Therian Help

Therian Groups

Yo! Tis the mighty Scorch! I am here to yammer on about therian groups such as packs or flocks or herds. I have low battery, so this intro is all you get for now mhuahahahah!

Okay, so I am just going to clarify that a group of therians of all different types (sometimes even including otherkin) is not called a pack, but a Constellation. Some therians prefer to refer to their group as a herd or a flock or whatever because it feels natural to them, like I do with my "pack", which is actually a constellation because it has members of animals other that wolves. (Two of the four of us are wolves).

Now, I am going to be honest here. I do not like online groups. I think that they don't offer what I feel is very important. And that would be personal  contact with other therianthropes. I was in one once, and I thought everyone was nice, but some of them were meeting up in person and doing Skype and all that, and I felt a bit left out on the action. They did have activities like an online game night where the pack plays together, but I wasn't able to join in that either. I eventually left because all I could really join in on was the Kik chat, which I deleted the app later because that constellation was the only reason I had gotten it.

Now, to have a group, I would suggest first finding other therian friends locally so that you can hang out together. Going to the same school would be even better. With them, you should decide on how you're going to do things. It would also be easier to have events in the pack/herd/pod/flock/pride/ext. that way

Most groups of animals have their dominant and subordinate members, but if you have an animal in the group that is a solitary creature such as an owl, you may want to rethink having ranks. My "pack" (being a wolf therian, I prefer to call it that.) has very simple, realistic ranks. Alpha, Beta, Subordinate, and (even though we don't yet have one) Omega. The rankings aren't treated very different at all (but I give my Alpha a high level of respect) which is fine with our subordinates, who are not wolves. They aren't treated completely different, which helps them to fell more comfortable in a group. Also, never do a "first come first seve" with the ranks. My theriotype is a beta wolf, which is why I am in that position (same reason with Alpha, she has that natural dominance.) If you are welcoming a new member, watch their behavior and their personality fold out, then discuss a ranking with them. And also, the Alpha pair do NOT have to be dating! They can have a friendship and the ability to work well together, and that is ALL THEY NEED! They don't even need to be opposite gender, especially if their theriotypes are.

Now, every group MUST have rules. You need to have limits on what yours is allowed to do. Some "packs" with the Omega ranking have Alphas and Betas who treat the Omega very poorly, and I know my Alpha would completely forbid that. Some groups act different than others, and that's fine, but make sure your group has at least some system of rules.

Also, when letting people in, you don't have to accept everyone who wants to join. If you have bad experience with the person, don't think they're a real therian, or just have a nagging suspicion about them, don't let them in. You're gut feeling is a lot stronger that you might think.

If you are making a group that only accepts certain 'types, then that could be much harder depending on the animal. Some theriotypes are more common than others, but I would say to stay away from an exclusive flock of geese therians only. I think it would work better to do something like that with a much wider branch, such as a pack of canines, a pride of felines, a herd of hoofed animals (like deer and elk and horses and such. I don't know a word for those animals as a whole, sorry.) or a pod of aquatic species. The amount of therians in your community may effect the ability to do this, because if there are only five of them that you've come to like and trust enough to consider making a group, you can't really segregate against species. It would, however, work a bit better in a town with twenty or more therians that you can chat with and make a group with a certain few.

Extra tip: Bigger isn't always better. A lot of constellations like to have an enormous amount of members, but once you go over ten things seem to get disorganized and hard to keep track of.

That's all that I've got for now. If you have any questions, feel free to comment them here or message me. I always try to help!