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The Paratype Thread

Vyt - 2020-04-14 18:02:33

"Paratype" is a term coined by aestherians, and I for one have found it incredibly useful.

To quote Obligatorycofee's dictionary entry:

a character, animal, or mythical creature that is not a kin/therio/fictotype or a hearttype, but somehow feels important to your established identity. Some examples of how it may manifest include: inducing shifts of one or more of your established 'types, showing up as a cameo shift that somehow feels related to your established 'type, or feeling similar to a hearttype because they remind you of your kintype in some significant way

For example, my theriotype is dog, specifically border collie. My paratypes are:

I really like the paratype label because I find it really useful for describing 'type-adjacent connections. It allows expression of how my theriotype can impact my life and influence other things I feel and care about. It also allows me to acknowledge things that really matter to me and feel emotionally significant, without having to dismiss those feelings just because they aren't a kintype per se.

Who else has paratypes? What kind?

The_Flock - 2020-04-15 04:15:24

Ahhh excellent. The word paratype is a welcome one for muis, since wei have a lot of identities and many feelings about things related to them that end up being hard to articulate.

Like Alice frequently finds faerself connecting to other characters that fit the "strange girl follows a creature down a spooky hole and ends up in another world" trope based on faer canon (along with just straight-up retellings and reimaginings of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland). Sometimes wei end up surprised the characters don't end up becoming additional identities, even temporarily? Coraline, Fran Bow, even just other madwomen as protagonists in video games like Senua?

There's also the matter of the winged cat identity and feline heart-type (two expressions of the same thing) where domestic cats (especially oriental shorthairs) are our "type" but our identification with felines extends to all of them, including mythical and fictional feline-like creatures.

I personally have a lot of strong feelings about Lalondes, especially Roses and Rose variations (and Jasprosesprite^2 especially) since the Dave part of me was so close to her in the timelines that feel most relevant, and it was hard to separate that from being a Lalonde?

Im sure wei have a lot of ways wei connect to different things, it gets hard to keep track of but it's definitely something wei encounter often enough to enjoy having a word to slap on the feelings when wei talk about em.

~ Davepeta

Chordata - 2020-04-16 12:38:19

I definitely have some! And the term paratype has been really useful to me too. It helped me realize that not everything giving off "otherkin-y feelings" gives me these feeling because it itself might be relevant to my identity. Instead it just reminds me of my kintype because it has aspects that are the same. Which, in hindsight, is so logical, but it took the existence of an actual term for me to make that conclusion.

I mainly noticed paratypes in the past related to me being a Percht. I think this is because, for the longest time, I couldn't pinpoint what this kintype is. I found myself seeing traits of it in creatures that, overall, just didn't fit everything I feel. A big aspect - and this isn't something you'll see portrayed with Perchten, but there aren't exactly clear rules of what one has to look like, especially outside of winter - to my self-image is facial features being obscured. I find myself relating to being who only have eyes on their face, no mouth, maybe a nose (i.e. Deoxys from Pokemon, Spirit/Phils from Oban Star Racers).

I also questioned being a minotaur for quite a while. Perchten are always portrayed as bipedal and often have horns, which are traits minotaurs have as well. I feel these traits a lot of the time as phantom shifts, and it makes me relate to minotaurs even if they're not me, and not a kithtype.

There's other paratypes I can't think of off of the top of my head. If I'd approached them as paratypes earlier, I might have better noticed which aspects about them really resonated with me, analyse them better, and maybe that would have helped me find out what I am sooner.

-Darius

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Nim - 2020-05-28 12:34:42

I have only recently learned about paratypes, though I've seen people use it before for a couple of months.

I feel like this is a term that fits some of my experiences well, but I haven't seriously looked into it nor do I know if I will frequently use it.

Because of my dream-self I have a self image of a magic user, superhuman/mutant thing that can shapeshift…? Therefore many beings like that in media feel like me-in-a-way such as witches (from Charmed to Hansel and Gretel witchhunters), mages (like in the Witcher), mutants and superhumans in comics, but also aliens, shapeshifters or anything else that has powers or abilities similar to my own in my dream-world.

