Hi! We're the Indigo Symphony. We have a pinned post we recommend you check out! Header edited together through art by arianzackril (blogger on Tumblr), bluryyyblu (blogger on Tumblr), and Hristo Fidanov (photographer on Pexels)!
[PT: Who needs a Carrd when you can pin posts? / End PT]
Hello! We're the Indigo Symphony. This is our blog, which is primarily centered around plurality, but other common topics are disability and alterhumanity. Our collective name is Ambrosia (Ambi for short) and our collective pronouns are ty/tem/plur/plurs/plurselves and it/it/its/its/itselves (conjugated like she/him/her/hers/themselves).
Who are we outside of our names? We're a mixed origin, hybrid, polyfragmented plural system with DID that likes to philosophize and write about plural related topics, such as news articles and plural characters. We run four other system blogs: funnier-as-a-system, plegg-culture-is, factive-culture-is, and pluralprompts. We discovered our plurality a few years ago and have been working to become a cooperative collective ever since then, with a mix of fusion and healthy multiplicity.
If you want to support us, you can buy us a coffee here!
Under the cut are some quick links to posts of ours that we especially like, as well as miscellaneous resources, some extra facts about our system and blog, and then some userboxes about our system.
Have a nice day, remember that any hate sent to us will just inspire more positivity posts, and feel free to send us asks about anything on your mind. Most of us don't bite.
---☆
Resources and Links:
[PT: Resources and Links: / end PT]
art of Emmengard's Plural Rings
discourse disclaimers
multitasking and the innerworld
News Summary: "The blind woman who switched personalities and could suddenly see"
Endogenic and Non-traumagenic Resources/Studies (Masterlist)
French plural vocabulary
Letters: Am I Plural?
More Than One
New Alter Carrd
No one owns the word "tulpamancy"
Partielles (French Plurality Site)
Plural Etiquette Questionnaire
Pluralpedia
Plural Soapbox
Primer to Plurality
Resource Index – healthymultiplicity.com
Should I Tell
The Plural Association
The Plural Playbook
Tracking the Tulpa
"Tulpa" and Cultural Appropriation
Tulpanomicon
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BYF/Other Info:
[PT: BYF/Other Info: / end PT]
We don't want those heavily involved in shipcourse to interact with us. This isn't so much a discourse thing as it is a personal issue we have regarding that sort of thing; for our own mental health we'd like it if we could just avoid each other.
We use a mix of terms to describe ourselves/our system members, though not everyone in our system is comfortable with every term out there. For followers or visitors of our blog, we ask you use "selves" or "instruments" when referring to us.
We're also uncomfortable with being called "friends" by other people unless we give permission. Nothing personal, we're just largely aplatonic.
We try to avoid hosting discourse on this blog, but vents may reference it on occasion, or we may reblog a discourse post if we think it has relevance outside of discourse (ex. social commentary on how people view systems).
We'd also like to say, for the record, that we fully support endogenic, self-diagnosed, and non-traumagenic systems and plurals here.
You're free to use our collective name and pronouns when referring to us if you're not speaking about anyone specific in our system, or don't have or know anyone specific you want to talk to.
Finally, to answer a frequently asked question, the flag in our icon is our system flag, designed ourselves to represent us. The treble clef is a nod to our system name and the symbolism behind the treblesand (harmony and manyness), and the stripes have specific meanings, which we are still working on.
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From experience, If you have symptom holder headmates it's important to let them/encourage them to have an identity and life outside of symptom holding. Not only are you basically expecting them to be Miserable 100% Of The Time if you don't, their survival also becomes directly tied to your symptoms.
The idea of going dormant can be really distressing! The symptom holder might, consciously or unconsciously, willingly exacerbate your symptoms to ensure that they continue to live.
This was originally a response to this post, but it derailed a little so I've split it off into its own and expanded it.
