#tierselk

(with visuals) I have a slightly more concrete theory as to why my alterhumanity is the way it is, if you will all bear with me for a moment. Let's start with the soul. This, at least in accordance with my spiritual beliefs as a Finnish Pagan, is the average human soul.

Everyone and everything has one, no matter what or who it is. However, we're going to be talking about the human soul here to explain how my (alterhuman) soul deviates from it. The soul is split into Three Parts. The Henki, the Luonto, and the Itse.

The Henki is your lifeforce, your breath. You receive it the day you are born and lose it the day you die. To be without your Henki is to be dead. The Luonto is your Nature, your passions and hobbies and crafts, some of your personality. A Strong Luonto means a healthy, skilled, and strong-willed person, and a Weak Luonto means an unhealthy, unskilled, and weak-willed person. The Luonto, along with reflecting in one's physical state, is often considered to be a guardian of sorts and can leave you for a time if you do not tend to it. While it is not you, it is a VERY important part of you and affects nearly every aspect of you. Importantly, Luonto are often depicted as animals. The Itse is your Self, your identity. The Itse holds your personality, your core identity, and everything that makes up your selfhood, and is what travels to Tuonela or returns to life in a new form when one dies. The state of an Itse can ALSO affect one's physical form, as an Itse may leave or be cast from the body, which causes the health of the body to suffer immensely. Keep in mind that the Luonto and Itse affect the physical form of a being as we continue here. Bearing all the prior statements in our thoughts, this is how I believe MY soul looks.

I believe I have many Luonto and Itse that make up portions of my soul alongside my Henki, and that they all affect my Physical Form. I believe that due to my High Number Of Luonto And Itse, my body is Physically Inhuman, as no Human Body can remain human when has to contend with Multiple Aspects Of The Soul that have a Physical Effect. While a standard human may be able to handle having an animalistic Luonto (and even then, not all 'human' bodies can, there are so so many physical alterhumans), my body is no longer human (and may never have been) due to my soul being entirely nonhuman. In my case, Soul affects body, body does not affect soul.

Flag Design A - Symbol and Symbol-less

Selkie Archetrope - An archetrope/alterhuman term for those who identify as the archetype or character trope of a Selkie. Specifically, as a selkie within the context of the types of stories they are usually depicted in. This is distinct from the Animal Wife archetrope which I detail here in my essay 'Defining The Selkie Archetrope'. Short explanation under the cut

Hi! Hello! Día duit! In an effort to both show that being hella fucking complicated is ok and to have all of this in one place, here's an exhaustive list of every Kin/Kith/Archetrope that I have as well as some ones that are maybes and some ones I used to id with.

Used To ID With

- Wolf. Dropped for Coyote id when I realized I wasn't a wolf.

- Coyote. Dropped for Utahraptor when I realized I wasn't a canine at all.

- Utahraptor. Dropped for Dragon, which i've proudly held for multiple years.

- Vampire. Flicker. Not a full on kin but it was fun while it lasted.

All these were ids I held during my 'kinsidering' era for the first time, and while they didn't stick around, i'm glad that I had them while I did. They helped me find out who I am today.

Current

- Dragon. Kin. 'Main kin' I suppose you could say? I feel as though I am physically THIS a majority of the time. I am physically and mentally a dragon. Dragon is me.

- Enderman. Kin. Also just me. I am also physically an enderman, but to a lesser extent than I am physically a dragon. Mostly manifests in envisage/phantom shifts and behavior, as well as kin memories.

- Eurasian Bittern/Great Bittern. Kin. Also just me! Turns out I do have one bittern kintype! Recently confirmed.

- Americal Bittern. Kith/Hearttype. My family!! They're my buddies!

- Sunbittern. Kith/Hearttype. My friends and family!

- Selkie. Archetrope. Leopard and/or ribbon seal depending!

Questioning

- Gargoyle. I do feel like one quite a bit, but all gargoyle traits could also be explained away by other traits from my other kintypes/hearttypes. Also feels very Guard-y and snarly and protective. Possibly also maybe copinglink due to the warding nature of gargoyles manifesting as kind of A Different Guy in me to "protect" me from harassment/bullying.

- Alien Sophont. Possibly a copinglink or some sort of trauma generated kintype? I spent a lot of my childhood feeling like an alien to the point where alien me and "human" me are basically two different guys. Alien me is also probably due to the autism.

- Nonbiblical demon. Cannae explain this one. Also feels like a different guy sometimes takes over my body and talks weirdly for a while then leaves. Writes strangely formally. Then again. I am just a little bizzare so that could just be me doing that. Revolted at the idea of being biblical.