Swamp Sounds

 In making pencorpus for myself, I've unleashed a beast and now can't really think of a way to talk about myself without having an opposite of pencorpus. 

We know that pencorpus is about nonhuman experiences I have that are not incredibly important to me. I experience them, they aren't somehow "lesser" than or "less vivid" than other experiences. They're just not central to my identity. But that leaves a gap in my vocabulary- what IS central to my [nonhuman] identity, and how do I talk about it in regards to my pencorpus? I've drawn a line between "central to identity" and "not central to identity" but only named one side of it. So I'm going to call this unnamed side, this bag that holds all of the identities that are central to my sense of self, a plenanima. Full (plen) soul (anima), to oppose the pen (almost) corpus (body). This allows me to differentiate between these two types of things I experience. 

Being a gillman otherkin and alien satelle are the two big players in my plenanima, with my xenomorph link and stitch fictionkin nesting inside of the alien satelle. There is my gargoyle otherheart, as well. I am unsure where my minotaur archetrope sits, as it effects my pencorpus but is central to my identity. Respontis, perhaps. An item (res) that briddges (pontis), although I'm not sure if labeling this in-between is necessary right now. But I'll put respontis in my pocket just in case. This is about plenanimas. 

Like my pencorpus creates a jersey devil, my plenanima creates a gillman. There is, of course, a gillman kintype within the plenanima, but I simply can not ignore how my connection with cephalopods, bugs, shellfish, other invertebrates, and fish as a whole deeply impact my form as a gillman. I like gillmen, I'd enjoy being one without all of this extra stuff, but the wonder and connection I feel when I see some of these other beasts is so strong and so important to me that I can't meaningfully talk about my identity as a gillman without at least acknowledging all of these different influences. Otters, seals, eels, cetaceans, and so many others. 

There has always been an element of fluidity in my identity. I've talked about this, and it's not new to me. I've changed shapes and forms multiple times. I don't like to be pinned down to a singular thing, if my identity gets too singular I have to leave and run for another. This hasn't been happening with nonhumanity, but I feel like the language I have to describe myself is limited to "multiple full, separate things", "lesser things", and "fully shapeshifter". I haven't found the language to talk about how all of these things are connected all of the time, how this fluidity still revolves around a single concept, that even cameo shifts and paratypes impact everything else. Plenanima and pencorpus let me do that, and I can talk about an identity with the added context that it interacts with every other thing in this identity bag I've made for myself. 

I'm not going to make a coining post for plenanima like I did satellotype or pencorpus because I just don't need to. Satelle and pencorpus were always for me, and no one else. I don't care if others use them, I'd be glad to know that others find value in them, but I'm not a term or identity coiner and looking back I think it's a little silly that I formatted those posts like that. 

In my post "On Octopi" I talked about how I was going to avoid plenanima because I didn't want to split up my identity into so many different parts. That's still true, but ever since I introduced myself to the idea of plenanima, I haven't been able to shake it. It works so well, it makes so much sense for me. Over the past month I've been trying to think about my fluidity like I did before I knew all about the different nonhuman terms. Small bits that make up a larger one, like a blackberry. Not separate things to be named. That's what my goal for plenanima is, I think. And it's been working so far. It feels great. 

Thanks for reading. 

Godbwye. 

 I have created a few terms for myself to better articulate the way all my different experiences interact with each other. I've decided to post them here.

The original tumblr post can be found here.

Satellotype

“Middle French, from Latin satellit-, satelles attendant”
“a celestial body orbiting another of larger size;  a manufactured object or vehicle intended to orbit the earth, the moon, or another celestial body”
Potentially “satelle” for short.

A term to describe a nonhuman identity that revolves around, enhances, describes, acts as an accessory to, is only expressed through, or otherwise is secondary to a primary 'type, 'link, and/or alterhuman or nonhuman identity or identities.

An identity that may be otherwise inaccessible unless though interaction with another identity.*

A kintype for your kintype, a sense of nonhumanity that impacts how one may experience or describe a specific 'type. A way to articulate an underlying sense of understanding towards a nonhuman identity.

A satellotype may not be literal. A wolf therian may have a cryptid satelle attached to their wolf identity, but that does not make the wolf itself a cryptid. They may feel that their understanding of their 'type, their expression of their 'type, or their experience with this 'type is reminiscent of a cryptid.

This may be used those who wish to describe the way multiple 'types or 'kins interact with each other. Sattelotypes may come and go, be permanent, or there may be multiple types active at once, but they always act secondary to a "primary" 'type. A satellotype, despite being secondary, is no less important or impactful than the 'type it revolves around.

Further Discussion

I've been questioned about satellotypes similarity to paratype by two or three users, and usually others speak about the two labels in the same breath. I do think that they are similar. A satellotype can be a paratype, there is overlap. They are not the same to me, though, as I made satellotype to help me describe how I can only be an alien by being a gillman. I am an alien, just as much as I am a gillman. But I can not be an alien alone. Only by indulging in my gillmanhood, grumbling, lurking, eating fish, swimming, etc., can I feel like the alien I am. 

When trying to think about how to create a term to articulate that, I decided to make the satelle not necessarily a full identity because I could see the label being bent and wanted to allow for elasticity. For instance, a wolf who may feel like a domestic dog. But they only ever feel like a domestic dog when interacting directly with their wolf-ness. They are not necessarily a domestic dog, may not connect to domestic dogs, but experience something akin to domestic dog-ness when being a wolf in certain situations. Given that the exitance of my alienness "underneath" my gillmanhood results in an alien-like gillman, the idea of other underlying non-identities that impact another 'type didn't seem like much of a stretch. 

I think that elasticity is what caused for the confusion and overlap with paratype. Was it a mistake to emphasize both aspects equally? Maybe, I don't know. I had never made a label before satellotype, so I'm not surprised that there are some things I did wrong. It's also important to note that I made this label for myself, and I posted it so that I could have a definition to point to when someone asked what in the world a "satellotype" was. My understanding of the label has grown significantly since I first wrote it down, and I'd like to sit down and rehash some parts of it at some point. The definition here is the original, with one line added in, noted by the asterisk. The discussion here is also different, as I wanted to address it's similarity to paratype directly. I will likely reblog the original post with my thoughts later today. Or whenever I get the chance. 

godbwye