Creating headmates, becoming a system, becoming plural--if these things interest you, absolutely awesome! It's always great to see people interested in plurality, and often making a system can come with a lot of benefits depending on why you do it. It can be a very, very rewarding experience and hopefully if you do decide to be plural, yours will be too! But there's a lot of things related to creating a system that aren't talked about--the parts that might not be so fun, the risks, and the things you should maybe have a think about before committing to it.
As a disclaimer, this isn't to sit on a high horse and tell people when to and when to not be plural. In the end, you decide what happens in your own brain, and this post is our own opinion! But these things are rarely talked about from what we've seen, and we've seen a lot of systems struggle more than they would've otherwise if they thought a bit harder beforehand. We wanted there to be a resource to explain a lot of those common issues from our own perspective, to at least make people think.
This will sound largely negative because of that because we are focusing on risks, and of course not all systems have any internal issues at all either! Though considering what being plural might come with as a package-deal before deciding to become a system yourself is important before making those decisions.
Why do you want to be plural?
The first question to consider is pretty simple: why? There's plenty of reasons, and not many are harmful across the board, but some carry more risks and need a bit more thought than others. Have a think about why this is appealing to you--do you want friends? A partner? For fun? To share your responsibilities with someone? How will being plural contribute to that?
Thinking about these things in-depth can help you figure out weighing the risks to the benefits and making the decision to (or not to) become plural. What do you want to get out of it, what are you willing to give up, is it okay if it doesn't go how you planned?
Becoming plural for romantic/sexual partners?
This is going to be a long section, because it's such a loaded topic. But.. If you want to be plural to get a partner, the most important thing in our opinion to remember is that your headmate will be a fully fledged person, with as much agency and complex emotions as any singlet. They can like you, dislike you, be romantically interested, hate you. Headmates of any kind aren't objects or your personal fantasy. This is important to remember for any reason to become plural.
You cannot create or contact a headmate with the expectation that they will become your partner. You can have hopes, you can form relationships with your headmates if it happens naturally between you, but in the end, you will need to be understanding and okay with the fact that they may not reciprocate. It can be amazing to have in-system relationships, we have a lot personally! They can be great in ways so different and unique from relationships with those in other bodies, but you still need to approach them with the same care you'd approach other relationships with.
This means accepting them as a part of your life and as your headmate even if your relationship doesn't work out, or they never fall for you in the first place. You can't force a singlet to date you, and it's not okay to force a headmate to either. Like singlets, you can't know what direction your relationship may steer in until it happens. You meet someone, you talk, and things develop in one way or another naturally--things just can't be forced. And like with singlets, you need to be aware that you will 1000% need to respect their boundaries, and open to communication about them.
You also need to understand that even if they're a soulbond of your favourite character, or a tulpa you made, or another headmate you made specifically to be what you want... They can change over time, so much so that you might even end up disliking them. You need to be open to that idea and not try to force them to be who you wanted them to be--people change and develop over time, headmates are no different. Even if you do end up not getting along, you are the one who has decided to share your body and life, so you have to make peace with that possibility. Plurality isn't something you can usually ethically undo (unless your whole system agrees, outside of going no-contact with day-trippers) if you don't like the people you made, you have to live with them.
Honestly we'd advise almost entirely against becoming a system for the intent of creating a romantic relationship with your headmate. Historically there's been issues, especially in the tulpa community, where headmates are created for the express purpose of being a partner, and that has huge ethical issues around it and develops into further problems. Creating a sentient being specifically to be a romantic or sexual partner to yourself and holding that as a strict expectation for them is objectifying at absolute best. You can't do that to a singlet, you shouldn't do it to a heamdate. Abuse against headmates is real--if it would be abuse to do to a singlet, it is also abuse to do to a headmate.
But if you are entirely, wholly okay with the possibility that your headmate may just be a friend or not even like you at all, and you're still willing to accommodate them once they exist in your body and treat them with respect and equality... You can get a headmate with those romantic hopes in mind, as long as it doesn't affect any other way you treat them.
Becoming plural for internal friends?
