The Dink Network

Essentially, this is a topic for those here who wanted to say something to the community and couldn't find a way to start. Right now I'm overcoming the butterflies in my stomach just to say something that not even my family (Aside from my mom and my little brother) knows. I am a Therian, a Wolf to be exact. I found out two or three years ago on march second. I have revealed this information to two Dinkers, Dinkulum and Predator. Dinkulum because he was curious as to what Theri are, and Pred because I wanted to illuistrate a point.
Within the Theri community, I am known as Diretooth to a few people, yes that is the name of a character of mine. A few people call me Dire, fewer call me Wolf. This does not mean that I'm not a Christian, there are several Christian Theri in the world. Currently there are many definitions as to what a Therian is, though all share a similar identifying trait. All Theri have an association to a certain type or types of animal. Being a Wolf therian, I would be labeled as a 'werewolf'. Theri and Furries are different, though there are Furry Theri. I am not a Furry.

Yes, you can use this topic to say something that's been nagging at you as well.

*Skorn tries his best to not make a furry joke

Someone help me not make a furry joke!

Therian? This is the first time i have heard this term before, could you enlighten us on what exactly a therian is and what the difference between a therian and a furry is?

I descend from a family of powerful Mages who dabbled in blood magic. So apparently, I am an evil, illegal mage that uses blood magic. Hurray!

I am a descendant of one of Austria's/ South Germany's prosperous farming families and land-owners. Hard to believe, I know.

The general definition of a Therian is a person who has an affiliation with a certain animal. Other definitions are: 'A Therian is a person who was born Human, but with the soul of an animal.' 'A Therian is a Human soul that shares a body with an animal one.' and 'A Therian is a person who believes he is part-animal.' The last one is most likely made by a Non-Kin (Non Therian) person.

Edit: Also, this.

Also, Skorn. You can make a few Furry jokes as long as it isn't too vulgar or insulting. I know a few Furries who make some pretty cool webcomics.

Definitely sounds like a furry to the max. Nothing wrong with furries, not saying that either. However, I've met a wolf a couple of times while walking in the forest, and I'm sorry to say, you would probably never want to see one again, after that.

Well, let's see. I do come from a cursed family, somewhat. Nobody even knows what the curse is, but only that an old woman cursed it when she was banished from her lands.

I probably have middle eastern in me,but I'm not a terrorist though!
*hides bomb*

KrisKnox, maybe you should define Furry and say how it's different from Theri.

Yes, but we're all scared to click that link.

I like to say things to get people thinking about their choices in life, but even I'M not touching this one!

Don't worry, it's not Yiff Yiff (Furry porn, which only a small amount of Furries make. Oddly enough, this single group managed to demonize the whole group.)

Furries and Therians are different because Therians feel they have a connection with a certain type of animal, whether it is spiritual or otherwise. Furries have a certain affinity for anthropomorphic animals and/or anthro art. (This does not necessarily mean that anthro artists are furries, the creator of the VG Cats webcomic, Scott Ransoomair(?), did not know what furries were until he was given a 'question' accusing him of being one.)

Oh, and almost forgot. the link is to the 'WikiFur', a wiki page that explains the Furry Fandom and some of its history. There is a page about the Yiff Yiff Furries, and it doesn't contain any disturbing imagery. (Or sexual, for that matter.)

You linked us to the Furry wiki.

Ugh...

I was asked to define what a Furry is and I gave you a link to an explanation. (Though I do admit that the fursuits are usually very creepy. *shudder*)

Oh, and this totally slipped my mind earlier.

