“The tigers here are bound by neither day nor night, land nor water; these tigers, some say, are creatures of neither heaven nor earth.”
- Sy Montgomery, Spell of the Tiger
I’m otherkin and a furry. This page is a place to list and talk about my different species identities and ‘sonas. In short, being otherkin means fully or partially identifying as nonhuman. I’m on the “partially” side of things and consider myself both human and nonhuman, or half-human. I don't identify as my fursona species but figured it was easier to have everything on one page!
In the early-mid 2010’s people began using “kin” to mean “relating to” or “sharing traits with,” and many began “kinning” fictional characters and creatures in this way. While this experience can overlap with fictional or nonhuman identity for some (identity is complicated!) they're two different things. I think it’s important for people to know that otherkin isn’t a new concept, we continue to exist, and we aren’t wrong for using this terminology since we were doing so before kinning became a thing.
Some good resources: Otherkin wiki, Alt+H, Three Dragons and a Dog, The Chimeras Library, the Alterhuman Archive, Orion Scribner’s site, and the Othercon YouTube channel.
I am a spirit- currently, the closest descriptor would be a domestic (house or land) spirit who used to be a forest spirit. I’m associated with temperate deciduous forests along with the changing seasons. I’m still doing a lot of soul-searching about what my "role" as a spirit is and how I can integrate that into my life (because being a house spirit doesn't always have much to do with cleaning!) At my core I’m tigrine, meaning I resemble a tiger. I don’t know why; on the surface it doesn’t seem befitting of a spirit associated with temperate climates. But I heavily identify with tigers regardless. I’ve also come to see myself as a shapeshifter due to my being human and using multiple species to represent myself. I’m very skilled when it comes to taking a human shape :3
Although my kintype is, by its very nature, spiritual, the origin of my identity is psychological. I don’t believe that I was born nonhuman, but I think it’s possible that I was born with the ability to develop a nonhuman identity. That identity ended up manifesting through nature and nurture. I don’t shift but I experience fluctuating species euphoria and dysphoria, and overall my preferred self-perception is that of a spirit or a multispecies person.
My furry code:
FFTmp5/MKmp4/CAmp4 A~++ C+ D+ H P++ R T++ W Sf#/m#/p# RLS c++ e+++ f+ i+++ j+ p
My fursona is a form of self-expression and doesn’t follow a set canon. It’s more a piece of art or a symbol than an actual character. Currently I have multiple fursona species; these can all exist independently as separate “characters” or they can all be part of one shapeshifting, multi-bodied spirit. As a shapeshifter I can’t be anything, just anything that I see as “me.”
I’m an American mink because it’s native to temperate deciduous forests, and it’s a small predator unlike the tiger. It’s caniform but looks more like a weird cross between a cat and a rodent. I feel like it represents me holistically. Mink is who I am in the here-and-now. Although, I wouldn’t necessarily say that my personality matches the mink’s- they have a very active metabolism, and while I definitely feel like I have “mink brain” sometimes, I wouldn’t characterize myself as energetic.
I’m a tiger because of my kintype. Since my fursona and my kintype intersect, all of my sona species can be associated with that (e.g. I can be and often am a mink spirit), but tiger is more basal and something that I have a more innate connection with. Even though tigers are important to me, using that shape as the primary or only representation of myself doesn’t feel quite right.
The arctic fox is the newest animal to join the ranks, and represents my connection to maleness. I’m not quite sure why, I guess foxes give off a subdued–at times nontraditional–masculinity vibe to me. Arctic foxes have “just a little guy” energy. I originally connected with them due to the scruffy transitional stage they have between their winter and summer coats.
Another important aspect of my fursona is being multibody, meaning I can split myself into multiple copies and spread my consciousness across them. Similar to a hivemind. I can be a mink swarm, or 5 minks and 1 tiger, or 2 foxes and a humanoid, etc. It’s a fitting ability for a spirit.