You might have also seen us around as RuffledGryphon (that's our main blog). It’s nice to meet you! Welcome to our nonhuman blog. We plan to use this space to squawk about our personal experiences with plurality and non-humanity.
We are actually a whole cluster of dragons masquerading as a person. We also identify as nonhuman, othervague and three of us have a collective hydra linktype. Unless you want to talk to a specific member, we prefer to be called by our collective name/pronouns.
In our free time, we love to doodle, play click-and-point adventure games, cook and go for walks. Don’t be afraid to reach out to us–we don’t bite!
Other Tumblrs We Run + Website:
@alterhuman-art - A showcase of alterhuman and nonhuman made artwork.
@howlcon - Virtual alterhuman convention with a camping theme.
Personal Website - Read more about us and browse our more polished work here.
Fictionfolk Webring - This is a webring for individuals whose identities have a fictional component. Some examples include (but are not limited to): fictionkin, people with fictional-hearttypes, fictives, soulbonders and much more.
Alterhuman Zines - We're working to archive the wonderful creativity of the alterhuman and nonhuman communities - particularly zines! We do this by hosting a library of all of the zines we've managed to get our claws on.
We are also staff at the Alterhuman Archive and Nonhuman Notions.
Common Tags:
Kinformation: Resource posts
Community Talk: Writings from other community members
Our Art: Stuff we drew
Nova Squawks: Posts with our input
3 Heads One Brain Cell: Comic series we're working on
not to hit you with another prompts post so soon, but here are some writing and art prompts we've created specifically for WAKING, our very first themed issue 🐾 keep reading for inspiration and to see some of the many ways this prompt could be interpreted!
for complete submission guidelines, read the Current Issue page on our website ✨ we kindly ask that you read all of the guidelines before sending us your work!
There's not nearly enough talk about hearttypes, so we wanted to to get conversations rolling by making a collaborative zine about it!
Otherhearted describes a person who has a strong fundamental connection to a species or character which impacts their core sense of self. This is most commonly described in terms of identifying with a being as opposed to identifying as one, although this is not always the case. - Otherkin Wiki
This zine will be a collection of artwork, writing and more all about being otherhearted. Whatever that means to you - both fiction and nonfiction pieces would be accepted. If you got something you wanna express about hearttypes, we'd love to hear it!
Full submission guidelines below the cut.
What Can I Submit?
Both fiction and nonfiction pieces are accepted. As long as what you have in mind fits the theme, it’ll probably be a-ok.
Off the top of our head, we’re thinking of:
Essays of your personal experiences
Short stories
Poetry
Mock advice columns
Alternative covers
Fictional advertisements
Comics
Recipes
We welcome you to think outside the box and share whatever inspires you about being otherhearted!
How to Participate
Send us an email at nova-dergs(@)proton.me with:
A name you would like the piece attributed to
Title of your submission
Any content warnings that you feel are necessary for the piece
Any social media handle or personal website you'd like linked in the contributor section
A logo or icon for the contributor section
**If you would like to stay anonymous let us know
Members of systems are welcome to submit individually or collectively. Please let us know your preference when it comes to attribution.
Once the deadline has passed, these submissions will be put into the zine and it will be posted on itch.io as a free PDF.
Submissions are due by November 15, 2026.
Submission Guidelines
Each individual may submit up to 3 works to be featured in From Within Our Hearts. Comics and multi-image works count as one piece. Individuals within a system may each submit up to 3 works. All work must be your own! Anyone caught plagiarizing or submitting AI-generated work will be barred from entering any future zines from us.
Written submissions and multi-part art entries should not exceed 10 pages. Please keep in mind the zine’s pages will be 8.5 x 11 and entries will be scaled accordingly to fit that size. We request all art submissions to be sent in either .jpg or .png file formats.
For stories that use multiple different fonts, we will do our best to preserve the general "feel" of your piece but cannot guarantee we will be able to use the exact fonts or sizes due to restrictions in what fonts we have access to, readability and overarching zine style.
Submissions Must Fit the Thematic Criteria of:
Being otherhearted / hearttype appreciation
That’s it! Go wild.
No portfolio or prior zine experience is needed to be included.
FAQ
Q: Where will the zine be hosted? What will it cost?
