Kin stuff!

Status: Page incomplete. May work on it occasionally.

Welcome to my kin page!

While there may be secondary, psychological attributes that lead me to be kin, my primary reasoning is spiritual. My kintypes are past lives for me.

I take this as seriously as I take most of my identity. What I mean by this is that while being kin is a part of me, playing with your identity is fun and more people should do it, and some might not see me as "really" or "seriously" kin because of that. The same people would probably say I'm not really ace, or not really nonbinary.

Spoilers for the kintype's associated media within! Do not click if you are unprepared for spoilers for the following: Hollow Knight, Super Paper Mario, Just Shapes and Beats, Deltarune, No Straight Roads, Bug Fables, Pokemon Black/White/Black 2/White 2, Pokemon Legends Arceus, Hiveswap Friendsim, Pesterquest, Mad Rat Dead, Kirby: Return To Dreamland Deluxe (+ the Magolor Epilogue within this game), WordGirl

(tw flashing lights: "spiritual fictionkin" blinkie)

Now, I understand that some people may not know what alterhuman, otherkin, and fictionkin mean, let alone the difference between spiritually kin and psychologically kin, and the types in between each of those things. That's why this page also features a definition.
Please keep in mind that this definition is not always applicable to everyone - this is merely my own experience!

So, what does alterhuman mean?
It means that your identity is, in full or in part, not human, regardless of the reason. This includes identifying with a nonhuman being and identifying as a nonhuman being, both of which are different from relating to a nonhuman being. It's an umbrella term, similar to how nonbinary (encompassing any identity that is not fully and singularly a man or woman, such as partial genders, multigenders, third genders, lack of gender, etc.) and artist (encompassing any identity that relates to an artistic hobby, such as painting, composing, practicing music, writing, etc) are both umbrella terms.

Otherkin is an identity under the alterhuman term. It means you identify as a nonhuman being. So you could be otherkin if you identify as any nonhuman being, from cricket to elephant, whale to dragon, phoenix to articuno. So long as the identity is not human, and you identify as that being, that's otherkin. These identities are called "kintypes."
Otherhearted is an identity also under the alterhuman term. It means you identify with a nonhuman being. Similarly to otherkin, this can be with any form of nonhuman being, from nonfictional to mythical to purely fictional. So long as the identity is not human, and you identify with that being, that's otherhearted. These identities are called "hearttypes."
Therian, or therianthropy, is another term within the alterhuman umbrella and often within the otherkin umbrella too! It is for nonhuman beings who did not have human-like intelligence. For example, let's say you have two people with a similar kintype. One's kintype is a white kitten with blue eyes who was deaf. The other is Snowkit from Warriors. Both of these look the same and have the same features and traits, but one of these is decisively human-like in thought; Snowkit comes from the Warriors series, where cats speak in full words with each other, though the humans do not understand them. The other person (the one with the non-Warriors cat) might choose to identify as therian. The identity for a therian is called a "theriotype."

Fictionkin is similar to otherkin, in that it means you identify as a being. The difference is that now, the being is a fictional character, or would be best described with the descriptor of a fictional character. It can fall under the otherkin umbrella, but it also can be an identity of its own, like with transgender and nonbinary, or with music-lover and musician. This is because not all beings that one might identify as are nonhuman, just like not all nonbinary people see themselves as trans, and not all musicians practice music for the music itself. There is definitely some overlap, though; there are people who are otherkin, therian, and fictionkin all in one! A good example of this is within the pokemonkin community. An animalistic Sneasel would definitely fit under the requirements for a theriotype. Similarly to otherkin, a fictionkin person's identity is called a "kintype," though some lengthen it to "fictionkintype." Occasionally, this may be hyphenated ("kin-type" or "fictionkin-type").
Fictionhearted is to otherhearted what fictionkin is to otherkin; you identify with a being, but the being is a fictional character. I would imagine that, like with fictionkin and otherkin, the term for their identity would be "hearttype" or "fictionhearttype," but otherhearted people are often less common in the community than otherkin, and the same is true of fictionhearted and fictionkin. This is likely due to the alterhuman community's tendency to have preference towards otherkin and otherhearted identities more than the other identities in the alterhuman umbrella.

Speaking of other identities, let's talk about those some!
Copinglink and otherlink are similar to fictionkin and otherkin in that you identify as a being, whether fictional, mythical, or nonfictional. However, copinglink and otherlink identities are usually voluntary, whereas fictionkin and otherkin are considered involuntary. A fictionkin person still feels like they are the character in some way, whether or not they actively choose to indulge in that, while a copinglink person chose that identity at some point or another. To my knowledge, copinglink can become an involuntary identity - it's just a matter of whether it began that way.
Flickering, aka fictionflicker and otherflicker, is essentially a short term kintype. [WIP]

[WIP]