who goes there

my first (and second, and third, etc.) encounters with alterhumanity

i grew up on youtube. i became a furry after watching a dance competition in 6th grade, and i hid my first fursona from everyone. i've always been a bit private.

so, it isn't surprising when i found myself watching anthony padilla's "i spent a day with" episodes on otherkin and therianthropy. my thoughts didn't go much beyond "people like that exist, that's cool" because surely if i was one of them i would know that by now.

i did some more research, if you can call it that, by watching more youtube videos by therians and otherkin. i had the thought that if i was one, i'd be a cat. i've always wanted to be a cat. but of course, i thought i would know already if i was.

the order of events gets a little blurry from here on. i bought a choker and pretended it was a collar. i got my hands on a half-mask and wore it secretly, in my room. i listened to "grow wings" and "change forms" subliminals. i made ears and tails and paws out of foam and fur and pretended it was for halloween. i watched and posted tiktoks, and cleared my search history. i read tumblr blogs, and cleared my search history. i briefly tried tulpamancy-- or that's what it was called at the time. i found daemonism. i tired quadrobics. i jumped on the trampoline to pretend i was flying. i remembered, and forgot, and remembered, and forgot.

alterhumanity was there in the bad parts too. gender dysphoria? i'm a tree. feeling invisible? well, i have wings and they don't. can't talk? try growling. try curling up like a cat and wait for the feeling to pass. the character of sophie foster got me through covid, because my experiences were hers. my pain was easier to handle when i could become something, or someone, else.

and so it went. i kept dipping my toes into alterhumanity, only to pull them right back out. my first venture into actually labeling myself didn't happen until 2024, at least 5 years after i first was introduced to the community. i tried out voidpunk, because it fit a little bit with the "coping" part of my alterhumanity. but it still didn't feel quite right.

months after that, finally, i accepted myself. i used the term otherflicker to describe my varied feeling of connection (which i later discovered is quite normal among otherkin. they just don't label it, instead saying things like "main" or "strongest" 'types). i now use the term cambikin to describe the same experience. but i'm not going to get caught up on taking you through all the labels i've ever prescribed myself here. this is about origin. i'll take it one 'type at a time.

i am a cat, and i think i always have been.

a domestic cat, probably with a tortoiseshell coat, if i had to be specific. i remember pretending to be one growing up, licking my arms because that's what cats do, crawling around on the floor and rubbing my face on furniture. even now, i still act like one around my parents-- laying in my mom's lap and waiting for head scratches, or making weird noises when i don't want to talk. i think this identity is very behavior-based, and it mostly comes from fascination and mimicry. i've never had a pet cat, but i would watch documentaries about their behavior. i wanted to come back as one in my next life. they were me, and i was them, though i didn't use those words. in this way, i guess it is a psychological identity, except for that bit about lives. i don't think i've ever fully believed in reincarnation. i believe in the universe, i guess. i believe my atoms were once stardust and then a million other things before i got here. and i do think some of my atoms are going to be a cat (i guess that's a bit physical, too).

"i am a tree" <- the name of my playlist before i knew i was a tree

the cat is probably the simplest of my identities to explain. it follows the very common story of "i've been like this since forever". my coastal redwood identity is not like that. i practically worshiped a specific redwood tree in elementary school. on tumblr i would curiously search for plantkin and feel a deep ache in my chest. i called myself a tree when i realized i was nonbinary because trees don't have human genders. they're neutral, solid, reliable. my brief period of tulpamancy included an oddly introspective moment where i reached into the back of my head and asked what's your name? my brain whispered one word, the only word i don't think i willed it to say during that time: tree. ...at this moment, it's hard to imagine i ever wasn't a coastal redwood. they're such an integral part of me. a hearthome and a hearttype and a phytantype all in one. a mix of psychological and spiritual, voluntary and involuntary, a coping strategy and something integral to myself. something like, i chose to be the tree i always was.

i'm an odd dragon.

and well, that's the beauty in draconity. there is no dragon that isn't odd. but what i mean is that i'm more wild. i'm more dragon therian than dragonkin. which is odd, because my only explanation for this identity is through the wings of fire series i obsessed over growing up, in which the dragons are definitely more intelligent. so i hesitate to call this 'type fully psychological because i cannot explain it. unique to most of my other identities, i've learned the most about being a dragon through shifts and meditation. i have fur instead of scales, four legs, two wings, and deer-like patterns and antlers. i live in the forest-- alone, most likely-- and sleep in caves and trees and by the rivers. my behavior is a little catlike, but fully dragon: i snap my teeth and growl and fly high high over the forests. if i had to give it a spiritual explanation, it would be something like... a parallel life. or a life from long, long ago before earth as we know it. but i can't say it was entirely involuntary-- i just wanted to have something, when i first accepted my alterhumanity. and a dragon seemed to fit.

i have been through many changes as a winged person.

i think this identity started when i gave my characters wings, right when it was all getting bad. 2021-2022 might've been the worst my mental health has ever been. towards the beginning, i was spiraling. towards the end, recovering (although one could question my methods of doing so). somewhere in there, i became all-too aware of being ignored. i felt invisible. like nobody could really see me. so as any normal human person would do (joke), i started to imagine that i had wings on my back. big, beautiful black wings. and nobody else could see them because nobody else can see me. but that didn't matter because i had wings. i was more than what they thought of me. i got really into poetry and the universe and being part of all of it. the wings were a symbol of spite, persistence, acceptance. ...then i started reading wingfics, after the worst of all that angst. i read about "avians" and preening and perching and all their customs. and it felt like me. so, i may have started with just the black wings, but it soon morphed into being an avianthrope-- a humanoid bird-like person. my wings change pattern from parrot to starling to fairywren because sometimes identity is a little voluntary and there's no one bird you have to be and that's okay. i have feathers on my arms and in my hair. i perch on things, i give people things, i would preen if i had the opportunity. i'm a male in that i like looking pretty. this identity was pretty much entirely a way to cope but it has become so much more than that.

