#instability and plurality of identity

[rotenotes]

Saul Newman - The Politics of Postanarchism

The Politics of Postanarchism Saul Newman In recent years radical politics has been faced with a number of new challenges, not least of which has been the reemergence of the aggressive, authoritarian state in its new paradigm of security and bio-politics. The ‘war on terror’ serves as the latest guise for the aggressive reassertion of the principle state sovereignty, beyond the traditional limits…

[opstandelse]

Saul Newman - The Politics of Postanarchism

The Politics of Postanarchism Saul Newman In recent years radical politics has been faced with a number of new challenges, not least of which has been the reemergence of the aggressive, authoritarian state in its new paradigm of security and bio-politics. The ‘war on terror’ serves as the latest guise for the aggressive reassertion of the principle state sovereignty, beyond the traditional limits…

[polutrope]

Ambarussa Appreciation

I have said before that I think Amrod and Amras have much untapped imaginative potential. But that's not to say there are no intrepid creators who have done marvellous work with the sixth and seventh sons of Fëanor. Here are some of them! Feel free to reblog this with additions of your own.

Fics

A Kind of Mercy by @aipilosse (T, 0.8k). Amras & Amrod. A haunting character study.

truth in a mirror by athenakarthagonensis (E, 4.4k). Amrod/OMC. Stunning prose and a dangerous lightly-toasted Amrod. The unique Green-elf POV is excellent.

The White Tower by Anna_Wing (not rated, 11.2k). Post-canon Elwing-focused fic (fascinating worldbuilding and musings on the nature of the Oath), but interesting and refreshing to see her interacting with the 'forgotten' Kinslayers.

Who By Fire by me (M, 4.9k). Amrod/Fingolfin. Two grief-raw souls connect at Mithrim. Lightly-toasted Amrod. cw: past attempted suicide, mental instability, injury, animal death.

The Same Blood by me (T, 1k). Amras and Amrod's relationship feels the strain of what they have been through. Follow-up to the previous fic.

as a mist of light, chapter 12 by @swanmaids (T, ficlet). Amras finds a way to cope after the fire. Crispy Amrod. cw: self harm.

We Shared Everything by @cuarthol (M, 2.2k). Amras and Amrod shared everything, until they didn't. Crispy Amrod. Fantastic use of first person (plural and singular).

Dénouement by @sallysavestheday (G, 0.9k). Amrod/Aredhel, post-canon. Two people who were killed by people they love find understanding in each other. Crispy Amrod.

A Name by @skyeventide (G, 1k). Beautiful and impactful musings on identity, pulling from the convoluted and complex names associated with these two. Lightly-toasted Amrod.

The Seven Trials of Fingon the Valiant, chapter 6 by me and @melestasflight (T, ~2k). Something lighter! The twins seduce Fingon.

Art

There is actually a pretty rich array of fanart of Amrod and Amras. Here are just a few of my favourites.

Amras and Amrod by @wisesnail

Amras and Amrod by @welcomingdisaster

Amrod threatens Elrond and Elros by @runawaymun, a chilling commission for my fic And Love Grew

Amrod by @myceliumelium

Amras and Maedhros by @redbootsindoriath

Amrod by @tabukomi

Ambarussa by @thelien-art

Ambarussa by @spvce-oddity

Maedhros, Celegorm, Amrod, Amras by @albuum

Any finally some HoMe quotes about the twins, who get so little in the published Silm.

325 [525] Torment fell upon Maidros and his brethren, because of their unfulfilled oath. Damrod and Díriel resolved to win the Silmaril, if Eärendel would not give it up willingly. […] 329 [529] Here Damrod and Díriel ravaged Sirion, and were slain. Maidros and Maglor were there, but they were sick at heart.  From 'The Later Annals of Beleriand' in The Lost Road

"The two twins were both red-haired. Nerdanel gave them both the name Ambarussa - for they were much alike and remained so while they lived. When Fëanor begged that their names should at least be different Nerdanel looked strange, and after a while said: 'Then let one be called [Ambarto >] Umbarto, but which, time will decide."

"The twins called each other Ambarussa. The name Ambarto/Umbarto was used by [?no one]. The twins remained alike, but the elder grew darker in hair, and was more dear to his father. After childhood they [?were not to be] confused…" From 'The Shibboleth of Fëanor' in The Peoples of Middle-earth

[thornfield987-blog]

I know this has been done before but here’s my headcanons for LU Chronic illness/Disability boys:

Legend(he/they): Hypermobile type Ehlers Danlos syndrome. Frequently dislocates joints and doesn’t see why the others make such a big deal about it, it happens all the time! Primarily suffers from widespread join pain, instability and chronic fatigue. Has as many different mobility aids as they have magical artifacts.

Time(he/him?): Early onset osteoarthritis and partially blind. All of the time travel and shifting forms was not kind to his joints, so the connective tissue was damaged and BOOM. Arthritis. The old man jokes are becoming less and less of a joke every day. Also experiences debilitating migraines.

Hyrule(they/he): Sensory Processing Disorder (often associated with autism but can be caused by other conditions). Their magic sensitivity can often cause overstimulation in their other senses, and they are very sensitive to light, sound, smell and touch. They are semi-verbal because even his own voice can overstimulate him sometimes, but they don’t know sign very well. Also has anemia.