A: The zine will be hosted digitally on our itch.io and will be free to download.
Q: Is there a cap on total submissions to be included?
A: There is none, as long as the file doesn’t start getting too big for our computer we’ll do our best! If there are an unprecedented amount of submissions, we may have to delay the release. In the event that happens, we would communicate that through updates on our tumblr.
Q: Can I update my submission after it’s been submitted?
A: Yes you may, as long as it’s done before the submission deadline.
Q: Can I rescind my submission?
A: Yes you may, as long as it’s done before the submission deadline. This is because once we begin work on the zine, having to remove content mid-way through would throw off the formatting of everything else after. Please take this into account before submitting.
Q: Will this zine allow +18 entries?
A: No, nothing 18+ will be accepted.
Q: Can I submit already completed/published works?
A: Absolutely! It’s ok to submit past work that has been posted to your social media or website. Our only stipulation is that it cannot have been previously featured in another zine. This helps us keep each of our zines unique and distinct from others.
Q: What is your timeline for the project?
A: Our submission deadline is November 15, 2026. Our goal is to have the zine live by the end of the year. If something unforeseen happens and we are unable to make that deadline, we will post an update about it on our tumblr.
Q: I have another question!
A: Feel free to reach out to us at our email nova-dergs(@)proton.me with any other questions you have about the zine.
Inky Paws is a nonhuman anthology zine for original fiction writings by nonhumans and alterhumans about nonhumanity, alterhumanity, and similar, related themes.
This zine is primarily literature focused, but will also be open to more illustrative methods of story-telling such as comics. The zine’s focus is on fictional pieces that are centered around nonhumanity, alterhumanity, therianthropy, and similar (see Submission Guidelines section for more details).
And more! If you're unsure, just ask! Seriously, please just ask. I promise I would 10000% love to hear about your idea even if you're unsure about submitting it, there is no such thing as a bad idea and I cannot stress this enough.
How to participate:
You can submit your pieces in this Google Form!
OR
Email invisibleotherkin(@)gmail(.)com with your submission, and please title the email "Inky Paws Zine #4 Submission". With your submission, please include:
The piece's title or name,
A name or pen name to attribute the piece to,
Any content warnings that you feel are necessary for the piece,
Any social media handle or personal website you’d like to be published alongside your name with the piece (optional), and
Any relevant author notes or author biographical information (optional).
Anonymous pieces are also welcome.
Once submissions have been collected and the deadline has passed, these submissions will be put into the zine and it will be posted online as a free PDF. Submissions are due by November 30th, 2026.
Please see the Submission Guidelines, and Submission FAQ, below cut.
SUBMISSION GUIDELINES:
Each individual may contribute up to 3 accepted submissions to be published in Inky Paws; individuals within systems may each submit 3 pieces, that is to say 3 pieces per systemmate/headmate/preferred term.
Comics and similar multi-part pieces count as one submission altogether: if you submit a single story that has been divided into two sub-stories for dramatic emphasis, or if you submit 10 pages of a single-story comic, or if you submit a written piece of fiction and an accompanying image that you drew or otherwise created to go along with it, that would still only count as one piece.
Submissions must fit the thematic criteria of:
Being explicitly about or based on nonhumans, otherkin, therianthropes, fictionkin, alterhumans, or similar groups, or;
Having strong themes or describing experiences strongly reminiscent of or related to nonhumans, otherkin, therianthropes, fictionkin, alterhumans, or similar such as (but not limited to):
Characters experiencing nonhumanity or alterhumanity as being a part of themselves/their identity,
Characters experiencing anything similar to a shift (including physical shifting),
Characters struggling with (emotionally, socially, or otherwise) being both human and nonhuman or alterhuman in some way,
Characters having a past-life as something nonhuman or alterhuman that strongly still impacts their current life, or
Characters desiring to be nonhuman or have nonhuman attributes.
TL;DR - Your submissions have to relate to or be about alterhumans or nonhumans in some way, shape, or form.
Written submissions must not exceed 7500 words, and must also use a reader-friendly font with a text size of or exceeding 16 pt.
For stories that use multiple different fonts, such as pieces meant to imitate newspapers and similar, every effort will be made to preserve the general "feel" of your piece but fonts may not be transferred over 1:1 due to potential conflicts with font copyright, readability, and overarching zine style.