A typical Therian often shifts between his Theriotype (Animal side) and Human side. This comes in many varieties. The Mental Shift, the Phantom Shift (Feeling phantom limbs such as a tail or wings, depending on the Theriotype), the Astral Shift (Some Therians are able to astrally project and shift into their theriotype while in the Astral Plane. I personally cannot manage much if I try.), and others that are listed in the Wiki. Physical shifts, however, are not possible at this point in time. Many Therians try to P-shift but cannot do it. A few people who would troll a Therian forum such as the Werelist would say 'I can P-shift and this is how you do it...' Usually newly awakened Therians would find this and try to do this, thus feeding the trolls. (Trollkin, I wonder if there is such a thing...)
A smaller group of Therians are the Otherkin, Therians who are often mythical creatures such as Dragons, Elves, and other fantasy/mythical creatures. An even smaller group are the Starseeds, Therians who believe their soul is that of a species not of Earth.
There are also Therian Hunters, Nonkin who constantly abuse a Therian through the Internet because they think Therians are idiots with stupid beliefs.
Nonkin, I am sure I explained this before, are normal Human beings who are not Therians. It is not a derogatory statement, but a way of definition and a sort of quick way of noting a non-therian.
One last note I want to make is so that I can answer the inevitable question. Am I experiencing a Shift right now? Yes. Right now I feel a full body Phantom Shift, though anthropomorphic in nature. I feel a tail that is thumping slowly against my chair, though there is no noise, obviously. I feel a snout and ear on the top of my head. (The Human ears that are there are almost unnoticed unless I actually touch them.) I feel claws at the end of my fingers, though I know there are none. At first it was disorienting, but I'm used to it.

Can you control when a shift starts and stops?

Furries are an interesting lot.

Sometimes. If I'm calm and focus hard enough, I can induce a shift. Different types of shifts require different levels of concentration. If I induce a Phantom Shift, it takes less focus than if I were to attempt an Astral Shift. I cannot control Mental shifts, however, since they mostly happen under certain circumstances. To put it another way, I have two minds that think almost exactly alike. One is the Human mind, the mind that was dominant for a majority of my life, until I Awakened. This mind is in a few ways fractured due to how I was treated in fifth grade and after. While I am intelligent and have great self control, I often go berserk whenever I have too much stress or anger. I black out and don't remember anything that happened while I was berserk. Sometimes it's a few random moments, other times it is simply being in one place, then suddenly in another. From the moment when I am getting angry, my mind shifts to the Wolf so that I can remain in control of my actions long enough to overcome the situation, or defend myself. I do not know which mind is in control when I do go berserk, or if it is another mind entirely (Like Odetta and Detta Holmes in Dark Tower 2: Drawing of the Three). What I do know is that both minds are very similar and that I remain in control with either.
But there are still differences. My Human mind is more aloof and relaxed, if I have too much tension build up, I tend to laugh like a lunatic. My Wolf mind, however, is very serious and is more aggressive. If there is a lot of tension built up, I tend to be rude.
The shift doesn't happen only when I am angry or close to losing control, sometimes it's random and for no reason. Something akin to 'letting the beast out'.

I'll list all kinds of shifts that I know of and have observed:
Astral- Changing forms in and on the Astral Plane.
Phantom- Feeling a phantom limb of a certain type of animal.
Mental- Changing mindsets in the Physical and Astral Planes.
Spirit/Aura- Changing the form of the soul or aura on the Physical Plane.
Physicial- An impossible type of shift. Many have tried and have obviously failed.
Lucid- Changing shape in a Lucid Dream. (Lucid Dreams are dreams that you control. I often have lucid dreams where I am hunting or am in the form of a Werewolf.

There may be other types of shifting that I am not familiar with or have not heard of before or just plain forgotten.

EDITED OUT. You changed your post while i was getting my head around what you said before changing it

...The furry hulk?

Sorry, I had to post so that nobody could mess with what I was typing while I was setting the table. I only added the list of types of shifts that I know of.

Noooo the very very original post - before you changed it (before you edited it a second time with the "shifts' lol) its ok - I had a question but its not relevant now cause what you said is gone Never mind.

I didn't change anything, all I added was the list.

Also, anyone notice that Pred hasn't posted in this thread? Not even to insult me and say I'm a religious sheep?

Great, now he's gonna.

*Evil Grin, which is a step up from the evil smile.*
Well, me and him are currently arguing through a PM, (Which I find kind of fun, for some strange reason) so he already knows I'm a Therian (See first post).
It would do him some good to learn about something else, like the fact that there are some atheist Therians. (Oh, how his lid would flip!)

Put down the flint, KrisKnox.

Fine, but Pred's the one who keeps adding the kindling.