Wild(genderfluid he/she/they): hypertrophic contractural scarring, partially deaf, semi-verbal because of vocal cord scarring. Also prosthetic arm(set after TOTK). She switches between sign and speaking, whichever is easiest for him that day. They have to perform daily stretches and apply scar lotion to be functional, but they aren’t very good at remembering to do so. Often blows out his voice because he gets excited, but can’t tell how loud he is speaking.

Four(plural they/them): Dissociative Identity Disorder(but not really because of magical reasons), damaged growth plates because of Minish magic. They have very similar symptoms to DID, but there are slight differences because it was caused magically and traumatically, not like in the real world. They sometimes struggle to walk correctly because their growth plates are damaged, causing their legs to be slightly different lengths. They wear adaptive shoes to correct this.

Sky(he/him): POTS(Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome), chronic fatigue. He struggles to breathe the denser air on the Surface, but he struggled with it on Skyloft as well. He has a chronically higher heart rate that causes dizziness and (rarely) passing out when moving from sitting to standing, after eating, and after adrenaline rushes. This causes his stamina to be fairly low, and also causes chronic fatigue.

Twilight(he/him): RRMS(Relapse/Remission Multiple Sclerosis). This is caused magically by the Twilight curse eating away at his body’s nerves, but is kept mostly under control by his shadow crystal. Occasionally, he goes through relapses and experiences anything from tingling and numbness in a limb to temporary loss of vision in one or both eyes, balance issues, vertigo and slurred speech. These flares are almost always debilitating, but thankfully they only happen every couple of months and last from a few days to about a week.

Wind(he/him?): A little cliche, but he has a peg leg. He likes to tell outlandish stories about it getting bit off by a kraken or eaten by a cannibal, but the truth is that he got an infection, couldn’t treat it in time and had to amputate. This happened sometime after his quests had finished, and he’s still a little ashamed of the actual circumstances, so he doesn’t open up often.

(edit) I FORGOT WARRIORS

Warriors(he/him): Speaking Disfluency (Stutter). Often repeats sounds, such as “G-g-g-guys”, or extends sounds; “Llllllll-Iove you”. He grew up poor, so he was never able to get treatment for it, so he communicates using sign while Proxi translates verbally, though this isn’t as necessary with the Chain since most of them know sign.

[rulernogard156]

Polycule of Purgatory

One thing I've heard, which has helped motivate me to make more OC content is to "Make Fanart of your own characters"

So I saw the "Their Third meme" and figured I'd tweak and try it with Damari, Amelia, and Avery(The Scarlet Masque)

Also I was gonna try to keep the Scarlet Masque's identity secret but eh 😅 who cares it won't degrade the story

So you may have noticed that Avery looks very similar to Damari, that's because their the same person... kinda.

So Damari can't remember much of his life but in life he was apart of a plural system. He and Avery were Headmates.

Now u might be wondering why they're both in their own bodies. Well, I was inspired by the Moon Knight series where Steven and Mark get their own body in the afterlife. However, I still wanted them to have their own looks.

Avery uses They/Them, and their very Yandere for Damari. Here's a brief breakdown of who they are.

Avery is the other Hand of Brynphomet but this is kept secret from Damari and Amelia (though Amelia will find out before Damari) Avery is given the power of the horrible negative and dangerous side of Brynphomet's unbalanced chaos. This is embodied by the weapon gifted to them by their Lordess, "The Ax of Instability"

Avery is used to complete tasks that might be seen as antithetical to Damari's and Amelia's missions. They're seen as a rogue agent by hell, heaven, and publicly by Purgatory.

Avery loves Damari very very deeply and so they made a deal with Brynphomet. Avery would take on all the pain and negative memories of their shared life with Damari. Damari was left mostly with the "good" memories (still leaving trauma and vast holes in Damari's memories)

[vixellaivy]

Actual Unique Quirk Ideas (Part 2)

Overpowered Ones:

1. Pantheon (my quirk)

>Type: Emitter

This Quirk allows the user to summon mythological entities from any pantheon or legend-gods, monsters, spirits, even conceptual beings. Butit's not as simple as just calling their name. (my favorite ones to summon are dragons)

In truth, this Quirk isn't just about summoning-it's about imagination, knowledge, spiritual bonding,and belief. The user must form personal pacts with these beings, understand their origins, honor their stories, and maintain their favor through offerings and devotion.

Each entity is part of a living spiritual system. The user keeps track of:

🕯️ Offerings (what each spirit likes or demands)

💖 Favor Level (think heart meters or friendship systems)

📜Ritual Requirements. (times of day, emotions, chants, items)

⚔️Powers Unlocked(battle forms, passive boosts, support abilities)

As the bond deepens, stronger abilities are unlocked — and the spirit may become more willing to appear during battle or support scenarios.

2. Eidolon Thread

> Type: Emitter / Support

> Ability: The user is connected to an invisible web of past and future selves across infinite timelines. They can channel versions of themselves who mastered different quirks, weapons, or skills.

> Perks:

*Access to genius strategist-self, assassin-self, war-god-self, etc.

* “Fused” timelines give them buffs (ex: speed from future, stamina from the past).

