A Directory of Otherkin Writings and other works, organized by topic Collected by O. Scribner Version 0.6 – Updated 2012-09-08 Project created 2011-05-07 This free eBook is RATED PG-13 for occasional profanity and references to adult concepts. This document is safe for work, but some links lead to web-sites that are not. (cc by-nc-sa) 2011 by O. Scribner Creative Commons license: Attribution, Non-Commercial, Share Alike (cc by-nc-sa) This means that you have permission to download, share, and print this free e-book, so long as you credit O. Scribner as the original author, and don’t sell it or make money off it. You can even modify this e-book, on the condition that you share it under identical terms. Original file location: http://orion.kitsunet.net By O. Scribner – 2 Summary This document serves as a guide for finding writings or artwork in many websites and books about a variety of topics related to otherkin, therianthropes, and similar peoples. This directory cites or links to works by over 500 different authors and artists, who come from inside as well as outside the community. These aren’t limited to English. This directory also lists translations and original works in 15 other languages. If you’re wondering about any topic that any otherkin or therians have ever discussed, you will probably find several essays on that topic here, each offering a different answer. Use these references to support your own original writings. If you don’t find an essay there, then you’ve found a niche to write new things into. Keywords: animal people, Awakening, community, dæmians, draconity, Elves, Fae-born, fiction-kin, otherkin, shape-shifting, therianthropes, vampires, WereCards, werewolves Illustrations: None. Rated PG-13. This document contains occasional strong language and references to adult concepts. This document itself is safe for work. Although I have done my best to verify the safety of all links and mark those that are higher than PG-13 rating, you click on links at your own risk. Linked web-pages may have changed after I made this document. All linked articles are likely to contain profanity and pictorial advertisements that may contain offensive images. Trigger warnings: Profanity, including ableist slurs. Brief mentions of abuse, depression, mental health problems, discrimination, misbehavior, and violence. I include a caution label with any individual links that I know are not safe for work (NSFW) or likely to disturb. I have done the best I can to make this document safe to navigate, with no unpleasant surprises. Author: O. Scribner has been involved in the otherkin and therianthrope communities for about ten years, and therefore has much familiarity with the characteristics and creations of those communities. O. Scribner identifies as a dragon person, and therefore can relate personally to the writings produced by otherkin and similar communities. A Directory of Otherkin Writings – 3 Cite this document Please do cite my essay in your own research! I’ll even help you do it right. Contrary to popular misconception, not all content on the Internet is in the public domain, and students must cite the sources for any online content that they use as a source for their research. If you do cite my document in a research essay, please tell me. Replace the red letters with your current date. You might have to make other some adjustments. Even now, authorities disagree on the format to cite electronic sources, so you might ask your professors about their preferred standards. APA format (on References page) Scribner, O. (2012 Sept. 8). A directory of otherkin writings and other works, organized by topic, v. 0.6. The Art and Writing of O. Scribner. Retrieved month day, year from http://orion.kitsunet.net/nonfic.html Chicago style (in Bibliography) Scribner, O. “A directory of otherkin writings and other works, organized by topic, v. 0.6.” Last modified Sept. 8, 2012 in The Art and Writing of O. Scribner. Accessed month day, year. http://orion.kitsunet.net/nonfic.html Chicago style (in footnotes) O. Scribner, “A directory of otherkin writings and other works, organized by topic, v. 0.6,” last modified Sept. 8, 2012 in The Art and Writing of O. Scribner. Accessed month day, year, http://orion.kitsunet.net/nonfic.html MLA format (on Works Cited page) Scribner, O. “A directory of otherkin writings and other works, organized by topic, v. 0.6.” The Art and Writing of O. Scribner. 8 September, 2012. Web. Day month, year. <http://orion.kitsunet.net/nonfic.html> MLA format (in footnotes or endnotes) O. Scribner, “A directory of otherkin writings and other works, organized by topic, v. 0.6,” The Art and Writing of O. Scribner. 