So I was reading the transcript of @aestherians Othercon panel, which I found very well thought and thorough, but it kind of sparked a thought from my own experiences with ‘linking, which I thought I’d put in a separate post since I don’t want to clutter that one with vaguely related comments.

I find myself wondering if my approach to otherlinking is fundamentally different from other linkers, in that for me, involuntarity is the whole goal. A lot of the talk relating choice mentions people who started out with a lintype, and then it went out of their control and became involuntary, and so they now relate more to otherkin than otherlink. But personally, when I hear “this voluntary identity became involuntary” my instinctive reaction is that, uh, wasn’t that the point? I’m sure there’s a lot of linkers who came to this intending to make a voluntary identity they can easily drop if no longer needed, but personally I will only consider myself successful in this otherlinking stuff when I will stop having to reinforce my identity every five minutes and have it turn into something that’s just there.

(This may I feel be connected to how copinglinking is the most common form of linking, and a coping mechanism is usually something that one should be able to drop if it no longer works or is no longer useful. Creating a link for reasons other than coping is more rarely talked about, and the people who don’t link for coping may have different goals)

To put it bluntly, being otherkin is easy for me. I got this identity, it’s there, I didn’t have to work for it. But otherlinking is a lot effort. I’m someone who has a very hard time changing myself. I can’t pick habits or drop bad ones, I’m horrible at sticking to schedules, working on personality traits I want to change is hell. If I ever do manage to create an involuntary identity for myself, that’s something I’ll want to celebrate. Changing the way I identify from otherlinker to otherkin would feel like discarding all that effort. It’d be like invalidating myself, in a way.

Nothing against people who one day decide otherkin may be a better label for them, of course. Everyone has their own ways to interpret their identities and the right to use whatever language fits them better. I just find myself sort of on the fringe of this discussion and I don’t understand if I’m the only one here with different priorities.

Having two or more -types from the same source is perfectly fine. 

(We’re going to edit this post with some resources added to it at a later date.)

About Us:

Hey, we’re the Interstellar System! We’re a quoigenic system of 150+ members. We collectively use they/them pronouns and we’re bodily an adult.

This blog was created to spread positivity to all branches of the alterhuman community. If you have any positivity ideas or requests, let us know! Our ask box is open for basically anything, except hate, which willbe deleted.

A Quick Terminology List:

Alterhuman:
Having an identity that is not strictly human, doesn’t fit the normative human identity or a person that identifies as such.

Therian:
A person who involuntarily identifies as an earthly animal (dog, cat, etc).

Otherkin:
A person who involuntarily identifies as nonhuman.

Fictionkin:
A person who involuntarily identifies as a fictional entity.

Otherlinker:
A person who voluntarily identifies as nonhuman.

Otherhearted:
A person who strongly identifies with something nonhuman.

System/Plural:
Multiple people in a body.

Starseed:
Someone who believes they’re from another planet/dimension/universe, usually here to help humanity.

Godshard:
Someone who believes they’re a smaller, independent part or shard of a still extant god.

There’s definitely more terms than this, and if you’d like us to add more, let us know! If you’d like to see a more in-depth list of terms, check out our alterhuman carrd!

If you’d like to learn more about us and our individual members, take a look at our system website!

If your alterhuman identity is noncanon or an OC, that’s awesome! Just because you’re not canon doesn’t mean that you’re not real. Your experiences are real.

Fiction-identifying people with human or human-like identities are real, important and deserve to be able to talk about their experiences in the community. It’s not something that’s super common, but it’s still an important experience to talk about.

People who want to become nonhuman are valid in their experiences. Chosen nonhumanity is no lesser than identities you don’t choose.

If you’re not sure whether you’re otherkin, otherhearted, an otherlinker or something else, that’s okay! These identities are hard to figure out sometimes!

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Dysaltered

Dysaltered,or dysalt for short, is a term for disabled alterhumans, such as those who feel as though their disability impacts their alterhumanity or vice versa, those who are alterhuman due to disability, or otherwise has disability linked with alterhumanity in a sense. You can also spell it as disaltered or disalt.

Dysaltered people do not need to be any specific kind of alterhuman, nor any specific kind of origin or experience, to be dysaltered. Those who are alterhuman and disabled, but that are not impacted by each other, can still use this if they so choose.

As a concept or community, dysaltered focuses specifically on disabled inclusion, accommodation, and discussion within the alterhuman community. It may also focus on experiences only disabled alterhumans have, such as the impact of mobility aids.

This is an all-inclusive label in which many experiences under both the alterhuman and disabled umbrella may fit, and gatekeeping is strictly not okay. Any disabilities (physical, mental, etc.) are welcome, as are any diagnosis status.

This is NOT synonymous with “[origin] caused alterhumanity.” Any kind of alterhuman, spiritual, psychological, or otherwise, may be disabled, and thus may be dysaltered.

Flag, symbol, and description are by me, whereas the name suggestion was by the lovely @sunshinesolaic. Subterms, alternate flags and alternate symbols are welcome!

If you feel like you want to use this, but have a specific alterhuman identity and don’t feel comfortable simply using “alterhuman,” you’re welcome to use dys- as a prefix, like dyskin, dyshearted, dyslink, dystelic, etc.

Couple alternate flags below the cut.

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