Hopefully no one outside of our friends find this blog but we're an endogenic median plural.. system. Thing. And Jez made the blog so if you dont like the colors, i direct you to the brick banner.
As awareness of plurality continues to spread online, that also means more and more people will realize they are plural. And unfortunately, there will be a response from certain gatekeepy exclusionist types, who will push back against these newfound systems and insist on invalidating them. They’ll insist they’re just hopping on a trend, or just fooling themselves, or whatever other justification they can make up to maintain the idea that being plural is extremely rare and being plural means suffering for it.
Don’t fall for it. Being plural presents challenges and difficulties without question, but being plural also can bring joys and clarity that weren’t possible otherwise. Being plural can be hard, and it can be beautiful.
No two systems present and function exactly the same ways. No two systems are plural for the exact same reasons. So we can’t expect there to be an absolute common trait present in every system. So any attempt to weed out the “fakers” is pointless and malicious.
If someone believes themself to be plural, they have good reason to. No further “proof” needed. If someone comes to us believing themself to be plural, we will help them along without critique or question. And above all we will be happy for them. Even if someday they realize they aren’t plural, that process of being allowed to question and experiment is so important, and they should be allowed to do so regardless of where they end up.
Plurality is a spectrum that encompasses a vast swathe of experiences and outlooks. It can be difficult to reckon with, which is why community is so vital. And as that community online grows and becomes more and more visible, we should all do our part, systems and singlets, to make sure these newfound systems feel safe, seen, and welcome.
No matter how often or rarely, does your Blorbo speak to you in your head?
Yes
No
Voting ended onJun 9
Every poll on this blog is about fictional characters only. This request was sent to us and we made a poll in response to it. Send any Blorbo-related question you want to our inbox and we’ll make a poll on which people can vote with their own Blorbos in minds
Queer plural pride flag! This flag is for anyone who identifies as queer and plural, please do not gate-keep anyone from a flag you did not make :}
Explanation/color meanings under cut, plus a square version for PFPs and a version with blank plural rings to add your own queer labels
We made this because we struggle to collectively find a label (both orientation and gender) we can all get behind. Thus, Queer Plural
If you want to re-upload this flag to any wikis or archives, please ask first! (Feel free to @ me or send an ask in my inbox!) There are very few reasons I would say no, but it would be greatly appreciated if you asked (or at least let me know) for this to be re-uploaded.
Hello, we're working on a plural resource masterlist document, so I'm politely asking for any recommendations the Tumblr community may want to see listed in it 🙏 It can be any tools your system has found useful (whether it's made for plurals or not), links for research/information, organizations, events, literally anything.
We already have a lot of things we plan to add, seeing as we often spend hours going through google search results in trying to find all the latest, but I'm asking just in case there's anything we aren't aware of.
Here's some choice links from our linkhoard of plural stuff that can be found here: https://dragonsroost.neocities.org/pluralstuff
FAQs:
https://morethanone.info/ -best simple faq
https://freyasspirit.com/plurality-playbook/ - in depth faq intended for Google employees, useful generally
https://dragonsroost.neocities.org/plural/primer2plur - the faq we wrote
http://www.karitas.net/blackbirds/layman/ - a old and fairly Dated faq. Contains some misinformation but still useful.
