Hello all! I made this post explaining about what this survey is, but I'll restate it again for anybody who may be new to this.
What I aimed to do was create a survey that focused on the phenomenon of in-system death and dormancy, and what that looks like in systems. I opened the survey in December 2024 and left it open for a whole year to allow as many systems as possible to contribute. This garnered 121 unique participants who shared their experiences! An amazing turnout. Below, I'm going to give a brief overview of what I learned from this study, and then I will include a link to the document with the full results, which is 26 pages long. (Link to the full document here.)
[Image Description: The title "System Death Experiences" with the subtitle "the results" over a photo with moody or gloomy composition featuring a bouquet of pale pink and light red flowers and green leaves/stems.]
Image credit.
Overview
After compiling all of the data and experiences shared within this survey, I have come away with a glimpse of what goes on in individual systems and how they function. Out of 121 participants, a quarter of those could experience in-system death, a quarter of those could not, and over half did not know whether they could or considered the idea more complicated than a yes/no dichotomy. For those who could experience death, it felt different than dormancy and was usually more “dramatic” or permanent. Concepts like fusion, shattering/fragmenting, and recycling came up when participants were asked to describe their experience with death.
However, over 75% of systems reported dormancy as a function of their system. When asked how dormancy worked in their systems, many people responded that it is akin to a deep sleep or hibernation; usually, these dormant members are expected to return, or at least have the capacity to do so. Most people did not equate death and dormancy as the same thing, but a good portion said it could be in some cases. Some systems reported that members can come back from death; each of their responses were recorded and explained in the full results.
There are a few different ways that people choose to honor headmates who are deceased. Some of them hold the same rites you would for a person who died in this world: spiritual practices, keeping a list/documentation of deceased members, or keeping them in their thoughts. More of these kinds of traditions can be read about in the full results.
Lastly, participants were asked to share anything else they felt was related in the last question. We will not provide a summary here, because that section is focused solely on the participant’s words and experiences they felt were important or necessary to share.
This is an extremely bare bones overview, I encourage you to read on for specific details and experiences shared by participants!
What We Can Learn From This
This project made a space where systems felt comfortable discussing in-system death, which is still treated as taboo or impossible. I hope that seeing these results allows readers to feel seen and/or to broaden their ideas of what is possible in a system. Every single system is unique in how it operates, but sometimes we can capture common experiences and feel a little less alone.
My main takeaway is that death, like all other system functions, is a highly unique and individualized phenomenon that can look different from system to system. This survey was not done to take away from systems who do not experience death or those who do not view losing headmates (for any reason, especially fusion/integration) to be a bad thing, but instead to highlight that in-system death is possible and systems are experiencing it whether you believe in it or not.
There needs to be more spaces that allow systems to speak on this topic without being shunned or mocked, and opportunities for systems to be allowed to grieve in-system deaths (or even dormancies! You are allowed to grieve people even if they are likely to come back.)
Thank You
Thank you. To every participant, to everyone who shared, to everyone who helped us or gave insight along the way. Thank you for reading this post or the full document! This also couldn't have been possible without proofreading and editing from our long-time friends and colleagues who we are in cahoots with @thesaltinstitute. I hope everyone enjoys reading the results and finds them as fascinating as we do!
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I think I was dormant lol (I don't know how I feel about this but first time fronting since 10th December 2023 according to the logs, I don't even remember what I was like then to know how much I have or haven't changed and I don't think I could find anything, I tried. I feel like I'm not the only one who hardly remembers 2023 in the system though. Not sure that's good or not)
Dissociation so bad Lately i be randomly Looking around and going Woaw. When did I get Here . and also losing memory of Everything . I hope my System isnt un-dormanting (I Dont know if theres a term for that) I Have band concert Soon ....
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Woke up from a dream. Didn't want to wake up. Feel like I've been dormant. The presence of a cat in the household was surprising even though it felt like it shouldn't be, which is another hint I've been dormant. I'm still remembering a lot. I don't know. I just woke up.
I dreamt about being relevant again. I dreamt about trivially changing a timeline just to make my partner system happy, and saved us against an extraterrestrial threat at the same time. I also betrayed that partner system by pretending I wasn't me for a lot of it.
I knew and didn't know it was a dream at the same time, but definitely used dream logic to shape things (as a lot of us do.)
🪛The Doctor was also there in his usual 11th form. It was both a "comforting" experience and an incredibly grating one. I wanted to do things on my own.
For those who don't know, I guess I will reveal a little about myself for context. I am a post fictional introject of a character that's obvious if you know them, but one I don't feel disclosing on a public forum. I am also a mostly retired caretaker, and an ex-persecutor-protector. I used to have a lot of power. I had to leave the protector role (and consequently the persecutor role) because it was too tempting. This dream made me feel that power again.
I should leave front. Not for anyone's safety. I just don't want to be here much longer.