psa to otherkin with prey drives: your thoughts/urges do not define your actions or how good/bad you are as a person. your experiences are valid and you can (and maybe already do) have a healthy relationship with them! having a prey drive doesn't make you a bad person in the slightest and anyone who says otherwise is likely a literal child or someone who is way too influenced by ableism and christian-level purity culture. don't take them too seriously.

sincerely, someone who is vegan and has prey kintypes. my personal discomfort with animals being killed/eaten/chased and people talking about those urges does NOT have any moral weight and I support the heck out of everyone who has prey drives <3

People have written a lot of touchy-feely pieces on this subject but I thought I’d get right to the heart of the matter

Fleeing is fair

Why being a prey animal with no fight mechanisms is just as valid as predatory animals

I'm a little surprised i felt compelled to make this but I guess I shouldn't be. Adding to my herbivore essay collection I felt it was important for me to add that Flight, fawning and defense mechanisms are just as valid if not more so valuable in their own right than just standing your ground and fighting.

I think it's delightful some species of animals have spent millions of years getting so good at predator-prey conflicts they have evolved to simply make conflicts happen less if possible.

Life in general is not a hammer and nail situation. Fighting isn't always the answer sometimes leaving is a far better option. Camouflage, fleeing, flooding, schooling, and herds are all vital elements to some species survival that requires skill and tact and complete.

Trying to convince a predator your really not worth the effort is an artform that has taken place over centuries and millennia. It's also extremely popular and used in everyday life. When someone tries to start a conflict it can be easier to walk away or say something back that shuts them down. Something to convey to the other person "this really isn't worth your time. Im not playing a game"

I don't think these traits are often celebrated like hunting is because it is something that can't be glorified as easily in western culture. In other cultures I believe it is but since I live in america I don't see these traits being considered often despite being used so much.

The predator and prey cycle is a two organism game. Both of them need to outwit the other through any means they see fit. It's also a relationship prey will adapt specifically to some predators like the pronghorn for example. It's top speed is 55 mph which was used to outpace prehistoric cheetahs. Now it's overkill for things like mountain lions, wolves and coyotes.

For predatory animals I encourage to research your prey and learn your relationship with them. Take a moment to give thanks. Vice versa can be said to prey animals. Respecting the relationship of how you evolved and came to be in your habitat I feel is rather important.

I want to re-state again that other methods of survival are not weak. They are just as important.

Trying to see if the “alterhumans are mostly kids” really is true (although, I suppose that would be the case on TikTok). Some age groups are very specific so there’s no big gap! Please reblog for more reach

for a niche audience

I’m just curious as to how much overlap there is between these groups because I’m a therian who enjoys pet play and I recently saw a couple other alterhumans say something similar.

If you kink shame on this post you’re getting blocked.

[Remake] Because I failed to think of some of these things prior to making the first one so I apologize.

Me again! I wanna apologize now in case I say anything that I shouldn’t in this, I’m not trying to be offensive or belittle you I’m just new to this kind of identification, but I would like to understand it better so I can be more considerate about it in the future. So here’s a few questions, you don’t have to answer if it makes you uncomfortable!

What goes on with the others while one of them is fronting or co-fronting? Is it like you choose to let one of them take over your consciousness? Are they there in the background?

is it like constantly having other voices in your head? Like that each have their own personalities and thoughts and such? And if so, is it fun, or is it overwhelming to have all their different thoughts battling each other out?

im not sure how to phrase this, but what happens when you let one or the other front? Do you feel like you’re switching thoughts and personalities? Is it like having a bunch of separate people/creatures in your head that take turns using your physical body to express themselves?

when you co-front, is it like both of them have control over your physical body but are talking to eachother, or rapidly switching from one to another, or one of them takes over and is relaying information from the other?

I really am sorry if this is intrusive or offensive in any way, I know literally nothing about this so I would love to learn more, but I understand if you don’t want to answer any or all of these. I’ll prob ask more to each of them later, but first I would like to develop a basic understanding of how it works so I can be respectful. Thank you!

it's cool, I understand not a lot of people know much about plurality and it's never a bad thing to be curious :)

it's different for everyone. for our system, I can't really fully let go of front so I don't lose consciousness or anything, I'm always fully aware but sometimes may be really dissociate-y when someone else fronts. it's like being on autopilot kind of, like watching your body do things but you aren't doing them consciously. I have struggled with dissociation all my life so the autopilot thing is familiar for me and doesn't always mean someone else is fronting, it's just similar. when someone else is fronting it's more like the autopilot is being controlled by a specific personality other than my own, I guess. for our system, we can choose to let someone else front and that's usually how it goes, but sometimes I will dissociate because of stress or something and someone else will take over for a bit until I feel better. it's very easy for me to take front again when I want to/need to.