> Drawbacks:

* Channeling too many selves creates timeline fractures, causing nosebleeds, dizziness, or reality slips.

* One timeline-self might try to take over if overused.

3. Scrapforge

> Inspired by: Rudo��s Jinki fighting style from Gachiakuta

> Type: Transformation

> Category: Close-Combat / Weapon Creation

so if you haven't read the manga:

In Gachiakuta, Jinki are special weapons made from "trusted items" — everyday objects that hold deep emotional value and attachment. These items become imbued with power through the user's "ki"(spiritual energy + emotion).

Core Ability:

The user can absorb, manipulate, and weaponize discarded materials(trash, scraps, rubble, abandoned tech, broken tools, etc.). With physical contact, they can instantly forge these materials into powerful melee weapons, armor, or tools — all customized subconsciously to fit the user’s fighting instinct.

Drawbacks:

*Not functional without materials clean or empty zones = weakened.

*Emotional instability = unstable weapons. If the user is thrown off mentally, the weapons can shatter on summon.

4. Lawscribe (forgive me with the names can't think of good ones)

> Type: Emitter

> Ability: The user writes new universal laws with a sacred brush/symbol system. Whatever they write becomes temporarily true — for all targets in range.

> Examples:

* “All fire becomes water.”

* “Pain loops endlessly.”

* “No one may lie.”

* “My wounds will not exist.”

> Drawbacks:

* Can only write 1 law per hour.

* If the law contradicts deep reality (e.g., “death is reversed”), the user suffers

5. Author’s Right

> Type: Emitter

> Ability The user can write “narratives” that become true within a limited radius. These can alter events, insert objects, or even tweak people’s behavior *as long as it “fits” the established tone.*

> System:

* The more consistent and dramatic the story, the stronger the effect.

* Can’t break genre rules. (e.g., if it’s a tragedy, no miracle saves allowed.)

* Every "chapter" uses mental energy like HP; overdoing it causes bleeding from eyes, ears, and eventually narrative collapse.

6. Persona Swap

> Type: Emitter

> Base Concept: The user has Dissociative Identity Disorder — and their Quirk evolved to reflect their system. Each alter (personality) has a unique Quirk-like ability, role, and perspective. These alters share the same body but not the same mind and each sees the world a little differently

How It Works:

Their brain is neurologically plural — the Quirk naturally binds to that.

* Each alter (system member)has a distinct:

* Appearance

*Quirk

*Emotional range

So basically having multiple quirks with different personalities

7. Dreamforge

> Type: Emitter

> Ability: The user can turn dreams and nightmares into tangible constructs — either theirs or others’.

> Nightmares = offensive power (creatures, weapons, chaotic terrain)

> Dreams = supportive constructs (healing zones, calming auras, wings, etc.)

Limits:

> Needs sleep proximity (within the last 24 hrs)

> Cannot control other people's dreams — only forge them.

> More intense dreams = more unstable powers.

Space Themed Ones

8. Zodiac Archive

> Type: Emitter / Transformation

> Ability: The user can channel the traits and powers of each zodiac sign — one at a time — gaining abilities based on their ruling stars.

*Examples:

* Aries: Enhanced speed & offense, hot-blooded flame aura.

*Cancer: Defense boost + emotion sense, water control.

*Gemini: Clones or twin combat personalities.

*Capricorn: Super stamina and strategy under pressure.

*Limitation:

Can only switch signs every 6 hours. Their personality shifts slightly depending on the current sign.

9. Celestia Code

> Type: Support / Summoner

> Ability: The user has a set of celestial familiars based on the planets (Mars = offense, Venus = healing, Mercury = speed, etc.). They can summon one planetary spirit at a time to aid them.

*System: Unlocks planetary blessings through alignment (e.g. Mars only appears during stress or anger).

*Drawback: If two spirits’ "planetary alignments" conflict, summoning fails.

10. Event Horizon

> Type: Emitter / Offensive

> Ability: The user can create micro black holes that pull in everything around them in short bursts — objects, attacks, even sound.

*Uses: Defense (swallow attacks), offense (crush or warp terrain), or escape (collapse space behind them).

*Drawback: Overuse causes temporary blindness and vertigo. Can’t use more than one large rift per day.

11. Lunar Ascendant

> Type: Transformation / Hybrid

> Ability: The user’s powers shift depending on the moon’s phase (new, full, waxing, waning), altering their stats and quirk effects like a living moon chart.

*Examples:

*Full Moon: Power spikes and raw emotion boosts.

*New Moon: Stealth, deception, shadow abilities.

*Waning: Debuff enemies, emotional disruption.

* Waxing: Support, healing, growth-based powers.

*Drawback: Can't manually change forms — lunar cycle controls their peak days.

12. Horoscope Rewrite

> Type: Emitter / Reality Shift

> Ability: The user writes someone’s “daily horoscope” — and that person is *forced to live it out for the day.

*Example: “Scorpio: You’ll meet a mysterious challenge today” → enemy gets swarmed by illusions.

* Bonus: If the person’s actual zodiac matches the one written, the effect is doubled.

*Drawback: Can only write 3 horoscopes per day. Backfires if written with unclear intent.

Villain Themed Ones

12. Glamourjack

>Type: Transformation

> Ability: The user can copy the appearance, voice, and mannerisms of anyone they’ve seen within the last 24 hours.

