Plurality Termlist

General

Plurality: The umbrella term used for the concept of people's bodies and/or brain being inhabited by more than one personality/being.

System: The umbrella term used for a body/brain inhabited by more than one personality/being. Some may prefer other terms such as collective or hoard.

Singlet: A person who is not plural, is not accompanied by headmates.

Multiplicity: Can refer to one of two meanings:
(a) The state of having system members who are strongly separate from each other, each possessing a self-identity distinct from the others in the system. Contrast medianhood, in which members are somewhat separate but share one central identity among themselves. The older and more common definition of this term.
(b) Referring to a plural system that is not a tulpamancy system, i.e. a system where no members were created by other members. A more recent use of the term that emerged with the appearance of Western tulpamancy.

Headmate: A sapient member of a plural system.

Subsystem: A system of headmates within another system. For example: a traumagenic headmate being split into a new cluster of headmates with their own roles and survival mechanism. Or a tulpa deciding to create its own tulpas.

Median system: A median system (also called midcontinuum) is a system where members are not as distinct or separate from each other. It can be considered being somewhere between multiple and singlet. Some are dependent on a single individual, or the dependence can be mutual in that there is no central individual.

Monoconscious system: When someone switches between different versions of themself. These versions can have their own name, age, gender, way of thinking, memories, and just in general be completely different people, but they are all the same consciousness.

PluralKit (PK) A bot on Discord (as well as in TT) that allows users to create digital systems and then speak through the automatically generated bot profiles as if it is a different person through the use of proxies. This is useful for systems to differentiate which headmate is talking.

Types of plurality

Traumagenic plurality: Any form of plurality that stems from trauma

Disordered plurality: Disordered plurality is when being plural causes distress and interferes with daily life. It can happen with both endogenic and traumagenic systems but these systems might have already existing issues that make being plural distressing.

Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID): A traumagenic system usually specified by symptoms of dissociation and amnesiac barriers between headmates.

Other specified dissociative disorder (OSDD): A diagnosis and system based on the symptoms of dissociation and amnesia, that doesn't meet the full criteria of Dissociative Identity Disorder, Dissociative Amnesia, and Depersonalization/Derealization Disorder.

Parotraumagenic plurality: A system that was willfully (and usually consciously) created as a way to cope with trauma.

Alter: A sapient member of a plural system, more commonly used for disordered systems (DID, OSDD)

Dissociation: The experience of losing contact and (partial) control of the body for a specific period of time.

Amnesiac barriers: The concept of headmates not sharing the same memories when fronting. One who fronts does not remember what the body has done when someone else was at front.

Split: When a headmate splits into two new headmates, most often seen within disordered systems.

Integration: Integration is generally referred to in DID and OSDD-1 contexts as the removal or slow dissipation of amnesiac barriers. This process is both vital in healthy multiplicity and ||final fusion||, aka becoming a singlet.

Endogenic plurality: Any form of plurality that does not stem from trauma, or of which the origin is unknown. Endogenic systems usually do not experience symptoms of dissociation or amnesiac barriers, but it's not impossible.

Parogenic/Willogenic: Being plural through acts and practice of intentional creation.

Tulpamancy: The practice of forming thoughtforms with the purpose for them to be your companion, and to form a connection with them. This practice results for the thoughtform to become sapient, therefore becoming a headmate. Tulpas can be parogenic, but are sometimes developed by accident.

Daemonism: The personification of inner monologue separated from its source, often in the form of an animal. Daemons are also a sapient thoughtform, therefore becoming a headmate. Not all people practicing daemonism consider themselves to be plural.

Gateway: A system in which the inner world is perceived as a real place somewhere, or a (usually) large system with members predominantly from places of spiritual belief, often coming or going as they please.

Mixed Origins: A mix of origins or a system with multiple origins

Quoigenic plurality: Not knowing or not caring about one's system origins

Praesigenic plurality: Sort of a "It's none of your business" origin label

Inside the mind

Thoughtform: Any form created by the mind that is believed to be real, non-physically or in another dimension, not limited by shape or space.

Sapience: The ability of a being to think for themselves. This is often confused with sentience: the ability to feel through physical senses. Headmates are always sapient beings.

Headspace: A headspace, also known as inner world or wonderland (a thoughtform), is a place that members of a system can visit or inhabit, where they can talk to other headmates. Not every system has one, but many do. It is also not unique to systems. Singlets may have a headspace as well.

System roles: Some systems (mostly traumagenic) assign roles or unwilfully have roles assigned to the headmates. Sometimes it's part of the survival mechanism, and sometimes it simply to keep the system organized or healthy. Not all roles are particularly made to bring positive benefit to the systems. Examples of roles are hosts, protectors, gatekeepers and trauma-holders.

Host: A host is the headmate who is most active, most responsible for day-to-day activities, or otherwise is fronting most often. Not all systems have hosts, and some may have a rotating team for the role. In addition, some do not like the term "host", and choose to use alternatives; specifically, outernaut.

Little: A system headmate that takes the form of a child (mostly under 13) and most often also has the mind of one. Littles are often at risk of harm due to their lack of ability to protect the system, which is why the existence or identity of littles are often kept hidden.

Extrant: A system headmate that is non-human or does not feel alive, such as an animal or a ghost.

Fictive: A system headmate that was (mostly) based on a fictional character. For traumagenic systems this may include original characters, while for endogenic systems it's usually referring to already existing fictional characters.

Factive: A system headmate that was (mostly) based on a real person or being in the physical world.

Walk-in: Walk-in headmates are headmates that have (temporarily) become part of the system without being split or formed. This is not limited to gateway systems nor endogenic systems.

Slider: A headmate that slides in certain identity ranges like age or gender.

Brain work

Fronting: The act of taking and keeping control over the body, and being aware of the body's surroundings.

Co-fronting: When two headmates are fronting at the same time, one sometimes more dominantly than the other. Sometimes the tasks during the front may merge or overlap, sometimes it can be about specific body parts or mental tasks.

Front-stuck: A headmate who has (temporarily) lost the ability to escape the front, and is stuck controlling the body.

Conscious: Being aware of what is happening with the body as well as the surroundings of the body, as opposed to being in headspace (this may however overlap).

Co-conscious: When two headmates are conscious at the same time. This does not however mean that both headmates are controlling the body.

Switching: The act of two headmates switching their position at front and in headspace. A headmate who switches is in the process of possessing and controlling the body. Some systems (mostly disordered) experience dissociation during this experience.

Masking: The act of a headmate to pretend to be the host or original owner of the body to avoid social stigma.

Cycling: Going through a series of rapidfire switches without control (mostly with disordered systems). This often causes a switching headache.

Passive influence: When a headmate isn't fronting but influences the fronters thoughts, actions and preferences, etc.

Dormancy: When a headmate permanently or temporarily goes dormant, often compared to hibernation or death. Dormant headmates are no longer present in headspace and can no longer front.