RangerHippoLord

Howdy! I'm a cobud and I like to talk about cocreation. If you have any questions about cocreation, please ask me! - - - 🔗Cobud terminology info carrd

[rangerhippolord]

[Revised] Observations From Parallel Processing Claims

Note: This post mentions, states concepts from, and alludes to fake-claiming and syscourse

Don't get too excited, this is just a revised repost... Okay there's some extra content. But I'm not ready to post regularly again yet!

I have been studying parallel processing and thinking about it for quite some time. Back in 2021, I wrote a post about some of the observations I made when reading about and talking to other systems.

This repost was edited with significant changes. I overhauled the structure, made grammar edits, and changed terminology. But I also tried to take out my ignorant views on traumagenic, polyfragmented, and traumaendo systems. I also leave out references I no longer wish to promote.

At the end, I offer additional notes and observations we made from our more recent parallel processing related experiences.

+++

I want to share a list of things I observed listening to a handful of systems who claimed they could parallel process. I'm curious if anyone else has made similar observations.

Definitions

When I mention parallel processing, some systems assumed I meant perfect multitasking, not an autonomous inner world. I wonder if it would be more helpful to see these two concepts as separate things or two different types of parallel processing.

I'm not sure if parallel processing in the parogenic community is equally as or less controversial in the broader plural community.

I remember someone mentioning to me parallel processing is a spectrum. Perfect multitasking is on the extreme end while two headmates talking to each other in wonderland is the other end. I couldn't find the original source for this though.

Longbow, a paromancer, proposed parallel processing is not perfect multitasking or innerworlding, but instead how easily two headmates can do simple tasks together. As examples, they mentioned a paromate dancing to the music their host is listening to and a paromate talking to their host while the host is playing a videogame. You can see their post here.

Amnesia Barriers

Systems, regardless of origin and structure, tend to report a mild amnesia barrier. You won't have instant access to your headmate's memories, you have to either go digging for them or obtain them some other way. However, some systems have severe amnesia walls due to their trauma.

However, I am not sure if having trauma or trauma-formed amnesia barriers causes parallel processing. Traumagenic systems with DID specifically are more likely to claim parallel processing compared to systems with OSDD or systems who self diagnosed themselves. But this is not a guarantee.

In some situations, I noticed some systems will deny memory sharing or express frustration of an amnesia wall that was "supposed" to be there.

Other Factors

It's not clear if experience or training leads to parallel experiences. While some systems report intense training or long-term practice to achieve their parallel processing abilities, others claim it happened naturally.

It's not clear if a headmate's age or development is relevant. I have met parallel processing headmates that are both young, old, and everything in-between.

It's not clear if having a large system is related to parallel processing ability. Some systems claim parallel processing is how their large system functions. There also does not appear to be a limit in how many headmates can be in parallel.

I suspect there's a link between Mal-adaptive Daydreaming Disorder (MaDD) and parallel processing. I concluded this after meeting several gateway systems who reported both having parallel processing and MaDD.

The Inner World

Most of the people I heard from report their inner world being autonomous or operating on its own. However, I have not heard people reporting their wonderland to be self-aware or sentient.

Once in the inner world, you're bound by the rules of the inner world. I don't know if this applies to everyone or not.

When switched-in, hosts have reported feeling a fuzzy connection to their inner worlds. I don't know if this applies to some or most systems, especially since some have reported being switched-in or not doesn't matter at all.

Some systems describe going to their inner world to be a dream like state and they can't recall exactly what they did there.

Other Observations

Headmates that are agreeable and well-mannered tend to be prone to acting out in parallel.

I have come across cases of systems that used to claim parallel processing to have doubts or no longer claim to parallel process. However, I have not found a case of the reverse where a skeptic starts to claim they now have parallel processing ability.

+++

Notes on my changes:

Most of my ignorant views included assuming system origin determines system structure and hurtful biases against large systems. I omitted as much of that as I could.

In the original post, I also linked to a previous post about my ramblings about large systems and parallel processing and another about gateway systems. Both were also cringe fests...

In my original post, I said one of the alternate definitions was "the illusion parallel processing". This is really confusing because parallel processing by nature could be an illusion, even by those who could hypothetically perform perfect multitasking. Even in computers, they don't actually multitask without dedicated, separate chips. Thus, I omitted it.

The wording of my original post implied gateway systems have MaDD by default, and that gateway systems are somehow an exception to my prior observation that system origin doesn't matter. I edited this because I was clearly more focused on the MaDD part, but the original assumption is embarrassing.

My original post mentioned paromates and (non-traumageic) headmates acting out being abnormal... This assumption traumagenic headmates are unruly by default is just... SO anti-traumagenic, my god...

Thoughts in Retrospect:

I wonder if "perfect multitasking", or anything resembling it, is possible once the skill of inner-worlding/co-consciousness is established, AND some kind of switching-related skills are applied.

Our cobud headmates who are less active tend to need a summary of what's going on. They can access our memories if they want to, however (unless it's emotional amnesia, but that affects everyone in our system). This could be a factor describing a "less extreme" version of parallel processing

When we played with short-term merging and having two headmates switched-in at the same time, sometimes we found two headmates struggling with talking over one another or controlling their form or the body if fronting. This made me wonder if each headmate has their own resource in a sense, and that resource can be shared if two headmates are merged or squeezed together in the front? Or the front is the shared resource and two headmates have to compete with it? It's still confusing for me... I also consider this a "less extreme" form of parallel processing, but more extreme than my previous point.

