The "Bible of psychiatry" is the DSM. In 1994, the DSM changed the name of Multiple Personality Disorder (MPD) to Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID). This was in response to a moral panic where critics claimed that the condition was fake.
The original and current diagnostic criteria do not require trauma for DID (or MPD) (DSM-III, p. 259; DSM-III-R, p. 272; DSM-5-TR, p. 331).
The international counterpart of the DSM is the ICD-11. Its essential features for DID do not require trauma, either.
Both books say that not all cases of multiple personalities are a disorder or a severe impairment. Psychiatry recognizes that medicalizing them is not always appropriate.
Plurality (or multiplicity) is a community umbrella term for many ways of being more than one person in a body. Psychiatrists who know enough about DID are aware of it. Plurality includes but is not the same as DID.
The community has always included plurals who formed for reasons other than trauma. Dividing the community by excluding non-traumagenic plurals and calling them fake is new. That only started in August 2014 on Tumblr, unheard of elsewhere.
When that started, a trauma-caused DID system created the word "endogenic." This means plurals who formed naturally rather than from trauma. The Lunastus Collective coined it in solidarity with them.
(Similarly, the coiner of another umbrella term, "alterhuman," is a member of a traumagenic OSDD system who supports endogenic plurals. The purpose of that word is for plural systems to unite with other sorts who differ from usual definitions of human individual, valuing what we do and do not have in common, instead of in-fighting about who is more legitimate.)
Community historian LB Lee gives several good reasons why-- as trauma-surviving plurals-- they choose not to call themselves "traumagenic" or divide the community by origins. If I may briefly paraphrase a couple of these: If you see suffering as your whole foundation of who you are, then you have a more difficult time envisioning a better situation. If you want others to respect you, a losing strategy is to put down people who are seen as similar to you.
Neither psychiatry nor the greater community of plurals see trauma history as an important distinction in determining whether someone is plural.
I compare and contrast all things,
Every moment of every day
I place a self in relation to all
Others; every otherwise imagined
As a better, a taller, a thinner
Life in this snowstorm of raging rain.
I compare and contrast all words,
The attempted, the written,
Some silently spoken in torrents
While others howled in halcyon
Chambers; all better than a self
Expressing the unspoken.
I compare and contrast, and find
A self lacking.
A peek into my thought process/self-supplied-refresher-course on how I’ve chosen to work with the Voltron Lions in writing. Like... something for those curious about the stuff that goes behind the written stuff?
Some pairs I’ve worked with more than others though, so the depth gone to each one varies quite a bit, and it’s probably obvious. But it’s 2000 words of thoughts and considerations if ya interested, with room to grow
Notes to self on writing with the Lions
The Lions each have their own way of communicating with the paladins. Different flavours of how it feels and the ways they share themselves ought to be shown in text. Make it be a combination of their own chosen self-representation and an adaption to how their current paladins can best understand them.
- Black -
Poised, collected, leaderly. Her presence is one of confidence and certainty. She does not pass impressions of doubt or reservations, nor does she waffle over the unimportant. When she knows something, she offers it upfront. When she does not know something, she offers it upfront.
Patient and willing to guide, leading as much as she allows to be led. She also knows when to pull back and allow the time and space of unbiased decision, leaving one to conclude their own without the constant press of her input.
Her ‘talk’ revolves around forward impression. Generally, Black settles for the press of single, clean emotion, primly separated from a muddled mass to avoid confusion. If this cannot cover her intention clearly, she will fill the back of minds with comprehension instead - words guised in the sound of one’s own inner voice, though never in a way that tries to fool them that it isn’t her. She does not hide the fact that these are clearly not their thoughts, she merely uses their language and familiar patterns to create the clearest and most direct path of communication. Her use is very blunt, and holds quite the obvious feeling of ‘not their own’.
I think it’d be relatively safe for Shiro that way – a foreign voice in his head would only serve to alarm and raise his defences. Also, clearly feeling that the presence is not trying to impersonate him would help aid in settling fears of manipulation – of ideas that he’s secretly not in control. Regardless, at first it would not have been entirely pleasant or easy until Black made her intentions on the matter very clear. Then it’d grow to be a secondary voice Shiro could confidently rely on. The communication is matter of fact and to the point, easily taken and easily understood. Quite effective for decision making.
Her written form lacks descriptive prose. Clean cut and precise. Focused on priorities, with an overall sense that carries an air of noble propriety.
Unless, of course, Black has tossed all sense herself should something have turned so grave. Then she cannot present in anything but ornate prose, vague and messy and everywhere, a storm of noise and agitation. Her forwardness remains – it simply lacks the clear finesse.
