1.What is your species?
I am a dragon from another planet. We shared our planet with a humanoid race who called themselves Huyeans. They named us a word that translates to “dragon” in English, and we didn’t protest it although we had our own word for ourselves.
I also am a Plateosaurus, a dinosaur from the late Triassic period. I was the leader of my herd.
2.Are you out? To whom?
I was out to someone once, but they went a bad kind of crazy and we are no longer friends.
3.How old were you when you realized you were not human? What made you realize it?
I think on some level I’ve always known I wasn’t quite human, but I didn’t consciously realize it until I was in my early teens. It wasn’t any one thing that made me realize it, it was like a series of things from various points in my life suddenly clicked together in my mind.
4.Do you identify as a part of the “otherkin”, or, “therian” community? What communities do you identify with?
I identify with the label “Otherkin” (specifically Dragonkin) but I also use the label “alterhuman”. Also since discovering my Plateosaurus identity I have started embracing the “Therian” label.
5.Tell the story of the first person you came out to.
It’s not really much of a story. We had been friends for several years and I decided “screw it” and told them I was Otherkin. They thought it was some sort of “fandom” for a while, but were actually accepting of it once they found out what it truly means.
6.Have you faced any abuse because of identifying not human?
Not anything that could be considered “abuse” in the traditional sense. I have dealt with a couple of rude people online who tried to convince me I wasn’t Otherkin, and I had a coworker who liked to poke fun at Otherkin but he didn’t know I was also Otherkin. I sometimes wonder if I should have come out to him, because he seemed to have gotten all his information from “Otherkin cringe” sources. Maybe seeing a sane Otherkin would have made him realize we aren’t all weirdos.
7.Do you have a favorite non-human character?
I have several, actually. A few of them have awakened as headmates/soulbonds over the years.
I could try to list them all but I’m sure to forget someone. I’ll try my best:
Toa Vakama – BIONICLE
Odo – Star Trek DS9
Toothless – How to Train Your Dragon
8.Do you believe there should be non-human pride? What do you imagine it being like?
I think that someday there should be. I think someday we will have pride events just like the LGBTQA+ community currently does, where non-humans can gather and get to know one another. I think it would probably be pretty chaotic at first, and likely we would face many of the same problems currently faced by LGBT Pride. But I would hope that in time such events would serve their purpose and we would become a normal, accepted part of society.
Also, it would be really cool to see what ideas sprang up for various types of non-human Pride Flags. Probably some base ones, Alterhuman flags, Otherkin flags, Therian flags, and then sub-flags for different species as well as for Spiritual nonhumans and Psychological nonhumans.
9.What does being not human mean to you?
Ultimately, to me it means being different. It means that there are parts of me that humans will never truly “get” and there are parts of “true” humans that I will never truly “get” either. And for the most part, I’m okay with that.
10What have other people said about your non-human nature?
Since I’m not publicly out, not much generally. I have had some off-hand comments made here and there about some of my “weird” behaviors, but no one really connects it to my being nonhuman… since they don’t know about that.
11If you’re out, talk about the most accepting person you’ve come out to. If you’re not out, talk about what you would hope a coming out experience would be like.
I’m not out, but my ideal coming out experience would be someone simply accepting it without a boatload of “grilling” questions and trying to convince me I was deluding myself. I’d love to just be able to talk about my experiences openly, with someone who would nod and say “wow, that sounds incredible.” Or the like.
12Your favorite non-human Tumblr site.
I’m not on Tumblr so I can’t really answer this particular question…
13Your favorite non-human website.
I don’t really have one if I’m to be honest. I used to like Kinmunity, but I’ve lost most of my interest in that particular site. Most of my non-human interaction now comes from Discord servers.
14Tell us about a time you met another non-human, whether in real life or online.