I wonder if two headmates hanging out and sharing uh… "mono-consciousness"? the front? resources, is significantly different from having a headmate in parallel. While the concept of resource sharing and competing resources is similar, structurally, both seem to be different concepts.

I guess I have met a skeptic turned able to do some parallel processing... me... BUT BUT BUT all of this is more playing around, I don't feel comfortable saying we "achieved" parallel processing yet

More recent observations

I met a system who had black-out amnesia but lacked co-consciousness, or my idea of parallel processing. To me, this supports the idea having amnesia barriers does not guarantee parallel processing ability.

Co-consciousness is a controversial topic too! Thus, people fake-claim parallel processing everywhere...

In observing our personal parallel space, we found that "large" headmate parts were "too big" and get kicked out of parallel space. In addition, in order for say my host to go in parallel, he has to "leave behind" parts of him and enter as an "avatar" of himself that's smaller in terms of "headmate mass"... I don't get it either.

We had an alter (we view our alters as parts), attempt to escape to parallel space! It's a good thing we asked our headmate representing the unconscious mind to build a gate for us much earlier... long story...

However, it seems we already have some trauma parts in parallel. The most problematic of these parts are strictly suppressed though.

We appear to lack an inner world (or did). Our parallel space appears to be its own space that could contain an inner world.

I remember being in a possibly temporary inner world, and one of my headmates was confused why I was there in the first place. I then woke up, surprised that was a dream. This supports my suspicion persistent realms in lucid dreaming and inner worlds are related concepts.

+++ I hope this resource is helpful. Good luck on your parallel processing journey!

[rangerhippolord]

That's all for now!

I don't have any other guide or article material up and ready, so this is the end of my latest posting chain for now.

I'll see you some other time in the future!

[rangerhippolord]

Wonderland building: trees

Trees are great! They're pretty, they provide shade, some flower and produce fruit, and they make a wonderland feel more livable in general. Here are some things to think about when generating one in your wonderland:

First, Bob Ross. No seriously. Watch videos on how painters and other artists paint and draw trees. Artists will explain the general shape and form of a tree while pointing out the appealing qualities of them too. Plus, focusing on the emotional vibes such as the "happy little trees" or scary horror movie trees can help you figure out what you want your trees to look like. You can also find other artists describing how they draw trees in "how to draw a tree" type videos.

Looking at taxonomy and biology information on trees can help a lot too, but it's okay if you want the basic rundown:

Pine trees (trees with hard, needle-like leaves) and deciduous trees (trees with leaves that change color and drop off in the fall) are not taxonomical categories- lots of different species of trees get lumped into these categories.

Instead, you have gymnosperms and angiosperms. These are based on if the plant doesn't have flowers and the seeds are exposed or the the plant does flower and the seeds are encased in an ovary. For example, pine trees with pine cones are a type of gymnosperm because the seeds don't have a fleshy wrapping. On the other hand, apple trees are angiosperms because their seeds are in a fleshy casing fruit.

I got that information from this chapter, you can read it here:

Trees also change based on their environment. For instance, palm trees have adapted flexible trunks so they bend in hurricane-force winds instead of snap and break. Another example is jungle canopy trees. Despite being really tall, they have incredibly shallow roots. This is because the forest floor is so nutrient rich, it's more efficient to have shallow roots than deeper ones.

Speaking of rain, did you know trees actually contribute to creating rainy weather? I was surprised too!

We first heard about it from this video. Despite being an older video, it's still true!

Thus, even if the area around a forest is drier, it probably isn't a desert! However, it really needs to be a forest since one tree would likely die in an area that's too dry. Or maybe you have a fictional wonderland tree that defies the rules of nature.

Don't forget that some trees can have some really weird quirks. Some are insanely tall or huge in general, some get very picky and die if their neediness isn't met, and some are invasive because they're hardy generalists.

Or you can have a mix- Bradford Pears are invasive, but they're also bad at being trees. They fall and break apart, causing damage and repair bills. Some trees need to be set on fire for their pinecones to open up and carry out the next generation. And some trees are very squat because tornadoes and other bad storms constantly rip off taller foliage and kill trees that are too tall.

Forests are rarely all one type of tree. Since seeds can spread over long distances, it's possible neighboring spots are already taken by different types of trees. Plus, some trees evolved to take advantage of the spotted sunlight and shade, like the dogwood tree.

And don't forget the tree litter! Trees often have a lot of stuff that fell off of them, whether it's leaves, pine needles, acorns, twigs, flower petals, and so on!

Now that you're seeded with tree knowledge, you can reach for the sun for more, and you can branch off new ideas and get your woodchucks that could chuck wood!

[rangerhippolord]

Cocreation Quote Adaption

We heard this quote from somewhere, but we can't find the original source and we have modified it multiple times since. Here is my current retelling of it:

Cocreation is like an umbrella. If you use it as a crutch, it will break. If you use it as a tool, it can snap. When it storms, it can be ripped from your hands, leaving you soaked and aggrieved.