- Blue -
Always moving and rarely still. She encircles and encompasses in a constant gentle swirl, careful not to overwhelm but just as cautious to never seem disinterested. Loving and supportive, striving always to be where she feels she needs to be.
Though while noise and movement is her constant, Blue may retreat from her open-book communication when concentration becomes too rigid. Like the tides pulling in and out, she’s quite capable of maintaining a fluxing state of being.
Her ‘talk’ revolves around sensation and emotion. Very emotive and decorative in what she pushes across, and not shy on reaching out either. She favours expressions of love and calm to lead her voice, first to assure and last to criticize. Rarely would she speak in circles, wearing her heart on her sleeve and generally maintaining a code of honesty. As for sensation, a lot of her given impressions are, of course, based on the feel of water - be it smooth, bubbly, churning, whirled, heavy, floating. When stressed this may spill into harsher forms – cracking ice, torrential waves, tossing currents etc.
Where most might find her noisy and exhausting, Lance thrives in the constant sensation of ‘chatter’ and knowing she’s always listening. He does, however, need to rely on immediate gut feeling - the more he thinks or lingers over what Blue might mean the less accuracy he’d draw in conclusion. He must be confident that his first thought is the right thought and always keep up with the flow. Receive and let go. Don’t overthink. Getting hung up on one spot slows their communication, for Blue doesn’t hang onto single thoughts for long, and muddles in her efforts to accurately backtrack.
Her written form feels like a stream of consciousness, descriptive in a way that is less prose-fancy and more akin to finding multiple ways to paint a picture, tell a story, express her motion. She is water, pushing, moving, flowing. Stagnation is not her nature – if at any point it stops it should feel jarring. Keep to a stable beat. Think waterflow around a stone, adaptive and steady.
- Red -
Fast, sharp, smack on the point, wasting no time on hesitations. Red is emotive and instinctual, and almost harsh in her delivery.
Similar to Blue, her ‘talk’ revolves around sensation and emotion. However, she is a very different flavour. Red is explosive. An assault on the senses, a riddling of phantom touch and taste and highly eruptive emotion. Sharp. Fast. Done. Her communication holds a heavy reliance on imagery and all its attached sensations.
Keith is also emotive and instinctive (even if he’s careful with the first, he has clearly had his outbursts), so in the heat of battle and motion this is a language he reads with perfect clarity, understanding drawn in the span of a heartbeat and reacted to by the next. It makes them a natural force of destruction in piloted flight, actions devised and agreed upon without the utterance of a single word.
In calmer environments Red finds her voice through cherry-picked memory, utilising the trains of thought and feelings associated with them rather than the actual memory topic to make her point. Again, less words, but feeling. It’s a mosaic of emotional fragments taken and spun hot-glass into a new story to convey her intentions. While it is crisp and clear to Keith – for drawing on firsthand experiences makes far more sense to him than digesting some conceptual idea of an emotion he may or may not relate to (and waste time finding how he relates to) – others would find Red’s talk outright confusing. And likely very homesick-inducing.
Her written form is fast, abrupt, quick paced and physically descriptive. It’s flames and fire and how they feel, specifically targeting touch and taste and smell. An eruption against the senses, quick to overwhelm any who stand unused to it. It’s the response to these sensations in which she aims to use, holding a keen preference on physical experience to explain herself. It may run the habit of accidentally overstimulating the recipient party though, causing confusion between the borders of mind and reality. She is a being of reaction, she does not always think before the leap.
- Yellow -
Yellow is stability, an ever-lasting fortress of support, the very feeling of unbendable, unbreakable. Very careful and rarely rushed, she is slowly spoken and evenly firm. She tends not to rattle easy, and prefers to follow over taking charge, but is more than capable of stepping up to such a task when required. She can be particularly blunt in her approach though, and has often just slotted herself in without explicit invitation.
Her ‘talk’ revolves entirely around impression. She lacks the use of defined words and sticks to feeling, a heavy presence upon any mind that opens to her, large but by no means intimidating.
A guardian through and through, she is ever watchful and ready to stabilise disruptions. Should Hunk’s anxieties spike she is there to ground him, to gently steer him on the course and keep him focused. Clarity grows in difficulty with physical distance, but she is always one to try despite it.
Her written form is steady, lingering. Not so decorative, but strong. Generally draw from a repertoire of words that are easy to digest and understand. It should not feel hefty or overwhelming, for despite her size Yellow is incredibly gentle at heart. It is a fortress meant to provide foundations, a strength that bolsters from the ground up. Even if she has butted her way into contact, the gentleness of her intentions are quick to soothe most of any upset.
- Green -
Curiosity sculpted into the shape of a lion, Green is a being who needs to know. Her desire for knowledge is nigh insatiable, always keen to improve the ocean of her banked information. Rarely one to cut corners be it a job or an experiment, adamant to discover over avoid. She is a driving force of nature. Fairly level, just knowledge hungry.