I’ve never had the pleasure of meeting a fellow non-human in real life, at least not that I know of. I was at a con once some years ago and, while in a dragon-esque costume I met someone who was also dressed as a dragon and she got extremely excited to see me. We took a picture together and I have wondered since if she was Otherkin, but I wasn’t in a position to be able to ask.
The first non-human I ever met was on DeviantART. We had been friends for a while, but neither knew the other was non-human. I had Awakened to my dragon life but honestly thought I was alone in my experiences. That is until they shared a drawing of a dragon and called it their “dragon side” and said this was them tentatively coming out to that community as non-human. When I saw it I started mentally doing all sorts of excited and trepidatious gymnastics. We started talking about this concept of a “dragon side” and identifying as non-human and pretty soon we both knew that we weren’t alone.
15 Your favorite non-human celebrity/person.
The only non-human “celebrity” I know of isn’t someone I would call my favorite anything. Hot mess of steaming garbage, maybe, but that isn’t exactly a compliment.
Can I just pick Toothless again? He’s my favorite dragon celebrity (that is, if fictional characters can be celebrities. This is my blog though so I say yes.
16 Your favorite “non-human” book (as in, non-human characters are the main focus).
The Age of Fire by E.E. Knight hands-down (claws-down?)
It’s a six-book series about three dragon siblings. The first three books focus on one of each of the three and follows them through their lives as they struggle to reach adulthood, the last three switches between different perspectives to tell the story of all three of them as adult dragons dealing with a world that is changing too rapidly for its own good.
It also has a sequel series, The Dragoneer Academy, but that one is told from the perspective of a human. It’s still cool to read because the author keeps dropping little easter eggs for fans of the original series. I also like both series’ take that dragons and humans can be friends.
17 Your favorite “non-human” movie.
How to Train Your Dragon. Again just the whole idea of dragons and humans truly being friends.
18Tell us a funny joke about being non-human.
I made this up myself and yes it is stupid:
“Today I’m so sleepy that naps became my newest Kintype. I’m a Napkin now.”
Badumtss. *commence groans*
19 Is being non-human spiritual for you?
Definitively. My dragon life was a past life. My experiences as a Dragonkin have also fit with my knowledge of the spiritual beliefs my species held about our own existences and what happens/can happen to a dragon after death.
This did lead to some… difficulties for me early on, though. I was raised Christian and as most folks know, Christians do not believe in reincarnation. It took a long time to sort out what I thought I knew from what is, and reconcile my recovered memories of my draconic spirituality with the spirituality I had learned as a human. I call myself a “Pagan Christian” now because lulz.
20 Tell us a few thoughts about what it’s like being your species.
I could go on, and on, with this question. Though I don’t have more than perhaps a few hours total of episodic memories recovered from my dragon life, I have many, many more memories that are just… information. Not sure if that really makes sense (as a human, and I believe also as a dragon, almost all of my memories are stored as episodic memories and so though I intellectually understand that there are other formats that people remember things in, it’s harder for me to comprehend. I usually remember things as images or movies, with full color, audio, and sometimes even smells and touch. So it’s a bit odd to have memories that aren’t so vivid.) but it’s the best I can come up with to describe these non-video memories.
We are born, like many reptiles, with the ability to take care of ourselves. Our wings are small and flexible (the skeleton of them is probably cartilage or something similar) and so baby dragons of my species look sort of pudgy and adorable in relation to our small wings. We are born with a knowledge of language, although we lack the fine motor skills needed to speak yet. We are born telepathic, though, so even moments after hatching we are capable of communicating.
In our culture, baby dragons are not raised by their biological parents. Once the eggs are laid, a mother dragon’s duty to her offspring is concluded. Other dragons, volunteers, tend to the eggs in a special geothermally warmed cave that we have used for countless generations (likely over 500,000 years). The eggs are tended and turned periodically in the sand that was painstakingly carried to that cave when it was first used for this purpose, and the volunteers watch carefully to see when the eggs’ shells are hardened enough to be moved. Once an egg has reached this point, it is presented to a group of volunteer dragons. Sometimes a group of eggs is ready at once, and so these dragons have a choice of eggs. If a dragon finds an egg that “speaks” or “calls” to them, they select it to be their own. The egg then becomes that dragon’s responsibility until the dragon within is old enough to fly. The word we have for these caretaker dragons translates roughly to “mentor” or “guardian” but the meaning also includes the idea of “parent” despite there usually being no close genetic relationship.
