Hi, I'm Elasu | Introductions | Forums

Hey, my names Elasu (El-lah-sue). I identity as a Rusalka. There isn’t an awful lot of information on the web about the Rusalka, but there’s plenty to get a pretty good understanding of them.

The Rusalka is a being spoken of in Slavic mythology. She can be seen bathing on the riverside, lake, or any body of water. They tend to be found alone, in the dark. They don’t go far from the water and may be seen sitting in the trees overhanging or near the water, or more commonly, bathing in the water. They may also be found dancing in the fields. It is said that the land where the Rusalki have trod grows better. When someone happens upon a Rusalka, the Rusalka attempts to entice the person, male or female, to come to them in the water. When the person comes in, the Rusalka quite simply drowns them, in some stories, with her long hair.

From what I have gathered, the Rusalka is strictly female. I am male and identify as male, so there’s a contradiction there. There is some notion the male counterpart of the Rusalka is the Vodyanoy, which also has limited information available. The Vodyanoy may be the male version of the Rusalka, but the Vodyanoy doesn’t quite look human. They’re actually a toad headed, green bearded creature. I don’t identify with this look at all. I identify with the looks of a human being, but I do not see myself as a human. The Rusalka looks human, most of the time. I feel comfortable in my human body most of the time. Rusalka are known to shapeshift as well. I identify as a shifter as well (spiritually). Sometimes I just want to take another form. This may seem normal for anyone, but for me it’s second nature. I have to remind myself that I can’t change my physical body. It’s not just a desire to shift, it’s an instinct. Because of the ability to shapeshift, I see it as likely that some Rusalka could very well be male. There is little if no indication of the Rusalka being vampiric, but I am vampiric and I feel the need to feed every so often, depending on how much I fed last. My own personal theory is that while drowning the victim, the Rusalka feeds off of the energy that person is giving off while fighting for their life. I understand that this kintype would seem to have homicidal tendancies. The same could be said of people who identify as Leanan Sidhe. The Leanan Sidhe, at least in myth, grants her lover with great passion and skill in the arts. The catch? Her vampiric tendancies kick in and she feeds on her lover until they waste away and die. The two are essentially the same when it comes to their victims, one is just faster about the process while the other takes their time. I do have tendancies, but it is nothing beyond my control. Killing is within the Rusalka’s nature, but I don’t think we absolutely have to do it. The ‘flavor’ of feeding on someone in that state is just, great. Though I would not feed on someone dying in a hospital bed or something, as I do have a conscious. Since I have a conscious about who I feed on, why I feed on them, etc, I would not label myself with a mental illness.  I don’t continually feed off of a single person either.

I’ve always loved water, though I denied it for a while. I definitely denied memories of drowning people, thinking I might be insane for a time, until I considered the fact that I have a conscious about it. I’ve never ‘felt’ human or connected or identified to human beings. This is all that’s needed for the definition of otherkin anyway. The details come in later. As stated above, I’m a shifter (spiritually), and I do feel much more tired no matter how long I sleep when I’m away from a body of water. And I never feel more alive than when I’m in the water. My instincts, what just happen and I don’t even think about it, led me to Rusalka. I only started identifying as Rusalka a couple of weeks ago. But I spent a while introspecting and accepting myself before I came to that label. Then I decided to join the forums again. I identified as demonkin for 5-7 months before Rusalka, but the whole time, if I thought about my identity much, I would start to doubt myself a lot. I decided the label wasn’t right. Before demon was Leanan Sidhe, hence my knowledge about them. I identified as Leanan Sidhe for 4-5 months. The constants? Human shape in all of them. They would vary, probably a result of shapeshifting? Either way, I just put everything together and here I am.

Non kin related stuff?

I am aspiring to become a guitar player. I’m learning on an acoustic, and I’ll get better with time, as long as I stick to it. I’m 20 years old, 21 next month. I’m a guy. What else….. I’m in college for an associates in Criminology and will graduate next semester, then I aspire to become a Game Warden or a Ranger, after 2 years of experience in law enforcement. I work part time, and the rest of my time is mostly dedicated to school work.

I know this post was very long, but I wanted for anyone to read this intro to understand me and why I am identifying as a Rusalka. I don’t want anyone to think I just jumped to conclusions without any introspection, or worse, that I chose an uncommon kintype so that I could feel ‘special’. If anyone has any questions about anything, please ask. I won’t promise good answers, but I’ll try.