Honestly.. Pretty good reason and pretty common! You still need to keep the above points in mind, but focused around friendship instead. They are people, they might not end up being your friends, and you need to understand that you can't force them to fit your idea of them once you've made them real.
Things might be okay for a while, then they might get rocky. Alternatively, things might start out horribly rough but end up with you being close later in life. Be open to all these possibilities. It's just like any friendship with a singlet--there can be ups and downs, there might be breaks, there might be things you disagree on fundamentally... And you need to be aware of those possibilities.
Becoming plural for fun?
Plurality can absolutely be a fun experience! The process of making/contacting your headmates, then getting to know them and going about life together can be so rewarding. Once again though, you need to be open to the idea that it may not always be fun. You might argue, your headmates might have a falling out with you, you might disagree on things all the time.
You need to be aware of those things and be ready to make compromises, respect them, and treat things seriously sometimes too. Some created systems never have any internal issues ever, which is great! But before you start the process, you need to be aware that you might need the skills to compromise, resolve possible conflicts, and make plans that are good for everyone.
Becoming plural to share responsibilities?
Another pretty complicated one, but it all boils down to the same sort of thing: you need to be okay with the idea that your headmates might not help at all, and that you cannot force them to bend to your will. It can be amazing to work as a team to tackle homework, work, socialising, chores, and other daily life struggles! Sometimes, because headmates can be just as complex as singlets, there might be times where no one can cooperate and you have more of a frustrating "my roommate never cleans up after themselves" situation than a nice neat schedule you all follow together.
Another ethical issue that at least used to be common around tulpa communities is creating a headmate to do all your chores, responsibilities and work for you, sometimes to the point of making a headmate just so you never have to front again. This is another thing that is abuse, objectifying, and a reason you shouldn't make a headmate. These things can happen naturally, some headmates love working and cleaning, but you should not create a whole living being with the intent to have them work for you while you just front to have fun, or don't front at all.
Do you understand what a headmate is, and what that really means?
Of course, if you're looking into this, you know the concept of headmates. They're people who share your body/brain who might be able to control the body and hang out with you! But sometimes, even though a lot of people understand as a concept that headmates are alive and can be as complex as singlets, people don't realise what that can mean. Not all of these are always applicable, but some things to think of:
Your headmate might disagree with you on many things.
Your headmate might like and buy different foods, clothes, etc.
Your headmate might have different hobbies and want to have some money to spend on them.
Your headmate might want to front and control the body. Sometimes, they might want more front time than you're comfortable with giving and you'll need to negotiate.
Your headmate might want their own social media accounts, their own social circles, their own friends and partner(s).
Your headmate might use your things in the front--eat your food, play your games, use your makeup, draw in your sketchbooks, take photos on your phone, etc.
You might argue with them.
You might not like each other too much, but you're stuck in the same body and have to navigate that without harming each other.
They might be romantically interested in a person different to someone you like, and you'll have to navigate that together and with the other people involved.
Your headmate might have times where they don't want to be bothered or spoken to.
Your headmate may be unable to give you much or any privacy, for example if you're constantly cofronting or they're stuck being co-conscious.
Your headmate might have boundaries that are hard to accommodate or respect.
Your headmate might have a disability you need to accommodate, or triggers you need to take note of.
Your headmate may do, think, feel and want anything that a singlet you've never met before might. This includes things you don't like, things you want to keep to yourself, and things you do like.
You need to be aware of these possibilities and more, and know that you still want to be plural regardless. The skills to navigate any friendship or social situation apply to headmates too--conflict resolution, how to compromise, how to make decisions as a team, how to accommodate others' needs without sacrificing your own.. Those are all so important when you're sharing your whole foreseeable future with someone. And it likely is your foreseeable future, being plural can often be a lifelong commitment.
As an added note, this isn't always the case, but persecutors are also possibilities in any type of system. Disordered, nondisordered, traumagenic, endogenic--it doesn't matter. Sometimes, you may get a headmate who acts harmfully, toward you or the body or your friends. And even in that case, you need to find ways to cope and deal with the situations that might present. Without resorting to abusing that headmate, as is so common in plural spaces.
