Kin Definitions Carrd
A fairly simple rundown of basic meanings of things in the kin community.
What Is A Kin?
Kin may mean a lot of different things to different people. Kin can be used as an umbrella term for fictionkin, otherkin, therian, etc. and it can be used as a short form for kintype.
Fictionkin: Fictionkin is when a person is kin with a fictional character. This person may for whatever reason believe they are this character or used to be this character at some point. Fictionkin identify as characters.
Otherkin: Otherkin are people who are kin with an non human creature (either existing or not existing) or animal species. This can be from mythology, or straight from real life depending on the person. These people believe that they are or used to be that creature in whole or in part depending on the particular person. Otherkin identify as non human creatures.
Kintype: Kintype is a word mainly used to refer to the character (s) and/or animals that a person is kin with.
Factkin: Factkin are generally not accepted by the kin community. Factkin are people who claim to be/identify as real people who exist/have existed. This comes along with a lot of issues with identity theft and the like and is generally looked down on.
Synpaths And Coping-Links
Synpath: A synpath is a character (or creature) that you identify with but not as. You may have a strong connection to this character and feel they are an important part of you, but you do not see them as yourself. Synpaths are usually characters or animals that you strongly relate to but do not identify as.
Coping-link: A coping-link is a character that you either relate to or identify as for coping reasons. To deal with trauma, illness, etc. someone may begin to identify strongly as a certain character, this is a coping-link.
Fictionhearted/Otherhearted: These mean pretty much the same thing as synpath, but they are more broad terms to use to identify yourself as if you have synpaths instead of kins.
Selfhoods and Kin ID’s
Selfhood: This is the character(s) that for whatever reason you identify as. You see yourself as this character and throughout your time of seeing this character in whatever source they are from you feel a strong sense of ‘this is me’. You relate to this character at all times.
Kin ID: Kin ID (or just ID) is a short form for identity and means pretty much the same thing as a kin type or a selfhood. It is the character you identify as. This is usually an instense kin type that influenced your sense of self on many levels.
Soulbound: To be soulbound to a character means something very similar to synpath, but is more spiritual. It means you do not believe you are the character but that your souls are very closely connected.
Literal: To be literal is to believe that you are literally the character you identify as in the flesh.
Canon Mates And Doubles
Canon Mate: A canon mate is someone who kins a character from your canon source and timeline. You may see people looking for their canon mates if they strongly identify as a character and want to have what they had in their canon source.
Doubles: Doubles are people who both kin or identify as the same character. People may be uncomfortable with doubles because they believe that they are that character and it may be uncomfortable to have someone else also believe that they are them.
Shifting: Shifting (also known as ‘kinshifting’ or a ‘kinshift’) is when you feel more strongly like one of the characters that you kin than another at the given moment. Otherkin experience shifting a bit differently where they may feel like they have an appearance of the creature they identify as or may feel phantom sensations of the limbs the creature they kin has.
Kinshift: When at a certain time you feel like you are one of your kins
more strongly. You will say you’re in a kinshift of [x] when you feel more like you are them than any other kin.
Synshift: When at a certain time you feel a stronger connection to one of your synpaths than the others. You will say you’re in a synshift of [x].
Canon Memories: This refers to when a person who kins has memories of being the character that they kin. It may be memories of experiencing things that happened in their canon, experiencing mental stress from possibly traumatic things they underwent in their canon, or remembering things that happened unrelated to what is shown in their canon source.
Psychological Vs Spiritual
Spiritual Kinning: Spiritual kin are people who believe that their kin came from the fact that they were that character in a past life or in an alternate universe. They may believe that they were reincarnated with the soul of the character (or creature) they kin, or that they were them in a past life. The past life varient is the most common for fictionkin, while most otherkin tend to believe in soul reincarnation. All spiritual kin believe that their kin came from some sort of spiritual factor.
Psychological kinning: People who kin psychologically may believe that the kin they have came from past trauma or another sort of mental illness. They may also believe that their brain created this kin because of coping reasons. Another common belief among psychological kin is that early conditions moulded their brains to become like their kin. A lot of otherkin who psychologically kin believe that their kin came from growing up around animals and having them imprint on them from a young age. All psychological kin believe that their kin came from some sort of underlying psychological factor.
Delusions Vs Kins
A mistake a lot of people make when talking about kins is confusing that delusions have anything to do with kins. They do not. Kins are not delusions and delusions are not kins. Furthermore, it is not offensive for people with kins to refer to themselves as a character or behave as though they are a character. Kinning always has been a belief in being a certain character, while delusions are a side effect of a mental health conditions and need to be treated medically. With the rise of kinning for fun (which i do not condone) we see people acting in complete ignorance of kin terms and definitions, and what kinning really is. That is what this carrd was made to help alleviate. People may mistake just being kin with a character for experiencing psychosis and delusions because of the misinformation surrounding kinning out there. Do not be confused! It is perfectly valid and literally what kinning is to identify as the ‘irl’ of a character or refer to that character in first person etc! Please do not contribute in blurring the lines between kin and delusions.
I have seen so popularised the idea that you cannot kin a character beyond a sympath/kinning for fun if you do not experience psychosis which is wildly incorrect. Kinning is the belief that you are in whole or in part the ‘irl’ of a character. That is a not a delusion, it’s called a kin. Delusions and kins are not things that intermingle. I hope this carrd helped people learn more about what kin actually is!