Her ‘talk’ revolves around instilment and physical sensation. Adventurously inquisitive and always analysing, Green tends to send bundles of information at once, bypassing words and skipping straight to the knowing with what knowledge she has to give. It arrives in a veritable dumping of data all thrown at once, and left up to the receiver to recognise as even having and thus sort out - though with a welcome but unspoken invitation to ask for elaboration at any time. She does not dally so much on emotional expression herself, though she is sensitive to reading emotional situations and acting accordingly.
To receive inherent knowledge of how something works despite having never seen it prior would take some getting used to, but once figured out that it was something her Lion could even do Pidge would appreciate it in full. It’s a format she’s already talented in processing – working in code and all – and as such she’s used to sorting a streaming influx of information. Adaptive and intelligent, deciphering sudden knowledge is entirely up her alley.
Knowledge becomes their fair exchange: Pidge inquires, Green answers. Green inquires, Pidge answers. It is the basis of their communication – ask and know. The downside is that one must first know what to ask.
As for the physical sensation side, Green is one to push and pull minute directions against the mind’s eye body. Phantom touches - a small squeeze of reassurance, an insistent nudge to look over there, or a shove to stop what one is doing. It doesn’t physically move the body, but it certainly feels like it could. It’s a habit less common than her information dumps, and only really used to draw attention to specific points.
Her written form is pinpointed and frank, deftly covering what needs to be said and distinctly lacking in colourful prose. Should that fact change, and things get vague and pretty, the Lion is frantic. Desperate. Reacting. Not thinking.
Further Considerations
The Lion swap has very rocky beginnings – each and every one of the members involved trying to figure it out and correctly adapt all while keeping up with the same momentum (if not more) that Voltron had begun to build.
Red to Lance
- Red shares the same form of talking as Blue but she is utterly jarring in comparison. Lance would find her brusque slams of communication more distracting than informative, dizzying him with a sensory overload that is in no way as focusing or calming as Blue’s consistent overflow of sensation. In result, the translations of his intentions and Red’s reactions aren’t quite in sync and they’re prone to overactive response. That, and Red just moves so much faster than Blue and Lance’s spatial judgement in piloting gets constantly skewed and it sucks. In all, Red takes some considerable getting used to.
- It’s the downtime that’s harder. Lance is more affected by the home-drawn memories and would focus on the event rather than what she’s showing via his feelings of the time, thus missing the actual intention. Seriously, why is she bringing up his first blundering kiss that is EMBARRASSING, STOP.
(He gives back the much better one in defiance, because the darn nosy Lion will learn how great he is in that department thank you very much.)
- She’s very frustrating to draw understanding from when it’s not something to do with fighting. At least with battle she pulls from moments where he piloted Blue, and those are pretty clear to comprehend - Blue made sense after all. But then it gets weird and disorienting the more Red pulls it because which Lion is he actually in jiminy crickets stop that.
Blue to Allura
Hmm. Need to watch the season over again to find a clear interpretation and better depth to their relationship. First impressions/ideas though:
- With Allura, Blue’s talking habits would take a turn – particularly when it becomes apparent that Allura is hardly listening to her. With every forceful push and demand, Blue would withdraw the tide and keep quiet - supportive in that she is trying to understand but lacking due to the failure in communication, and not really able to do much until the princess actually opens up. There’s trying to bond with a Lion because it’s the Thing To Do And I Must, and there’s actually bonding with a Lion.
- So too, however, is there a matter of having mutual respect. That would be another factor playing in the mix somewhere. Blue is not a thing to be commanded after all.
- Revise later, perhaps try a practice drabble.
Black to Keith
- Where Red is a constantly spinning volume dial, Black is complete and utter silence. To Keith she feels like a void, expansive and without horizon, beyond impossible for him to fill – and he’d never wanted to try. She is an entity impossible to see and impossible to match. It’s not his place.
- She does not guide in the way he understands. It is cold and empty and sense-less, it does not pull him along but wants him to think, to rationalise, to explain. Keith can’t explain, he just feels. He couldn’t afford to doubt himself when he needed to react. It’s how it’s always been. He struggles to grasp meaning of her emotional prompts with any speed – for what relevance does that feeling even have to the situation?? It’s not what he feels, and feeling is what guides him best. He does not see her point of view. He tries, but it is rarely what his own gut instinct tells him. What’s he supposed to do, go against his own existence? Not likely. To do so has always been viewed as dangerous territory. It’s all that’s kept him going.