Bonus: Can replicate IDs, fingerprints, and even biometric quirks (for 10 minutes max).

Drawback: If they mess up the personality or overuse a copied face, it breaks the illusion.

Use: Infiltration, impersonation, manipulation.

Visuals: Faceless shadow body when not using a disguise.

13. Manifesto

> Type: Emitter / Psychological

> Ability: The user can project their “ideals” so powerfully that civilians or weak-willed opponents start to agree with them even mid-crime.

*Use: Make people think the villain is justified. Reduce resistance. Turn the crowd against the heroes.

*Drawback: Doesn’t work on people with solid beliefs or mind-related quirks.

14. Marionette

> Type: Emitter

> Ability: User can attach invisible threads to others, subtly controlling their limbs like puppets.

> Requires physical contact or line of sight.

* Use: Make enemies punch each other, throw weapons off-course, force guards to unlock doors.

*Drawback: Can only control 1–5 targets at once and requires focus.

15. Rabbit Hole

> Type: Spatial

> Ability: Opens up small portals in absurd places (under a hat, in a teacup, behind a mirror). Can toss things or teleport distances but only with nonsense logic.

*Use: Tricksy movement, stealing valuables mid-fight, dropping traps from nowhere.

*Drawback: Only works if they speak in riddles or “narrate” the action.

16. Time-Out

> Type: Emitter

> Ability: Can put people or objectn in “time-out” freezes them completely like a pause button for at least 60seconds.

*Uses :Just claps and says “Time-out,” and boom. Hero frozen mid-punch.

*Drawback: Only one active at a time. Has a long cooldown between uses.

17. Nap Time

> Type: Emitter / Passive

> Ability: The longer this villain stays idle or sleeps, the stronger they become when they wake. Rest charges their quirks, physical stats, and reactions.

*Drawback: Has to stay perfectly still or unconscious to charge. Vulnerable during it.

18. Default

> Type: Null-type

> Ability: Automatically adapts to the least threatening possible form to slip under detection — sensors ignore them, people forget them instantly, attacks avoid them by instinct.

*Uses: People LITERALLY forget you exist until you stab them

*Drawback: Can’t activate big flashy powers. Must keep a “default NPC” vibe.

19. Loophole

> Type: Emitter / Logic

> Ability: Can rephrase or twist rules of reality once per hour like a real-life lawyer glitching physics.

> Ex: “Gravity doesn’t apply to me right now” or “Explosions don’t work if I’m whistling.”

*Drawback: Has to phrase the loophole within 5 words. Can’t directly harm others.

20. Stat Shuffle

> Type: Emitter

> Ability: Once per day, the user can “shuffle” their stats randomly gaining one SUPER high (like strength or speed) while the others tank.

*Uses: People never know if you'll ’ll punch like a god or vanish at lightspeed. Chaos.

[04k96]

In The Giver, the society has eliminated pain, emotion, and true freedom in exchange for security, order, and predictability. One person—the Receiver of Memory—holds all the burden of truth, history, and emotion so that the rest of the community can live in “peaceful ignorance.” The result is a kind of manufactured utopia that avoids chaos at the cost of individuality and authentic human experience.

That mirrors some of the philosophical underpinnings of authoritarian models like the CCP’s social governance approach. Here’s how they overlap:

⸻

1. Centralized Knowledge & Control

• The Giver: One person holds all memory so that the rest don’t have to suffer or make complex decisions.

• CCP/China: Central authorities (via surveillance, censorship, and data collection) hold massive amounts of information and guide the population’s behavior without full transparency. Decisions are made top-down with the belief that the government knows best.

⸻

2. Suppression of Complexity

• In the book: Emotions, choices, and even colors are removed to avoid conflict.

• In China: Speech, activism, and sometimes even art or religion are tightly controlled to avoid instability. The “messiness” of democracy or plurality is portrayed as dangerous.

⸻

3. Trade-off: Freedom for Stability

• In both systems, freedom is sacrificed for the sake of order. Citizens may live comfortably and safely, but only within narrow behavioral expectations.

• Many in China support this model because it has delivered economic progress, safety, and rising standards of living—but at a growing cost to civil liberties and expression.

⸻

4. One-Way Memory

• In The Giver, most people are cut off from the past; only the Receiver can learn from it.

• In China, historical memory is curated. Events like Tiananmen Square are erased from textbooks and censored online. Historical revisionism plays a key role in shaping national identity and legitimizing current authority.

⸻

5. The Power of a Single Outlier

• In The Giver, Jonas (the new Receiver) is deeply changed by memory and truth, and he begins to question the entire system. One informed person can disrupt the societal illusion.

• In authoritarian models, the danger of an awakened individual is real. Whistleblowers, dissidents, or even authors who challenge the dominant narrative are often silenced because they threaten the collective “harmony.”

⸻

6. Emotional Numbing as Control

• The Giver’s people don’t cry, love, or rage—they’re chemically subdued.

• While China doesn’t literally suppress emotion, its system emphasizes stoic harmony and collectivist duty. Emotions that drive activism—like anger, grief, or indignation—are politically risky and are policed, especially online.

