#and another one is doing autonomous systems

[sophieinwonderland]

Four Essential Features Of a Headmate

What is this for?

The goal here is to create an objective criteria for what is or isn't a headmate. This criteria can be useful for questioning systems, for plural media analysis, for studying plural groups that don't identify by the label, for differentiating between different types of entities within a system, and for tulpamancers wanting to better judge when a tulpa goes from a proto-headmate to a full headmate.

Nobody is forced to use these criteria if they don't think it fits for their system.

It's important to note that each feature here needs to be somewhat present, but these features don't need to be strong.

If you rated an entity on a scale of 0 to 10 on each of these and it gets all 1s, it's a headmate. Conversely, if it gets all 10s but has a single 0, it doesn't fit the criteria. Essentially, the degree that these qualities are present does not matter for determining if it's a headmate.

Autonomy

An entity is autonomous when it can think for itself and make its own decisions. An autonomous entity will not feel like you're controlling it. This entity thinks for itself and makes its own decisions, and feels emotions that seem real.

If an autonomous entity is sad, for example, you can't simply fix it by imagining it being happy again.

Autonomous entities may sometimes do things that surprise you or act in ways you can't predict.

If they're very strong willed, you may come to arguments with each other. But arguments aren't required to demonstrate autonomy and expecting arguments to prove an entity can think for itself can lead to toxic dynamics. Any level of autonomy is sufficient to fulfill this criteria.

Importance: Being able to imagine conversations with someone and to direct those conversations is a pretty common skill possessed by most singlets. Additionally, imaginary friends of children can come in different varieties. Some are autonomous, being able to control their own actions, while others are not, being fully controlled by the host child.

Perspective

A headmate must have its own perspective it can think from. This does not mean necessarily "seeing" in 1st person in the inner world or something of that nature, but pertains more to how it relates to others in the system.

A headmate with its own perspective can acknowledge itself as its own self in some form. It might say something to another member like "I think you should listen to me more often." Statements like this acknowledge itself as something separate from the other members.

While all that's necessary is to have that base level of perspective, for those who want to develop a headmate more, an advanced version of this that should be encouraged is introspection. This is a headmate thinking about themselves and their own nature, and can be fostered by asking them questions about themselves.

Importance: It's common for singlets to feel internal conflict and to think about this through an internal monologue. This might looks something like this: "I really want to take this cookie from the cookie jar. I'm trying to watch me weight. But I worked hard today so I deserve a treat."

When a singlet describes a sense of "part of me wants X but another part of me wants Y," this is the type of conflict they're generally referring to. The thing about these parts is that they often don't feel like separate people because they lack dissociation between them.

This criteria is to help distinguish between dissociative and non-dissociative parts.

Note: sometimes, even a denial can end up implying perspective. Even just saying, "I'm just part of you" carries an implication that there is an "I" and a "you."

Memory

Specifically, autobiographical memory of in-system experiences

A headmate should be able to recall past interactions that they've had. Recall of course does not need to be perfect. Even most singlets don't have perfect recall of their lives, and dissociative barriers can complicate matters. One of the core features of dissociative identity disorder is amnesia, after all.

The bare minimum is at least one memory of an event you experienced from a different day. Also, because amnesia can be episodic and be worse at times, this does not need to be constant. Having an episode where you can't remember anything about your past doesn't retroactively make you less of a headmate. (Although I suppose that if you are able to remember that you used to remember things, that itself is a memory about yourself. 🤷‍♀️)

I cannot reiterate enough that the memories can be very basic and do not need to be in vivid detail. They do not even need to be visual. As long as you have a sense of "I did this, I thought this before, I felt this way," or anything of that sort, it is enough of a memory to qualify.

Importance:

This is to help distinguish from temporary entities. In other posts, I have called these temporary headmates ephemerals. An ephemeral is an entity that exists for only a short time. It does not maintain memory or a consistent sense of self outside of memories assigned to it. For example, there is a popular practice writers may use where they will interview a character in their head. These characters may seem to have their own perspective and they may seem autonomous at the time. But they only exist briefly for the length of the interview. When the interview is over, the character is gone.

