I think we need to normalize using "people" as a species neutral word.

Like idk in my brain the word people just doesn't automatically = human. To me it's just a way to signify intelligence and individuality, and to emphasize the need for respect towards another creature, not specific to any one species.

Dogs can be people, mice can be people, dragons can be people, humans can be people, birds can be people, elves can be people, robots can be people, and so on.

It's also (in my opinion) just much easier than always saying "beings" or "individuals" when referring to varying assortments of creatures.

some eevee and eeveelus

As weird as it sounds a big perk of being nonhuman is the cognitive dissonance. Like yeah I’m in a human body but I’m not really a human at all, and when that feeling of disconnect is the strongest - but not actively painful - I can sit back and watch that, despite everything, humans are good. Most humans want to help each other thrive, spread kindness, and bring joy to the lives of others. They love people in their lives so deeply. Sometimes they give me that love, too. Even if I am not one of them, they do not mind. They’ll care for me as if I was their own kind. There’s something indescribably beautiful about that, that I don’t think humans really see.

Hey you. Yeah, I mean you, alterhuman. You nonhuman. You creature hiding in a human skin. You being, you entity, under that human guise. You critter wearing that human outfit, you there with many true forms. You, the human, but just a little to the left. I'm talking to you.

I love you. You're super cool and I love you.

lately I've been having a lot of fun w this little felitaur toddler !!

they say that beauty's on the inside let's see if they're right.

Taurgust Day 10 - Wild Felitaur

Lion dad!! He’s a bit gruff, but his roar is worse than his bite

I feel like now is a good time to remind everyone that...

Nonhuman is an umbrella term, but it is also a standalone label.

You do not need to also be otherkin, otherlinker, otherhearted, therian, fictionkin, alterhuman (which itself may be 100% human and nothing else) or anything else to call yourself nonhuman. You can, if you want to, just use it by itself. No qualifiers, no further explanation required, no definition beyond 'not exclusively human in some way.'

You don't need to identify physically as not-human. Plenty of nonhumans do, and plenty more don't.

You don't need to identify entirely as not-human. There are lots of nonhumans that are also human, plus whatever else they are. There are similarly nonhumans who are in no way human. The term encompasses both without contradiction.

You do not need to specify any amount of voluntary/involuntary adoption of your identity. You can in fact choose to just be nonhuman because you want to do that, or you can come to it after a long time searching and conclude it's the only explanation, or you can fall anywhere in between.

You do not need to be any specific thing other than some degree of not-human. You can be an animal, plant, object, concept, song, creature, shapeshifter, character, device, AI, color, emotion, or anything else that exists or doesn't, or any kind of mixture of those things.

You do not need any specific reason to call yourself nonhuman. It can be a psychological thing, a spiritual thing, a physical thing, a coping thing, a reclamation thing, even just a 'because it's fun and makes you happy' thing.

You do not need anybody's permission or approval to be nonhuman. There are no gatekeepers who have any say over what a nonhuman is or is not, aside from the definition of the word itself, which is incredibly broad and open to interpretation. This is by design. Anybody who tries to stop you has no right to do so.

Please don't forget that when defining 'nonhuman.' It is not just a big tarp to be thrown over other labels. It is also its own full identity with its own merits and concepts, even if it is a very broad and inclusive identity.

Can we PLEASE stop using the terms "rare theriotype" or "common theriotype" it's completely useless and it also probably makes other therians with common theriotypes feel bad. It's like "oh my gosh look a beaver therian!" And then there's "oh..a fox therian. Cool." WE'RE ALL SPECIAL AND RARE IN OUR OWN WAYS! and no matter what. We're all non-humans together.

In case you need it today:

You are under no obligation to publicly perform your identity.

You are a therian without a mask or a tail or shoes or fun snacks or 'good' vocals. You are a therian without a wolf shirt or a paw pendant or a theta-delta pin. You are a therian without quadrobics or other athletic activities.

You are a therian even if you participate in human society. If you want to blend in with people. If you don't 'dress like a therian'. If you don't want to wear your heart on your sleeve.

You are a therian even if you never want to show anyone that you are.

the eeveeclipse o_O

Kitty-Cat Babblings.

Being all-the-cats is a definite ride.

I’ve nixed a lot of my vaguetypes because over time it became clearer they were just cameos and flickers, so now I’m back to just a handful. Eevee and vaporeon, my cluster of OCs, original species and AU canon characters, and yes, of course, all the Felidae. “Felidae” includes all earthly extinct/extant felines, as well as partial/mythical/fictional ones. When I say partial I mean like sphinxes and felitaurs (the feline version of centaurs), for two examples. A mythical example is the cait sidhe/cat sith from Celtic lore, and then some fictional examples would be meowth, liepard, or luxray from the Pokémon franchise.