I don't hear them constantly, but once in a while someone will pop up with a thought, but usually it's me talking to them and they respond.

I guess I already kinda answered this but yeah it does kind of feel like I'm just changing personalities, maybe because we're co-fronting but also I do feel my headmates aren't Super separate from me as a person like with some systems, we're like in between multiple (multiple people in one body) and median (one person with different aspects of themselves formed into different personalities) I think. I hope that makes sense to you!

mostly the last one! when we co-front, it's usually 1 person who is mainly fronting while the other(s) is watching and easily able to take front again or do an action. like, if kai is fronting we'll be internally talking (if I feel like talking, sometimes it's just him talking to me and letting me know what he's doing) and if he's cleaning the house I could control our body for a moment to move a plushie to where I want it and then let him do the rest. it's usually very blurry and sometimes I don't know what actions are mine and what are the other headmate's. also they tend to know what I want and I tend to know what they want because like I said, we aren't entirely separate people. they have their own thoughts and opinions but we rarely really disagree, thankfully lol. would suck to disagree with someone you're stuck with bc they live in your head lmao. I'd say kai is the most separate from us because he started as an imaginary friend but usually he's the voice of reason when I don't want to listen or take care of myself.

all of this is personal to our system of course, if you'd like to learn more you might want to do some research or ask other systems :) we appreciate the questions though, it's fun answering them!

Hai! I just found your blog and read your pinned post lol. I think it’s really cool that you’ve got that most of the way figured out! I personally don’t understand being otherkin/co-operating (is that the right word? Probably not) but thats prob cuz I’m not personally. I’m not sure when you last updated the post but if Rou is still shy I’d love to try and talk to wolf to help wolf and maybe show that not all people are enemies? I know that a lot of people are really against people expressing themselves for some reason but I’d like to show that not everyone is like that. (Also wolf sounds like someone I REALLY want to be friends with idk) sorry if this is offensive or incorrect in any way, I’m not familiar with the correct terms and what is and isn’t an acceptable way to address things but I’d like to be. If you don’t wanna talk, that makes sense too I’m just some stranger on the internet lol so understandable. But anywho yea sorry for the essay and I hope you have a nice day!

we appreciate it! :) rou isn't necessarily afraid of people or sees them as enemies, and wolf has gotten a bit less shy over time. we just have social anxiety and as much as rou hates to admit it, it affects wolf too lol we share a brain after all.

is there anything you'd like to know about rou? I could let wolf cofront later to answer or just chat a bit, we have a doctor appointment soon so we gtg. wolf has read this and thinks you're cool tho :)

tw // reality check

uhh. just had a p-shifter interact with me and now I’m realizing seeing people who genuinely believe they can p shift is kind of a trigger for me, thanks! /s

if anyone who actually, genuinely believes in p-shifting sees this (not talking about people who experience delusions/psychosis and identify as p shifter because of it, but specifically people who argue that p shifting is REAL and spread false “science” about it):

please don’t go down this route. it was so incredibly toxic for me. the belief in p shifting itself was harmful to me because I was so caught up in this idea that I didn’t need to have a human life (I had other stuff going on but that arguably makes it worse that I was taught to believe in something this wild while in a very vulnerable state) and I remember staying up really late some nights just trying to p shift. I remember convincing myself my teeth and eyes were changing, I ignored medical problems because I thought they were signs I was turning into a wolf. I ignored my human health because I thought I wasn’t meant to be human. I did not take care of myself at all.

I was taken in by cults and toxic packs with hierarchies based on outdated misinformation about wolves. I fought with people about my p shifting belief so much that I pushed so many people away and only surrounded myself with others who agreed with me.

maybe stop and think- why have you not seen proof of p shifting, if so many people claim they can? why is there no solid evidence? does your friend who claims to be able to p shift have ridiculous rules like that they aren’t allowed to take pictures of their shifts because of the government, yet they’re able to talk freely about it online? do parts of their story ever not line up with things they’ve said before, or not make total sense? why do you think YOU are able to shapeshift and no other human has figured it out aside from a handful of super secretive people online who all have very convenient excuses to not give you solid evidence of their physical shifting?

please look up cult/manipulative behaviors and learn how to recognize them because you WILL encounter these people who are trying to manipulate you in the p shifting community, that is a fact, whether your bestie who claims to totally p shift every week is preying on you or not, someone will. please, please take care of yourself.