Part of growing up as a dragon of my species is learning to master your instincts. Our bodies stopped evolving millions of years ago, but our minds have continued. Once, we were only animals, and though we have evolved into a civilized race we retain our animal instincts. Some of these instincts are so strong that the training has to start while the infant dragon is still within its egg. The elder dragons are always in telepathic contact with these unborn dragons, from the moment their minds become recognizable. This is also how we are born knowing how to “talk” telepathically.
Dragons and Huyeans can form life-long bonds, though the choice to do so is rare. This is because, though our species are compatible mentally, the difference in life-span (dragons live for 3+ thousand years while Huyeans generally don’t live much past their 300th year) means that it is almost a certainty that the dragon will one day be bereaved. The pain of such a loss, because of the depth of the bond, can kill. Though dragons often survive the loss of their Huyean companion, they are never the same again. Some part of them dies with their friend.
We lived together in one massive cave network. It had started out as a smaller, though still impressive, cave untold generations ago and was expanded over the years to make room for more and more dragons. We live together because of our telepathic link with one another. While we aren’t a hive-mind, the closest example I can think to give of what it is like being a dragon in our community is like being a Borg in the Collective. It isn’t a perfect example, because we still retain our individuality, but any Star Trek: Voyager fans will recall how hard it was for Seven of Nine to adjust to no longer being in the Collective. It was similar for us. Enough physical distance could disrupt our ability to hear one another’s minds, and being separated for long enough has been known to make a dragon go mad. So, when dragons would venture forth from our cave to explore the world at large, we almost always traveled together in a small group of three to ten dragons.
Despite being telepathic, we also had a spoken and written language. Our spoken language consisted of hisses, growls, deep rumbling, and some infrasound. Our written language was a logographic language.
21Your favorite non-human quote.
“Trust, but keep one eye open.” – AuRon, The Age of Fire series
22 What do you believe causes non-human identity?
I have had the opportunity to meet many non-human identifying people over the years, thanks to the power of the internet, and I’ve come to the conclusion that there are far too many “causes” of non-human identity to ever properly categorize them all.
23What is your favorite non-human pride image?
If I’m to be fully honest, I don’t even know of any such images, let alone have a favorite.
24 Write something or post a picture about non-humans that upsets you.
I’d rather not.
25 What is the worst argument you’ve heard against being non-human?
Probably just the stupid meme “Look at these crazy people who wanna be animals lol!”
26 Who is your biggest ally?
My grandpa; I commonly call him Sensei when talking about him online. I frankly would probably not still be alive without his support.
27 What is your favorite types of cake?
Just about anything chocolate to be honest.
28 What is your favorite type of pie? (Or, is pie an acceptable replacement for cake?)
A family secret recipe for a chocolate mousse pie. Also yes, so long as I wasn’t promised cake and the pie is a bait-and-switch.
29 Where did you first learn about being non-human?
Well, I figured my own non-humanity out on my own. But I found out it was something that happened to other people as well when a friend I knew from DeviantART came out as dragonkin many years ago.
30 Tell us anything about being non-human that you want to end with.
Because evidently it still needs to be said, for the sake of certain alterhumans and people outside the community who haven’t bothered to get to know us themselves, let me just say this:
Being non-human has nothing to do with being “better” than humans. It has nothing to do with wanting to be something besides human. It has nothing to do with conscious choices at all. Being non-human is entirely about self-discovery, self-betterment, and self-understanding. Much like being human, really. Life is about learning and growing, and it doesn’t matter if your soul matches your body or not.