#alter identity

[mantra-repeated]

Disaieme

Pt: Disaieme :end pt

When one, some or all members of a plural unit who are not [x] in the innerworld, but will still id as such due to the body being [x].

Mention / tags: @radiomogai, @rwuffles, @scr-ppup, @discrophy, @sys-terms, @system-term-archive, @colablob

Banner transcript: This term was made by an Endogenic. Anyone can use it however (So don't repost or recoin, ask before adding to wikis) :End Transcript

Written flag id under the cut, same as alt text.

Flag id: A rectangular flag composed of 9 diagonal stripes on a purplish-grey background. The outermost three stripes on the top and bottom are cut off on the center, starting from the left on the top and the right on the bottom. The middle stripe is thicker than the rest. The stripe colors are mirrored. The outermost stripes are dark magenta, then dark lilac, grey-blue, dull blue, and the middle stripe is dull green. :end id

[limonenesystem]

Corrupted Angel

A subterm of a persecutor. A corrupted angel is the functional opposite of an angeltive. The system may have more feelings of guilt, sadness, shame, or anger than usual when they're fronting. The angel may feel "dirty" and harm themselves/other system members. This may be unintentional or intentional. They may neglect the body's needs due to their perception of being an angel not needing anything to exist normally.

A corrupted angel member may also be an angelkin/angelmate, a sinner, a religious persecutor (the most similar to this role), or a religious guilt holder. This term is related to religious trauma, but it is not a requirement for this role.

do not associate this term with syscourse, anyone can use, rb or like if using!

non graphic alts and template credits under cut

plural flag

striped flag

angel graphic

[kallofkai]

TRANSID TYPE COINING TIME!

altecid - an id type encompassing the following:

where both an alter and their collective identify with a certain label and they feel distinctly intertwined with the way they experience that id

where an alter identifies with something, but not in an individual way

where an id that both one or more alters and a collective identify with feel interlinked and weaved together in some way.

flag temps below cut!

inspired by the altalID flag that one of my bodymates coined !

[multiplicity-positivity]

Finding Ourselves

Discovering identity and individuality as a member of a system

As headmates, it can often be challenging for many of us to understand who we are as individuals, our own system aside. For some headmates, lacking a clear sense of self can be disorienting and frustrating. For created headmates, and those of us who struggle with dissociation, not knowing who we are can sometimes cause us to question if we even exist. We get asked a lot on this blog how headmates can try to become more individual or distinct, and in this post we’re aiming to help answer that!

A little disclaimer before we get started: we are just one DID system talking about our experiences and trying to offer advice. Not everything we say will be useful for every system! You know yourself and your system more than we ever could, so please use your own discretion when it comes to following advice we give here, or anywhere else on our blog. Also, not every headmate needs or wants to be unique and distinct, and that’s okay! This post is more for those who are trying to gain some sort of individuality, which isn’t necessary for every headmate in every system.

One more thing: our goal with this post is not to cause strife and division between headmates. We aren’t advocating for strengthened dissociative barriers, nor are we attempting to cause arguments or disagreements in other systems. Please know, however, that as system members grow more distinct in their differences, arguments and disagreements may certainly arise! We’d encourage everyone to do their best to treat each other with kindness and respect as they grow more unique and start diverging from the rest of their system a bit.

Okay, so when it comes to finding your own unique individuality as a headmate, here are some things you can try to help make yourself a bit more distinct!

Take Your Time

A vast roster of full-fledged differences between headmates likely isn’t going to appear overnight! As you and your system undergo this process, try to have some patience with yourself and each other. It may take a few months for differences to really stick or new habits to form, and that’s okay! As you try to learn more about making yourself distinct, it’ll probably be best to take things at your own pace and don’t try to rush anything.

Self-Reflection

Spend some time thinking about yourself, your goals, and your relationships with your headmates. Why do you want to be more different from the rest of your system? If you try to envision your ideal self, what do you see? Is there anything that’s drawn your attention in the past, but you weren’t able to fully explore for some reason? How would you describe yourself now, as you are? How would your headmates describe you? Ask yourself these questions and more as you think about what you’re like, and how you might like to change in the future. As you change, remember to periodically come back to self-reflection; check in with yourself and make sure that the changes you’re making are accurately reflecting the person or part you want to become!