But when it rains, it can keep you dry.

Cocreation is not a magic fix or a solution to day-to-day problems. But it can provide warmth when you're feeling blue.

[rangerhippolord]

Traumamancy

As a consequence of being cocreators, we see our trauma through cocreation-tinted glasses. In the past, we confused a lot of our trauma-related experiences with typical non trauma-related cocreation experiences. Thus, when we apply cocreation mindsets to trauma, we call it "traumamancy".

This is not to be confused with willomancy. Willomancy is a separate dedicated practice of willing headmates into existence, sometimes using an under-developed alter as a starting point. On the other hand, traumamancy is a byproduct of viewing one's trauma with a cocreator or paromancer perspective.

We are not the first system to coin the term. While we may have used it the most in broader parogenic community spaces, I spotted another system come up with the term years before I did.

As a result, we tend to think of traumamancy through a negative lens. We originally thought of the term jokingly, but our idea of "funny" here is coming from a place of dark humor and coping with our trauma-related experiences. We struggled with this confusion for awhile, and it obscured red flags for when when we needed professional help.

A few examples:

We thought hostile intrusive thoughts that were thoughtforms were just walk-ins you needed extra effort to ignore.

I always felt like the odd one out, but I assumed that was because we were just an "accidental system". Of course, I convenient forgot about this when other accidental systems showed up

We assumed my paranoia over staying switched-in was normal cocreation stuff

While general self-help advice isn't abnormal for cocreation guidance, there's a fine line between helping someone create a cobud or how to visualize vs say helping someone cope with incredibly problematic intrusive thoughts or help someone process extreme headmate on headmate tensions.

Additionally, we often find the confusion between cocreation and trauma-related experiences frustrating when giving advice to others. We are not therapists, we can't be expected to give advice beyond typical self-help tips. And even then, it's frustrating when we want to talk about cocreation. We're not always in the mood to give depression and anxiety support.

However, traumamancy does have a few positives.

For one, it can make coping during trauma work easier. We find our trauma work incredibly fascinating. We think it's fun to analyze why our alters are the way they are and how our mind uses plurality in interesting ways.

Secondly, it gives us experiences we can apply to cocreation. We have an ongoing conversation on the difference between median and another separate person too given our trauma parts. Thus, I can turn around and use that knowledge to help others understand medianship in general. We also have "the gate story". Stars, our headmate, building a symbolic gate to prevent us from abusing parallel processing. And then much later, it thwarted an alter trying to escape to parallel space. That experience gives us a several insights on what parallel processing is and how it works.

Cocreation at it's core is about getting a deeper understanding of your mind and testing the limits of it. Traumamancy delivers on that front, even though its baggage kind of sucks.

[rangerhippolord]

Art: Wonderland Creatures

My headmate Dream is interested in doing role playing with our wonderland, so we need to make some art for it! There are a lot of creatures to make, but I have at least two nice pictures of two creatures so far- a deer and a giant lizard.

I experimented a little bit with shading, but I didn't want to go too crazy over it. I have to make a lot of these, and not all of the art will have anywhere as much effort as I put into these.

[rangerhippolord]

Skill building: pillow visualization

Time to sharpen your mind's eye! Go grab a pillow! Any pillow! (I know you have one. If you don't, get one. Why do you not have one???)

Your goal is to hold the image of a pillow for at least 30-60 seconds. If you can hold onto the image for that long, you're ready for the next level!

Each level adds another layer of complexity to the visualization. Go as far as you're comfortable doing. If you want to improve your skills, come back and try to take on the higher levels! And no, I cannot reach all the way to the highest levels, but one day I'd like to!

Beginner:

Level 1: What’s the basic shape? Is it a square, a rectangle, or a circle? If it's not a simple 2d shape, you can pick one that's the closest. For example, an "S" shaped pillow can be a circle or oval for now

Level 2: What’s the basic or average color? If you're not sure because it has a busy pattern, get up and step away from your pillow until it's a blur. Whatever color the blur is will be the base or average color.

Intermediate:

Level 3: Now let's make the 2d shape more specific. pillows aren't perfect squares, focus on the dents and imaging someone pushing in or squishing the sides and corners. Don't hesitate to squish your pillow, cut a square piece of paper, or use Play-doh to squish if you want a reference to play with. If you started with a complex shape, like an "S", imagine parts of the circle or oval cut out. You can practice by cutting a circle or oval on a piece of paper, and then cutting out the top and bottom semi circles to make an "S".

Level 4: Time to make it 3d! A common trick is to imagine a "sandwich" of 2d shapes stacked on-top of one another. Like how the rectangular pages of a book leave you with a book that's a rectangular prism.

Advanced:

Level 5: 2 is better than one! Now you should have at least a copy. Even better if it's a different pillow entirely

Level 6: 3 is better than 2! Hey look, now you have enough for a bed- two for heads and one for hugging. Oh and at least one of them has to be different.

Level 7: It's texture time! Is the texture rough, like on a decoration pillow, or is it soft? Is it smooth like a cotton cover or is it raised and ridged like corduroy?

