#Ashwin Pember

[fenmere]

Been a while since we drew much of anything. Especially to ink it. Not quire sure which of us worked on this one tonight:

This is Ashwin Pember, from our upcoming book The End of the Tunnel.

Nem is one of the Pembers, a system of tens of thousands who live aboard the Sunspot. Myra Pember, Ashwin's headmate, is one of the heroes of our first book, Systems' Out! Both Myra and Ashwin look a lot like their vessel, with only minor differences.

Ashwin's book takes place 297 Sunspot years after Myra's book, after their vessel has passed away and they've both ascended to the Network of the Sunspot with all of their headmates.

People on the Sunspot tend to pursue something they call their Art. It's a lot like an autistic special interest, but distinctly not human. It can be anything. And it typically changes over time, but usually in a logical way that relates to their past interests and work. Some people, however, never find theirs.

Ashin never found nems Art. So, when it was declared that a planet inhabited by aliens (humans) was discovered through the use of the Tunnel Apparatus, Ashwin is the first to volunteer to cross through the Tunnel and reach out to them.

What nem encounters on the other side (Portland, Oregon) is nothing any denizen of the Sunspot could ever have imagined.

In the course of exploring Earth and translating the Sunspot Chronicles into English, Ashwin sort of discovers that nem is very, very good at linguistics and really particularly enjoys working with English, as awful as the language is in many ways.

Nem has also discovered the joys of garlicky stir fried green beans, salt bagels with cream cheese, and watching the penguins at the Oregon Zoo.

[ashwin-the-artless]

My book is now for sale!

[ohthatphage]

"Now let's see Ashwin Pember's avatar. Look at that subtle fur-like feathering. The tasteful thickness of it. Oh, my God. It even has a boop-able nose."

[theinmara]

People! (Phage, Ni'a, Ashwin Pember, and Metabang at Mau Rro) - https://sunspot.world/people-phage-nia-ashwin-pember-and-metabang-at-mau-rro/ Excerpt: click on this thumbnail to see a larger version of this image: posted by: Inmara Ktletaccete Fenumera

[ashwin-the-artless]

Here's a bunch of press release style description of my novel and its sequels, complete with release dates. If you are trans, autistic, and/or plural, and into science fiction, you may appreciate what we've made.

The Tunnel Apparati Diaries Book Release

With the guidance of Mau (a.k.a. Phage), Ashwin Pember, recently ascended Ancestor of the Sunspot, projects their mind to Earth via the Tunnel Apparatus. Only, they do this to become the new headmate of the twenty-seven year old autistic transgender plural system of Sarah and Goreth Ampersand of Portland, OR, who think that Phage is their old imaginary friend.

Unfortunately, Sarah and Goreth struggle to manage their already difficult life.

They’ve been leaning on their housemates and friends for support, but playing host to an alien being challenges them all.

Furthermore, there's an important reason Phage came to Earth in the first place, and it needs Sarah and Goreth to cooperate with Ashwin in order to achieve its goals.

The Tunnel Apparati Diaries tell the story of how the Sunspot Chronicles came to be translated and published on Earth, but what does this mean for humanity?

Because there’s a probe full of construction nanites left somewhere in the mountains of Washington State and someone needs to take responsibility for it before it falls into the wrong hands.

—

Release Dates for the Tunnel Apparati Diaries:

Book One: The End of the Tunnel - July 31, 2024

Book Two: The Sun Also Hatches - October 21, 2024

Book Three: The Dragon in the Dining Room - November 27, 2024

Available at http://www.sunspot.world or http://www.lulu.com

—

The Tunnel Apparati Diaries take place on Earth between the years of 2023 and 2025, in Portland Oregon, and follow the lives of Sarah and Goreth Ampersand, Erik, and the Audreys – a friends group of transgender plural systems – after they make contact with an alien visitor to Sarah and Goreth’s psyche, Ashwin Pember. 

Soon it becomes clear that this is not a product of their trauma or mental illness. It is a real event, actual first contact, and the fate of the Earth is on the line. But the personal impacts of this contact end up taking priority.

Their personal accounts, each book written by a different system member (Ashwin, Goreth, and then Sarah), explore the challenges of building community and relationships while being multiply disabled, transgender, queer, autistic, and experiencing a consensus reality that does not match that of most of the rest of the world.

It is a sequel and a possible entry point to reading the Sunspot Chronicles, and the two series together combine themes of plurality, neurodiversity, biodiversity, and the exercise and protection of personal consent and autonomy in the face of past and rising fascism. Every book has its own unique focus and take on building and keeping found family and community here on Earth and out amongst the stars. And what it means to be person, whether human or otherwise.