At one point I wondered if clado magic-user otherkin would be a good label for myself but that's just confusing and not encompassing enough. The term paratype for all these beings seems a more accurate fit.

Besides that I feel the same as Vyt about dogs. I think I am a Chinese Crested dog, though more small companion dog breeds could fit me well enough. Though I see myself first and foremost as a dog therian and will talk about my experiences from a dog therians perspective rather than a specific breed, I do feel kin with those especially and a different bond to dogs (and more generally canines) overal. I usually say that I am very strongly hearted with dogs, beside also being a dog therian - but I see how that could be confusing so I might switch to paratype for that as well :)

Sorry if I was a little unfocused in this reply, I was pretty much writing down as I was thinking about this.

Nim - 2020-06-21 14:20:47

I have a question on paratypes

I was on insta the other day looking at posts from therians/otherkin and one person with 3 types was talking about their 2 fictotypes.

They identify as Crowley, I believe this character is from the show Good Omens and they were talking about identities they have through their fictotypes in this case fallen angel/demon/snake because of Crowley. Would in this case demons be a paratype for this person? I mean, could they use that term for it if they wanted to - is this an example of how you can use the term paratype? This person states they do not identify as a demonkin because they don't identify as a demon independently from Crowley if that makes sense.

I am asking because I might be experiencing something similar in which case the use of paratype would become way more important to me, though I might still call things kintypes because I feel like not everyone in the community seem to get paratypes.

Vyt - 2020-06-22 13:23:47

I personally think that would be a valid use of the term. for example, in my case, dogs are both my theriotype and a paratype. I am a border collie, and thus (since theriotypes are usually referred to by species) dogkin, but other breeds of dog give me more kith-like feelings and I consider them paratypes.

That seems applicable to this operson- as Crowley, they are by defenition. a demon (just as I am by definition a dog) but doesn't self-identify with demons generally, just as I don't identify with all dogs.

Of course, I'm not the authority on how the term can be used, if such an authority exists at all.

Nim - 2020-06-22 18:25:43

Thank you for your input @Vyt! In the end it's probably mostly up to the person, like with most of the terms, to decide what feels most comfortable for them.

But this really helped me open my eyes to uses for "paratype" ^^

Chordata - 2020-06-23 09:43:59

I agree as well that it can be uses like that :)

We once got into a discussion why we don't just call our paratypes heartedtypes/synpaths, so I might as well put our thoughts on that here, because I can see someone arguing that demons could be heartedtypes of the person. I think heartedtypes and synpaths have an even foggier definition than paratypes, but how I understand it a heartedtype has relevancy to a person without feeling like they are that type. A person feels like they are a paratype, but it's because the paratype has similar traits to an actual kintype. It's like seeing someone who looks a lot like you in a photo - you feel like that might be you, but it's actually not. I hope that makes sense! :orange_heart:

-Darius

Vyt - 2020-06-23 12:42:42

In distinguishing paratype from heartedtype, I think paratype is inherently dependent on a kintype. It might be similar to a kintype, or related to one, or remind one of a kintype, or help induce shifts. So there's some sense of "you wouldn't feel strongly about this thing if not for your kintype". Whereas a heartedtype can be completely independent and unrelated (e.g. someone being elephant kin and sparrow hearted).

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Lopori - 2020-06-28 01:27:04

I can relate to this idea, there are things that although aren't me, they do resonate with me because of the similarities to my kintypes.

I consider myself chimp-hearted ontop of bonobo therian, and by extension I'm very drawn to apes of all kinds including early hominids. I'm an overall ape-person, either as a result of or resulting in my being a bonobo in particular.

Matriarchal species resonate with me a lot too, elephants being the biggest example. There's something comforting about them. An old elephant matriarch is like a huge kindly goddess and I love them.