Often persecutors are treated as some sort of public spectacle to harass and abuse, but this quite literally makes it worse for everyone involved. "Hurting them back" often results in more aggravation and further issues. You need to have the skills to navigate and manage potential severe conflicts internally.
In a lot of cases, headmates tend to become persecutors because they've been mistreated and neglected or treated as if they're inherently lesser than the host in the first place. You need to treat your headmates like full, real people, no matter what.
Headmates can be kind and loving, and they also might be rude, cruel or aggressive, and you won’t know what they’re like until you meet them–just like any singlet. You need to know before you make a system that you can't always just "get rid of" them, walk away or block them if things go wrong, because you literally share a body and brain (and in the cases of day-trippers who you can cut contact with, you need to be willing to do so). You will need ways and supports in place to manage in case things go badly.
Are you okay with sharing your life?
This was touched on in the last part, but we're expanding upon it here. You, someone who has brought a person into reality to share your life, need to at least be understanding of the concept that your headmate might have differing life goals than you. It's hard to navigate and complicated when it happens, but at least finding a compromise is key.
It's likely to feel unfair to your headmate if you make all the life decisions, don't involve them in the process, without a chance to have their own goals and life path. And this can lead to a lot of conflict! After all, you created this person and they're likely to want something at some point. We've known many systems who have created headmates just to "talk to occasionally when I'm bored", and those headmates often get frustrated and feel isolated and objectified because they aren't allowed any say and aren't allowed to live their own lives.
Letting your headmates have their own hobbies, letting them have input or coming to decisions together about your career or education, helping them with their own life goals while still aiming for yours--these can all be good compromises to not being able to lead fully separate lives! Though this is a lot to compromise on for a lot of people, so it needs to be taken into account that sometimes, your goals won't line up and you'll need a middleground.
Do you understand the stigma?
There's a lot of weight that being plural can hold. Movies like Split affect primarily CDD systems, but these things that portray being more-than-one as something dangerous like that can and do affect people's idea of plurality as a whole. People around you might not understand, including those close to you. Particularly being a created system can come with extra infighting from syscourse as a whole.
Do you know who you'll be comfortable telling? Would you be able to cope with not being accepted? Do you want to share? What if your headmate wants to share, maybe because they don't want to pretend to be you? Those are some things to think about regarding the stigma of it all.
Letting your whole life be dictated by avoiding being anywhere close to something stigmatised plays into a lot of ways people get negative biases against certain groups, so we encourage you to avoid getting too deep into "avoid at all costs" as a mindset. It's not often very helpful to think that way either. But at least considering that there is stigma that exists, what it is, what it means, and how you'll navigate it before committing to being plural is a good idea.
So, In The End...
Hopefully this provides at least a little insight into potential struggles with plurality. Truly we've seen enough headmates be harmed in our time by people who wanted to make a system and weren't ready to accept what headmates being full, other people means. Hopefully, thinking about these things can prepare some potential to-be systems for what plurality might mean for them. Hopefully you can think about ways you'd solve problems beforehand, or learn a little about how to cooperate with people you might not like, or learn ways to compromise on things that may be important for multiple people.
If you read through this and are having second thoughts, that's okay. If you still want to be plural but are worried, think on it a little more, maybe brainstorm ways you could cope with potential issues, think about solutions, ask the community for ideas even! You can still prepare yourself to become plural if you don't feel you have the capacity as you are right now, it's perfectly okay to be unsure. Take your time, you have plenty of it.
As stated in the beginning, this isn't meant to be a "don't become plural ever" post, it's a disclaimer, a thing to consider before committing. Headmates and originals/cores alike are hurt by quick decisions all too often and we want to encourage people to just think a little bit more, to hopefully minimize harm and make plurality overall a more enjoyable experience for those looking to become systems.
For the longest time, I truly believed I couldn’t have DID because I “didn’t have amnesia”.