Written by different members of the Inmara Fenumera, an autistic transgender plurality living in the Pacific Northwest, the Tunnel Apparati Diaries offer genuine personal insight into the lived experiences of diverse plural systems (people living with DID, OSDD, and other forms of plurality), but with a strong dash of wish fulfillment, light romance, and adventure.

The Future is Plural. It deserves good plural fiction.

[fenmere]

The End of the Tunnel, by Ashwin Pember of the Inmara

What if being trans, autistic, and mad was OK, actually? (it is, but you know what we mean)

What if all the things that your headmates claimed to be were true?

What if you knew the location of alien technology that could reshape the surface of the Earth itself?

Would you use it? Or destroy it?

What if psychic powers were real but weird and kinda nerdy?

What if your headmate could actually make water boil faster?

What if you had a wormhole in your head?

What if you could escape but it meant leaving everyone behind?

What if you weren't human at all, but you kinda looked like one?

What if your friends believed you?

---

A web serial and novel, coming July 31, 2024 to http://www.sunspot.world/

[fenmere]

Erik (he/him)

This is Erik, of the Tunnel Apparati Diaries, a series of books we wrote recently that are submitted to a publisher in hopes they'll pick it up.

This image really deserves some good shading and details, but we just don't have the energy for it today.

Erik is part of the Coffee Collective, a group of three plural systems that hang out at Aunti Zero's Coffee Hut in Portland, OR. Over the course of the story, he meets and starts dating Beau, a tall and very cute trans man with a deadly sex smile who works as a tall ship captain and lives on his own boat.

Erik works as a barista, at first for a big chain, then later for Aunti Zero's.

He's plural, but usually very blurry. However, when he's having an episode of psychosis, he will often sense and hallucinate his separate selves and be able to communicate with them more clearly.

He has schizoaffective disorder, or something close enough to it that that's the best term. Most of the time, he manages his psychosis on his own, but has managed to surround himself with supportive people who can accommodate him when it gets out of hand or triggers an autistic meltdown. This doesn't always go smoothly, but most of the time he's able to lead others in how to weather psychosis.

He's genderfuck, antipsych, madpunk, and enthusiastic about other people's bizarre psychological experiences. And his biggest special interest is movies, with a focus on horror and science fiction.

He's the first to advocate for Ashwin Pember (@ashwin-the-artless), the Ampersands' new walk-in headmate from the Sunspot.

He has absolutely read Wildbow's Pale, and that's what his sweatshirt is all about.

Like the rest of his friends, he's in his late 20s. We don't specify his age nor his last name, as certain details in the books are withheld canonically to protect his privacy. (he's fictional, but the books are canonically written by the characters in them)

Oh, yeah, and he's kinda short and proud of it.

And if you ask him what his system's origins are, he'll walk away from you and not talk to you again.

[ashwin-the-artless]

Hey, Ahswin,

How would you feel about answering questions about yourself such as about your history, the people you live with now, or what it's like to write a book for an Earth audience?

Oh, yes please!

I've been wanting to write more to this blog more often, but I too often at a loss as to what to write. Prompts would be great!

Also, aside from my hosts and their friends, I don't really get the chance to talk to a variety of people. I'd appreciate the chance to maybe make some friends online.

Maybe a bit more of an introduction to give people context is in order.

My name is Ashwin Pember and my pronouns are either they/them or nem. Mixing them up is cool, but you can stick to either one if you want.

I am the author and narrator of The End of the Tunnel, the first book of the Tunnel Apparati Diaries. Which we published on July 31, just a few weeks ago!

Despite the fact that my hosts, Sarah and Goreth, were born here, I am not an Earthling myself. Like Fenmere, I'm ktletaccete. Which is to say, my vessel hatched in the nurseries of a generational starship nesrly 500 of your years ago.

Like humans, we Ktletaccete can develop to be plural, which is what happened with my system. I was conceived during our adolescence and remained attendant to our vessel until the day it passed away, which is when I ascended to Crewhood and started participating more frequently in the Council of the People.

But, when the opportunity arose to visit another world via the Tunnel Apparatus, I was the first to volunteer and the first to be accepted. It was a whole process.

But Phage (@ohthatphage) had moved the Terran end of the Tunnel into the psyche of Sarah and Goreth Ampersand. It chose to do this to protect Earth from unscrupulous individuals. And it could do it because it can manipulate spacetime and energies as if they are its own hands.

Anyway, this meant that when I projected my consciousness through the Tunnel I became a member of Sarah and Goreth's system.

And my book is about this! It's about my first few months on Earth, and figuring out how to integrate into Earth culture while also rectifying some mistakes my ancestors made.