If you imagine a scene with that character again, the character in the scene will not remember you. If you interview them again, it will be like the first time you've ever spoken. Ephemerals are not headmates. They are temporary and not built to last. And there is no moral obligation to continue interacting with them.

A very common example of an ephemeral is a dream character. Dream characters are contained within their dream and when the dream ends, will disappear. Being able to create these types of temporary simulations of people is an innate human ability and these sorts of temporary entities aren't really part of the system.

Gnosis

I have previously referred to this as meta-awareness. But I am using gnosis here because I'm sticking with the one word theme for these qualities. There isn't really a word that exists that completely describes this so I will be using my own definition.

Gnosis means knowledge. In gnosticism, this was a specific type of knowledge that would allow one to ascend to a higher level of existence.

So in relation to plurality, this is knowledge of the existence of the external reality beyond the inner world or the fiction that the character originates from. You do not need to identify as a headmate for this to be true. You don't even need to feel like a part of the system. But you need to have the KNOWLEDGE that the body exists in an external reality outside of the inner world.

Importance: this is to help differentiate hadmates from other types of daydream characters or writing characters. A normal daydream character only operates in the daydream. They should not be aware of a real world outside of that daydream. Likewise, a writing character has no knowledge of the writers or the external world, and only exists within its own narrative.

A writing character may appear to have their own perspective and be somewhat autonomous when imagining scenes with them. But if a writing character becomes a headmate, the character may start to talk to the writer about the book. They may complain about the way the writer is writing them within the fiction. This is a writing character that has undergone gnosis. They have ascended beyond their fiction and developed awareness of the external reality.

The checklist

Autonomy: Does the entity have some level of independence where you are not consciously controlling them?

Perspective: Does the entity possess its own perspective with some level of awareness of itself as being its own thing separate to some degree from other entities within the system?

Memory: is the entity the same being in different times and places? If you had a conversation with it one day, could you ask it again about that conversation another day and have it remember?

Gnosis: Does the entity possess knowledge of the external world, the body, and its life?

If the answer is yes to all these questions, then you have a headmate on your hands.

And just because something isn't currently a headmate, doesn't mean that the potential isn't there. In the next section I want to discuss some techniques to help a headmate develop these features.

Tulpa Tips

Having gotten the basics out of the way, let's discuss on how to build these traits. This is a brief guide for developing full headmates from entities that are only lacking in one of the above traits.

Autonomy: if there is a character that you have imagined a lot but it feels like you are controlling them and you want this character to become a full headmate, just try letting go of the reins. Ask the character questions, and wait for a response. Do not try to dictate the response, and when the response comes, accept it. If the response is weird, ask them for further elaboration. But don't try to correct it or rewind or otherwise control the proto-headmate. You want to train your brain to produce the headmate's thoughts without any conscious input from yourself. See: Overcoming Parrotnoia for advice on conquering the fear you may be unconsciously controlling your headmate.

After enough time training autonomy, you are likely to find that you can't control them even when actively trying. But do not test this while you are training autonomy. Do not try to control the headmate during this period because these tests can set back or interfere with your progress.

Perspective: if you have a non-headmate part that you want to become a headmate, try to identify features of that part and when it influences you. Reframe the part as its own entity in your head, ask it what it wants to be called so that you can give a name to it.

These sorts of parts, in theory, should already have autonomy and should be able to respond when questioned. You are not making something new, you are just helping something that is already there differentiate itself more from you.

While just treating it like its own separate person is enough to achieve the bare minimum, I would advise continuing to ask it introspective questions to encourage it to think of itself as its own person. Especially things that are unrelated to its original role, whatever that was. And try to expose it to new experiences where you can.

Memory: The key to memory is making sure that you are interacting with the same instance of the character every time. If this is something that you are struggling with, my advice would be to end every session that you interact with your proto-headmate by asking them what they want to do the next time you interact with them. This will signal to the brain that this isn't done yet and that it needs to "save" this particular instance of the entity rather than creating a new one the next time. Then when you interact with them again, try to start off by asking them questions about the previous times that you have interacted with them in order to ensure that the memories have stuck. (These types of questions also encourage introspection.)