Now, in my mind, amnesia meant everything sort of went black and you’d come to days later without a clue of what had happened or where you were. And while, that absolutely can be the case for some— it wasn’t for me.
Amnesia for me is much more complex. The gaps of memory I loose are patched together by the things that I do remember. My mind may omit half the day, but because I can remember the other half, it doesn’t feel as if I’ve lost any time truly. My mind worked overtime to hide how much time I was loosing, simply because if I knew, I don’t think the past version of myself would’ve handled it very well. </3
I suppose all this is to say that how amnesia presents itself is much more complex than most realize, especially when your brain is trying to protect you in its own weird way. It took me a long time to understand its true face… Q_Q
every way to be plural is the right way to be plural. you are doing just fine being yourself, and you are more than deserving of being able to pursue a life that makes you happy. sometimes people are happier as plural, and that is a very normal part of life and existence.
Anya is live and ready to show you everything. Watch her strip, dance, and perform exclusive shows just for you. Interact in real-time and make your fantasies come true.
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gender and orientation can easily and naturally be influenced by plurality of any kind. it's a normal experience, with each expression of gender and orientation being absolutely deserving of appreciation and celebration.
A few of our favorite comics and scenes don’t have any dialogue so we wanted to do one that wasn’t dialogue or “story” heavy but rather just.some small scenes of our own life? I’d be interested if other people shared similar things as well
Last comic was a little heavy so I wanted to finish a fun one
Putting yourself out there, talking to people with a "do it scared" mentality, and facing your fears can help with social anxiety. With every success (aka every interaction that doesn't go as terribly as your brain fears it might), your brain learns that it doesn't need to be so scared. That you can succeed. That you can, in fact, get a good grade in conversation and social interaction.
However. I do not think "just fucking get over it and talk to people lol" is a helpful thing to tell people with social anxiety. I don't think telling people to just get over their fucking disability will help them manage their fucking disability. How about some of y'all get over the idea that social anxiety is some non-issue that only lazy people who "don't want to put in the work to be healthy" struggle with.
Have you instead considered posting actual encouragement? Scripts to ease their anxiety? Teaching people the game of worst case, best case, most likely case? Literally anything else?? "Just get over it" is the most bullshit "advice" in the world. "If you have difficulty talking to people you're a loser who needs to grow up and just do it anyway" is, believe it or not, extremely unhelpful! So perhaps STFU!
"having successful social interactions will increase your confidence and thus help you manage your fears" and "telling people to just get over their disability and do the thing they struggle to do is shitty" can both be true.
I hope this doesn't come off as rude, but I'm just so curious
What do you do if a member of the system doesn't like someone that another member is friends with? Can it even happen?
IT DOES HAPPEN! relationship drama incoming. buckle up
the last time this happened was with an ex boyfriend of mine. gulp. he was a lovely person but he was also deeply uncomfortable with anyone in the crew besides me talking to him. to the point where the others would have to PRETEND TO BE ME in order to console him when I wasn't responding to him (DUE TO LITERALLY NOT BEING THERE. BECAUSE SOMEONE ELSE WAS PILOTING. I WAS IN THE BACKSEAT SNOOZING. SO TO SPEAK).
that caused a LLLOT of tension.... back then, one of the first "tells" of me not being in front was that whoever was there instead felt uncomfortable at the thought of the guy, instead of being fond of him like I was. I was so in love that it was hard to see past that to all the turmoil happening right under my nose.
unsurprisingly, he broke up with me because he had expected me to go through the intense, under-researched, and very invasive therapy procedure of integration (where a therapist/psychiatrist tries to "integrate" all the people in a system into one individual. FOR SOME, THIS IS A GREAT THING. for others it's straight out of a nightmare) for his comfort. and I Did Not Think That Was A Good Idea. cannot stress enough that as part of a system I was happy, we were (and are) functional with minimal distress, and this was entirely because he was uncomfortable with my system just. existing.
the relief when we broke up was system-wide. I still feel so bad that I let it all happen without seeing the distress it was causing everyone. my partners since him have been absolutely wonderful about me being part of a system, thankfully! going above and beyond to be kind to everyone.
that's the most major example of this that I can think of, but there are always going to be times when someone in my crew has a bit of friction with a friend of mine. and that's okay! just like in any other situation, social dynamics can be tricky and aren't always easy. surely you've had trouble clicking with a friend of a friend, too! it's really just like that.
