there'll be no more after me

current pfp/banner by thewisestdino

[ictitherium]

hi, i'm ick (it/its 22)

all of my alterhuman identities are physical (i am schizophrenic).

collective identities:

▪︎ ictitherium paleotherian

▪︎ hyaenidae cladotherian

▪︎ jayfeather (wc) fictionkin

▪︎ peridot (su) fictionkin

i am a system, a rather large one, so i also have many alter specific identities

i am also an involuntary shapeshifter

currently reading: ratha's creature

[nyliumnetwork]

A Minecraft server for Alterhumans (with Java/Bedrock crossplay)!

The Nylium Network SMP is a chill survival multiplayer Minecraft server geared toward alterhumans (including, but not limited to: nonhumans, fiction- and fact-folk, plurals, and folks who are alternatively human).

Season 2 is launching Saturday, April 30th.

Features

works with both Java and Bedrock clients

includes Switchy, a PluralKit-like server mod

"recording statuses" that let other players know your preferences about being recorded

world map (will go live when the server launches) at map.nylium.network

Join our Fluxer community to be ready when the SMP launches!

Fluxer is a free and open source instant messaging and VoIP platform built for friends, groups, and communities.

[ictitherium]

if i really repress it i can usually manage to remain some physical anthropomorphism, and that's my saving grace when shifts to nonbipedal forms happen. walking is still painful and i can feel my joints snapping around and hear them being very unhappy about it, and my balance is shot, but at least i don't get taken away.

[ictitherium]

my body was never made for this

[fangthroat]

jaws 🥩

[alterhuman-art]

[Image description: A grayscale drawing of a shivering rabbit with tears in his eyes and a few pieces missing from one ear. Text reads "Is life really supposed to be this way? All instinct and fear? A trembling prey animal caught in the jaws of existence." There are a few touches of red in the otherwise gray artwork including the rabbit's eye and several small sparkles around the creature. Artist signature: FangThroat. End description.]

[sugarsylvie]

Pmd vulpix in a cute bandana!

[lozyrosie]

PMD ko-fi request!

[otiksimr]

Poorly drawn Vulpix line [redo]

[96haiki]

4.6.2026

[swollenbabyfat]

Mythology I: Arctic Fox

[ictitherium]

i really don't identify with red foxes, but my body keeps trying to turn into one. i don't have anything against foxes, of course not, but usually this sort of things happens with an animal that i at least have an emotional, if not outright therian, connection to. foxes are pretty, but they're not dear to me any more than any other animal is. unusual

[viral-1nfection]

I never ever want to hear the nonpsychotics talking about "encouraging delusions". I've only ever seen it as an excuse to not support us who are CL/CZ. Unless the one with the delusion is saying not to exacerbate it, shut up.

[fjellove]

Some theriotype art !! (And types I’m kinsidering)

YAAAAYYYY

[junk-thunder]

girl put that snout AWAY it is not sniffing time right now

[junk-thunder]

and thats what i would say if there could ever be a reason to put your snout away. its always sniffing time. i love you.

[cosmicstrays]

the difference between physical therianthropy and clinical zoanthropy

(was originally going to be a reblog of this ask but then it got toooo long and too laborious for me to let it get lost under someone else's post, and i figured more people who need to know would see it more easily as its own post)

[ CW: clinical talk, possible "reality checking" AND reality variance, mentions of medical abuse + transphobia ]

[ note: every "you" is the general "you". ]

TL;DR at the end!

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[IMAGE ID: a screenshot of an anonymous question sent to tumblr user @juice-wings . the ask reads: "This is probably a dumb question, but what's the difference between physical alterhumanity and zoanthrope? I mean, at what point it's considered as psychotic? What makes it psychotic? Isn't this two the same thing, but one of them is like a medical term with prejudice?]

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i will try my best to answer this point by point, from my perspective as someone who is physically therian/nonhuman and a zoanthrope, self-ids as neither delusional nor nondelusional, and is part of a physical plurality:

what's the difference between physical alterhumanity and zoanthrope?