Journalling

Having your own space to get your thoughts out separate from the rest of your system can have a ton of benefits - not just for creating individuality but also for providing yourself some personal autonomy! Your journal can be a physical notebook, a Google Doc or other digital note, a blog on Tumblr or WordPress, or anything else. Having your own space can really help you learn more about yourself as you are, the rest of your system aside. In your journal you can create a list of goals and keep track of your progress as you aim to become more distinct!

Ask Games

Ask games can be a fun and more casual way to solidify differences and learn more about what makes you unique! Sometimes having a list of specific, pointed questions can help headmates find direction when it comes to figuring out who they are. The tags “#system ask game” and “#plural ask game” here on Tumblr have some great lists of questions created by fellow systems! Keep in mind that you don’t have to wait for someone to send an ask in order to answer the questions of an ask game - any member of your system can fill in the whole list whenever they like!

Make Conscious Choices

As you live your lives, try to start thinking about the choices you make. Do you choose things out of habit, because it’s what’s expected of you, or because it’s truly what you want? Know that it’s okay to make choices that more or less align with the rest of your system! You don’t have to feel bad or ashamed about any similarities you have with your headmates. Still, if you are actively trying to differentiate yourself, questioning or thinking critically about your decisions may help you start making choices that align more with who you are or want to become.

Try New Things!

Now the meat of our post, the most important thing we believe a system member can do to actually forge their own identity and set them apart as an individual from the rest of their headmates - trying new things! Stepping out of your comfort zone, experimenting with something you hadn’t considered before, learning a new skill, and gaining different experiences… all of these things can help reinforce your uniqueness and give you a sense of personhood apart from your headmates.

Below, we’ve included a few areas you might consider to help you get started! As you learn more and explore different things, you can take note of your new likes and dislikes somewhere, like on your blog or in your journal!

Hobbies

Try practicing a new hobby or learning a new skill! There are limitless options to choose from, so don’t hold yourself back and try anything that seems even remotely interesting! YouTube is a great resource for tutorials, whether you want to learn how to sing, knit, play video games competitively, paint, breakdance, bake, write stories, or anything else! As you go through life, if you see someone doing something that piques your interest, try to take some time to learn more about it! You can start small with one hobby and gain more over time. Hopefully this can allow you to express yourself and learn more about who you are as an individual!

Foods

Hobbies aside, you can try to create your own palate when it comes to foods you eat and enjoy. Don’t be afraid to try new things and expose yourself to a wide variety of cuisines! Be wary of your body’s dietary needs and restrictions as you try new foods - as all headmates share the same body, they may share allergies and food intolerances as well!

Fashion

Experiment with makeup, accessories, and the clothes you wear! Create a look book for yourself filled with fashionable items that inspire you. If possible, try to front or cofront at a thrift store to find some more affordable clothes that fit your own sense of style! Explore aesthetics that you’re drawn to, and don’t worry if something you like may be considered “weird” or “cringe.” It’s okay to lean into these aspects as you figure out who you are!

Music

There are countless genres of music out there, each with their own unique style and sound! Try and listen to a broad variety of music, and pay attention to what you like and dislike. As you explore, think about potentially creating a playlist for yourself, or cultivating a list of artists, songs, or genres that you enjoy. Don’t let your preconceived ideas about certain genres keep you from trying them out - listen to everything with an open mind and see what stands out to you!

Rinse and repeat with other things!

Try out all sorts of different things! Listen to podcasts and audiobooks! Watch cartoons, dramas, documentaries, and anime! Read all sorts of things like poetry, plays, novels, and nonfiction! Study subjects like psychology, philosophy, astronomy or engineering! Spend time volunteering with local organizations or join up with a grassroots organization! Question and experiment with your gender and sexuality! Learn more about otherkin, copinglink, otherheartedness, therianthropy, alterhumanity, and other nonhuman identities! Spend plenty of time in nature, explore different spiritual beliefs, try learning a new language, and try to expose yourself to a wide variety of new things in general! As you explore, it may surprise you what things stick and become an important part of your life!

We’re sorry this post got so long, but hopefully this can help give some headmates a sense of direction when it comes to how they can become more distinct and gain a sense of identity in their system. Feel free to reach out with your own ideas or things your system does to help each member find their own individuality!