⸻

7. Design vs. Organic Growth

• The Giver’s world is engineered. Children are assigned jobs, families are constructed, climate is controlled.

• China’s governance reflects this too: a technocratic desire to engineer society—through urban planning, social credit, AI surveillance, and national strategic goals (like “Common Prosperity”).

⸻

So yeah—your comparison is very apt. The Giver explores the dystopian risk of over-control in the name of safety, and China’s model shows how that same logic can play out in a modern, real-world society.

[scarlet97531]

⭕️❗️I just realized we never introduced Asher here… oops 🧍

Asher is the only one of our fronting crew that isn’t a well known utmv character, he’s kind of a dust sans + killer sans fusion! (More info about him and some general bad sanses source stuff under the cut)

Asher is a part of my (Killer’s) subsystem! He’s my personal protector, co host, and partner <3

He didn’t really have any backstory afaik when we first figured out we were multiple headmates and not the same person, but over the last three months we’ve discovered/built a lot of source memories together!

This kinda doubles as source info and fanfiction for us lol, we only have actual personal memories of some of the stuff here, and a lot of it is converted from our dragonverse lore. I will not be specifying which parts are which.

In our source “Killer sans” was a DID system. I was our host, and Asher was our protector and persecutor. We weren’t aware we were plural for a long time, we never knew when we were a median osdd system during the canon undertale part of our lives, and we didn’t know for quite a while after the human started messing with our soul which caused us to develop DID and more distinct and dissociated parts.

While we were still in our home AU and the human was our “partner” Asher started to become distinct from me. He wasn’t the same as he is now, he started out looking basically the same as me, but his personality was completely different. I actually think he might have been a partial introject of the human. he was sadistic and aggressive and did all of our fighting for us, and my job was to be friendly and fun, to entertain our “partner”. We had other headmates as well back then, but they never interacted with anyone outside our system and had more internal jobs. I won’t really be talking about anyone but me and Asher in this post.

Asher and I worked well together, and the human was very happy with what they had made of us, but it wasn’t long before all the negative energy we were generating attracted Nightmare’s attention. Our SOUL had effectively become a beacon of negativity, and Nightmare could basically know exactly where we were at all times. About 300-400 years after The Dreamtale Incident Nightmare became stable enough to consider recruiting other characters to help him in his quest to spread negativity across the multiverse, and we were the first ones he approached. He had decided to use us because as full of negativity as we were, we were basically like a walking battery for him. As long as we were around he had a huge power boost.

It wasn’t long though before he realized that whatever the human had done to our SOUL, we were incredibly easy to manipulate. He figured out how to forcibly change our SOUL to whatever state was most convenient for him. I would do whatever he asked, and even go out of my way to please him. Asher didn’t like Nightmare much, but he was happy to have a never ending supply of new and interesting people to torment.

At about 450 years after dreamtale Nightmare became curious enough about the inconsistency in our behaviour and emotions that he asked us about it directly. It was really weird for us, it felt like he was asking completely out of the blue. We had never even considered we could be multiple. Our amnesia was intense at that point and I could barely remember my own experiences, let alone Asher’s. After a bit of experimenting with Nightmare though it became obvious that it wasn’t just emotional instability, Asher and I were entirely different people.

Nightmare was able to tell us apart very easily now that he knew for sure what was going on, and he was able to treat us differently and even experimented with influencing our identities and our inner world. He was curious about how we worked, and what he could do to us. He never made any major changes though, we were already near perfect for him anyways after working for him for ~100 years.

After the events of underverse (only a few years after we realized we were plural) Nightmare decided to recruit more help. Cross had left to became an unofficial royal guard of the omega timeline to protect it from any further attacks, so Nightmare was back down to just me&. He decided to approach Dust first, and he was quite willing to join us. His universe had become boring and redundant, and he was craving a challenge.

For a long time Dust avoided us, he found me very annoying and he was confused and unsettled by our plurality. We mostly only interacted on missions. Asher and him didn’t get along very well, they often got in each other’s way and disagreed on how to do things.

((From here on its less about me and Asher and more just me rambling about our multiverse and being nostalgic lol))

At around 500 years after dreamtale’s destruction Nightmare had finally stabilized enough for passive Nightmare to return from dormancy. In the fifty years Nightmare knew we were a system, he had never thought to consider his own experiences as plural. He had accepted Dream’s idea that he had killed the original Nightmare as fact. But when passive Nightmare returned, so did memories. They remembered their abuse at the hands of the people of dreamtale, and they remembered that Nightmare had originally formed as a friend and protector for his host. When they absorbed the apples of negativity, Nightmare took as much of it as he could, while the sudden overwhelming power forced passive Nightmare into dormancy. ((More info about our dreamtale here))

500 years later, he returned and was devastated to learn about everything that had happened. That his home was gone, and his brother had grown to hate them. He was also horrified by everything Nightmare had done while he was gone. It took a long time for the two to be able to communicate and start negotiating, and eventually Nightmare agreed to try to change. Together they decided on the name Moon for passive Nightmare.