(i'm going to assume you mean physical therianthropy in specific for focus' sake)

the difference, in my opinion, is in your personal proximity to forced medicalization against your experiences of transformations and animality.

firstly, being physically therian means identifying yourself as a nonhuman animal on a physical level, to do with your physical body. the definition in its vagueness includes all physical experiences that have to do with internal or external biology, such as organs, hormone cycles, visible bodily features, ability or disability, genetics, etc.

more relevantly, the broadness of this definition includes experiences that originate from any cause--whether or not that cause is labeled "delusional/disordered" by normative human standards (orthohumanity--as opposed to alterhumanity), or oneself.

physical transformations or shifts can also be included under physical therian experiences, but not all physical therians physically transform or shift--and on the flipside, not all who physically transform or shift identify as physically nonhuman or therian.

(physical shifters, in specific, are their own culture, but they have contributed greatly to the formation of the early were/nonhuman communities that later gave rise to the modern therian/nonhuman communities. physical shifters may also have their shifting affected by delusions or disorders, but physical shifting is not solely caused by delusions or disorders.)

in contrast, being a clinical zoanthrope means that others have medically persecuted you / would medically persecute you as "delusional" for specifically experiencing uncontrollable transformations and animality. for example, the first time we (as a plurality) half-morphed as Stag's deer, we couldn't control our body. regardless of whether or not we had intent to harm others, being out of control while transformed went too far against orthohumanity's standards of "order", and thus was labeled "disordered", and that label of "disordered" was used as manufactured consent to coercively commit and overmedicate us.

how medically persecuted is medically persecuted "enough"? well, i don't judge legitimacy by making up a "pecking order" of trauma. in my opinion, if you relate, on any daily-life-impacting level, to the following experiences:

your legal, medical, and/or bodily autonomy have been negatively impacted as a direct cause of the wrong people seeing your uncontrolled transformations and animality AND/OR

you're hiding your transformations and animality out of probable fear of the above happening, but physically struggle to contain it even for your safety

then you may be a clinical zoanthrope.

besides the forced medicalization, the commonality between all zoanthropes is experiencing 1) transformations, 2) animality, and 3) loss of human(ized) self-control.

we transform, whether it's human-to-animal or animal-to-human or animal-to-animal. and we experience animality that can be in sync with a true self, or animality that can conflict against a true self. and we experience these bodily changes and animal turns to such a degree that we lose the self-control that humanity and humanization expects of us.

(i'm not sure if i've encountered a zoanthrope who doesn't consider themself transformed in some way, but navigating orthohuman perceptions would leastwise have them using transformation as a "cover story" of sorts. i'd welcome them the same anyhow!)

altogether, the experiences overlap, but physical therianthropy is an umbrella self-identifier that can label any physically animal-bodied experiences of any cause, while clinical zoanthropy is a specific reclamation related to being medically persecuted as "delusional" for experiencing uncontrollable transformations and animality in particular.

additionally, physical therians as a whole tend to feel their animal form reflects their true self. some zoanthropes may also experience this synchronicity, but other zoanthropes may not.

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I mean, at what point it's considered as psychotic? What makes it psychotic?

(i'm going to assume you mean what's considered "delusional" in specific, as "psychotic" denotes a broader range of symptoms than just "delusionality")

according to the DSM-V (pg. 4 of the in-linked PDF), "delusion" denotes a belief that is

fixed and held fast even when contradicting evidence is presented to the believer

"implausible" and "incomprehensible" to others in the same (sub)culture the believer lives in, due to the belief being "bizarre" AND/OR the belief being without (sub)culturally-"valid" evidence

the DSM-V's section on "delusion" also gives examples of beliefs that may be distressing, but doesn't state that delusions in general are inherently distressing--because they aren't. a belief considered "false" by others can certainly impact you and others around you negatively, but it can also affect you in more neutral or even positive ways.

even though personal distress is the most common cause for someone to receive medical attention, personal distress is not necessary for somebody to be deemed "delusional" in a clinical sense. in fact, the diagnostic criteria for "delusional disorder" is only that 1) a delusion is present for one month or more, and 2) there are no symptoms of other psychotic disorders we could attribute it to.