Gnosis: Of all of these qualities, this one is actually the easiest to reliably induce. You can trigger a gnosis event simply by telling a character with the other qualities about the outside world. Ideally, you should try to show them mental images and memories as well. You can also try imposing them externally so that they can see the outside world for themselves and walk around the space the body occupies.

As a warning, be aware that a well-developed entity discovering that the world that it knew was created from someone's head can sometimes trigger an existential crisis. While this is the easiest quality to attain, it also carries a risk if it's not attained before the other qualities. On the other hand, some headmates may enjoy the revelation and the new option that give them. Especially since they can now theoretically shape the inner world to their desires. Just be ready to catch them in case they fall when revealing this.

Conclusion

Thank you so much for reading! 😁

If you enjoyed this post and my categorizations, you may also enjoy my posts on headmate Foundations and Manifestations, and the Dimensions of Fronting.

[look-at-the-stars-tonight]

Anyone else feel like everyone else is moving on in life and ur just kinda around

[ask-an-epidemiologist]

Why "COVID anxiety" is not an actual disorder

In psychiatric terms, a phobia is considered as such if, and only if, it is unreasonable. So, an average person experiencing panic attacks at the sight of bees would be considered to have a phobia, because they are more afraid than the risk bees present to them.

However, a person with a fatal allergy to bee stings would not be considered apiphobic. This is because, with the risk of death bees present to them, having panic attacks is considered a rational reaction.

I'm sure you can already understand my point.

COVID not only can kill you (particularly if you're medically vulnerable), but it can cause severe disability. Even ignoring that people who have had COVID in the last three weeks are 81 times likelier to die of cardiac events than uninfected people, survivors of COVID are also 40% likelier to develop neurological sequelae. Rates of POTS or other dysautonomias (dysfunctions of the autonomous nervous system, which can be anywhere from "uncomfortable" to "rendering a patient bedridden") are through the roof, and neurologists are finding huge increases in the under-45 demographic of their dementia patients- a demographic that was previously extremely rare.

If someone wears protective eyewear while welding because they don't want to be blinded by an arc flash, we consider that a normal and reasonable precaution. So why are people who mask being labeled as "anxious about COVID" considering that this virus will very likely disable them if not kill them outright?

"COVID anxiety" is a rational behavior, not a medical diagnosis- so why are we treating it as one? Simple: it's another politicization of medicine. Just as "hysteria" was used to silence women, and lobotomization was used to subjugate inconvenient people (especially of rival political affiliations), "COVID anxiety" is being used to silence those who refuse to cooperate with the false narrative that COVID is over and/or no big deal. The very sight of a mask is a stark reminder to medical officials and laymen alike that they should be doing something they aren't. It's why some doctors aren't even "letting" chemo patients, one of the most severely immunocompromised demographics, do this. Because even though they are carefully avoiding a lot more illnesses than COVID, the sight of the mask still makes the doctor think of the COVID precautions they are ignoring first and foremost.

That is to say, "COVID anxiety" is a punitive diagnosis made by doctors when they are angry at the discomfort they feel when their patients remind them of their utter inadequacy, and they created this solely to stigmatize and demean patients to ensure they wouldn't subvert the expected power dynamic again.

Zero competent medical professionals actually use this terminology for their patients, and if yours uses it for you, run, don't walk, to a new clinic. Helping you is a secondary goal at best for your doctor.

[alostwanderernotfound]

Why do sometimes really weird & unexplainable things kind of happen?

Looking at the Theoretical Intersection between Anatomy & Physiology & Electronics

***This is coming from the perspective of attempting to explain (in the most simple ways possible) how foreign advanced technology possibly “hacks” the foundations of organic life. ***

Our bodies are composed of nerves. When electricity goes from one nerve and travels to another nerve then an action occurs. When something in our environment is sensed (like hearing a noise) our organs are able to sense the information & produce electricity to carry that information back to the brain to be processed.

Anatomically we have the brain, the spinal cord, our sensory organs, cranial nerves, and “all the other individually named nerves” that branch off of those.

(There is further differentiation between central nervous system, peripheral nervous system, & autonomic, and other ways to differentiate in anatomy and physiology, but for simplicity this is how I will refer to it).

Cranial nerves are differentiated out on the list in comparison to “other nerves” because they are a specific list of major nerves that do very important & essential functions in the body.