i chose to be a fictionflickerer since before i knew what that was

i get too into stories sometimes. not in the obsessive way but in that i forget myself. i become the character. but that's an oversimplification. take my first memory of a fictionflicker, before i knew what that meant: sophie foster from keeper of the lost cities. a middle grade series that is still not finished as i am writing this. i read it in lockdown and had to remind myself that i was real every time i left my room-- experiencing shifts every time i sat down to read another chapter. but it was more than that, it was a conscious connection as much as parts were unconscious. i would think, how would sophie approach this? if sophie can do it, so can i. sophie went through the same thing. we are so similar that i am her. so yes, there was a voluntary reach. and there has been with my two flickers since then as well. a mix of oh god i am them and i choose to lean into this.

birds and birds and birds

i'm bird ambihearted. some but not all species. and it is due to being an avianthrope but it also isn't. it's also because i associate certain penguin species with my cultures, because i had three precious budgies for years, because parrots fly over my home and crows hang out on the sidewalks and birds are all around me. and i am so very attached.

in the eyes of a non-traditional daemian

when i first got into daemonism i didn't know it was considered alterhumanity, but it makes so much sense. my daemon is not very thought-out, one could say. i've never done any form finding, she's always a binturong, even her name is just dae. but she helps me move when i can't get myself to, she keeps me a little company. she brings me a little comfort. and through her, i am a binturong as well: subtle shifts, phantom limbs, the usual experience i have as a therian. but i'm not a binturong therian. dae is simply a binturong, and dae is simply me. as i am her. so i am a binturong. and as far as i know, daemonism is usually a thought exercise or a self-care practice but to me it is a lot messier. and that is fine.

What Can I Submit?

Both fiction and nonfiction pieces are accepted. As long as what you have in mind fits the theme, it’ll probably be a-ok. 

Off the top of our head, we’re thinking of:

Essays of your personal experiences

Short stories 

Poetry 

Mock advice columns

Alternative covers

Fictional advertisements

Comics 

Recipes

We welcome you to think outside the box and share whatever inspires you about being otherhearted!

How to Participate

Send us an email at nova-dergs(@)proton.me with:

A name you would like the piece attributed to 

Title of your submission

Any content warnings that you feel are necessary for the piece

Any social media handle or personal website you'd like linked in the contributor section

A logo or icon for the contributor section

**If you would like to stay anonymous let us know

Members of systems are welcome to submit individually or collectively. Please let us know your preference when it comes to attribution.

Once the deadline has passed, these submissions will be put into the zine and it will be posted on itch.io as a free PDF. 

Submissions are due by November 15, 2026.

Submission Guidelines

Each individual may submit up to 3 works to be featured in From Within Our Hearts. Comics and multi-image works count as one piece. Individuals within a system may each submit up to 3 works. All work must be your own! Anyone caught plagiarizing or submitting AI-generated work will be barred from entering any future zines from us.

Written submissions and multi-part art entries should not exceed 10 pages. Please keep in mind the zine’s pages will be 8.5 x 11 and entries will be scaled accordingly to fit that size. We request all art submissions to be sent in either .jpg or .png file formats. 

For stories that use multiple different fonts, we will do our best to preserve the general "feel" of your piece but cannot guarantee we will be able to use the exact fonts or sizes due to restrictions in what fonts we have access to, readability and overarching zine style.

Submissions Must Fit the Thematic Criteria of:

Being otherhearted / hearttype appreciation

That’s it! Go wild.

No portfolio or prior zine experience is needed to be included.

FAQ

Q: Where will the zine be hosted? What will it cost?

A: The zine will be hosted digitally on our itch.io and will be free to download. 

Q: Is there a cap on total submissions to be included?

A: There is none, as long as the file doesn’t start getting too big for our computer we’ll do our best! If there are an unprecedented amount of submissions, we may have to delay the release. In the event that happens, we would communicate that through updates on our tumblr.

Q: Can I update my submission after it’s been submitted?

A: Yes you may, as long as it’s done before the submission deadline.

Q: Can I rescind my submission?

A: Yes you may, as long as it’s done before the submission deadline. This is because once we begin work on the zine, having to remove content mid-way through would throw off the formatting of everything else after. Please take this into account before submitting. 

Q: Will this zine allow +18 entries?

A: No, nothing 18+ will be accepted.

Q: Can I submit already completed/published works?

A: Absolutely! It’s ok to submit past work that has been posted to your social media or website. Our only stipulation is that it cannot have been previously featured in another zine. This helps us keep each of our zines unique and distinct from others.

Q: What is your timeline for the project?

A: Our submission deadline is November 15, 2026. Our goal is to have the zine live by the end of the year. If something unforeseen happens and we are unable to make that deadline, we will post an update about it on our tumblr.

Q: I have another question!

A: Feel free to reach out to us at our email nova-dergs(@)proton.me with any other questions you have about the zine.

Previous Community Zines:

Modern Draconity

My Gender is [NOT] Human