General Resource sites:
http://healthymultiplicity.com/ - one of the oldest still updating plural resource sites
https://kinhost.org/ - self help site, ymmv
DID/OSDD:
https://di.org.au/ - more medical language, good peer resource
http://traumadissociation.com/dissociativeidentitydisorder.html - medical resource by therapists
https://www.isst-d.org/ - medical resource by therapists
Other/nonmedical plurality and plural adjacent communities:
https://endogenichub.weebly.com/ - non trauma origin theory plurality stuff
https://tulpa.io/ - different subcultural plural group. Tulpamancers have their own culture, frameworks, and terminology and may not consider themselves part of the wider community
https://daemonpage.com// - different subcultural group. Daemeians have their own culture, frameworks, and terminology and may not consider themselves part of the wider community
https://soulbonding.tripod.com/soulbonding_intro.htm - different subcultural group, largely subsumed into other ones now though. Soulbonfers have their own culture, frameworks, and terminology and may not consider themselves part of the wider community
Specific resources of note we made:
https://dragonsroost.neocities.org/plural/pluralglossary - our glossary, because others left much to be desired for us
https://dragonsroost.neocities.org/essay/AmIPlural - our plural questioning guide
https://dragonsroost.neocities.org/plural/switching - because people are very confused about what to expect from switching
https://dragonsroost.neocities.org/essay/edu/newalter - new headmate guide (guide on making a guide for new headmates)
https://dragonsroost.neocities.org/essay/ShouldITell - should you tell friends/family about being plural writeup
https://dragonsroost.neocities.org/plural/writingplurals - writing plural characters
Specific resources of note others made:
https://tulpanomicon.guide/ - popular tulpamancy guide, good for learning system skills wether you are plural or not
https://web.archive.org/web/20210723233711/https://www.feathersong.org/plural-howto/feathers-guide-to-fronting-and-switching/ - switching guide for the 'passing the I' style switching
https://lb-lee.dreamwidth.org/1053011.html -memory work
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1iLDqL0Yrpn9NtcTDS3a2LP6mG_0xsRPLhDlBuW3ta8U/edit - guide for walk-ins
https://docs.google.com/document/d/16aAV0ssDwCaX7ukW1z15hrbZG72PZywMVawNjUFx85Y/edit - guide for system conflict
10 mindsets about my DID that have helped my system:
[This is solely for the sake of sharing experiences & supplying food for thought. This post is not implying these takes are the “right way” to view systemhood.]
1. We’re individuals and we’re parts of a whole. We see each other as people in our system, but in a different way than those in their own bodies. We share a brain. We share a life. I’m me, but I’m also him/her/them at the same time. If you take a piece out of a puzzle, it doesn’t cease to exist, right? It’s still its own object. It just doesn’t make much sense when it stands alone. We need each other to be truly complete.
2. Time keeps coming. I know it’s not an unlimited resource, but it’s not scarce either. Okay, so somebody in the system didn’t get to do what they planned today. They’ll do it tomorrow. No big deal. No need to fight about it or stress over “how I’ll ever manage all this”. We’ll simply give it another shot in the morning.
3. Reality is subjective. We’re a very philosophically-inclined system, and I could write books on what “reality is subjective” means. Basically, reality is based on perception. On a societal level, it is based in the common agreement of what something is. If anyone’s perception tests the limits of this common agreement, it is labeled as untrue. This ties into why DID is largely disbelieved; it doesn’t fit in with the common reality (perception) of the average person. So it is seen as fake. And, well, if I’m going to be told I’m wrong for the most basic, inherent part of this disorder… I don’t really care if they disagree with any other aspect of it. My reality is different. That’s okay.
4. There is no original. I strongly believe the Theory of Structural Dissociation. Maybe science will prove it wrong with a more suitable theory to take its place in the future, but it’s what I roll with at the moment. Now, to us, this translates as “there is no original/we were all the original”. We’re Adventure Time fans, so we think of it like the “Mother Gum”. If all of the Mother Gum broke off into people (like PB & Neddy), no specific one of them would be “the original”. Rather, they’d all be repurposed parts of the original whole. (In a less serious way, we like to say “we all came from the primordial personality soup”.)
5. Our body is shared equally. We’ve decided our body has its own identity & “look” that helps represent us as a whole, but doesn’t take after one member specifically. In a gnawingly self-aware way, I know this is a further form of dissociation. But adopting this view changed a lot for us in a positive way. We don’t fight about hair or clothes anymore, we don’t have discomfort around our legal name, we don’t even really have struggles with gender/sexuality anymore. (We identify differently internally, but externally we identify as nonbinary & bisexual. Even if the person fronting at the moment is, for example, a gay man.)
6. Be open-minded to what happens internally. Seems straightforward enough, but we’ve wasted a lot of time trying to “make rules” for each other in the system. The biggest example I can think of is in-system dating. Around 10 years ago, as we became more aware of each other, it became clear that two system members were basically in love. We immediately became defensive. We told them that they couldn’t do that, that two system members being together was absurd & “impossible”. (This view became stronger after discovering online system spaces & “fakeclaimers” that come with it.) Though we regret it now, we shamed those two a lot in the hopes they’d drop it. They didn’t. About 3 years later it became an actual problem. They didn’t trust us; they were fronting & we were coming back to absolutely no memory of it (we usually have a vague idea at least). Eventually, they wrote us a whole thing about how they were going to be together & there was really nothing anyone could do about it, seeing as we couldn’t technically keep them apart. In modern day, we’ve had an in-system couple recently fuse. Upon reflection, we were standing in the way of genuine healing by trying to break up the first two, and we did so solely out of shame. As long as it isn’t genuinely causing harm, we try to be accepting of each other these days. This applies to a lot of other aspects; how system members appear internally, the pronouns and/or identity labels they choose, anything to do with how system members engage with each other, our differing individual perceptions of an event, etc.