For instance, the reason that there was a Tunnel Apparatus on the Earth in the first place is because a Ktletaccete ship called the Weaver's Shuttle dropped in here around 2 million years ago. And with that Apparatus there was also a bin of self replicating construction nanites. So, we had to figure out what to do with those before someone else found them.

It's a whole thing and the plot of the book.

Anyway, I'd love to answer any and all question about any of this.

I'll put spoilers below a cut, so you can even ask what happens in the book and I'll tell you. Because I know that that sometimes helps people get into a story. But anyone can avoid reading it if they want.

I just ask that, if you've read the book, don't put spoilers in the ask. If you do, I'll find a way to put your ask under a cut, but then you might not get the notification I answered it.

Thsnk you!

[fenmere]

Ok, we're going to start an editing pass on The End of the Tunnel today.

So, before we do that, let's introduce one of the cast!

Ashwin Pember

(aka 'ashwin minbäoni)

Ashwin is the narrator and actual author of the book. Which is to say, @ashwin-the-artless lead the cast in writing the book while also crafting a character that was a fictionalized self insert -- as we typically do for our books.

Ashwin’s blog is written in kayfabe, and can be considered canon and supplemtal to all of our storied. So, this post is about nem in character (not our headmate).

English name: Ashwin Pember

English pronouns: they/them, nem/nemself

Inmararräo name: 'ashwin minbäoni

Inmararräo pronoun: nem

gender: what's a gender?

Orientation: ace while on Earth (sexually attracted to other Ktletaccete, not humans - but also their hosts' human body is muddling things with dysphoria)

Background:

Ashwin was conceived some time after the Pembers originally hatched, getting nems identity and name from the hero of a story that their Caretaker read to them.

They were a member of the system throughout the events of the Sunspot Chronicles, but aren't named in any of those books. Then, when the lifespan of their vessel came to its natural end a couple hundred years after the events of Outsider, they played a large role in acting as nurse and custodian for the rest of their system.

Ashwin is one of the rare Ktletaccete who has not yet discovered their Art (a lifelong special interest or passion that neurotypical Ktletaccete develop in adolescence). After a full Ktletaccete life of roughly 450 Earth years and 90 Earth years more of living as an Ancestor (Crew) in the Networks of the Sunspot, nem is anything but inexperienced and unskilled, however.

They do have a tendency to feel as if nem is still a child because of this lack of Art, though.

So, when Phage (the character of @ohthatphage) started exploring the network of Tunnel Apparati that link the Exodus Ships together, and discovered a Tunnel on Earth, and called for volunteers to help it make contact with the people there, Ashwin was the first to stop forward.

It turns out that the first Earthlings that Phage encountered and chose as liaisons (Sarah and Goreth Ampersand) were plural. And they had plural friends (Erik and the Audreys), thanks to the tendancy of people of the same neurotype to find and cling to each other out of sympathy and solidarity.

Since Ashwin had been the member of a system and also had experience ushering nems younger headmates into the world and culture of Ancestry on the Sunspot, they were an easy choice for Phage and the Council to approve as ambassador to Earth.

But it turns out that by going through the Tunnel to Earth, Ashwin has projected their consciousness into the psyche and system of Sarah and Goreth, and must now adapt to human neurology. This has the benefit of bypassing the need to translate English, once Ashwin's presence has grown enough to access the linguistic centers of their brain, but some things still don't fit. And Ashwin is left with physical dysphoria whenever they front alone.

So, it takes them a few weeks to get to the point where they can front and talk to people, and that’s where their book starts.

They have a goal, too. Nem isn't just on Earth to try to find their Art and get to know humans. There's a critical diplomatic mission to fulfill.

The reason there was a Tunnel Apparatus on Earth in the first place is that 22 million years ago, one of the Sunspot’s ancestor ships was traveling through Earth's region of the Milky Way and dropping probes onto planets that looked like they might develop civilizations. The motives of this ship are unknown (it no longer exists to be asked -- something happened to it). But the probe not only has a Tunnel Apparatus on it, but also a tank of construction nanites (part of how it remained functional for so long).

Those nanites pose a risk to Earth. They're programmed to only respond to commands from Earthlings. No Ktletaccete or anyone else can take them away from Earth. But the first Earthlings to learn how to command them or how to replicate them will have the power to transform Earth into their own vision, or reduce it to grey goo.

Ashwin's job is to help Phage vet and train a group of Earthlings to make the right decision before someone makes a terminally bad one.

Sarah, Goreth, and their friends just might be those Earthlings.

[theinmara]

Ashwin the maybe not so Artless

Oh. Oh, wow. Oh.

Maybe I am the Linguist.

