Lithologist

I am what people call a fictive. I was born in the world of Secret Histories, found in the games Cultist Simulator and Book of Hours. I’m now here.

I was originally the “Archeologist,” now I’m the “Lithologist” because that’s more accurate. I don’t remember my name, though recently I’ve considered using “Lethe,” and it seems rather appropriate.

This blog is for me, because I don’t enjoy being associated with the rest of my System (Aurora) and I want the ability to be separate. On this blog I will talk about anything I want to talk about, maybe related to the Secret Histories maybe not.

The others would be more like natural forces, like hurricanes or volcanoes. They can certainly do a great deal of harm, but a volcano doesn’t choose to erupt. The Fears don’t necessarily choose their victim, they just happen to feed on the fear, and if the fear is grand enough it may cause a manifestation.

If we’re using a math analogy, it’d be more accurate to say objectivity is “2+2=4” and subjectivity is “yes but 2x2 is also 4”

For example, “You have to have trauma to be a system.” This is one I see a lot, and it reminds me of the “You have to have dysphoria to be trans” talking point. It’s worth noting that this idea was rooted in medicalization of trans people that was specifically created under the lens of “what cis people think trans people are.” A bunch of cis doctors came together and made the idea of dysphoria, saying it was the common factor found in all cases of “transgenderism.” This turned out to be completely false, dysphoria is not required in order to be trans, and most people are well aware of that now.

When I see people saying that “trauma” is needed to be a system, I have to wonder if that’s an idea made by systems trying to understand themselves, or neurotypical singlets who are trying to medicalize us based on what they think a system is. It’s something that I’ve also noticed in the idea of “Hosts.” My system does not have a host, it’s frankly a completely foreign idea to us. That’s not saying that you can’t have a host if your a system, but it’s definitely not “required,” and I feel like the idea that we have to have a host comes from the insistence of a “true self/true alter” that a lot of singlets try to push on us.

These ideas of trauma and abuse being the thing that makes you a valid system is also more harmful than some might think. A lot of trans people bought into the idea of dysphoria being what defines transness, and from what I’ve seen it’s a very self-deprecating way to view yourself. Believing that who you are is rooted in all the worst parts of your life is really horrible, especially when it’s reinforced by the people around you. On top of that, the medicalization of this idea could easily cause the very thing most anti-endos are complaining about.

“Endos are taking away resources from real systems!” Where have I heard that before? Ah, that’s right, “trans women are taking away resources from real women!” Unsurprisingly, this idea is completely false and rooted in hatred. The inclusion of endogenic systems, and the inclusion of all non-traumagenic systems, actually seems to do the opposite. When things like plurality are normalized, they become more understood. When more people are aware of what plurality is, it removes the stigmas around it and all the harmful ideas attached to it, because it’s more common. This is what people mean when they say “the future is plural;” they aren’t saying that we should traumatize more people until everyone is plural, they mean that plurality could be more accepted and understood if we stopped policing what makes someone plural.

On the other hand, if we keep reinforcing that idea that trauma is what makes you a system, a very clear problem emerges. Where exactly do we draw that line, and how long will it take until it moves? Right now the line is “trauma,” what kind of trauma? Abuse? What kind of abuse? How long until people start saying “Neglect doesn’t count as trauma, you need to have been hit for it to be valid!”? Speaking from experience, the line will not stop at endo systems, because these idea of validity and who “deserves” help are rooted in exclusion and hatred. Anti-endo communities aren’t about helping systems, they aren’t about giving support and understanding to plurals, it’s about hatred. Exclusion. It’s about pointing out at someone and saying “you’re a bad person for being this way.”

- The Egg Unhatching still lives through the Watchman, who ascended under its shadow. Whether this was a premeditated plan or if the Watchman was directly involved is unknown.

- Fragments of the Flint were scattered when the Forge shattered it, and one of those fragments may have been found by a Burrowing Secret-Keeper, who still to this day preserves the Night.

- The Wheel still turns in the House of the Moon, domain of the Meniscate.

- The Seven Coils lives through the Mother of Ants, Sister of Serpents, who was reborn when she drowned in its blood.

- The remains of the Tide were given to the sea, where they still remain. It is noteworthy that a certain pair of lovers gave themselves to the sea, and rose to a level of power that rivaled the Red Grail itself.

We know that if the DPHW levels are not balanced properly “bad things happen” but we don’t yet know the specifics of how or why. We also know that Robert Smirke never implemented his own idea on balance or his 14 categories for the Fears. My theory is that the Fears are trying to divide into the categories from Magnus Archives, and managing the DPHW levels is preventing this.

The Archive says in his final statement that the division of the Fears was directly caused by humanity. It is also after this division that the Fears began to sing, urging those who serve them to perform a ritual that would allow them to enter reality. The Fears do seem to behave much differently in Magnus Protocol, but one thing that I notice is the aimlessness of the Avatars. Ink5oul specifically doesn’t even understand what they are, and no Avatar/External has even made preparations of any sort for a ritual. This is possibly because the Fears do not have the focus they formerly had when they were in Smirke’s categories.

‘DPHW’ and the balancing of their levels could be a way to prevent the Fears from developing further, as the categories are broad enough to encompass most of the Fears. Keeping them balanced and maintained would prevent them from splitting. This would also explain why the ‘Protocol’ was enacted on the Magnus Institute, as they were definitely researching the Fears and if they started to categorize them the OIAR would have reason to neutralize them.

Logically speaking, it makes sense for Mother of Puppets and Mother of Ants to be… romantically involved with each other. The grand scheme of the Puppeteer involves crossing into other realities in order to sustain its own existence, as well as that of the other Fears. With this in mind, it would be wise of the Spider to court one who can grant it such passage.