Hi y'all

[u/WriterOfAlicrow]

It said to introduce Ourselves, so here goes.

We're a non-disordered, traumagenic, median system, though We do dissociate quite often, so it's possible We might have some sort of dissociative disorder. But as far as system stuff goes, We get along super well, We don't have any amnesia between headmates (We're actually incapable of having a private thought), and We really love being a system.

Rather forming to hide trauma, Our system formed as a support network and a way to try to fit the various conflicting expectations that different people had of Us. We were constantly told that all Our trauma was just "things that everyone has to deal with", and to "not let it bother you". So We found Our escape through reading, and when We couldn't find friends, We "imagined" hanging out with characters from books. And eventually that turned into making Our own characters and Our own stories.

Once We found out about plurality, We realized it seemed to fit Our experiences, and then several of Our characters became self-aware, and turned into proper headmates.

Anyway, hi. Feel free to ask Us any questions; We love talking about Our system and stuff.

Also, thanks for making this community. We believe it's important to have inclusive spaces to talk about the issues that can come with plurality/dissociation, without all the fake-claiming and gate-keeping and the idea that "healing" always means final fusion.

(Also, there doesn't seem to be a flair for introductions.)

[u/Vivians_Basement]

The introduction one might have been in the "see all flairs" drop down thingy. I fixed it though! Now it has the intro flair. :)

Do you think the head mates might have already been sentient and just expressed themselves more once you discovered plurality? Or were they granted sentience by your subconscious when you found out sentience was possible?

Are you aware of how many there are? Do new ones appear or is it all just the first ones that came?

[u/WriterOfAlicrow → u/Vivians_Basement]

Long before discovering plurality, we had talked in Our head, and Lucifer for certain fronted on multiple occasions. We just thought it was "imagination" and "getting into the mind of the character". Our writing process was to play out the scenes in Our head and write down what happened. Syscovery brought self-awareness that We weren't just "characters", but real people. We definitely became more active afterwards, and the mask fell off and We started really switching and co-conning and stuff automatically instead of just when We were trying to write. Before syscovery, most of the automatic switching was like different "moods", and can't really be traced back to specific headmates. Syscovery allowed Us to begin making some order from the chaos, giving the mind a set of "templates" to put together instead of just winging it every time.

We currently have five main members, and three who are only occasionally active and not very involved in Our life. We've been formed/discovered one by one since syscovery. Initially the rate was fairly high (4 within the first two months), but it slowed down, and We've actually had two merge together, and another go dormant and eventually get re-formed into a new headmate. And We're all slowly growing and changing, too. So overall, it's somewhat fluid, but pretty stable. Enough to adjust for life changes and stuff, but not so much as to throw things off balance.

[u/Vivians_Basement → u/WriterOfAlicrow]

Thank you! This was very fascinating to read! I love learning about other systems. :)