Fictotherian

My relationship with therianthropy is difficult to define. My two non-fictional kintypes are that of a dragon and a canine, and due to the polymorphic nature of my identity, they are sometimes therianthropic, and sometimes anthropomorphic. I typically view myself as a sapient anthro dragon/dog, but I occasionally feel more non-sapient and wild. The majority of my fictotypes fall into the realm of kintypes rather than theriotypes due to their sapience or anthropomorphism (e.g. Legoshi, Mae, Shadow, Catra, Ralsei, and Asriel). The exception to this is my identity as a Mantis Lord, which funnily enough feels more therianthropic in nature due to the base instincts of Hollow Knight's Mantis-folk. The Mantis tribe is certainly intelligent to a degree, especially when you consider their collective combat proficiency, but at the end of the day they are a tribe of warrior bugs fighting for survival. These baseline survival instincts are specifically why my Mantis Lord identity feels like a fictotheriotype to me, rather than a defacto anthro fictotype. This is personally where I draw my own line for therian identity: instincts, non-sapience, and animalistic tendencies, as opposed to the popular Earthen animal definition as was discussed in Daski's Othercon panel, "Therian: Dispelling the Earthen Animal Myth".

On a similar note, my Pokémon 'types also feel somewhat therianthropic. Different Pokémon have differing levels of intelligence for sure, but not in the same way as humans do. I'm a Lucario and a Lugia (whether or not I'm Giratina is currently in question), and maybe some others, but those 'types don't feel quite the same as my anthropomorphic fictotypes where I know for certain that they aren't therianthropic. For example, as Legoshi, I was an anthro wolf with intelligence, values, and socialization akin to that of a human, whereas as a Lucario, I was not socialized as a humanoid and was not held to the standards of a human being.

Assigning therianthropy can be challenging when applying the concept to a fictional kintype, especially if it's a being that doesn't have a likeness in our reality. My understanding of it is probably as good as the next guy's, but I'm quite content with this liminal therian identity: sometimes animalistic, sometimes not.