I know there are people out there who hate their ‘type(s) for whatever reason, but I don’t hate any of mine, except for perhaps the OCs/AU canon character ones when the memories/noemata get really unpleasant. But when it comes to the felinity of me? I adore it. I can’t imagine not being feline. It’s such an ingrained part of my identity, it just took me years to unravel it from thinking it was merely a heart-type/kith to it actually being me, the one ‘type I have the most certainty of. I have felt close with cats from my earliest memories, though, being the grabby and loud child that I was, cats didn’t start liking me until I got older and wiser. (I don’t dislike my eevee/vaporeon vaguetype either, but it’s a bit lower on the scale of Yes, Absolutely, That’s Me, than Felidae are.)

Lions, servals, domestic cats, caracals, jaguars, Scottish wildcats, you name it, I feel kin with it.

yeah i think it turned out to just be a phase lol

no harm done!

kantonian vulpix & ninetales evo-line

as of today i am officially delving into these specific kinfeels I've had off-and-on for years now, mostly because a friendo of mine on a discord server I'm a mod within was talking about their alolan vulpix kintype (@foxfires-spell) and that awakened some things in me tbh. but i already have so many 'types! 9 of them are the eeveelutions, and a bunch are ALL of the feline pokemon under the umbrella of my all-felidae vaguetype...

it's not a crime nor impossible to have so many, especially when you're othervague like i am i guess. just. my inner critic is saying "NO TOO MANY no one will take you seriously" but man what do i care, the world doesn't take alterhumanity seriously at all anyway. might as well add fuel to the fire, embrace it, and move onwards. the worst that can happen is that these kinfeels will fade again and I'll remove them from my list of 'types in my pinned side-blog message....

Sorry if you're asked this a lot, but do you have any good sources to read about theriantropy? Especially off Tumblr? Im trying to reconnect with my therian identity and it's been a while since I've done any reading so I have no idea where to start lol. Thank you!

Here's a list on some stuff where you can read about therianthropy and therian experiences. This isn't the end-all be-all to what's out there, and some things in this may be outdated but still worth a gander:

Alterhuman Archive's therianthropy section. An archive with 230~ writings by therians or otherwise about therianthropy. Don't be afraid to poke around the websites or blogs where these writings are linked from, either!

Radiant Obscurities. A project dedicated to showcasing writings about personal animality (especially those of more uncommon or rare theriotypes.)

Project Shift. An older information and resource site about therianthropy. Some things may be very out of date, but it's still worth looking into-- just keep that in mind.

WereLibrary. An archive dedicated specifically to writings about therianthropy, with 84 writings.

I also recommend my partner system House of Chimeras' Therian Timeline ebook. I know there's more out there too-- check the notes on this post to see if folks have added in their own recommendations!

exhausted of being seen. do not perceive me as feminine. do not perceive me as masculine. do not perceive me as androgynous. perceive me as if a wolf was taught the entire english language for the first time. perceive me as a cat walking on a keyboard and forming sentences. perceive me as an AI programmed to be your friend. perceive me as a ghost that haunts the web and takes the form of a sentient computer. do not perceive me as a human man or woman or non-binary or any sort of label. perceive me as an abstract concept

kantonian vulpix & ninetales evo-line

as of today i am officially delving into these specific kinfeels I've had off-and-on for years now, mostly because a friendo of mine on a discord server I'm a mod within was talking about their alolan vulpix kintype (@foxfires-spell) and that awakened some things in me tbh. but i already have so many 'types! 9 of them are the eeveelutions, and a bunch are ALL of the feline pokemon under the umbrella of my all-felidae vaguetype...

it's not a crime nor impossible to have so many, especially when you're othervague like i am i guess. just. my inner critic is saying "NO TOO MANY no one will take you seriously" but man what do i care, the world doesn't take alterhumanity seriously at all anyway. might as well add fuel to the fire, embrace it, and move onwards. the worst that can happen is that these kinfeels will fade again and I'll remove them from my list of 'types in my pinned side-blog message....

Hmm... out of curiosity, which of Eevee's evolutions would you say is the most demanding to care for? Easiest to care for? Obviously, I understand each individual will be unique, but I figured learning the average expectations is a good starting point. A friend of mine's Sylveon is a total drama queen, so it got us thinking about the average temperaments of Eevee evolutions in general.