- But then, when Black turns to words Keith is thrown a violent loop. They are not his thoughts, they sound nothing like him. It’s not how he thinks, and he actually hates hearing ‘himself’ like that. Stiff, robotic, empty. (In actuality; calm, precise, focused. It’s a matter of perspective and Keith already views this negatively). It’s wrong. It’s lifeless. It sounds broken to the cause, brainwashed into soldier obedience, a pawn to an empire. He’s not galra.
(And perhaps, subconsciously, being aware Black was once Zarkon’s is what makes it that much worse)
- Black just feels too large for him to be a part of. To be something that matters in comparison. She’s too far away - not beside him, actively thinking and feeling to every new stimulus, and he’s supposed to just know what to do with the entire span of her inner galaxy while existing as only a tiny spec of it. It wasn’t meant to be his space to fill.
- A lot of the struggles fall entirely on Keith’s refusal to discard himself and reforge his ideals anew. A leader thinks on the whole and considers the facts for everyone. Keith’s only really had himself to watch for, and then a team to work beside. But not to lead, never to lead. Him fighting the change is the strain on his and the Black Lion’s bond. For how can a bond improve when it’s a bond he never wanted in the first place.
- But then, Keith is pretty self-aware. He may be refusing adaption for the very reason of not wanting to improve it. To have the Lion concede and choose someone else. It’s selfish, he knows. It endangers their cause, he knows. But Shiro, the leader, is right there. Take him. He knows what he’s doing. Keith doesn’t.
Some basics about alterhumans, otherkin, and therianthropes
Alterhuman is not another word for nonhuman. It’s not another word for otherkin, either. Alterhuman is an umbrella term for therianthropes, otherkin, nonhumans, and more. It can also be for some who do identify as human, just in some unusual ways. The word alterhuman is short for alternatively human. It was coined by Lio of the Crossroads System in 2014. Its purpose was so all of these kinds could unite under a word, without erasing what makes each one distinct.
The otherkin and therianthrope communities started without any relation to each other. The word otherkin was coined in the year 1990 in the Elfkind Digest mailing list. Its participants were elves, dragons, dwarves, wolves, and more. That’s where the otherkin community started.
Elsewhere, the therianthrope community started in 1993, in an internet group for fans of werewolf stories, alt.horror.werewolves. The participants started talking about how they related to those stories. Therianthropes are often kinds of animals that live on Earth, but not all of them are.
Later, in the late 1990s and 2000s, the communities of otherkin and therianthropes started to mingle because of what they have in common with each other. The two still exist side by side, with their own distinct qualities, and so do many other sorts of alterhumans.
“A therianthrope is a person who feels a connection to a particular type of animal so strongly, s/he feels that s/he is, in fact, that animal in most ways except physical. This is an extremely powerful feeling that in most cases began at a very young age. It is usually accompanied by a strong desire to become that animal, lots and lots of instinctive behaviors, thoughts, and desires that echo the natural behavior of that animal--and sometimes, mental and emotional ‘shifts’ into the specific mindset of that animal. [...] We do NOT physically turn into animals (though the Universe knows we’d like to). [...] not all therianthropes ‘shift’, voluntarily or spontaneously. Some simply feel like an animal all the time.”
- Excerpt from “Therry-what??” by Ozenwolf, written in 2002. Read the full article here.
One definition of therianthropy uses some form of the phrase “In all ways except physical, I am an [animal].” Ozenwolf (he/him, wolf) and Swiftpaw (she/her, jaguar) both used the phrase in their essays from around 2002, as in this excerpt. That means the phrase is at least twenty years old, as of this writing. I don’t know who invented the phrase or when.
“‘Otherkin’ are people who believe themselves to be not entirely human in some way. Most believe they are non-human in a spiritual sense [...] Most otherkin claim to have a non-human soul. Usually, they believe they have lived as something non-human during their past lives, although not all otherkin even believe in reincarnation. Most otherkin claim to have been creatures most people believe to be mythical, like elves, fae [fairies] or even dragons. However, there are many who believe that they were earth-dwelling animals, like wolves, cats or even birds. [...] The otherkin have a large online community, which began in the mid-1990s, but there are those who claim that otherkin have been always been around, just without the names for what they were before, and without the community that only became possible with the development of the Internet. [...] One important thing to remember is that the concept of otherkin is not a religion. Otherkin can be Hindu, Muslim, Neopagan, Christian or even atheist. [...] Otherkin [...] do not claim to live any differently from normal people. They watch TV, complain about their jobs and live practically no differently to anyone else. Most do not believe themselves to be any better than the common man, as the general otherkin belief is that everything has its place in nature - nothing is better or worse, just different.”
- Excerpts from “Otherkin,” an article written by Wolf in the Shadows on October 7, 2003. You can read the full article here, on the Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition, which is a collaborative online encyclopedia..