Multi-part image submissions must not exceed 10 pages in length, and must also use a reader-friendly font with a text size of or exceeding 16 pt if they include text. Images larger than 8.5 x 11in. will be scaled down to an appropriate size; please take that into account when creating and submitting your images. It is also recommended that images be vertical or square in their orientation.
Written submissions should be submitted as a .docx file. Images and mixed media pieces should be submitted as either .jpg or .png files.
All submitted pieces should be your own work. Individuals caught plagiarizing or using AI within their submissions will be barred from participating in Inky Paws, including in any potential future volumes.
SUBMISSION FAQ:
Q: Where will this zine be hosted?
A: The zine will be hosted for free download on Itch.io, where issues 1, 2, and 3 of the zine are already hosted.
Q: What is the cap on submissions?
A: At this time, we are not looking to accept more than roughly 25 submissions at most, in order to keep numbers and expectations manageable.
Q: Can I update my application after submitting?
A: Yes, so long as the updates are submitted before the submission deadline!
Q: What is your policy on content moderation and content warnings?
A: If you feel your piece needs content warnings, please include them in the submission, as we are hoping to include relevant content warnings and maturity ratings alongside all pieces. We are at this time accepting pieces of all tones and ratings.
With that said, It should be noted that any items submitted with soapboxing intent and anti-nonhuman, anti-alterhuman, anti-fictionkin, or similar leans are largely not welcome, as this is a zine geared towards all aforementioned groups and then some.
Q: Can I submit an in-progress draft or sketch? Can I claim a spot in the zine before sending in my submission?
A: We are not currently accepting WIP pieces for submission at this time, though feel free to send us your WIP if you have questions related to its future submission. We also cannot reserve or guarantee a spot in the zine pre-submission, regardless of any existing drafts or WIPs.
Q: Can I submit a piece of fanfiction?
A: While we've now accepted pieces of fanfiction in the past, we tend to prefer to leave them out for legal reasons. If you submit a piece of obvious fanfiction, please know that it may be significantly more likely to be rejected from the zine and that, if the piece is accepted, the piece may be removed without warning from the zine later on if DMCA or legal issues arise. We strongly advise that individuals who wish to write something inspired by fiction make it non-obvious to the outside reader where the inspiration is being taken from.
Q: Can I submit something I've created in the past?
A: You can submit something you've created in the past, but please try to avoid submitting anything that you've published previously and is currently publicly accessible. For example, if the story you want to submit has already been featured in a different anthology, please don't submit it to Inky Paws! We want to encourage people to create new pieces, or to put the spotlight on pieces that haven't previously had the opportunity to be published.
Q: What is the projected timeline for this project?
A: Submissions will close by November 30th of 2026. The publish date of the zine depends on submission amount and size of submissions; in an ideal world, we hope to have the zine published by December, before year's end.
Q: Can I rescind my submission?
A: As long as you request to rescind your submission before the submission deadline, yes. After the deadline passes and the formatting and work towards publishing begins, we cannot guarantee that we will be able to remove your work from the zine due to time constraints and potential formatting issues. Please take this into account before submitting.
Q: Will there be any physical copies of this zine?
A: Due to cost restraints and a lack of printing experience on the part of the zine organizers, we have no physical copies of this zine planned for print. You are, however, welcome to download and print copies of the zine for personal use.
Q: Who are the organizers of this zine? Where can I reach out to ask further questions?
A: Who-is-Page and Noel Sol of the Sol System are organizing this zine. Feel free to send us any questions, comments, or concerns to invisibleotherkin(@)gmail(.)com, or you can always message us on Tumblr at Who-is-Page.
[Image description: Inky Paws Submissions Wanted written around a line art drawing of a dog that's rolled onto its back at the end of a trail of messy black paw prints. End description.]
[Image description: A line art comic titled "We have found it helpful to differentiate cofront between active and passive." Both feature an example drawing.
Active drawing: Shows a human figure half down in blue lines and half in red lines. Thought bubbles outlined in different colors from them read:
Red: Hey Blue, What do you want for lunch?
Blue: I want to cook at home.
Red: Aw boring!