Thanks so much for taking the time to read this, and have a wonderful day!

[the-fox-collective]

Why do different alters have different identities. Age

Disclaimer: this is our personal experience with DID and will have discussions of trauma. Also I've been working on this for over two months so if you could reblog it I'd be so appreciative.

Age can refer to multiple things within a system. It can mean an alter's presentation, an alter's mental age/capacity or it can refer to when the alter formed. It's a very personal definition and if you are unsure what a term means for a specific system, ask them! The terms I see used most colloquially in system spaces to age are "little," an alter of a young age, usually under ten years old, "middle," a tween or teen alter and "big," an adult alter OR an alter with adult responsibilities. My system personally doesn't use these terms because we don't vibe with them, we use "syskid," "child" "teen" and "adult" where syskid and child can overlap, child and teen can overlap, and teen and adult can overlap (due to our own age and experience in life, age is quite a complex category for us that we are unable to make strict definition for). In this mini essay I’ll be using the terms child alter, teen alter and adult alter because I feel they’re the most descriptive and most research uses these terms so they’re wildly understood.

Child alters

Child alters tend to be portrayed as innocent alters, they tend to be portrayed as trauma holders and those who are cared for in the system. I think this is infantilising to all bodily adult systems because it means that people treat child alters like they are real children and they are not. Child alters do not need to be coddled and do not need to be parented by people outside of the system. This baseline idea that most people have of treating child alters like real child is something that has ruined relationships I've had with people as they don't let me act like a fully grown adult whilst someone considered a child is fronting.

Child alters still have access to an adult’s brain, and for a lot of systems child alters will be able to do things independently like cooking, household chores, using substances, socialising and sexual activities. Child alters do not inherently have lower cognitive abilities, less ability to consent, or a need to be supervised. It is not up to anyone other than the system themself to determine what a child alter can do.

However, some systems have child alters who do not have access to the ability to do adult things. This is due to amnesiac barriers between alters. This is normal and documented and that alter should not be forced to do things they cannot. Alters like this are usually highly amnesic and separated from the rest of the system.

For my system, child alters are alters that formed during childhood and have never been able to grow up, or are alters who formed due to trauma that makes me feel like I’m a child again — whether that be because I’m being treated as incompetent, being infantilised or the trauma repeats the themes of my childhood trauma. Due to being in early recovery, this is a very common stressor and trigger I experience due to medical malpractice and being patronised by doctors who refuse to treat my chronic pain.

Teen alters

Teen alters can have similar formation reasons as child alters, such as forming during traumatic times as a teen, or being made to feel like a teen.

To understand the cultural understanding of this age demographic, and therefore some of our subconscious understanding, we can look at how media represents them. Teenagers are used to represent rebellion, failure, freedom, exploration, fun and escape. So teen alters may also be used by the brain to explore these themes, especially if they weren’t able to be explored when the system was a teen.

A snapshot in time

I’ve touched on it slightly already but some alters form as a snapshot of the system/body at the time with a fixed appearance, age and/or mentality. If something traumatic or very formative happens, a “snapshot” of the person at that time may form into their own alter. They will usually be stuck at the age that they formed with the ideas that they had at the time.

In therapy, sometimes we talk about “your x year old self.” And it’s understandable why some systems form these alters who are “x year old self.” If alters are representations of a self that needs to be, then the snapshot alter forms for emotional processing, holding onto memories or emotions, or so the system can process how they’ve changed over time.

In my system we have alters who are stuck within these ages and it has been useful to see what we need to work on as a whole.

Ageless alters

Alters who appear without age or who are immortal are not uncommon in what I’ve seen in both research and in the community. The reasons behind ageless alters seem to be: an emotional disconnect from humanity due to being more or less than the rest of the system. This could be due to the alter’s role being to protect or care for the system, the alter being a fragment and not having enough sense of self to have an age, or the alter forming due to trauma surrounding age.

Alters not connecting with a specific age may help them do their task in the system. For example a godly gatekeeper alter may be ageless so that the system can cope with them being able to do their job. (If the alter who controls fronting/holds memories/causes splits is a god and ageless then it makes sense why they have power over the rest of the alters.)

