Multiple Kin Identities Inquiry

Lots of personal experience. For instance, I was early for one of the Howls I hosted so I went down the mountain for supplies. I was wondering around the grocery store when this huge bear (literally - a bear therian) limbered up and said, "Are you here for the Howl?" Neither of us were from the aea and neither of us knew each other by sight.

The first Howl I went to, me and my partner were supposed to meet one of the local Weres at his job - a gas station. We were standing in the store part when he came in through a door in back of me. I didn't see him; I felt him, so I didn't say a thing but moved us outside to wait so no one would overhear our conversation.

Another Howl, another place, I was supposed to meet one of the new people at a fast food restaurant. I knew it was her in the truck as soon as I saw the truck. I just got out of my van, walked over and introduced myself and said "follow me."

And on, and on. Boy! do I have personal experience!

As I've said before, I thing weredar requires a certain amount of exposure to other Weres before it clicks in, but I don't have to convince a lot of Weres in the offline community. Personally, I seem to be about 80% accurate. I miss sometime and there's some times that I tag someone as a Were that isn't. Most of the time I'm pretty solid.

Coyote and I often hit on the same person around here. "Did you see that?" "Yeah, he's a Were."

Oh, yeah. I suspect it's exactly like queerdar. I don't think it's anything mystical or anything. In fact, I've been trying to see what we pick up on and I've noticed a lot of little hints - postures, mannerisms, even scents. Especially when I get wet, I smell very much like a wet dog. Again, I suspect that "wet dog" smells a lot like "wet human" but humans have lost most of their musk while many Weres haven't. We can smell moods and we can smell the differences in each others urine and the chemical reactions that happen when the urine of different Houseweres mix. You don't pick up any of this stuff over the Internet.

As another therian who has lived in a "werehouse" and have spent substantial time around other therians, @WolfVanZandt is on target.

There is a "something" that I've felt therians had that I couldn't put properly into words, but it is there. Weredar is what folks used to call detecting it, but you don't hear folks talk about that much anymore. It's one of the many reasons I believe there is a biological basis for therianthropy and that it has been around a long, long time. I suspect it is a completely normal part of the human spectrum of biology. It's probably why I don't care a lot about the labels and the with/as business -- because at the core, none of that matters. I know that I'd still be a therian even if I'd never met any others, because I was a therian long before there was any internet access. I didn't know what that was called, and I didn't know anyone else felt the same, but I knew, balls to bone, that I was a bear. I know some researchers have tried to claim this is a "internet subculture", but that's flatly wrong. It's been around forever.

Sorry to hijack the multiple thread We might want to split this.

Thanks once again to the responders of this thread.

I do appreciate the varied viewpoints on this topic and even the little bit of sidetracking since I never even heard of 'werehouses'.

Though as @BearX mentioned, I would highly appreciate future responses to be back on topic of Polytherians since that's what this thread is about. I love love love the responses from actual polytherians since they can speak first-hand and thus far have been the most insightful responses (in my personal opinion). ❤️

Oh man, where do I even begin.

Given my exprience, which even among polytherians is abnormal, I think I might want to try answering thing's here.

I am a polytherian, but I have a total of 42 different theriotypes. Make that 41 theriotypes, and 1 Otherkin, for those playing along at home. You can go to my journal where I have listed them all. I will say that while searching and doing research, every animal I uncovered and confirmed was like a puzzle piece fitting into place. It clicked, it felt right, it felt..me. Granted, once I got upwards of around 6, I started to get a bit concerned that maybe I was something else, and was confusing feelings, that maybe I was a type of shapeshifter, but those ideas didn't click.

For me, I am each of those animals. I express them, I am them, I feel them. It's...a crowded place in my head at times, but I've not felt like anything is missing or anything for a while now, so I'm pretty sure the list is finalized and complete. It took me a very long time to come to terms with this. Even my bf, who is a therian as well, but just 1 type, has trouble telling the difference's at times. He's picked up some behavior and vocal changes form the different types, but not all of them.

Please, feel free to ask me questions, as I know my being 42 is far far removed from the "normal" polytherian experience.

Wow, thank you @skarlath for being so open and willing to share your experiences with me. I have read through your journal and will message you a few questions. <3 I enjoy the fact that I get to be in a forum with people willing to share pieces of their universe to my curious mind.

I don't understand it. And I doubt I'll be very good at explaining it. But I just feel like I'm both. The light gray morph red fox and the timber wolf. My theriotypes both feel the very same way that someone who are not a polytherian feel about their one theriotype.

I don't get it either, but I know how I feel on the inside and that is all that matters to me!

I was gunna share an image bit it didnt go lol oopppss

I'll share some things on the side of polykin rather than a polytherian. We're on the weird end of the community since we have multiple fictotypes (which is fictionkin) which is usually considered to be not good, but we're used to being grilled with it so feel free to ask anything. You can also disregard this if it's not what you're looking for, I understand you were asking more about polytherians, but I thought I'd throw this out there.

Do therians with multiple animals have a similar logic?
No, definitely not. Polytherians and polykin, as well as otherkin in general, have lots of different ways of explaining their otherkinity. There's no one unifying belief or logic.

Are they primarily one animal, but believe they have had previous lives as another animal, thus they claim that secondary (and even third) animal as their kin?
For me personally, not exactly. Some therians and otherkin follow a primary/secondary (sometimes going into tertiary) style, but a lot of us also view all our kintypes/theriotypes as being equal. Past lives also aren't always considered kintypes, though I think past lives are common in those who go into secondary/tertiary kintypes (though don't quote me on that).
Though I do kind of view myself being a winged human to be something like a core? It's not lesser, but it's experienced differently and is the "default". Though as per the definition of otherkin, all kintypes are sill identities.

Or do they believe they are a hybrid like a dog/hawk?
If the kintype is directly a hybrid then that would be otherkin. If there's more than one kintype and they just sort of merge together, then that would be a polykin/polytherian. For myself I tend to view it as me being a hybrid entity as in all of my kintypes are equally me (though shifts may make some stronger for certain periods).

Or maybe it depends on their mood and a different animal dominates their body, but if that's the case, wouldn't they be kith instead?
Shifts for polykin can sometimes be influenced by their mood, so in a sense the answer to this is kind o?. Being polykin isn't a change in mood, but identity can fluctuate at times, especially for those with many kintypes/theriotypes.
Kith/otherhearted is identifying with something, it's not exactly related to mood either, it's more a connection.
To be honest I don't really understand the question, sorry.

-Ivy (Winged Human, Polykin Subsystem)