If you take out both individual Pokemon personality, and we ignore climate needs and variations from region to region, then it’s on average like this:

Jolteon is top of the list, by far the hardest, but more because if they use their electricity near houses, buildings, lampposts, you know, most electrical stuff, it can cause a lot of damage. Not all town power grids have adequate protection everywhere from electric Pokemon and the energy they can both take and give out. They are a difficulty due to modern day factors, but also they are prone to shedding, and boy do those needles get everywhere. You will stand on one, it will not be fun. Shocks and trainer damage is high with youngsters too, they’re not fully able to control their abilities for a while, and have to learn a lot to harness them, if they have no other electric Pokemon to learn this from, you the trainer have to step in and take the lead, which can be both long winded, and dangerous at times. On top of this, they require dedicated exercise routines, and need to burn a whole heap of energy to stay healthy. They have to run, a cooped up lifestyle doesn’t do anything for them. Emotionally they can be sticks in the mud, tricky for young trainers, and will always push the rules to breaking point to see what they can get away with. They are omnivorous, but prefer a meat based diet, something some trainers struggle with.

Glaceon can be tough, they need at least 3 months of the year in a cold climate to stay healthy for the rest of the year, freezing conditions, ice on the ground, all that jazz. Some professors advise you send them to residential facilities for this timeframe if your location is not cold enough, kind of like sending them on a 3 month vacation. They’re not as easy to live beside, great for those who run hot, but if you’re anything like me, and constantly have cold hands, then this Pokemon will make that a lot worse. They won’t freeze your home, but boy does it become apparent when one’s been in the room for a while, you’ll need an extra blanket.

Flareon. Your house insurance will probably go up if they learn you have a fire type. Actually quite capable of handling their own heat, unlike others, flareon has to learn to harness more and more heat gradually, building its internal fires with training and teaching. At younger ages they have a kind of built in trip switch, when they put out a high temperature, if their body isn’t capable of handling it yet, their flame cuts out briefly to prevent harm to their own body. The tolerance for the trip switch goes up as the Pokemon becomes more capable. For some reason the more difficult eeveelutions stated above do not have this feature, and can put out too much power, that can harm themselves.

Vaporeon are statistically dumb as a bag of rocks, while some seem wise, on average, they don’t have the most developed brain. You know, being mostly water and all. This means, they tend to be a bit…accident prone. They are the eeveelution we get sent to us the most, because they chase boats and get caught by motors, they get stuck in pipes, they eat tin cans, or find their way into vents and can’t find their way out. Honestly they’re so elegant, people expect them to be super clever. You will always be busy with a Vaporeon. They’re also escape artists, so making your house literally watertight is important if you have one that shouldn’t be out and about. Their care however is simple enough, good oily fish based dinners, an option of both a bucket like bed (to be a puddle in) and a regular day-sleeping bed, plush type for comfort. They need to swim daily, so a pond, a pool, a river or lake, whatever, will be fine. They can and do swim in salt water, but we advise you let them swim for at least 5 minutes in freshwater afterwards, to flush their system of excess salts that can lead to long term issues.

Sylveon are very temperamental sure, their strength usually leads to overconfidence, they have strict social hierarchy’s in the wild, making their natural habits often challenging to lax trainers. They need a lot of supervision, as they can be mischievous, getting up to no good while your backs turned. In terms of care they tend to prefer a life of luxury, and can expect a very plush life. Their habits mean you'll be apologizing for them thieving things if you take your eyes off them too. Notorious den makers, hoarding shiny items, unusual trinkets, socks, and fancy clothes given the chance. I say it with ALL pokemon, but keep an eye on them, don't just let your team wander off into the great unknown, it's unsafe, rude, and irresponsible. Leafeon are surprisingly easy, like plants, they adapt well, can handle frost and cold a lot of the time if it's a natural part of their home's climate, and upon evolution, they will suit the local area they change form in. So if you evolve them in a mossy winter forest, they'll have tolerance to the cold. If your local climate is quite hot, they don't wilt and burn in the sun as much. The grass aspect of them is heavily underrated, and allows them to be probably one of the toughest eeveelutions of the lot, handling their natural area's weather and climate very well. They will however suffer quite a bit if you travel to somewhere they aren't adapted to, without you making changes to suit them. A hot climate Leafeon will potentially die in the winter cold of a mountain forest for example.

Which leaves the easiest duo, Umbreon and Espeon. Both about the same as each other in terms of needs. Able to live in cold and hot areas with relative ease, so long as they have shelter from intense hot days, and some respite from bitter icy winds, they thrive in human conditions, and usually fit right into a family that shows them love and patience. While Espeon is better suited for the day, and Umbreon the night, this doesn't mean they cant switch up their body clock to work better with you, and with daily tasks. they ENJOY their relative times of the day, but it doesn't mean they cant switch it up, just bare in mind that they'll have a preference, and may be grouchy if not allowed out during that time. Their diet is omnivorous, they're often very suited for indoor, calmer, more social lifestyles, and can be found in many locations, requiring little in terms of unusual care requirements. I am in no way saying that their care is impossible, nor easy, depending on the species, simply stating the information, and you can do what you want with that.