7. We don’t have to like each other, but we do have to love each other. Mostly because, if we don’t, we’re holding hatred for ourself. There are certainly members of my system I would never choose to befriend if we were actually separate people, but we’re not, and we don’t get to act like we are. So even though it’s hard, I’m learning to love every piece that makes up “me”, no matter how difficult they try to make it at times.
8. Nobody’s system works like mine except for mine. Meaning, no two systems are going to be alike, and experiences aren’t often going to translate perfectly. This is true for people who aren’t systems as well— everyone’s experience is going to be different, because nobody is wired exactly the same way. Once I took that to heart, it became easier to focus on my own way of being. I could take the pieces of represented/online systemhood that resonate with me & leave the rest (which probably resonates with someone else).
9. There’s a reason for everything. This kind of ties back into the ‘we have to love each other’ thing. Each component of the system is a clue regarding how to move forward. We had someone in the system getting really uptight & controlling, to a point that it was irritating, but, taking a step back, we recognized it was a response to feeling a lack of control. Instead of simply getting angry at him for how he was acting, we were able to address the problem. My collective self is more laid-back for it.
10. It’s okay not to focus on it all. DID is a part of my life for the rest of it, whether I like it or not, but it’s nice to let it be a background thing every once in a while. Who’s fronting? Who cares. What roles do we have? I don’t know. Who’s this new person in my head? I’ll figure it out later. We’re making it through as a team, and sometimes that’s enough.
Saw an anon somewhere else make a great point and we wanted to elaborate on it:
There should NOT be the hard lines between concepts of traumagenesis and endogenesis that currently exist in the plural community. There's a ton of overlap between the two in reality, and it's a little disconcerting that while "endogenic" is very explicitly an umbrella term, "traumagenic" is constantly considered a singular origin with no leeway, and anything not labeled specifically with that word (EVEN when the definition explains trauma is involved) is thrown under "endo" by medicalists & anti-endos.
Have people not come around to the understanding that "traumagenic" is also an umbrella term? That there are many, many ways for a system to be traumagenic, and sometimes those ways entangle inseparably from other origins? Has no thought gone to the autigenic-identifying system whose plurality came from masking trauma? To the soulbonder that connected with their companion out of desperate isolation and pain? If it were not for the manufactured divide claiming "traumagenic" as singular and separate, there would be a wide range of terminology and conceptions to describe the various ways one can be traumagenic, and it'd be a dramatic boon to the traumagenic plural & CDD communities.
Instead, we're severely lacking in a significant point of plural understanding because of the lateral aggression around here, and it's extremely damaging to our progress as a marginalized group attempting to make our voices heard and understood. How can we articulate the way traumagenesis and endogenesis intertwine and contrast if we're too afraid to even look?
The origin binary in the plural community needs to end. If "endogenic" can have many specific origins fall under it then so can "traumagenic".
A headmate who enforces the system’s boundaries. These boundaries may be online, offline, or both, and may include things like DNI, information the system is willing to give out, and amount of physical contact the system allows. Flag is literally color picked from a brick wall. We picked a brick wall because our boundary enforcer is very much brick wall coded lmao.
This term already exists? Consider this an alt flag!
"Plushtive is a term for a headmate in a system that is an introject of a stuffed animal. It is a term that can be used by any plush toy introject, regardless of that stuffed animal's existence in the physical world."
Everyone introjects, even people who aren't systems. Each little tidbit of someone else that imprints itself on you is a form of introjection.
As well as, media can be very comforting, and in the world we live in, it can be very consuming. People latch onto worlds and characters to feel better, cope, escape, or have fun.
It makes a lot of sense that these other worlds could have such a big influence on neurodivergent people. If you struggle to find a safe space or someone to comfort you, and your media of choice manages to fill that hole for you, well of COURSE it's gonna show up in your brain.
Don't be ashamed to have introjects. They're there for a reason, I'm sure you wouldn't be you today without them. Take care of them, let them know theyre loved, and just as valid as non-introjects.