Regression versus child alters

Any alter can age regress. It is a tool used in re-parenting, coping with trauma and can be done for comfort. Child alters may be a representation of the system age regressing but often not. Age regression and an alter being a child are different and a person who experiences both should have boundaries that fit them and their needs.

Conclusion

Alters can experience a range of ages for many different reasons. It is up to the individual to decide how to best describe themself and how they want to be treated. All alters should be treated with respect and dignity.

[the-void-constellation]

COOL INTRO BECAUSE I FOUND A TEMPLATE FOR IT AND I WANT Y'ALL TO KNOW ME!!! (￣ω￣)

>BASIC INFO<

» NAME: Noli, N0L!

» NICKNAMES: Nil

» AGE: ??

» GENDER: Voidthing, bigender (female and male), and voistwilightic

» SEXUALITY: Velaurique, a-most forms of attraction besides maybe platonic, cupioqueerplatonic

» PRONOUNS: Void/it/nym/nyx

» SPECIES: Robloxian, void entity, and demi-deity

>ALTER INFO<

» ROLES: Trauma holder and looking for more

» SOURCES: Vibingleaf Noli, Forsaken Noli, and the OG myth

» ALTERNATE UNIVERSES?: I'm not from an AU lol

» SOURCE TALK: Yes please!

» SOURCE MATES: Sure!

» DOUBLES: Of course, we're not the same person anyway.

>EXTRA INFO<

» PROXY: 🎭

» TYPING QUIRK: Uhhh... No actual typing quirk as of right now, but I make frequent references.

» FAVORITE FOODS: Dill pickle flavored corn puffs

» FAVORITE COLOURS: Black and purple

» KINTYPES: Noli (Forsaken), void (otherkin), myth (conceptkin?), and more still left to be discovered!

As a bonus, here's my faceclaim! Idk who the artist is, but I can edit this post to credit them if someone tells me.

[unique-plural]

Transfem alter, nonbinary vagina-owner body. Feeling weird about how my masculinity becomes part of my identity because of the shape of my headspace body and the way the system processes gender. I think if I were my own person, I would be binary transfem but here I'm closer to bigender(?) (Not sure) because being "biologically male" is also part of who I am. I get source euphoria from being seen as male but gender euphoria from being seen as female.

I guess my ideal would be being perceived the same way one would perceive a man (the way I remember myself - deeper voice, slightly larger frame, facial hair) but still being seen as a girl simultaneously.

Gotta love the way being queer bends around when you're plural.

I'm AMAB transmasc. My source is male. In an AFAB body. We're all a bit weird in here... mainly because we don't really get or understand gender euphoria.

There's probably hundreds of other alters out there with the same thing going on as with you. You just have to find them!

... Preferably by being as queer as possible.

-the Organism

[starstruck-curly]

i n t r o .ᐟ

all likes + followings will come from @vulpes-ventricle

well, hello everyone! I am Captain Curly, and it’s a delightful pleasure to meet you!

i’m here to meet mouthwashing fictives / sourcemates, because i deeply miss everyone!

please feel free to message me! i promise, i do not bite! if that seems too daunting, my ask box is also always open! please

i do have another account! it’s more based on source memories, and contains toxicity. huge trigger warning if you do decide to follow! the account is @sick-sorry-soul

NAME → Cptn. Grant Curly AGE → 34 PRONOUNS → he/him/his ORIENTATION → bisexual cisgender man

LIKES → cats, space, stars, earth science, tea and coffee, documentaries, organizing DISLIKES → rude people, being disliked

— i don’t have a DNI, as i try to give everyone multiple chances! if you are rude, or make me extremely uncomfortable and are disregarding my feelings, then i will block you. there are certain…things…i disagree with. in those occasions, you will be blocked almost immediately.

TAG GUIDE 𓈒 𓈒 𓈒  🚀⟢ CAPTAIN SPEAKING ⤷ original posts 🚀⟢ vulpes_ventricle ⤷ system-based 🚀⟢ GOLDEN RETRIEVER ENERGY ⤷ love based and/or source mems 🚀⟢ CAPTAIN TALKS ⤷ answers to asks 🚀⟢ CAPTAIN APPROVES ⤷ reblogs 🚀⟢ unused ⤷ unused 🚀⟢ unused ⤷ unused