So, nerves act as a path for electricity to follow. This electricity can produce voluntary action or involuntary actions.

Choosing to raise your hand we consider voluntary action produced by the nervous system. When something occurs without your conscious choice & occurs automatically, it is considered an involuntary action of the nervous system. For example, your heart beating would be an involuntary action.

Nerves have gaps between them & in this space neurotransmitters are released. Neurotransmitters are chemicals with the ability to cause another nerve to have an action. Neurotransmitters have different actions at different places in the body. After neurotransmitters are released they stay in this space until they are broken down by the body. The body breaks down the neurotransmitters and attempts to recycle the components to be used to make other things in the body.

Our bodies are able to use electricity because of many processes, but one major one is because we store electrolytes. Our organs and tissues use electrolytes like Sodium and Potassium to create electrical charge. This “electrical spark” causes electricity to generate so that it can be conducted through the nerves.

The human body is very complex & requires more than just electricity to function due to many components of its design, but each neuron as an individual unit is incredibly similar functionally to wires bundled into computer cables.

How does this process intersect with technology?

If someone were to attempt to hurt you with insidiously with technology it could create A LOT of very weird experiences.

If you know how to electrically stimulate parts of the body, like if you put an electrical stimulator/microchip/or another component that alters electricity in someone’s nervous system you could do a lot of weird things that people with no medical background would struggle to explain.

Machinery causing electrical impulses or “shocks” to be sent to certain part of the brain can produce many effects.

If someone sent electrical impulses down the cranial nerves it would produce a wide range of effects.

If certain cranial nerves were stimulated by someone controlling a technological component then someone could cause your body to involuntarily do the following by stimulating one of the 12 cranial nerves with electricity:

Involuntarily, as if your body moved on its own, you could feel the following:

> Your eyes to move in a certain direction, like your eyes are “locking on” to an object. Similar to how a computer program is able to “lock on” to a target

> Cause your vocal cords to move even when your mouth isn’t open

>Jaw movement & other motions of the face

>cause vertigo/dizziness/altered proprioception or your sense of orientation in space. So a lot of the symptoms of being inebriated

>control of your tongue muscles

> ***Vagus nerve or cranial nerve 10 does a lot, tampering with it could do a lot of weird things *** Possibly weird respiratory and/or internal organ symptoms like shortness of breath, changes in swallowing like dysphagia, vocal hoarseness, & many other possible and serious side effects

> Specific neck movements & turns of the head

You could also produce the sensations in someone of:

>hearing voices that aren’t there or altered processing, they talk but it’s like you can’t understand

>hearing sounds that aren’t there or altered hearing

>seeing images that aren’t there or altered sight

>smelling things that aren’t there or altered smell

>feeling things that aren’t there or altered feeling

>tasting things that aren’t there or altered taste

All of these actions and the degree to which you could “control it” would vary. Some of these are more technically complex to do, but at the most basic level “micromovements” from even just these few nerves are highly likely.

Our bodies have more than just electricity that contribute to our ability to do voluntary control as a defensive system to prevent these types of tampering events from occurring, but I think on a basic level it would still be possible to do some of these micromovements.

Without a lot of technological advancement required, the most worrying to me is a combination of seizures (which can occur when you just overload something with electricity) and/or lots of trauma producing something similar to disassociation & making people hear voices. It unfortunately often produces a mind control like feeling where other people attempt to control and/or influence your behavior.

I think in the quest for mind control, some very bad people use these types of things to hurt other people & technological advancements in subliminal messaging have greatly hurt the world through our time.

In order to fix things I think we must first understand them.

[argyrocratie]

"How will people get healthcare?

(...)