Nerd:

Level 8: What is the material of the pillow case? Usually pillow cases are made of cotton, but they can also be made from a synthetic fabric or even quilting material. There are wool pillows out in the wild. Wool.

Level 9: Let's stuff it! What kind of filling would you expect to be inside of it? Right now, the goal isn't to visualize the stuffing itself, instead it's to better visualize the overall shape and feel of the pillow. For example, if it's stuffed with bamboo fiber, it will be stiffer than one stuffed with synthetic down feathers. Unless you hate your pillow enough to cut it open, I recommend looking up different pillow fillings.

Level 10: Is there a trim, those little weird ruffle things, any significant stitched on patches, or anything glued on like plastic gems? (Which is a crime btw, decoration pillows just hurt my feelings) Those fixings can be a different material too, and there are lots of common styles that you may have seen before.

Impressive:

Level 11: It's time to give your pillow a stress test! How does the pillow deform when you pull on it, squish it, or even rip it? If you put holes in it, what does the filling look like? Or rip off those stupid glued on charms

Level 12: Now let's add more physics and motion. Gravity (or a lack of it), yeet the pillow, punch it, etc. What happens if something falls onto it, like your head when you flop into bed?

Level 13: Let's age up the pillow! What stains, wear, and tear are on it? The hard part is remembering where the asymmetrical pillow damage is when rendering the image. That and finding the motivation to look up how fabrics decompose overtime...

Level 14: You knew this was coming… Gimmie a pile of 5+ pillows. All of them are different. And on at least one of them, someone spilled their drink on it!

God:

Level 15: Describe to me the dimensions of the pillow using measurements

Level 16: What is the texture pattern on the pillow? You may need a magnifying glass for this.

Level 17: What do the parts of stuffing look like? Are they strands, feathers, or pieces?

Level 18: Look up how these pillows are made and then imagine yourself making one

Level 19: What are the positions and directions of each piece of stuffing?

If you made it this far, you definitely got past my skill level awhile ago and I can't comprehend where to go from here. Well done!

[rangerhippolord]

Switching guide update

I've been working on a switching guide for years ;_; But I'm excited to be close to having a first stable rough draft!

The guide is going to be long, my current guess is around 40 pages, maybe less. However, the guide is broken down into 4 parts, and those parts are divided into chapters.

The guide is not traditional in any sense- while I do have a step-by-step process, the majority of the guide is about explaining fundamental concepts and the mindsets around switching. I start with concepts like trust and symbolism and work up to concepts like the stream of consciousness (SOC) and then the types of switching experiences people report. I then have a dedicated "how to learn on your own " section to help you navigate switching discussion in the wild

Also, if anyone has any questions about the guide or switching questions in general, I'm happy to answer them! However, I would prefer if you ask me through my "ask me anything" request so I have room to write a detailed response!

[rangerhippolord]

Guided Visualization: At the park

You look up at the vibrant light blue sky. A few large fluffy white clouds are scattered about. There are also a few smaller wisp-like ones that seem much farther away.

You look forward and see the entrance to the local park. Three yellow, cylindrical, concrete barriers guard the entrance from vehicles. It's a bit noisy outside with car engine and stalling sounds surrounding it. The nearby intersection is packed with a sea of red, silver, and black.

But in the park, not a single car in view. There are only a couple of people that can be seen in the distance. It's 7 am in the morning on a school day, most people are either driving to work, going to school, or are asleep.

You enter the park, walking slowly. The sounds of traffic dampen and get replaced with the singing of birds and a light breeze through the trees. The trees cast long shadows that stretch across large sections of the paved asphalt trail. Entering the shade cools you down a bit, until you are splashed by warmth from sunlight.

Up ahead, you notice a few sparrows and chickadees dotting the path. They are so small, from a distance they look like brown and gray blurs. As you approach them, they fly away before you can get a good look at them.

Soon, you can see a jogger quickly approach. Their face shiny and hair slicked from sweat, huffing and puffing. Their jogging follows a secret beat, one that could only be heard through the jogger's earphones. Until they get close enough, you realize their music is blaring out from those tiny ear speakers. You wave at them, but they pass without acknowledging you.

Up ahead, you come across some new objects on the path. They appear small and brown, but larger than the sparrows from earlier. Upon closer inspection, you see that these creatures have beaks and beady black eyes.

These are mourning doves. They are slender birds, but when they crouch they appear squat and fluffy. They have salmon-pink feet, mouse brown bellies, and gray-brown wings. The tips of their wings are dotted with black spots, changing into black stripes.

These doves are fairly bold. As you approach them, they don't take off. Instead, they walk in a random direction, sometimes towards you. Only when you get fairly close, the birds start to walk away to keep their distance.

Soon, you can hear coos from not a bird, but instead a child. As you turn the corner, you see a woman with two toddlers. In front of them, they have a group of sparrows, chickadees, and some mourning doves.

Ah. The family brought bird seed with them. You can see some of the smaller birds peck at the black sunflower seeds, and then spontaneously take off. Meanwhile, the mourning doves gleefully peck at the tiny, pale yellow millet seeds.

Suddenly, a loud screeching scream fills the air. You can hear the loud flutter of beating wings as the birds all take off at once. Startled, you turn to see the source- one of the toddlers vocalizing. The mother lowers her head, puts her arm around her child and shushes them.