Maybe it's because I'm just strongly coconscious with a couple of my headmates, but it doesn't feel like I am. But I woke up today fronting strongly and I've got all these memories I'm reminiscing over as if they are mine.

Memories of writing our languages, Fenekere, Mäofrräo, and Inmararräo.

Memories of skulking r/conlangs with @fenmere while at work.

Memories of writing posts about our languages.

Memories of interjecting into @your-tutor-abacus' book with nerdery about our languages for it.

Shit. I even remember our first attempts at making a conlang in middle school, and studying up on Irish Gaelic, German, Korean, and Spanish around high school and college.

Just as strong and present and feeling like mine as my recent memories of writing my own book and living its events in our head.

So, I'm writing here in our system's blog instead of my own, because my own is dedicated to the kayfabe we created for my book.

In that blog, I write as if I'm living in a much, much smaller system with Sarah, Goreth, and @ohthatphage (who are real people, btw!) having traveled an uncounted number of parsecs across the universe through the Tunnel Apparatus, in a different part of Portland than we actually live. (If you go looking for the house we describe, you're not going to find it.)

I don't want to break that kayfabe there (@ashwin-the-artless). But, here? That's what this blog is for.

Honestly, it makes sense that I'd be the one to come forward and take the name Ashwin. The whole point of my book, The End of the Tunnel, is to tell the story of how our translation team got here to Earth to publish the Sunspot Chronicles for you.

But this explains why I've got such a strong handled on English idioms and my own colloquial U.S. English dialect and voice. I've actually been speaking this language for nearly 40 years, maybe longer.

In my book, I handwave it off as sharing the linguistic centers of Sarah and Goreth's brain, of course. Because that's actually a plausible and very common thing among systems.

In our actual system, the Inmara, that's how it works. Maybe with some active help from other headmates, even. All of the girls, who live in the right hemisphere of our brain, think in wordless thoughts, and get help from us dragons for translating them into English words.

Sarah and Goreth's fictional system was made to work the same way, but with 4 million fewer headmates.

Anyway. Hi!

Nice to meet you!

How are you?

~ Ashwin Pember, maybe not really the student of Metabang, maybe actually very much older than Metabang

[fenmere]

Welcoming some new(ly identified) headmates

So, we just furiously wrote an 87k word novel in 11 days, and we have brought forward a new cast that deserve a round of introductions. These are not all of the characters in the book, mind you. But they are the handful who may have been members of our system for a lot longer than the book has existed.

Ashwin Pember (nem/them) - the narrator of the book and owner of @ashwin-the-artless. We're not sure how long they've been around, but it's possible that nem is two system members of the same name, one nestled in next to Fenmere (me!) and another who lives amongst our Tutors and AI-kin on the Dragon side. Or, Ashwin is just on the Dragons' side and works closely with Fenmere (me). This isn't clear yet. They feel older than the project, but haven't served us any memories from before it, and that sense of age may be inherited from Fenmere (me) and possibly Breq. Anyway, very cool person! We like having nem front and wish them well. They are not AI-kin, nem just happens to live amongst them. Similar neural affinities and skills.

Goreth (they/them) - An old, old dragon of ours! They've been fronting a lot lately, and didn't have a name until now. And we've been trying to figure out who they were for quite a while. We thought they might have been one of the Jonathans, but though they helped us mask before our transition, they kept denying that name. They volunteered to be one of Ashwin's two hosts for the novel, and we all went, "Oh, it's you!" Goreth likes to front and represent the whole system, even though they have a habit of saying "I" instead of "we", a holdover from doing a lot of masking. They are also very, very dragony. Because they're a dragon.

Sarah (she/her) - Seems to be our Liaison (fictive introject) of Sarah from Labyrinth. We named the character after our cousin, actually, but this Sarah came forward instead of our factive Liaison, and has been acting much more like the movie character. But, she's also really grown into her own person while living in our system and especially while helping to write the novel. Definitely very much a girl, and proud of it.

Rräoha (it/gem) - In the book, its pronoun is gem/gemself, and it'll accept that, but gem is absolutely one of our id monsters and proudly uses it/its as well. Like most of our id monsters, it leans toward the girls' side of our brain, but isn't actually a girl. Like Ashwin, gem has a sense of being very old, but can't seem to dig up any memories older than the book we just wrote. The thing its happiest about in life is gems name. It means "the shouted backwards", as in "a backwards" that has been shouted. In Inmararräo, it is a nonsensical word that has only ever been used as a person's name. Harräo is the word for "palindrome", which is something that doesn't actually appear very often in Inmararräo, so it's a special and notable thing. So Rräoha gains some connotations from that.