I wanted to be a wolf so bad. I was dysphoric and dealing with a lot of mental health issues and an abusive family and wanted SO badly to believe in p shifting that I was willing to deny reality and convince myself I was getting past some mental barrier very slowly. but nothing ever happened. it left me exhausted and hopeless, that was it. I put so much faith into something that just was never ever going to happen, and was so incredibly disappointed. it makes me so sad realizing I wasted a few years of my life trying to do the literal impossible. you can have your beliefs if you really want to but my god, do not center your entire life around a belief that has ZERO basis in reality. do not push away your friends because they disagree with you. do not ruin your human life because you think you will become an animal and run away from society to live in the woods.

also don’t interact if you’re going to argue that actually p shifting is real because of this outdated science article that is extremely vague or because “nothing is impossible, only improbable”. been there, done that, debunked everything you could throw at me and now I’m just tired of seeing young people fall down the wrong path and knowing nothing I can say will convince them that p shifting isn’t real. it’s like trying to tell someone their religion is fake- there’s no way to prove it isn’t real but there’s no proof it exists either (and your super blurry picture of someone wearing a fake mermaid tail doesn’t count as proof), but we all know how religion can hurt people (not always, but it can).

If reincarnation is real I wonder how many people stare at their own art in museums, listen to their own music they made in a different life and read books they don't remember writing

Disgust has absolutely no ethical weight. If you are basing your ethical positions on the emotion of disgust you should stop, it is entirely unjustified and leads to a huge amount of harm.

Announcing the Centaurus Festival 🐴🌠

The Centaurus Festival is a free annual 3-day online gathering for alterhumans with a focus on mythical and folkloric identities. This gathering is held on Discord on the first weekend in March (March 1st-3rd, 2024), and offers a full schedule of events for attendees to go wild over. Check out our website here!

Registration Schedule 📅

Artists/Dealers Applications: November 1st - November 30th

Panelist Registration: December 1st - January 31st

Attendee Registration: January 1st - February 29th

Convention Dates: March 1st-3rd

reblog to give the person you reblogged this from a fucking break

Attendee registration for Othercon 2023 is open!

Othercon.org is finally open again, thanks everyone for your patience! Also a reminder that this year's convention is on August 11th - 13th (it's always the second weekend in August). If you don't have an account: All you have to do is register one and you're all set for attendee registration, there's no extra steps.

If you do have an account: You don't need to make a new one every year. However, because of Discord's latest update, Discord tags/discriminators are a thing of the past. You'll have to edit your on-site account to include your Discord user ID instead.

Now onto the other relevant information.

Theme and Charities

This year's theme is: Prehistoric!

Details on our charities for this year can be found here. The list of them is as follows:

St. George Dinosaur Discovery Site (spotlight)

Archangel Ancient Tree Archive

Ice Age Trail Alliance

Sedgwick Museum of Earth Sciences

For Artists, Dealers, and Panelists

I haven't been able to go through submissions yet, so nobody has been sent any emails so far. I should be able to get to them by next week!

I’m nonhuman

not in a “I’m trapped in a human body and hate it” kind of way

or a “I was sent here for a reason” kind of way

but more like “I’m a dog disguised as a human pretending to fit in so I can enjoy the benefits of humanity such as chocolate, video games, and collecting cute things”

Kyr's alterhuman ask game!

🌲 - are you a wild or domestic animal? 🌺 - How did you find out you were alterhuman? 👑 - do you own any gear? If so, what is it? 🌥️ - how long have you identified as alterhuman? 🍂 - what are some of your favorite alterhuman-related activities? 💫 - do you experience species dysphoria? 🕊️ - does your kintype/theriotype go by a separate or different identity? (i.e. different name, age, gender, etc) 🧸 - do you experience pet regression? 🦋 - what are all your kintypes/theriotypes? 🍃 - do you shift? 👼 - Do you identify as/with other non-human creatures that aren't animals? ☄️ - other random therian/otherkin stuff!

A lot of adulthood is shouting “AUGH MY LAUNDRY” hours after you put it in the washer/dryer and running to go fetch it