Passive drawing: A human figure outlined in purple with purple thought bubbles that read "I must be blue and red. ...I really want to go out but I should save money." End description.]
I made a zine! It's not the big project I mentioned before, but I promise that's coming eventually 😅😭 But it's still a therian zine. It's about species dysphoria and longing to be a theriform dog with an owner. This is a lightly revised version of an older poem I posted a few years back. I hope you enjoy!
Text-only transcript below the cut
I Want To Be Your Dog
A Poetry Zine By Sea Puppy
I remember telling you
That I wanted to be your dog.
That,
In another life,
I would be my golden retriever self,
And I would be always by your side.
And I would be gentle so gentle for you,
Only for you.
Soft kisses pattering your face,
Holding your hand delicately between my teeth,
Never jumping on you or hitting you too hard with my tail.
You would be the center of my world,
That way that dogs are,
Adoring and loyal.
And I would be a friend to you for a decade or so of your life.
You would have your life,
And I would have long walks by a lake,
And endless sticks,
And good, long, loving rubs and head pets,
And it would be—
More than enough. It would be everything.
And when that twilight of old age came upon me,
My muzzle graying,
My golden coat dull with age,
We would slow down.
And sometimes I'd find you
Gazing at me with a sad look.
I'd look at you with soulful eyes
And you'd smile.
One day we'll have to say goodbye,
But for now,
we have today.
Inspired by conversations with my dearest friend, who I'd trust more than anyone else to be my owner. Thank you for staying by my side through everything. I love you
Tumblr: @sea-puppy
Bluesky: @/deadchinadoll.bsky.social (Did not realize there was a user by that name on tumblr, ooopsss)
Signing up as an artist is the best way to maximize the visibility of your commissions during the con.
Artists are given exclusive access to post their wares in our artist alley channels. And, if they wish, to add art streams to our official con schedule.
HowlCon is not responsible for any sales that take place.
Applications close October 1st
Panelist
Apply Now
Have an event you want to host? This is what being a panelist is about! From meet-ups, lectures, discussions, gaming together, arts and crafts time, and many more ideas we don't have the space to list. Your topic does not have to be explicitly about alterhumans or nonhumans.
We accept panels hosted live, pre-recorded and through text.
Applications close October 1st
Attendee Registration
This year attendee registration will be done directly on discord using the server member applications.
We will be re-using last year's discord server. If you attended last year, and have not left the server, you do not need to apply for membership again.
But to summarize: The new website is up! Artist, panelist, and staff applications are open right now and can be found here. Those forms auto-close on June 30th at 11:59pm (US East). This year's mascot vote is also open, and can be found on the same page. The mascot vote only lasts a week, so get your votes in!
The email newsletter is also being retired in favor of RSS, with more details available on the news page.
as per requested by @harebrainedlover, ill be writing about my hearttypes here, specifically my corvidhearted and spacehearted identities. ill go over three main topics: how i discovered them, what they mean to me, and how they affect my day-to-day life.
how i discovered my hearttypes
i have always loved crows more than any other animal. i felt drawn towards them, i related so much to them, my heart seemed to flutter any time i saw them in the wild. when i was first questioning my nonhumanity circa 2022, crows were the first thing that came to my mind. and why wouldnt they? they were extremely important to me, so the connection was undeniably there. not to mention the phantom limbs i experienced; wings, talons and feathers, although faint and infrequent, were clearly there too. so i called myself a crow hybrid, and told myself that was that. it wasnt soon after i discovered my dragon kintype though, and with that came another wave of questioning. was i really a crow? or did i just like them? calling myself a crow didnt feel as right as it had at first now that i knew i was a dragon. but then i came across a new term i hadnt heard before: otherhearted. strongly identifying with –but not as– a nonhuman being, character or concept. it was perfect! that was me! and so i called myself crowhearted, which eventually expanded into corvidhearted, as i discovered other corvids that evoked the same feelings in me as crows did.
more than a year later, on a random tuesday morning, i started pondering my connection to space more deeply. space has been my special interest ever since i could remember, i was looking at the stars even before i was able to form words, and it has always evoked some very strong feelings inside me. i knew space was a part of me in some way... but i didnt know how exactly. did i identify with it or did it feel like it was my home? in other words, was space a hearttype or a hearthome? in the end, as many things do, it basically came down to personal preference. i decided on the otherhearted label, and nothing has proved me wrong since, so i kept it. so that was that! very anticlimactic, i know.