Takes two to tango. Be the alpha male and show the peons some tush. Metaphorically, not literally please - only Tal can do it literally.

Most of your friends are probably furries without you even knowing. Just sayin' to creep you out.

Is this a religion or something? Coz I couldn't tell!

Therianthropy is not a religion. (Though, Therian Temple is. From what I've read, it's a small group of Therians who actively study and try to use what they call 'therian magic'. Though I do believe there is such thing as magic, I think that these Therian Temple people are pursuing the wrong path to achieve such a thing.)

Therianthropy is a sub-culture, a person can be a Therian and still be a Christian, or Muslim, or of any other religion. (Some Therians even go as far as to worship forgotten gods or practice Shamanism.)

So, does anyone else have any questions?

What caused you to become a Therian? I don't fully understand it. Did the sub-culture influence your books?

One of the major thoughts in the Therian commnuity is that one doesn't become a Therian, just as a person cannot become an animal physically. That a person is born a Therian, but when they realize it they are 'awakened'.
I awakened when I did research on Werewolves. I found Therianthropy and read about it. I went to a Therian website and all of what other Therians experienced fit my life perfectly. It's actually more of a relief knowing what I am inside instead of wondering why I was feeling the way I do.
Yes, it did. By shifting, I was able to describe how a Werewolf would feel when shifting, though I cannot account for a painful transformation, and how they would feel in general. Keeping my Therian side of my life as a secret helped greatly with how my characters balance their separate lives as Werewolf and Human. Many of my stories have Werewolves and other Werecreatures revealing themselves, usually due to a certain situation. Like when Diretooth reveals the Werewolf race so that Werewolf Hunters wouldn't be able to kill so stealthily. Though the situation was still bad later on. (Think Holocaust, but with Werewolves.)

So, what you're basically saying is that you like wolves but you take it further wanting to be one? That would make sense. Wolf is the closest creature to a dog, and people like dogs. I think you need to relax from this "therian" stuff. It has gotten your head a little, shall we say, messed up.

If you go to the woods, see wolves in the nature, and actually manage to somehow communicate and prevent them from tearing you limb by limb, then I assure you, I will believe that you truly are a weirdo... I mean, werewolf.

Oh! Now I get it.It's a life style like goths and Wiccan's.

KrisKnox, I truly agree with everything Skull said in his last post.

And of course, this is what I feared what would happen. I know imagination from reality, this is something that I truly feel in my heart, not in my mind. I'm not irritated, nor am I angry, or upset. Many Non-kin say 'You're imagining things.' or 'You're f***** insane.'
I assure you I am not. I understand if you do not believe me, there are many who do not.
This is not a simple longing or desire to become something else, this is being something, but living as another.

There's another name for that. Personality disorder.

This is his belief. He's not asking you to share it, just wanting to get it off his chest. It's not insanity to believe in something others don't. Why not keep an open mind? Ask yourself: "What if it is real?" Don't judge others just because they are different from yourself.

I don't know if its real or not, but I've seen some pretty freaky sh*t in my life. I for one will not immediately come out to deny the possibility of Therianism.

Yeah, right. Whatever you say.

Thank you, Darksign, I really appreciate that. Though, calling it 'therianism' makes it sound like a religion. The term used widely is 'Therianthropy'.

I'm a therian.

enchilado: hehe

Anyway, I can buy that KrisKnox's mind is doing what he describes. I don't know the explanation for it, and I personally think it's probably something psychological rather then metaphysical, but even if so, it might not fit into the categories psychologists have come up with so far. That would be interesting to me.

Well.... i guess i can trust you guys....

Im a jedi.... im hiding from the empires purge...

I like little ponies. Seriously.

Seriously, Quiztis? I always preferred the bigger ones.

You need to leave those poor equines alone.

I'm reminded of this: link

I also like Yu-Gi-Oh! cards, playing gamed on emulators, and confusing people.

Eric the Unready is the best

Eric is a dictator and somewhat violent - also a little sneaky methinks... 0.O

so, am i a goat.

A goat and a necromancer it would seem.

im baby

A goat and a necromancer it would seem.
The Thread Necromancer

Actually, that's a really cool title