During the Spanish Civil War, Barcelona’s Medical Syndicate, organized largely by anarchists, managed 18 hospitals (6 of which it had created), 17 sanatoria, 22 clinics, 6 psychiatric establishments, 3 nurseries, and one maternity hospital. Outpatient departments were set up in all the principal localities in Catalunya. Upon receiving a request, the Syndicate sent doctors to places in need. The doctor would have to give good reason for refusing the post, “for it was considered that medicine was at the service of the community, and not the other way round.”[40] Funds for outpatient clinics came from contributions from local municipalities. The anarchist Health Workers’ Union included 8,000 health workers, 1,020 of them doctors, and also 3,206 nurses, 133 dentists, 330 midwives, and 153 herbalists. The Union operated 36 health centers distributed throughout Catalunya to provide healthcare to everyone in the entire region. There was a central syndicate in each of nine zones, and in Barcelona a Control Committee composed of one delegate from each section met once a week to deal with common problems and implement a common plan. Every department was autonomous in its own sphere, but not isolated, as they supported one another. Beyond Catalunya, healthcare was provided for free in agrarian collectives throughout Aragon and the Levant.

Even in the nascent anarchist movement in the US today, anarchists are taking steps to learn about and provide healthcare. In some communities anarchists are learning alternative medicine and providing it for their communities. And at major protests, given the likelihood of police violence, anarchists organize networks of volunteer medics who set up first aid stations and organize roving medics to provide first aid for thousands of demonstrators. These medics, often self-trained, treat injuries from pepper spray, tear gas, clubs, tasers, rubber bullets, police horses, and more, as well as shock and trauma. The Boston Area Liberation Medic Squad (BALM Squad) is an example of a medic group that organizes on a permanent basis. Formed in 2001, they travel to major protests in other cities as well, and hold trainings for emergency first aid. They run a website, share information, and link to other initiatives, such as the Common Ground clinic described below. They are non-hierarchical and use consensus decision-making, as does the Bay Area Radical Health Collective, a similar group on the West Coast.

Between protests, a number of radical feminist groups throughout the US and Canada have formed Women’s Health Collectives, to address the needs of women. Some of these collectives teach female anatomy in empowering, positive ways, showing women how to give themselves gynecological exams, how to experience menstruation comfortably, and how to practice safe methods of birth control. The patriarchal Western medical establishment is generally ignorant of women’s health to the point of being degrading and harmful. An anti-establishment, do-it-yourself approach allows marginalized people to subvert a neglectful system by organizing to meet their own needs.

After Hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans, activist street medics joined a former Black Panther in setting up the Common Ground clinic in one of the neediest neighborhoods. They were soon assisted by hundreds of anarchists and other volunteers from across the country, mostly without experience. Funded by donations and run by volunteers, the Common Ground clinic provided treatment to tens of thousands of people.

The failure of the government’s “Emergency Management” experts during the crisis is widely recognized. But Common Ground was so well organized it also out-performed the Red Cross, despite the latter having a great deal more experience and resources.[41] In the process, they popularized the concept of mutual aid and made plain the failure of the government. At the time of this writing Common Ground has 40 full-time organizers and is pursuing health in a much broader sense, also making community gardens and fighting for housing rights so that those evicted by the storm will not be prevented from coming home by the gentrification plans of the government. They have helped gut and rebuild many houses in the poorest neighborhoods, which authorities wanted to bulldoze in order to win more living space for rich white people."

-Peter Gelderloos, "Anarchy Works" (2010)

[wonderjanga]

I love your headcanons!!! Do you think that with Fawcett being a time bubble and magical influence and when new technology is introduced to the city that it changes? Like the engineers study magic as well due to the proximity to the Rock of Eternity? I'd imagine like perpetual motion machines do exist and parts of the plumbing system are fantastical magic animals. Like the old telephone wires are autonomous snake-like entities that Marvel has to untangle sometimes. (They do get tangled up). It's all very surreal and dream logic stuff.

I would love to see what's under the hoods of their cars. Do they run on pixie dust or dragon tears? Are there small sprites keeping it all together?