The interruption doesn't keep away the hungry little mouths for long. One, and then two, and then more come for seeds. The child coos as more birds come to take sunflower seeds. The mourning doves come back, ready to settle and eat more millet.

On the path, the once long shadows are now shorter. Your body starts to warm up faster due to the sun's stronger rays and the new lack of breeze. The birds are still singing, but their songs have dampened a bit.

As you approach the end of the trail, that familiar sound of cars stalling and revving starts to fill the air again.

For one last time, you look up at the bright blue sky. It's such a pretty day outside.

[rangerhippolord]

Art: My lamia form

It was the first things I made after resolving some trauma related issues!

When I was younger, I wanted to deviate from a robot form to something softer, like a human. My host, Gray, is also interested in snakes and dragons, so having the ability to wrap around his shoulders seemed nice. So unconsciously, I combined both ideas and became a lamia! Gray was not prepared for that!

[rangerhippolord]

Servitors that "go rogue" are preventable

I groan every time I hear another story about a servitor that has "gone rogue" and ended up turning into a cobud instead. Given what I know about a servitor's limitations, as well as the unconscious biases and motivations for creating a servitor, I'll explain why this happens and how to prevent some awkward conversations both in and out of system.

Servitors "going rogue" can sound scary, but you need to look closer at the servitor's purpose and what mindsets their cocreator has about it. If the servitor is seen as an entity that carries out a task like shuffling cards and nothing more, that's unlikely to cause problems. However, one that's supposed to mimic being a headmate probably will. While servitors are inherently human because they are part of the human brain, a creator's underlying expectations and desires can lead to cobud creation instead.

Servitor limitations

Servitors aren't designed to solely handle personality-dependent tasks. They are designed to handle basic tasks or serve as a support for these tasks. But they will fall short when expected more of.

A prime example of this is the "body OS", or "body operating system". This is a basic servitor that most people likely have; it seems to come prepackaged with having a brain. Its purpose seems to be making it easier to think and go about your day-to-day activities.

While the body OS can engage in conversations, it's not designed to handle an entire conversation by itself. The body OS echos general opinions and basic conversation behaviors, but that's because it's designed to help you by offloading conscious effort in day-to-day conversations. (I may share my interesting experience with our body OS in a future post.) However, once you do need to make decisions based on your values or do thinking that requires a lot of conscious thought, the body OS falls short. I assume this because we have heard multiple stories about headmates abandoning the front, only for new ones to spawn after it's been too long. Thus, I concluded a headmate being in control must be required and the body OS isn't enough on its own.

A long time ago, I found another system's experience that supported the idea a servitor shouldn't be left alone in the front. They had a dish-washing servitor, but I may have misremembered and it was just their body OS. They have their servitor do the dishes so they can focus on each other in wonderland. However, if someone interrupts them, a headmate will be summoned to address the situation.

Summoning a headmate also happens with different servitor-like thoughtforms we have. We struggle with emotional self-awareness, so we ask these entities if we really feel a certain way or not on certain things. In response, they will spit out a short answer. However, when it comes to explaining why, they will eventually summon the part of us with those feelings instead. If they didn't, that would imply they were just part of us, and not really a separate servitor who's just passing along a message.

Overall, servitors don't seem like they can carry out personality-dependent tasks on their own. Knowing that, it makes sense why a servitor expected to do those tasks likely becomes a cobud instead.

When things go wrong

I assume there are a few underlying expectations that can lead to servitors "going rogue" and becoming disobedient. However, most of them fall under the general unconscious assumption certain "servitors" are actually separate people. There are a few stories I can think of and some of my speculations about escapism that may explain what inspires these mindsets.

One possible mindset could be the self-fulfilling prophecy that servitors could go rogue in the first place. I have heard of multiple reports of servitors going rogue, reports that it happens easily, and fears of servitors going rogue. This seems very similar to the fears authors and role players have for creating cobuds out of story characters. However, it's possible to have story characters and cobuds (like we do). Likewise, there are examples of servitors not going rogue, usually HUD-like servitors. However, fear is one of the easier expectations to identify.

I believe the main expectation for servitors going rogue is unconsciously expecting a servitor to be a person. You can create a cobud starting with a story character, so I feel basing your cobud off of a servitor isn't too different.

I'm not the first to come to this conclusion either. In response to an older system who reported their servitors having gone rogue, another paromancer suspected the servitor creator had a deep desire for a person instead of a mindless robot. A similar response was given by several paromancers to another incident I'm more familiar with.

A long time ago, I was fortunate enough to meet a system with a "servitor going rogue" situation in a public Discord server. They had a fascinating approach to servitor creation- they "programmed" them by having them follow state machine logic: "if this happens, do xyz." However, their servitors were expected to be servants while also having person-like qualities. The servitor creator explained they would scrap servitors that were deemed "too sentient" and created revisions to try and find that line between person and "machine". However, to me as well as others, it seemed pretty obvious the underlying desire for a cobud was still present.

