Otherkind

Otherkind, or Otherkin, refers to someone who identifies partially or fully as something nonhuman, or deviant from the norms of humanity. This may include identifying as an animal, creature, fictional character, object, or concept. Those who are otherkind may have spiritual beliefs, such as believing in reincarnation, souls, and animism, while others may have psychological, genetic, or various other origins.

Otherkind identities are inherent, and may be discovered at any time in a person's life. Typically, one's otherkind identity will last their entire lifetime, as it is an intrinsic part of their being.

Terminology
An otherkind identity is often referred to as a kintype. One may have just one, or multiple, kintypes; if a person has multiple they may refer to themselves as polykind or multikind. When one moves closer to their kintype in intensity, this is called a shift, or kin-shift.

Many subsets of otherkind exist, including:


 * Fictionkin: Identifying as a fictional character or species.
 * Objectkin: Identifying as some kind of object, such as a book, planet, or computer.
 * Conceptkin: Identifying as a concept, such as space, rain, or glitches.

The term therian is also sometimes used within the otherkind community, however the therian and otherkind community are not entirely synonymous. One may either identify as one of these terms and not the other, or use both at the same time when applicable.

History
The primary source used in this history section is the Otherkin Timeline by Orion Scribner. Those who are curious on otherkin history are highly encouraged to read the document in full.

The concept of otherkind has existed since 1990, with the community growing within online elven communities. One of the most prominent examples of this was the mailing list Elfinkind Digest. The term otherkind was first used in Elfinkind Digest #16, whereas the term otherkin is first known to have shown up in Elfinkind Digest #71. Both of these terms were used by the elven community to refer to those who identify as other than human.

The term otherkind came from the term elfinkind, whereas with otherkin, it's commonly thought to have come from a mistype that later stuck, and was used as shorthand. For a while in the 1990s, the two were used interchangeably, with otherkin being the lesser used term, until over time the term otherkin became the dominant descriptor.

Within this first wave of the otherkin community, most identified as mythological creatures, namely elves. The Silver Elves, a neo-pagan group, are one of the first groups cited with their contributions to the otherkin community. Around the same time, sites such as alt.horror.werewolves were frequented by those who claimed to be werewolves, self describing themselves as lycanthropes. Furthermore, alt.fan.dragons was created for discussing fictional dragons in works of media, but later became a place where people could discuss identifying as a dragon. Sites such as these became one of the first instances of what would later become therianthropy.

In the 2000s, sites such as otherkin.net were created. Notably, in 2002, Dayve J. “Kaltezar” H. worked with a graphic artist to create what would become the otherkin emblem, often called the elven star, the purpose of which to be clear and distinct in recognizing otherkin, without being too overt in the symbol's meaning. One year later, in 2003, the theta delta (a common symbol for therians) was created in the Awareness forums.

In the 2010s, otherkinity began to get traction on the site Tumblr. While the otherkin that existed on this site were often different from those in other spaces, they still considered themselves to be a large chunk of the community. Despite otherkin frequently being mocked and harassed on the site, (with words such as "kinnie" being a very frequent insult) a very sizable portion of them remained. Throughout the years, those on the site began to frequently diverge from the expected notions of what otherkin means (namely those who learned what otherkin is on Tumblr itself). This caused divergence within the community between those who used a new, often extremely different definition of otherkin, and those who stay true to the original definition and community. This caused terms such as wishkin, tumblrkin, and later kin-for-fun to be created and used to describe others, however some have adopted them as self-descriptors.

In the late 2010s, the term otherkind began to be used in more dedicated communities. This was largely to distinguish oneself from the wider community (namely on Tumblr, and other social media such as TikTok) and designate oneself as someone who uses the historical definition of the term. In short, it was brought back to distinguish that "... you know what you're talking about, that you know what otherkinity is, and that you haven't misunderstood the whole thing."