At first Moon was very cautious around me, Asher, and Dust. He fronted very rarely and anytime he did he would leave as soon as he saw one of us, but overtime as he learned more about us through Nightmare he started seeing us as very similar to him and Nightmare. Eventually he started trying to find ways to “reform” us… it was very adorable. He would bring us books about mental health, he would do nice things for us like making us food, and he even got me a couple “emotional support cats” after he found out they’re my favourite animal XD

It was only after he joined us that we started feeling almost like a family. A very fucked up family, but still family. He was so light and kind, and fun in a way none of us had really seen in a long time.

He was the one that encouraged Nightmare to help the horrortale universe, they relocated some of the characters there to the omega timeline, and brought supplies to the ones that stayed in their universe. The Sans there didn’t want to stay in horrortale but he felt out of place in the omega timeline, so when Nightmare offered for him to join us, he accepted. He wanted to pay Night and Moon back for their help.

Obviously it was rough at first, Horror had a lot of issues. The most important one being food. He had gotten so used to not eating and had so much trauma around food that it took years for us to figure out how to help him and for him to start recovering from his starvation. Moon banned all meat from our base, and helped Horror start experimenting with vegetarian food. That was. Interesting. They were not great cooks at first. Until then we had always gotten our food already made from other AUs, but Horror felt more comfortable eating stuff that he saw being made I guess.

Man those first years were rough, Horror was irritable and easily triggered, and very eager to solve problems with violence… but after a while he just fit right in with the rest of us. He and I weren’t particularly close, but exchanging disturbing puns and bad jokes was fun and eventually he got really good at cooking and istfg I miss that so much.

Ughhsvha we have so much more lore about this multiverse but this is getting long and I really gotta go to bed so imma just post this now. Please if your interested in this ask us questions, I wanna talk about this stuff so bad 😭

We may or may not make a side blog for dragonverse which shares a lot of similarities in terms of characters and major events…. We’ll see lol

[necrotoy]

this is not going go make any sense as its a rant but i feel like something not often talked about in bpd communities is the fragmented sense of self it can cause. i sometimes see beings touch on identity disturbances lightly, however i never see anybody genuinely discuss or describe it despite it being such a major symptom?

nobody talks about the inconsistency and instability it can lead to in ones identity and view of themselves. i so often change important opinions, decisions, etcetera because of this; i cannot view myself as one solid identity and i view former decisions as an entirely different being’s thought process, so much so that when it was at its worst before i began managing it i fully thought i was plural.

its as if i feel i have different ‘settings’ for different situations in which i act completely different and think completely different

i just wish people talked about it more i guess

[vernalloy]

I am pissed about the schizophrenia confusion with DID because there are some easy ways to sidestep that and maintain the Legion.

1. Hallucination As Headmate

I'll admit I'm personally unfamiliar with this experience, though I have heard of a good many others who consider their psychosis to be in origin to plurality and similar experiences by way of hallucination or delusion. I think this is the closest to what is presented in canon, but as I'm on shaky ground, I don't really know how I'd steer a rewrite more towards this as a personal experience rather than a confused trope.

2. Ipseity disturbance/dissolution of the self

One of the big things that shows up in schizophrenia is the experience of the self getting hollow. The I becomes less immediate. One explanation given for some manifestations of schizophrenia (namely hearing voices or delusions relating to thought control) is that the mind incorrectly categorizes autogenerated ideas as alien. This takes thoughts and pulls them apart into something less solid than a full-on person. Self-experience is either absent, or reflected in everything. The metaphorical cell membrane becomes blurry and unintelligible. As such, a division or loss of identity.

3. Comorbidity

I’ve shot off twice that the Moon Knight system and Venom/Eddie are psychotic-coded plurals, so they have an easier time running this train of thought given they’re plural urban fantasy protagonists. The lines between each characters are much stronger to start off with, so the addition of psychotic-coded elements seems less a mix-up between schizophrenia and split personality¹ and more an extension of pre-existing instability. Legion would have the difficulty of dragging itself the other direction, but a close eye to both distinction and overlap could help a lot.

—

¹ I use “split personality” here even though it’s incorrect to gesture to one possible cause of that trope— the etymology being confused for the presentation of DID (and similar experiences).

Now if I was writing fanfiction, I’d go with option 2 because that’s easiest and most interesting for me to research and write. But these are three things in general I would probably offer if I had the power of a writer on the show— trying to hit a balance of being semi-accurate while following the source.

[multiplicity-positivity]

hi there! apologies if this is outside of the scope of this blog, but i was wondering if you might have any resources or advice for determining if identity instability/fuzziness/etc is from bpd or from being a system (or both)? i've been trying to determine if i'm part of a system for about two years now, and was smacked in the face with a potential bpd diagnosis (which is looking VERY likely) about a year ago, and i know that identity stuff and dissociative stuff both fall into both camps, and i'm having a hard time identifying (lol) if there are actually other people living up in here or if i'm making them up/overexaggerating our differences or boundaries/what have you. i have also been skimming through some of the resources posted in the masterlist (which is super helpful thank you so much for everything that y'all do here). sorry again if this is outside of the scope of this blog, and i hope that you're having the best day that you can!

Hey there -

We have been diagnosed with both BPD and DID, actually. Identity confusion/disturbance and dissociative symptoms often present in both of these disorders. And it’s possible to be a system whose plurality was caused by BPD or another personality disorder, and not a dissociative disorder like DID.