While a lot more complicated, my host, Gray, created a "servitor" but desired a headmate instead. We saw Gray wanting to create more cobud-like thoughtforms as a problem (due to large-system stigma), and this time he wanted to make a "servitor" to serve as our "subconscious representative". Upon closer inspection, we eventually realized it wasn't a servitor- it was Stars, our headmate who went dormant and Gray brought back. (Stars is kind of servitor-like in nature though, which is part of why it's complicated.) We then realized the underlying motivation for creating some of our more recent turned-out-to-be cobud headmates was Gray wanting Stars back, but failing to do so before. We didn't create any other cobuds since, but we kept the cobuds Gray created.

On a slightly different note, I also speculate wanting someone or something else to live your life will also lead to a failure in creating a servitor. I vaguely remember some people wanting to create a servitor to do things like chores, but they never produced results. On the other hand, the system I mentioned earlier with the dish-washing servitor wasn't stressed about doing dishes, they were just bored. I feel those different mindsets going into servitor creation are significant.

However, it's possible this situation is more rare and less understood than I initially thought. Hosts who abandon the front, an already rare situation in of itself, don't usually need a servitor to take their place. Plus, my feelings of wanting cobuds to be treated like people unless told otherwise is probably making this situation seem more common to me than it really is. I will be very surprised if a system can successfully pull off creating a servitor that does stressful tasks for them. But I don't recommend it either because it would ultimately be a band-aid solution to a deeper problem.

Preventing "rogue" servitors

Ultimately, I feel the underlying biases and desires into servitorship are the driving force that lead to servitors going rogue or not. Since servitors aren't designed to handle deep conscious thinking and decision making on personal values, asking a servitor to do that is ultimately asking for a cobud instead. Being mindful of potential mental health related motuvations, accepting the possibility of more cobuds, blah blahhh

First, if you like the idea of having a servitor doing chores or act as a servant for you, think about what it would be like to have a servitor and consider the possibility you want another cobud and/or are trying to escape responsibility. Do you want to zone out and be distracted while a servitor is doing simple tasks, or do you want to avoid the task all together? If you want a "yes" person who always says yes to you, are you sure this isn't a trauma response from bad past experiences with people, and you just want someone who would genuinely want to say "yes" to you? Addressing any underlying trauma will lead to a happier experience a servitor can't offer you.

Keep in mind it's not normal to have a trauma response or a panic attack for things like cleaning and doing homework. You shouldn't have to suffer trying to force yourself to do these things. If possible, please seek professional help and/or look into self-help resources.

Second, if you want to create more than one cobud, do it. Discouraging cocreators from creating large systems doesn't usually work and creates stigma and shame. It also leads to cases like ours where systems will create "servitors", unconsciously hoping to find a loophole. There's no point in adding unnecessary restraints. Instead, it's more effective to understand why you want to create more cobuds instead and go from there.

Third, there's also no need to humanize servitors either. You can still respect a servitor that isn't intended to be a person. The servitor may need times to recharge, just like how focusing on anything for too long can be exhausting, you shouldn't lash out at a servitor doing what it was expected to do, etc. It's like respecting the body- understand the servitor's limits and don't push far beyond them.

So hopefully, next time you want to dive into servitorship, you have a clear understanding of what you want and your intentions. No one wants their cobud sharing the "So my host thought I was a lifeless robot!" story!

[rangerhippolord]

Howdy! I'm back! For now...

Last time I was posting on Tumblr, my goal was to consistently post cocreation content every couple of days. And while I did achieve that for at least a couple weeks, I suddenly dropped off.

At the time, I was underwhelmed by the amount of activity and I was struggling to come up with content to post. Some of my filler posts were pretty dumb, and writing articles and guide content takes awhile. I also wasn't able to make art for trauma reasons.

This time, I'm going to go about my Tumblr posting differently- I'm going to post less filler and focus on posting articles, guide content, and sometimes art. I actually have several drafts sitting on my blog, and at the time of writing, I have several posts ready to publish. However, when I run out of posts or I feel done for whatever reason, I'll leave a message I'm taking a break and probably disappear for awhile.

If any of you are interested in seeking cocreation advice, ask me! It gives me more content to post

I do have other content in mind, but I feel I don't get enough account activity to post it. Discussion-type posts aren't very meaningful when nobody is around to chat with you.

It's good to be back, and in the meantime, keep an eye out for new posts! I tend to post new content at 12 pm EST, or 4 pm UTC, unless I feel I need to get something out asap. I hope you enjoy, and happy cocreating!

[canonicallyplural]

Would hiveminds count?

Should they?

The relationship between hiveminds and multiplicity is complicated to say the least.

There's a post here that classifies hiveminds in terms of multiplicity...

Post by @sophieinwonderland · 1 image

💬 5  🔁 67  ❤️ 172 · Hiveminds and Multiplicity · When thinking about Hiveminds, I realized that hivemind connection is a spectrum, with many

The basic idea with this theory is that there are certain hiveminds made up of multiple distinct individuals with their own independent thoughts.

If the definition of plurality is having multiple people in one body, it could be argued that each of these bodies contains "multiple people" in it. This could technically be plural.

But then there are the "true hiveminds" where there is only one singular self that simply operates multiple bodies. These ones feel pretty clearly like a singlet to me.

So what do we think?

