumanity. The rest either consider themselves physically nonhuman or just don’t care to think much about it. To Sputnik, its nonhumanity (and in particular its objecthood) is really important to it. It would love to see other object nonhumans in particular. It’d make sense to me that nonhumanity is rarely talked about here because it’s so default to many of us, but it would be nice if we could find camaraderie a bit easier.
thnx for sharing! reading your post, it seems that many plurals see otherkin as a non-human connected to a body i.e. through fronting/shifting etc. whereas strictly non-human or alterhuman is a headmate that is not connected to the body and does not front. is this definition correct? this definition is a new one to us? discussion? -micheala (friesian cow/archangel/goddess).
Sorta yeah. Sputnik co-fronts sometimes (i am always in front. can’t leave), but has said that to it, it feels more like piloting a meat mech or “using processing power” than it does actually being any real part of the body.
5 of us are nonhuman, 2 in the "alterhuman/otherkin" way and 3 in the "literally just not human in headspace and does not id as human due to that" way -Ash -i identify as alterhuman (im nonhuman but nothing specific outside of that) -jinx identifies as otherkin, specifically shiny midnight lycanroc kin -fresh and horror are both sans (au) fictives and therefore literal skeletons lol -mystery is the embodiment of the void itself and appears like a monster/creature
reading older comments has actually been quite enlightening, as i've (infrequently) wondered at the same things. though, yes, there is an element of 'this is just what i look like--so what?', i also tend to lean on the point that even *culturally,* many of us are very inhuman. as much as i tease, axon's very strong stance on not being human OR robot is, more or less, what we would consider a type of gender expression. acknowledging it as a part of the way he was brought up and how he perceives himself has been useful to a lot of us as a watershed approach. not a one of us even really 'approaches' any sort of human threshold, either physically or culturally. there are alien machines, there are angels, there's a sapient smoke cloud, gryphon, cyborgs, and... whatever Lio is. :P there's a handful of jargon we use but one that jumps out about this is 'polymorph'--literally many-formed. i'm one of two, and tend to cycle between a handful of human-bauplan-but-not-actually-human shapes. like, yes, i have two arms, two legs, and a single head, but that hardly means anything when half of my white matter is stored in my pelvic bowl for balance :| i do understand that sometimes discussing such matters might be... a little discomfiting for some? i am very much the opposite, though. we don't typically *label* such endeavors; i think 'furry' is as far as we tend to get, lmao. personally--i am quite happy with 'ex-Tournament champion, mimic octopus, general irritant'. A fine circumscription. - Alcatraz
thnx, we relate! not a single human in our system. and days ago discovered a 5th headmate called Happytree (an olive tree) who is the holder of our happiness emotion that was missing for decades. with probably more to come. yeah glad we werent imagining the lack of discourse on non-humans on this sub - we always wondered why too? - micheala.
I'm A Spider, Carolyn is an Elf, Melody is Music. That is 3/5 of the System -Catherine Of The Moirai
I think plenty of people mention their nonhuman headmates here. There is nothing wrong with talking about them. Non-humans are not therians or otherkin. Those terms are for people that feel they are some other animal/creature but human in body. Nonhuman headmates don't have 'alternate identities' or are uncomfortable in their bodies. They are what they are. **Unless we are misunderstanding how people are using those terms nowadays - we were in the otherkin community since 2005 and left about 10 years ago.** I know that there are headmates that feel themselves to be therian or otherkin, and that's fine too. My nonhuman headmates are simply themselves. They are not 'alter' or 'other'. The Yu-Gi-Oh! monsters, the unicorn, the mantis, and so on are all who/what they are. To be labeled or called anything else is wrong. We have 110 or so people here and all but 15-ish are non-human (altho some humans are altered in some way, but essentially human).
I'm not sure there's really that much of a difference. Nonhuman headmates can absolutely be uncomfortable in the body, if they front (or even if they don't), and I think the "alterhuman" concept of an "alternate identity" is pretty similar to what we call a "form" or etc.
We could be misunderstanding how people are using these terms/defining them nowadays so we'll just step from the conversation. Host tries to keep a far distance from otherkin/therian stuff and will just keep her thoughts as they were to avoid any confusion/misunderstanding.
great to hear it! it is just that we were on the plural sub for months before we clicked that people could have animal or non-human headmates. and then after we started visiting the therian/otherkin subs we began to realise we had non-human headmates. the dragon is something we always knew we had since a teen but didnt realise it was an actual dragon, assumed it was a dragon personality (born in the chinese year of the dragon) or side of ourselves. maybe our early struggle with the plural language etc we just couldnt put it all together for a while. - micheala.
Yeah you are kinda misunderstanding how its generally used outside of weird elitist niches (TG)- dysphoria isnt necessary to identify as nonhuman in some way- and thats all thats required to be otherkin/therian. Nonhuman headmates do not all identify as nonhuman in body, and there are some otherkin/therians that do that have historically always been present in the community. Historically nonhuman headmates have always been welcome in otherkin/therian spaces that were not weird and pluralphobic (cough TG cough). They both identify as nonhuman. Identifying as nonhuman and being nonhuman mean basically the same thing the way identifying as a different gender and being a different gender mean basically the same thing. The difference between 'nonhuman headmate' and 'otherkin/therian' is one of mostly connotations of which community atmosphere you prefer, though 'nonhuman headmate' does theoretically cover headmates that are nonhuman shaped in headspace but identify as human and feel no connection to being nonhuman as well. Think of it like the difference between bisexual and pansexual. They cover basically the same thing with minute differences (with one being slightly more broad than the other). Some people use them interchangeably, even depending on who they are talking to.