Otherkin Classification [October 2005]

Among my offline friends, since we come from varied backgrounds and I'm the only one who really spends much time on the online therianthropy community, we have our own terminology for otherkin-related topics. It works for our own communication, and our conversation sometimes leads to slightly different ways of looking at and categorizing things. The following is a classification system of otherkin that we worked out.

There's really three broad categories that we don't normally use and never settled on decent names for: mystics, animal people, and vampires. Mystics are really the ones that are normally called "otherkin" - they're the fae, the mythological creatures, the celestials. Animal-people are the therianthropes, those who are animal and human, and the therianthropy community has all the subcategories for those. Vampires are not really otherkin, but we lump them there for easy classifications. Vampires are generally just people/entities with different energetic needs than most people, and the category encompasses both feeders and kindred.

The three above categories are sort-of broken down into subcategories, which are the ones my offline group usually uses in conversation. The subcategories are explained below.

• Animal-kin: Therianthropes. People whose otherself is a nonmythological, living-on-Earth animal. Wolves, hawks, cats - you get the idea. I think extinct beasties fall under this category too.
  For me, animalkin are the hardest to pick up on. Even if I do realize the animalkin is otherkin, I often can't tell what species they are. They don't really ping on the "kin-dar", so to speak - not as clearly as most of the other categories.
  My offline friends generally use the term "shifters" for animalkin because that's what they're familiar with. I generally use "shifter" instead of "therian" when talking to them because it's easier for communication, so I apologies to any contherians if I slip up and use the term shifter online.
• Fae-kin: The typical otherkin. Fae of varying types - elves, changelings, dwarves, pixies, phoukas, redcaps, brownies... the Sidhe, the Seelie and Unseelie.
  From my experiences, they tend to be chaotic, with a shifting glimmering feel, and often physically resemble their otherselves more than any other of the categories. These are just descriptors built on those I've met offline, though; the online community may be different.
• God-kin: Maybe not the most appropriate name, and it's the most nebulous category. I think "celestial-kin" might be a better word. Godkin include angelkin, phoenixes, imperial (oriental) dragons, and thunderbirds, among others. I think elementals might fall under this category as well - or would those be faekin?
  I haven't met many of these. They're not too hard for me to sense/identify once I've been associating with them for some time, but it's not the sudden "WHOA, wait, what was that?!" that I get with kindred. It's more a case of I have to be talking with the person for a while before picking up on it, and then it's just a steady strong undercurrent of otherness and... vastness, I guess you could call it. Like an ocean current or a wide slow-moving river. It's a slow realization of otherness that takes a while to bubble up from the back of my mind. I've only ever met an imperial dragon and maybe one or two other godkin, but I'd be hard-pressed to name them.
• Kindred: Yes, I know it's a word out of a roleplaying game and a movie; I picked up its use from a kindred friend. Kindred are psychic vampires, those with energy deficiencies, often due to an altered/messed up lower chakra. My take on kindred can be found here.
  Energy vampires (feeders) are not kindred, and neither are emotional vampires or the various other names and classifications. Kindred have a rather specific and recognizable (at least to me and the too-many kindred I know) energy signature. Feeders are somewhat different - they're people who take energy but don't necessarily need it, or only have a temporary or repairable need; they don't have the energy signature of kindred.
  Kindred are the easiest for me to sense. They ping LOUDLY on the "kin-dar", and I don't know why. I shift more or less heavily (depending on the individual and their shielding and/or... "vibrancy" of signature? I don't know what exactly you'd call it) when I'm around kindred. I can tell who and what the person is fairly quickly. It comes in handy sometimes.
• Legend-kin: Beasts of mythology. Western dragons, unicorns, and gryphons all fall into this category. It's the "everything else" classification, really.

Of course, sometimes people are combinations of categories, or fit into more than one, for whatever reason. I know a very primordial faekin whose nature bleeds into the godkin category due to its primordiality, for instance.

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