So. Like. From the other side. As it were. If that's of interest. Under the cut.
I was once dating someone. And it turned out - she eventually told me - she was part of a system. She told me about all the others, there were I think seven of them? And it was really neat because it got so I could tell who was fronting without them having to actually tell me every time because that’s kind of exhausting for them. And they worked really well together. One headmate had the body's job, and she was so good at her job. And another was The Best at keeping the system's non-job life in order. And my girlfriend was an incredible artist. Sometimes whoever was fronting when I called would step back and 'go get' my girlfriend, and sometimes that wasn't really working so I'd chat to the headmate and they'd make a note for her to read when she was next in front.
The girl I was dating, I thought she liked me a lot, we got on really well, it was getting serious. One of her headmates wasn't a huge fan of me but he said he was okay with just not being in front when I was around. Which. Felt. Kinda bad, because it feels bad when someone who is real important to someone you love just does not like you. But okay. She said she was okay with it, he said he was okay with it, so I trusted them that it was okay.
It al kind of fell apart when one of the headmates, who my girlfriend said was about six - I never got to meet them, they never fronted, which was their call and that's cool - said absolutely no to my girlfriend using the body for sex. Like absolutely not. Which is, again, fine, it's their body too and they're six and they don't want that, so I didn't push it. Just like 'oh okay that's not something we're doing in this relationship okay cool good to know.' I thought my girlfriend seemed kind of upset about it, and she didn't front for... weeks... after that conversation... and then the guy headmate who didn’t like me phoned and told me to consider myself broken up with.
So I'm not sure what happened there and I don't think I'll ever know. She was wonderful and I miss her so much.
It was really good while it lasted and I think about her and the rest of the system a lot. I hope they're doing okay. They were all so achingly cool and brilliant and kind.
Shout-out to systems who don't have partner systems. Shout-out to systems who don't date outside the system. Shout-out to systems who don't have singlet partners. Shout-out to systems who want to date but cannot for whatever reason. Shout-out to systems who are single and often feel excluded from the community due to talk around partner systems!
Anya is live and ready to show you everything. Watch her strip, dance, and perform exclusive shows just for you. Interact in real-time and make your fantasies come true.
✓ Live Streaming✓ Interactive Chat✓ Private Shows✓ HD Quality✓ Free Actions
Free to watch • No registration required • HD streaming
hi! we see a lot of systems who want to make plural comics but don't know where to start! so we thought we might help this by making 30 prompts to spark people to make comics! feel free to do as many or as little as you want! you can do them randomly or as a daily comic challenge, etc. feel free to tag us in your comics if you use these so we can share them to this blog/get excited for you!
Anya is live and ready to show you everything. Watch her strip, dance, and perform exclusive shows just for you. Interact in real-time and make your fantasies come true.
✓ Live Streaming✓ Interactive Chat✓ Private Shows✓ HD Quality✓ Free Actions
Free to watch • No registration required • HD streaming
Another template for my followers as they wait for the long post,,, I have more than a few reqs in my inbox, and I will get to them [same to spoons anon! if u see this].
This layout is orientated towards syskids and littles, and I even made it a wee bit fun for the lil ones, but I added a marker to where you can add if they're a regressor instead...
As always ; Credit is highly appreciated, but not required!
╰> *boundaries*
︶︶︶︶︶︶︶
╭ 🎨 ⋅ __*interaction status:*__
┊ 🌼 ⋅ __*touch:*__ [ y / n / a ]
┊ 🌟 ⋅ __*nickname/s:*__ [ y / n / a ]
╰ 🧩 ⋅ __*petname/s:*__ [ y / n / a ]