8 September, 2012, day month, year <http://orion.kitsunet.net/nonfic.html>. By O. Scribner – 4 Introduction Who are otherkin and therianthropes? themselves Fae or Faeid, who in some (but not all) 11 (Please excuse me: just for this section, I’m re- cases identify as fair folk themselves. using a definition that I wrote for another of my People who call themselves therianthropes books. It’s important to make sure that the reader (meaning “animal people”)12 look human, but has some familiarity with otherkin before identify as animals, most commonly wolves or proceeding further in this book.) felines, but many other kinds of animals are The otherkin and therian communities have represented as well. Some such people call much in common in their history, ideas, and themselves therians, werewolves, Were-beasts, similarly unusual personal identities. Socially, the Weres,13 shifters,14 or animal people,15 and each of communities mingle with one another, and their these terms carries different shades of meaning. philosophies overlap to some extent. However, they aren’t entirely synonymous. The therian community that we know of began in 1993 with speculative discussions on the The people who call themselves otherkin (that alt.horror.werewolves newsgroup,16 apparently is, “kin to the other”1) look human, but identify as with no contact with the otherkin community until supernatural entities ordinarily thought of as a few years later. (I have found no evidence of any legendary or mythological, most commonly elves, therian community before the Nineties. If you have Fae, and dragons, but many other kinds of some primary sources to prove otherwise, please creatures are represented as well.2 let me know.) The therian community thrives to this day, enjoying many in-person get-togethers The concept of otherkin, as we know it, (called Howls)17 and many online communities. apparently got its start in about 1972 when groups The philosophy started in English, but now there of people (the Elf Queen’s Daughters, the Silver are significant groups of therians who actively Elves, and others) said they were elves, and kept in discuss therianthropy in French,18 Russian,19 3 touch with one another via mailing lists. In 1990, Spanish,20 Swedish,21 and Portuguese.22 online mailing lists began to bring people together who identified as elves, as well as other creatures, With both otherkin and therians, this for whom they coined the word “otherkin.”4 A identification as another species will be explained community of people who identify as dragons in very different ways, depending on the developed independently of this on the individual’s own interpretations of his or her own alt.fan.dragons newsgroup, starting in about 1994.5 nature. The most basic definition I’ve seen is by The otherkin community thrives to this day, Mokele, who defines it as a type of experience arranging many in-person get-togethers (called which certain people have, without needing to try Gathers)6 and many online communities. The to believe in it, and without needing to have heard philosophy started in English, but now there are of the concept from anyone else beforehand, which significant groups of otherkin who actively discuss means that it’s not a spiritual or philosophical it in Spanish,7 Hungarian,8 and (formerly?) in belief in and of itself.23 Depending on the person, Czech.9 he or she may additionally seek to develop explanations for that experience that are spiritual,24 People who identify as vampires or incarnate philosophical, metaphorical,25 behavioral,26 or extraterrestrials may possibly count as otherkin. psychological.27 Common spiritual explanations However, their communities developed separately include reincarnation28 and metaphysical from the otherkin community. Some more anatomy.29 A few otherkin do claim they are non- otherkin-like people call themselves Fae-born, human in a physical or ancestral way.30 which refers specifically to those who were supernatural beings in past lives, or a mystical When we otherkin or therians say things like “I being in spirit.10 However, some Fae-born make a am an elf,” we say it in earnest, and we’ve put a lot point of saying that they don’t call themselves of thought into how we came to that statement, otherkin. Another separate group of people call over many years of our lives.31 This identification A Directory of Otherkin Writings – 5 is not a make-believe role-playing game.32 It is who we are in real life. These are publicly-viewable articles Although the concept of otherkin and therians I respect privacy and attempt to preserve it. All sometimes involve spiritual concepts, it is not a of these links lead only to documents that were religion.33 This is because being otherkin or therian posted in places where they were publicly visible. I is a personal thing. Individuals make up how it assume that if an author posts a document in a works for their own selves alone, because only you public place, then the author implicitly grants can determine what you are, and nobody can do permission for other people to link to it in similarly your introspection for you.34 Nobody can tell you public places.