what being otherhearted means to me
my two hearttypes are very different from eachother, but they both encompass the otherhearted experience in their own way. they both evoke very deep, intense feelings, and it is often difficult to put into words just how important they are to me. its a very similar experience to having a kintype, but also so different the two couldnt even begin to compare.
being corvidhearted to me means beign a part of the Corvidae family, like Corvus corax or Pica pica are. i dont identify with all the members of that family, rather just a select few whom i consider to be closer to my own identity. i see myself in them in the same way one would with a family member. i feel an ache in my chest when i think about them. when i wake up in the morning and hear the crow calls outside my window, i feel like everything is right in that moment. when im walking and see a group of magpies pecking at the ground with their beaks, i feel warmth inside me. corvids are very dear to me, we are as similar as we are different, and i would not be the same person if i didnt have them. yet, i am not a crow, or a raven, or a magpie. if i woke up tomorrow a corvid, i would feel truly happy, but not like myself. i am corvidhearted. i am not a corvid.
being spacehearted feels very different. its not a sense of familiarity, but wholeness. space makes me who i am. it is as much part of my identity as my name is. when i learn about space i feel at home, as if im learning about myself. it is a very scientific connection, if that makes sense. we are all made of stars. the iron that makes up our blood cells originates from the core of burning supernovae. our organic molecules arrived here from the surface of asteroids that hit the earth. the aminoacids from our proteins formed with the creation of our planet. all hydrogen atoms that make up the water inside our cells were created within the first five minutes of the big bang. i could go on. but to put it simply, i am space, and space makes me who i am – literally.
how my hearttypes affect my day-to-day life
being otherhearted is a bit more passive than being otherkin. i dont experience memories, instincts or behavioral shifts from my hearttypes like i do with my kintypes. there is one exception: cameo shifts. cameo shifts are shifts that dont relate to any known kintype, and can be of any kind: mental, phantom, dream, physical, envisage... specifically, i experience phantom cameo shifts from my corvid hearttype. i may get phantom wings on my back or arms, talons on my feet, feathers on my back or, very rarely, a beak. they are very brief and, as far as i can tell, dont follow any known pattern, nor are they triggered by anything in particular. they just happen. i dont get any kind of shifts from my space hearttype though; maybe because its a bit more of an abstract concept. its worth noting that i do tend to get stronger feelings from space than from corvids, so id say they both have an equal impact on my life. my hearttypes are so important to my sense of identity that if you somehow managed to remove them from myself, i wouldnt be "me" anymore. sure, i would answer to the same name and my external appearance would remain unchanged, but the most relevant part of my self –what some would call my soul– would be gone.
so that would be all, i suppose. thank you for taking the time to read this. and thank you to @harebrainedlover giving me an excuse to talk about my otherheartedness! :}
Happy Summer Solstice! Submissions for our very first themed issue are OPEN here at ANIMAL! Read more about our selected theme, how to submit, and what makes our themed issues different from our rolling submissions on our website. We are very excited to announce this project and hope to see you in our inbox soon! 🐾
Now accepting submissions for our inaugural themed issue
a therian microlabel, meaning ' a therian whose theriotype(s) remain the same species but experiences shifts in coat color. ' coined by @sablesaur .
for example, i am a sable therian, and i often experience coat "shifts" or changes in my visions, shifts, etc!
feel free to identify with/use, i appreciate credit but its not mandatory :)
˝ flag created and term coined by @sablesaur ⸝⸝.ᐟ⋆
[Image ID: a rectangle photo/flag with five horizontal stripes. there is a wolf emblem in the middle with three coat/fur colour variants. the first stripe is dark brown, matching the colour of the first coat variation on the wolf in the centre. the second stripe is vibrant beige, matching the colour of the second coat variation on the wolf in the centre. the middle stripe is grey, matching the colour of the third variation on the wolf in the centre. the fourth stripe is dark brown, matching the colour of the first coat variation on the wolf in the centre. the fifth stripe is vibrant beige, matching the colour of the second coat variation on the wolf in the centre. /END ID]