Are Hiveminds Canonically Plural?

Hiveminds are not canonically plural.

All hiveminds are canonically plural.

All classes of hiveminds EXCEPT the "true hiveminds" are canonically plural

The "multiple" hiveminds are canonically plural but other classifications aren't

Voting ended onApr 5, 2025

[rangerhippolord]

I feel like it depends on the hivemind. I know Sophie explained different levels, but I think it's up to the hivemind to decide if they're plural or not, regardless of how much of an individual each member appears to be.

My headmate Stars is arguably "a hivemind". He's a collective of androids, each one being specialized to represent and carry out different unconscious tasks. His parts identify as median members of the same headmate. His parts unconsciously share feelings and beliefs, and it's normal for them to blend a bit. He can also combine into one entity, and lately, his combined self has stood by his other parts or even directly speak to them.

He uses "me" and "I" to refer to both himself as a part or himself as the collective. Usually one of his parts will also use "us" and "we". If he said that while combined, I don't remember.

Stars is not a cobud, but this set-up is interesting to think about from a cocreation standpoint.

Cobuds often regularly use "I, me, us, and we" as well, but you don't usually see a cobud say "I" to refer to their entire system. However, it can happen by accident or intentionally through masking as a non-plural. Obviously, this is different if the system identifies as median.

However, this can apply to a non-median cosystem of individuals if they decide to try merging for fun. One time my host and I merged, but it was sloppy so we ended up speaking to our merged self... oops. (We did split successfully, and our merged self dissolved. We did not create a separate person.)

This also reminds me of why some people say cocreation is splitting instead of creating. This perspective assumes the "brain hivemind?" exists first, rather than a cocreator building a new person from scratch. I prefer to teach the latter because I feel the former comes with different implications, such as a cobud taking away a part of their host's identity.

Median systems and sub-systems in general really showcase how fluid identity and one's sense of self is. As a cocreator, I'm fascinated by this. I like studying these systems to better understand identity separation and development for both cobud creation and in general.

[rangerhippolord]

Guided visualization: outside at the beach

Because almost everyone has a beach or had a beach skit while in their wonderland. I want to make this one more accessible to beginners, so the story is pretty simple and only focuses on describing a handful of things.

You are standing on a beach near the water, facing the ocean. It's a warm sunny day, with only a handful of small, streak-like clouds in the bright blue sky. There's a cool breeze that comes and goes, making a rushing sound as it moves and carrying the smell of salt along with it. The white, fine sand beneath you is warm, but it quickly starts to cool as your body and shadow block the sun's rays. The ocean is a vibrant blue-green that only sightly shimmers in the sunlight. The tides form slowly, grumbling and growing in height until suddenly, they gently spill over and dissipate. The extra water is then pulled back in, restarting the cycle.

You move forward, the sand effortlessly shifting about. The sand in front of you is hotter, but not hot enough to burn you. You take note to avoid the sparse twigs, leaves, and broken seashells along the way.

And now, you are close to the water's edge. The gray expanse is sprinkled with broken shells, plant matter, and grit from the sea. The wet sand is cool to the touch, and it feels like it dries a bit when your weight presses down on it. The wet sand is a bit sticky, which becomes more noticeable as it accumulates. As you move forward, the wet sand gets colder, heavier, and stickier.

By now, you have reached the ocean. You stand in a tiny pool of water, only for it to flee back into the sea. As you continue forwards, you get a slight chill each time the water touches a higher part of your body. The sand beneath you is loose and gritty, but it's hard to see when the foamy water from the tides block your view. As you go deeper, the gentle nudges and pulls from the tides grow stronger, to the point you have to reorient yourself after each tide.

And then, your view is blocked by a wall of water you were not-

Suddenly you hold your breath, and you shuffle about trying to either wade or swim back. Your head finally escapes the grip of the sea and you gasp for air. When you stand again, the water only comes halfway up your body. You grow cold as the breeze brushes by your wet head and upper body.

Looking forward, you can see the beach, and the gradient from blue to brown to white. The dry sand feels a little far away, but somehow, the whole beach feels small.

You turn and face the water. Another tide rolls in, with a soft grumble, until it spills over and dissipates. The spillover reaches your body, the white foam obscuring the wet sand underneath. Looking out, the vast sea stretches onwards, meeting the sky at the horizon.

It's still a really pretty day outside.

[rangerhippolord]

New series concept: random connections

I proudly believe I can relate just about anything to cocreation. So I'm pulling out randomlists.com and putting my skills to the test! This may also serve as an inspiration for avising sessions

What I got:

shirt

blouse

bed

shovel

milk

lamp shade

I guess this is someone's house in their wonderland. They have a bedroom with a closet, maybe a kitchen, probably a living room, and a garage or shed. I don't have much else to say other than look up references, customize, and disorganize the closet. Let's be real- if we're going for realism, an organized closet will stick out like a sore thumb. This is a pretty beginner-friendly visualization exercise.

From a wonderlanding perspective, it's the shovel I'm the most interested in thinking about. A shovel could be used for yard work or gardening, which I doubt most systems do in wonderland. But I'm assuming the 6 items could all be found in someone's wonderland house, so the chances are not zero. A more obvious use case could be something like a treasure hunt or archaeology excavation.

