Wild men, anprims, rangerkin and other feral folks
woofwose - 2020-05-20 16:27:49
My username is a play on 'woodwose', one of the many names for a kind of 'wild man' archetype that seems to recur a lot in myth and history. It's something I identify a lot with, considering my relationship to modern society and technology. My conception of the wild man is still a human one, and I don't think of myself as nonhuman for this, but it's definitely not normal.
It's interesting, too, because I see echoes of the things I feel in other places. The idea of rewilding that came out of green anarchism is probably the closest I feel to a real and current thing. I'm different in that I can't say I was ever 'domesticated' in the first place, nor can I say I agree with the idea that civilization is entirely evil, a belief which I see a lot of these people espousing in practise, but on a personal level, feeling an inherent wildness in your soul that makes you ill fitted for society is very relatable.
I'm also drawn to rangers as a concept (though substantially less to their D&D incarnation, which is ironic, isn't it?). I heard mention of 'rangerkin' in one of the Silver Elves' books (and @The_Flock, owning a physical copy, actually dug the excerpt out for me, which I appreciate) and it was frustratingly sparse but did paint the same kind of picture of a people defined by being particularly connected to the wilderness and particularly separated from their mainstream society somehow. The rangers of Middle-earth are pretty close too, and, without knowing much about them yet, I think witchers also share some similarity?
So it's not exactly an uncommon concept, but I don't see many people for whom it's an actual identity, or very much talking about what it feels like to experience that. I'd like to know if there's anyone else out there feeling the same way, and if it's something people think could count as alterhuman (because I certainly do).
marron - 2020-05-21 18:24:45
I think it's a very alterhuman archetype in its rejection of the very strict borders most people draw between the human animal and other animals and the world around us.
It's not a lifestyle I can necessarily live for myself, or have a lot of opportunity to experiment with (being urban), but I love stories about it, and the idea that it might be something to take inspiration from even in the little ways I can!
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