Jane, would you be willing to define some common kin-related terms? I’m questioning whether I may be kin with someone (with Dirk, actually), but I don’t know much of the terminology that people use and I feel like it would help. Please and thanks.
archmaidascended-deactivated201:
I’m so glad you reached out to me, buster.
There is a lot of different terminology and it’d be impossible for me to cover it all, but I’ll try to cover the very fundamental basics. With these, you should be able to understand enough to get started, and to figure out your own kin identity.
If folks want to add to this list, I’d encourage it. I’m just going off the top of my head here.
If someone is fictionkin, it means they identify as a fictional character. This can happen for many different reasons, and everyone experiences kinship differently.
A fictive headmate, or fictive for short, is a fictional character that is part of a system. I can’t say much on this one, and any fictives should correct me if I’m not defining this well, but the word “fictive” is used strictly by systems only. “Fictive” and “fictionkin” are not interchangeable. For more information, I’d ask someone who is actually a fictive.
A kintype is a character/species/concept/etc. that an otherkin or fictionkin identifies as. For example, my sole kintype is Jane Crocker (although this kintype has different facets that go into it, which some would call subkintypes). It is possible and fairly common to have multiple kintypes.
For different reasons, there are people that prefer to use the term ID instead of kintype, but it is mainly a semantic difference, in my experience.
Polykin are folks that have multiple kintypes.
Kin feelings, also called kin feels, can be defined in many different ways, but at their simplest in the fictionkin lens, they are emotions and connections that make a person feel like they are a character. They can manifest themselves in any manner of ways. It’s less of a concretely defined term and more of a spiritual concept that all fictionkin share with their kintypes.
The word canon is used both in reference to source material (for me, Homestuck in general), or the timeline that that particular person’s kintype is from. This is an especially important concept among spiritual fictionkin (fictionkin who are a reincarnation or alternate universe version of their kintype, like myself).
There are an infinite number of timelines and canons in theory, and because of this, different fictionkin have connections to different timelines. Some timelines are very similar with only the tiniest of discrepancies between them, and some are vastly different, almost unrecognizable between them.
Thus, there are an infinite amount of timelines that someone who is kin with a character could be from.
Simply put, they’re AUs!
Typically they’re talked about in terms of ownership, for example “this is what happened in my canon,” “in my canon, Jake was tall,” etc.
Kin memories are memories of one’s canon life, used in reference to one’s timeline of origin. They can be as small as a lingering scent or as huge as an entire conversation (and of course, beyond). Not every fictionkin has kin memories, but they are common among spiritual fictionkin. It is also important to note that the vividness of said memories is different between fictionkin who have said memories. Memories are not necessary or required to be fictionkin.
A kin double is a fictionkin who shares the same kintype as you. Not everybody is comfortable with them, and those boundaries are taken fairly seriously within the community.
A canonmate is a fictionkin whose kintype happens to be from the same canon as one of your kintypes. For example, say I found someone who is kin with Calliope, and after comparing memories, we find out that we are indeed from the same canon, based on evidence that shared events in our canons pointed to. That would make us canonmates.
That’s a good start and all I can think of off the top of my head. Again, I’d love if people added to this.
Stay safe, dear, and godspeed! If you have any more questions, feel free to let me know. I want to help you out as much as I can.