It’s to our understanding that many folks with BPD consider themselves to be made up of parts or alternate sides/facets/selves. They may or may not have as much of a degree of separation or individuality between them as alters in dissociative disorders do. As long as the plural framework is helpful, and as long as calling themselves a system benefits them, folks with BPD who feel plural are more than welcome to identify as such.

So to answer your question, there’s definitely depersonalization, identity confusion, and an unstable sense of self in both BPD and dissociative disorders which result in systems. It’s possible to be a system without a dissociative disorder, or for something like BPD to be the cause of someone developing a system. It’s possible to be a system without knowing your headmates very well or interacting with them regularly. And ultimately, it will be up to you to determine whether or not the plurality framework helps you.

If it does, then you are absolutely welcome to call yourself a system - you can be plural while also having BPD and you can be plural without knowing much about your system. If it doesn’t, then there’s no need to stress about whether or not you’re plural. It’s okay to simply be a person with parts, selves, or even headmates without being plural or a system.

Honestly, a therapist or mental health professional could provide more detailed information about BPD and its symptoms than we can. We do know at least that identity instability is a common feature of that disorder. We’ll also link this post (<- hyperlink) by @/therapy101 which lays out some information about BPD which may or may not be useful for you.

Anyway, we hope this helps. Good luck with everything, we know trying to figure out your identity while potentially living with a personality disorder can be incredibly challenging.

💫 Parker and 🐢 Kip

[solipsistful]

Is plural!Mike winning?

apparently lmao

(e122)

funnily, the part of the episode that rings most plural to me isn't strictly "Mikey straightup saying he can hear M-Dawg's voice" but rather the general concept of "consolidating with someone entirely different than you (let's call it, hm, "blurring", for no particular reason) kinda just sucks for some people, especially if you already have some identity instability or reason you Need To Be You"

the panic of "I need to be me, I need to be me", at least, reminded me of blurring with Serpent in particular, who uhhh has said identity instability and can do some pretty ill-advised things to try to unblur/make us feel more separate/prove he's himself, etc.

and there's maybe another comparison to be drawn there that we, like Mikey, really strongly define ourselves as Separate People so blurring becomes a bit more existential than how other folks like Ty Betteridge might view it. :V

(✖️ here is also going "Mikey just did at-home identity surgery, which is very relatable (‾◡◝)" which like, ok jacob)

- ace

[cambriancrew]

Heavy agreement on "do you feel the label fits and is it beneficial?"

Sarah K. Reece, multiple and plural advocate, wrote this on her blog on an article about how to tell if you're multiple:

Do your symptoms/experiences take energy to sustain, or energy to suppress? What happens when you’re tired and worn out – do they get worse or better?

Do your experiences predate therapy? For example, very different handwritings, hearing voices, a complex history of mental health problems that disappear and reappear, extensive amnesia.

Does the framework of multiplicity make sense to you?

Does it help? Is it reducing or increasing stress? (it’s okay if it’s doing both)

What happens if you trial the idea that you’re not a multiple? Do members of your system fight to get your attention, or does the internal stress settle down? Do you function better or worse? Is there still things going on you can’t explain?

Do any other frameworks fit your experiences? Identity instability rather than switching between parts, trauma related ego states? Do they fit better, worse, or as well as the idea of multiplicity?

What do your ‘other parts’ think is going on? Do you agree or disagree?

Random thought that came to me after watching Strange Æons video on reality shifting the other day (hard recommend that video, absolutely fascinating insight into internet communities and belief).

I'm not in any Endogenic plural spaces cause I just don't relate to what's being said but I get the impression from the outside that it's very uncritically inclusive of experiences. Like, if you say you're plural then your experiences are plural even if that same experience could be quite common with singlets. Like for instance how pwADHD can have multiple trains of thought at the same time and mask differently in different social situations but would just say it's ADHD not that they're plural, but they totally could say they're plural and that would be fine with the community or even suggest that the ADHD singlet person is plural and just in denial or socially conditioned to think they're a singlet, right?

Whereas in other communities there seem to be much stronger attempts to draw lines around themselves to distinguish their experiences from those outside it. For instance the Therian community make attempts to differentiate having a theriotype or a kintype, with community made criteria like "shifting" being a requirement in some spaces.

In Reality Shifting Æons highlights discourse in the community between really accessing your desired reality or just lucid dreaming/daydreaming or the idea of having a "clone" that can deal with daily tasks while you spend time in your DR which many think is impossible.

Or another thing would be like pointing out that one kind of experience isn't enough, like "just because you have social anxiety doesn't mean you have autism, you need to have sensory issues and difficulty communicating and like trains as well" or whatever

Am I right in thinking this isn't a thing in Endogenic spaces? Or does it go on and I just haven't seen it? Like I imagine the whole anti endo thing is a good enough reason for it not to happen, you don't need it coming from inside the house as well as outside but then transmed communities exist, is there truendo? Is that a thing?

[faelingdraws]

Ive been informing on myself for awhile and following the community on and off sometimes and i see people being usually split on stuff such as traumagenic and endogenic systems and also people saying they can become plural (?).

Most of the community agrees endogenic systems arent a thing, whats your opinion on it?

In regards to someone becoming plural, people say they do it for religion which gets me sooo confused, i feel like they dont really know what being plural means but i might not know enough.

