Otherkin

"There's a man works down the chip-shop swears he's elvish"

(with apologies to the ghost of Ms. McColl)

Basic Information

Otherkin are a subculture of people who believe themselves to be reincarnations of mythological creatures - or, more typically, modern pop-culture versions of mythological creatures with little bearing on anything from actual mythology. "Elf" otherkin, for example, almost always turn out to be strongly rooted in Tolkien rather than anything recognisable to our ancestors.

Sources

See Also

Bibliography
1. Elven Like Me - Article on Otherkin @ The Village Voice
2. OtherKinDating.Com - what it sounds like.

Game and Story Use

  • Perhaps mythological creatures are staging a comeback to the modern world - but they can only do that by possessing and eventually transforming human host bodies. So the "Otherkin" only think that they have memories of former lives - in reality, these memories are of alien entities who will slowly take them over.
    • Unless someone can exorcise them. And most Otherkin likely won't be cooperative unless they can be convinced of the true danger.
    • Combine this with the things everyone knows about Scientology. The "Otherkin spirits" are Thetans!
  • Even if the otherkin are not what they believe themselves to be, such a delusion could make an interesting character trait for an NPC. (Or an annoying one for a PC).
    • Useful for the half-engaged player who doesn't realise we're not playing fantasy this week - "And Bob? Bob? BOB! Yeah. What are you playing?" "elf wizard, same as always" "…well, this is a 1920s gangster RPG, but you could play someone who thinks he's an elf wizard…"
  • In a fantasy setting, you have someone who claims to be a reincarnation of some powerful monster. Were-monster, unaware shaman, attention-seeking teenager, or something else?
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