from my point of view as someone who self-ids as neither delusional or nondelusional, this makes the label of "delusion" somewhat subjective--even when the label's given by clinicians "objectively".

this is because the label of "delusional" marks a break from "consensus reality"--that is, what is assumed to be in existence for everyone. but what is "consensus reality" varies by (sub)culture, time, and place. for example, in progressive spaces, transgender people have been more and more accepted as part of consensus reality over time; but in conservative spaces, transgender people defy their idea of "reality" and are therefore labeled "delusional / mentally ill / insane" relative to that. and while the science and sociology supporting trans people’s existence is considered “valid” in the culture of progressive spaces, in conservative spaces they are “invalid” relative to their “alternative facts”.

thus, in my opinion, the point where "strong belief" becomes "delusion" is relative to 1) what is accepted as consensus reality by the institutions in your (sub)culture, time, and place and 2) how much your belief contradicts those institutions' definition of "consensus reality" and "valid evidence".

and the subjectivity in differentiating these points means to me, it's just as legit to accept the label of "delusion" from others as it is to self-identify as "delusional" as it is to reject labels of delusionality altogether.

that's why my definition of clinical zoanthropy is not that we're "delusional" in and of ourselves, but that we are persecuted as "delusional"--because not all of us consider ourselves in "delusion" for our beliefs, some of us actively reject defining ourselves by relation to consensus reality because of the oppressive institutions that socially construct it.

to sum it up, there is no universal objective measure of "what's considered delusion" because there is no universal objective measure of "consensus reality" vs "break" from that reality. the most effective way to determine if you're "delusional" is simply if you, personally, feel like you can communicate and understand your needs and experiences best through choosing to frame them as "delusion".

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TL;DR--

physical therianthropy is a self-identifier for any physically animal-bodied experience in the human world, originating from any cause, "delusional" or not

clinical zoanthropy is a specific reclamation for being medically persecuted as "delusional" (esp. with systemic loss of autonomy)

this persecution is on account of zoanthropes experiencing transformations, animality, and loss of what self-control orthohumans expect

physical therians' and some zoanthropes' animal forms are reflective of a true self, but some zoanthropes also experience an animal form as conflicting / nonrepresenting of a true self

beliefs are clinicalized as "delusions" if they are fixed against contradicting evidence, and are also "bizarre" to the surrounding (sub)culture AND/OR lacking in (sub)culturally-"valid" evidence--personal distress is not necessary for diagnosis.

what is part of consensus reality, and what is defined as "valid" evidence, is relative to the belief-holder's (sub)culture, time, and place. this makes "delusion" also subjective and relative of a label.

you may accept others calling you "delusional", choose to call yourself "delusional", OR reject labels of delusionality based on what you, personally, determine works best for communicating and understanding your own needs and experiences

not all zoanthropes self-identify as "delusional" for the above 3 reasons

[juice-wings]

This is beautifully worded, thank you for tagging me because it honestly helped me understand the terms I was using, and validated the conclusions I had come to.

[permanenteclipse]

I have no complaint against folks who use terms like holothere, physical nonhuman, etc. to mean that they view their body as nonhuman because it brings them euphoria to do so or it connects to their physical disability or they're nonhuman and it's their body so it's a nonhuman body. That's who the words are for. But I also want to be clear to all our followers as well as any potential ones that when I say I'm physically nonhuman I don't mean it as a philosophical approach, I mean I know that our body is anatomically inhuman, and the words are also for us and people like us. When I call myself physically an animal I mean "I could point to where on my body I have tangibly noticed feathers." I mean "I've hidden my face from others before out of worry they'd see that my mouth is a wolverine mouth right now." If there's room in the alterhuman community for the physical weirdos and freaks there's gotta be room for the genuine certifiable crazies and not just the slightly more palatable explicable version that exists in the same reality as everyone else.

And yeah I just wanted to be clear because it does sometimes seem like the default assumption is that "physical nonhuman" is an abstract concept for one's own subjective perception of their body until you admit you're a specific schizospec disorder and pledge that you're seeking psychiatric treatment, so when I say my body has grown feathers before, it's like, a metaphor

[ictitherium]

captivity