I have a huge interest in psychology especially towards the way trauma makes our brain react so im very curious about your opinion on this kind of stuff ":)

I see it as this--

DID is when your ability to have a cohesive whole never forms (traumagenic.) This is attributed to childhood trauma, neglect and/or instability. You do not have a proper ability to self regulate. You cannot accept experiences as having happened to "you". Your brain is in a constant dissociative fog, because it is all you learned how to cope.

DID is the dysregulation of the way we medically/scientifcally understand the way our brain organizes our 'self'.

Endogenic systems and plurality, then, come from a different angle. It is the dysregulation of the societal and cultural definition of 'self.' This is why the identities in plurality are so important and focused on; What "identity" means is far more personal. I do not think it is a good thing, mind; it's still a dysregulation. It is just a dysregulation of how you see yourself and your emotions. I see it most commonly in those with gender dysphoria or who are neurodivergent (A study of 600+ college students with autism revealed that many have identity disturbances due to masking, early trauma, ect)

DID requires intense therapy to 'cure' (to varying success and no widely accepted treatment method) and can cause actual damage in the brain. It is life-long. Plurality, however, can be temporary if one's feelings towards themselves and how they present can reach cohesion again, no therapy needed. Sometimes people identify as plural during the time they begin to understand themselves because it brings them an easier time in accepting all parts of themselves.

Both are valid, and I don't like gatekeeping. The human experience is vast and DID cannot exist in a vacuum - other disorders can cause identity disturbances, too. It's best to just be kind - people are just trying to be comfortable with themselves at the end of the day and it's no one's job to police that. The "truth" or "reality" of their lived experience is between them, loved ones and mental health professionals.

[sophieinwonderland]

heyo i just found out somethin and wanted to share it with u sorry to bother u

so i was lookin at the DSM 5 for research n

"The full disorder may first manifest at almost any age", I DIDNT KNOW THAT? so that means that "you have to have symptoms before 9 years to have did" isnt true???? and well to support this we have the diagnostic criteria that states that nowhere so,...

but yeah just wanted to share this with someone..

also uh the DSM 5 literally says "Dissociative identity disorder is *associated* with overwhelming experiences," so its just associated, not needed.. hmmm

Thanks for sharing the info!

I actually hadn't heard that one very often. Usually what I hear is that DID can manifest at any point, but that the trauma has to be caused during childhood. It actually seems, based on research, that dissociative symptoms get worse with age.

Personally, I suspect that the denial ends up being a major contributing factor to this. If you're denying your systemhood and shutting out your headmates, especially if you're convinced they're just your imagination or hallucinations, any communication that previously existed is going to break down and result in instability.

This is one reason that I'm really supportive of minors discovering their plurality early. The sooner you realize you're plural, the easier it is to achieve or maintain health multiplicity.

Another thing you might be interested in seeing in the DSM is the differential diagnosis section for PTSD, which clearly states that DID may not be preceded by trauma:

[petrichorvoices]

ok actually i'm gonna get all my annoying fictive thoughts about that episode out while everyone's asleep. i try really hard not to be too attached to my source, as that's unhealthy and i've seen what taking it personally can do, but i think it'd be impossible to ask me to not be affected by it any more than your average fan. how can it mean nothing to me, when that's my name, my voice, my everything? i try to keep quiet about my fictivity around singlets, and to an extent even around other plurals, because frankly i'm embarrassed. it feels.. childish, almost, to be a fictive, one of those peculiar little things that applies only to me and not to others, like i'm some kid playing pretend, like it makes me immature to exist in the way that i do. for many months now i've been meaning to bring it up now to some of my friends, just air my anxieties about my own fictivity, but i can never work up the courage, it's never the right time, and so on. if i can work up the courage to not delete this by the morning then hopefully that courage can carry over and i can finally talk about it, but i digress

it's validating in a shameful sort of way that when reading the transcripts, i didn't realize that he was pulling a trick until lubelle explicitly said so. i don't know. maybe i am stupid. i can get our schoolwork done just fine, but i do rely a lot on my headmates for assistance with, well, everything. i act as a face and a voice and a public figure with my system, same as i did with my show. but i rely on the others a lot. and my source, it takes that fact and just kind of smacks me in the face with that. i don't think i'd be able to do any of this if i weren't just one headmate out of many. i'm getting off track. trying to be in the fandom of my own source makes me feel like i'm constantly walking some shaky tightrope. i have to be a normal fan and not take things personally. what people say about my source self doesn't apply to me, they're not saying it to me. i think i'd rather leave my source's fandom entirely than let my presence change how people interact with my source; i don't want people to feel like they can't treat it like the fiction that it is just because i exist in the general vicinity. and at the same time, i can't separate myself entirely from my source self; i can't brush off what's said just like that. i've tried, and it simply causes more pain and instability. how can i continue to try and balance these, especially with the current arc of the show? how can i exist as who i am without making my friends uncomfortable simply due to my identity? i don't know. i see a lot of fictives who do engage in their source a lot and they seem to not have these worries, and it just makes me worry more. i just feel like maybe i'm the broken one here, the one overthinking it, and that that somehow makes me even more immature and child-like

i don't have a good way to end this. it's just a dump of thoughts and rambling i'll probably delete in the morning. goodnight