I Wanted To Make A Piece That Represented What It's Like To Have Verbal Shutdowns And The Overall Difficulty

The most beautifully written part, in my opinion. A good description of our type of hivemindedness/telepathy

I know that the whole message of this story is "oh no they lost their humanity so sad :(", but the behavior of the energy beings is described with more detail than I've seen in other sci-fi works and it gives me species euphoria.

I would even say that it is one of the greatest works of xenofiction ever written

Some creatures might bite me for saying this, but I think that us having human bodies is cool, actually, because it allows a lot of different species to have common ground and interact peacefully when they would otherwise have to fight for survival, eat each other, drive each other to madness, etc.

So the "every species is sentient" dilemma isn't as bad in this case as it would be if, say, humans existed along with sentient bio-tapeworms or sentient bio-wolves existed along with sentient bio-deer. And by this I mean human-like sentience, since I believe that most species are already sentient to some degree

Otherkinity and therianthropy make a lot of otherwise hypothetical moral dilemmas a lot more real, such as "what if every single species on earth was sentient and sapient" and "what if fictional characters could see what kind of art people share of them on the internet"

System

“ᴡʜʏ ᴄᴀᴛs ᴘᴀɪɴᴛ: ᴀ ᴛʜᴇᴏʀʏ ᴏғ ғᴇʟɪɴᴇ ᴀᴇsᴛʜᴇᴛɪᴄs”, 1994. x

Gear experts: Do you know if there is such a thing as a cat ear headband that don't give you a headache if you wear it for too long or does that only exist in my dreams?

Kin flags part 1: Light

ID: two images of a nine striped kin flag with pastel colors in this order: grey, red, orange, yellow, white, green, blue, purple, grey. The seven pointed kin star in the center is also grey. The second image has text displaying stripe meanings. End ID.

Stripe meanings below the cut

the grey stripes represent the non-visible areas of the light spectrum

the red represents the low frequency wavelengths of light

The orange represents the particle qualities of light

the yellow represents the culture based associations people have with light, and how concepts seen as light-adjacent play into one’s kinship with light

The white represents photons, those funky little guys.

The green represents the scientific properties of light and how those characteristics play into one’s kinship with light

The blue represents the wave qualities of light

The purple represents high wavelengths of light

The colors are from the lightgender flag with further inspiration from the rainbowgender flag.

Life of a cat in the other side

I think this type of hierarchical thinking is the same reason people look down on angelkind, divinekind and technologically advanced alienkind, because they interpret these identities as an excuse to say "haha I'm better than you!" I'm not your superior bro I'm just chilling

I feel like the reason as to why many therians (mainly on apps such as TikTok) exclude those who identify as animals more strongly, or are fully animals, is because of their inherent belief which is basically "human > animal". From birth, they have been taught that man is above animal, and that reducing oneself to an animal is inherently portraying yourself as less. Many of them, consciously or not, believe that it is an insult to refer to others as animals, and still regain big portions of their humanity—just because, in the end, they believe that animals are lesser in intelligence than man, therefore considering yourself an animal is making oneself lesser than human, therefore inferior. Of course, I do not share that belief. As an animal, I hold the opinion that we are all equal on Earth's soil. It doesn't matter who dominates—as land can't be owned by any being. I wholeheartedly disagree with things like "human superiority" or the belief that "man was meant to rule the Earth". Of course, humans are animals too. However, over the years of evolution, they have separated themselves from the labels of "animals" and "mammals"—because they believed themselves to be above those. And, that brings us to why many therians, young or not, look down on those who identify more strongly as animals, or are completely animals. In the end, they may feel some superiority over those beings, because they think that since they're still human, they are the superior beings. Of course, that is all merely speculation—still, even if their lack of acceptance is due to not being educated on the matter, it still comes down to the belief that other humans have ingrained in them. That "man is superior to animal". It's a belief that has been drilled into the minds of humans for generations, therefore separating them from a connection with animals, and the connection with Earth herself. They subconsciously look down on animals, and those who identify as animals on a deeper level. It's a sad thing, since now many humans are beyond saving—as many have completely turned on mother earth, and are now destroying her.

I do hope that at some point, humanity will open their eyes, and realize that we are all as sacred as the soil—thus proving that "inferiority" and "superiority" doesn't exist in terms of who should be allowed to roam the earth, and who should perish. Of course, humans still remain on top of the food chain, since in the end one thing that is natural is the existence of predators and prey. However, humanity has exploited their own capabilities, turning their role as a natural predator into the role of artificial destroyers, those who barely follow the laws of nature anymore.

Hopefully, those who hold all the control will be eradicated, and humanity will once again reunite with mother Earth. I am happy seeing so many people take actions nowadays, helping the planet to the best of their abilities. It gives me a light of hope.

Please, if you are a human, do go out once in a while. Pick up some trash, and gaze at the sun. Breathe in the air, and realize that as long as you love and care for her, mother Earth will love and care for you as well. On the planet's soil we are all equal.

-ike

"Good Genes" by SMBC