Stepping away from wonderlanding, milk can be used for smell imposition practice... if you dare to try it. Or you can sprawl on your bed to practice touch imposition. I believe imposition and wonderland immersion have some overlap, so doing one can help improve your skills with the other.

[rangerhippolord]

Headmate packs and cocreation: applying a different take

When developing a cobud and/or helping them stabilize their sense of self, headmate packs offer a lot of content cocreators can use. While headmate packs often get bad reception for a variety of reasons, applying the concept is not a lost cause. For cocreation, I believe headmate packs need a different take and to be written with a cocreator audience in mind.

For those who don't know what a headmate pack is, it's a dedicated list of traits and descriptions for a given headmate concept. For example, I have seen some headmate packs describe the traits of one hypothetical headmate while others are a bit more general. Usually they list names, form descriptions, personality traits, and sometimes provide art or references. But they usually also list possible identity preferences for things like gender and sexuality.

From a cocoreation standpoint, this is an almost unheard-of perspective on personality avising, despite it being very similar to some general personality avising advice. I didn't see these in the broader parogenic community on Discord, Reddit, or the .info forums. They rarely came up in conversation either. While there is advice on looking up character traits and some personality trait lists, there are certainly no dedicated lists for one hypothetical headmate. However, in the rare instances they are discussed, the reception of them is often negative.

The barrier of cocreator disapproval

Cocreators tend to have a negative reaction to headmate packs. I suspect this is because of general attitudes about personality avising in general and the different context of having cobuds vs having other plural headmates.

A lot of cocreators disapprove of personality avising in general. There is a lot of fear cocreators will demand for their cobud to act a particular way and get upset when their cobud deviates. The idea of giving and then expecting a cobud to maintain certain negative traits is also problematic. Given this popular perspective, it's not surprising to me that nobody would think of making headmate packs, or if they did, never want to post them.

In regards of cobuds who are expected to be their own people, I agree with this perspective to some extent. I think fears of hosts being too controlling are overblown and these extreme cases are a lot more rare than perceived. However, I think it's wrong to create bad expectations for your cobud or make their personality so specific they feel discouraged from deviating.

I also suspect rejection and sometimes hostility towards headmate packs is a systemhood context problem. I'm assuming alters who need some extra personality avising help may feel acknowledged and validated by seeing certain negative traits given their trauma and coping mechanisms. However, a cocreator looking for personality resources is likely creating a cobud from scratch, so their cobud likely wouldn't feel the same way and instead feel disregarded as a person. While there are cobuds that developed accidentally from stories and roleplays, odds are good they won't need further personality avising or headmate packs. Plus, it's not weird for accidental hosts to feel shame for giving their cobud negative traits. Thus, the idea of giving a cobud strict and negative personality traits is hugely unpopular.

While more of a personal gripe, I'm not a huge fan of the idea of selling headmate packs. It's not selling headmates like some assholes claim it to be, but I really like the idea of cocreation being free. Of course, making these takes time and energy, and making money to survive is important. I'm privileged because I'm in a position where I can write my content for free, but others are not so lucky. Since some headmate packs are so personal, commissioning them isn't that weird of a concept, even if I disagree with it.

Applying a cocreator's perspective

Not having headmate packs for cocreators is a shame because it's another approach to personality avising some may find really helpful. For a developing and/or blurry cobud, even something as simple as a name can mean a lot to them. Just having the affirmation, "I am (name)" can help ground them and distinguish themself from another headmate, whether it's their host or any other system member. So a resource that not only has a list of names, but form descriptions, maybe art, and personality traits? That's even more content a developing headmate can grip onto as they experiment with and expand their sense of self. Cobuds feel a lot of pressure to distinguish themselves and make themselves appealing to their hosts (a post I can write another time), so a few stable expectations like a name and basic form can reduce their stress.

I'm interested in exploring headmate pack creation in the future, but I would go about it in a very different way. First, I want to make more general packs to avoid any two cobuds having the same names and general basic personalities. Second, I would list resources so a curious cocreator can expand on the listed ideas and apply their own. Third, I wouldn't include negative traits because that wouldn't help developing cobuds.

I think there's a lot of potential and I'm excited to explore the concept. But I will keep in mind what would and wouldn't work for a cocreator audience.

Edit: (5/27/26: Replaced "forcing" with "avising")

[moonpool-system]

Created systems are important and an essential part of the community! Created systems are amazing and have helped forward plural understanding so much. We're lucky to have fronting guides written by created systems, communication guides written by created systems. Intentionally created systems are impressive! Accidentally created systems are unique! Created headmates are as much their own people as they want to be, they have their own autonomy and deserve to be respected. Solely created systems are cool! Mixed origin created systems are awesome! Mainly-traumagenic systems with created headmates are important! Psychologically-based created systems, spiritually-based ones, and every system in between are wonderful 💙👥

Created systems are still multiple. It's okay to want to be plural or to have become plural because of creation methods. Whether it be through psychological or spiritual methods, if one claims existence/personhood and wishes to be seen as multiple/separate, they have a right to that no matter what.

[rangerhippolord]

It's an old post, but I found it in my feed and I think it's worth resurfacing