I’ve actually never really thought about this but here are some ideas! I think they would study magic when getting engineering degrees cause I’m pretty sure they’d just think of it as apart of engineering maybe. Like for example, when building houses they’d make fairy doors in certain places. I also think that instead of Lightbulbs for street lamps they hire fairies every night to make themselves light up. They get payed in pretty stones. Detectives can hire ghosts to help solve crimes. I think their cars run on either, but they’d be higher quality gas so most people would use normal gas. I also think there would be lawyers who work specifically with cases about fae. There’s gonna be lawyers to get that first born back. People might use magical herbs in everyday cooking too. Like someone might get a dried leaf called mystic petals because when ground up, they taste similar to sugar. (The plant makes hair, skin, and eye color more vibrant) One of the teachers at an elementary school is a Lich that has nothing better to do but teach. Or a Centaur works as a PE teacher. I also think that Fawcett could be so affected by magic that the buildings and sidewalks could be sentient. Like a little kid’s about to trip on a crack and the pavement moves the crack out of the way. Or someone who’s vandalizing a building gets hit in the face when the building pushes a brick out. Certain roads seal up their potholes, and maybe Billy is running down an alley being chased or something and the alley walls close up behind him cutting his pursuers off. The flowers grow all year around in a certain part of a city, it could be hot all the time in another, it could snow frequently in another, and trees could start turning orange and letting leaves fall in another because of the presence of spring, summer, fall, and winter fairies who split Fawcett up into small kingdoms. Billy oversees their diplomatic affairs. You find Santa at the grocery store buying cookie mix because “it’s cheaper here than at the North Pole”. The Spirit of Halloween would start pestering people in beginning of September to put up their Halloween decorations. The Easter Bunny would be a local attraction to go see, as it would be in a meadow every Easter making eggs and giving them to other bunnies to go hide. There’d be tones of restaurants in Fawcett with from from multiple creatures. You can go to a small place on 45th, where you can order from fairies who make sandwiches and soups using traditional fairy recipes and herbs. Or a small stand ran by orcs who sell Owlbear on a stick and roasted Blood Hawk legs. There could be a pair of yetis who sell snow cones using snow from the Himalayas. They have human flavors like grape, and yeti flavors using fruits grown from their tribes. When zombies crawl out of their grave, there’s insurance for both the damage to the coffins and the ruined grave and for people who get bitten. Doctors tweaked the polio vaccine for zombification. Wind elementals help people they favor when they fall. Water elementals help move snow from roads. Earth elementals help with construction. Fire elementals help melt down metals for jewelry stores and factories. Harpies sing for crowds. Gelatinous Cubes can be used as lubricants for machinery and extremely strong glues. I also think the rock messed with time. There are dinosaurs displayed at the zoo. Certain buildings look like they’re from different eras. Gothic architecture, favored by vampires. Victorian architecture. Neoclassical architecture. Also there are wyvern. Though they’re all the size of vultures. They’d have multiple different scale colors which have been made into jewelry or bags. Animal rights activists heavily protested that, and did the same thing they would do to mink coats in the 90’s to the dragon scale items. They threw paint on them. Mimics have exterminators to sniff them out. Shapeshifters wear certain tags while in magical form so they won’t get flagged for animal patrol. There’s also a bunch of other races such as lamia, gorgons, lizard people, homuncules, and goblins.

[metanarrates]

if you choose to chain yourself next to the prisoner, you can survive what appears to be decades or even centuries without ever needing to eat or drink. if you get the "happy ending" after slaying the princess, you survive for so long afterwards that time loses all meaning. and yet, if you kill the nightmare, you starve to death eventually. why is that?

my suspicion is that it has something to do with our own awareness of our physical limitations.

as much as the princess is shaped by our perception of her, we are also shaped somewhat by our perception of ourselves. this is most obvious with the various voices, who seem to represent whatever trait was strongest in the previous chapter we played. but our perception comes up in a few other distinct moments, too. let's take the adversary for example.

and she does, too.

if you choose to fight the adversary, armed or unarmed, the stubborn will urge you to keep getting up, regardless of the narrator telling you you've died. you can survive death itself because you believe you can. pieces of you splattered on the walls, your organs hammered into a shape beyond recognition, your body a shambling, twitching mess - it doesn't matter. you keep getting up.

let's take the wild, as another example. if we reject the wild and turn inwards towards our fear/hatred, our unity with her unravels. as the narrator says, we remember we have a body. we stand on our two distinct feet once more, and encounter her, who is also a distinct, embodied creature. as much as her reality has changed, ours has too.

the prisoner doesn't starve. we don't experience anything physically unpleasant in her chapter if we chain ourselves up beside her. our awareness of our own biological reality and hers is next to nonexistent. but in the nightmare route?

the nightmare route is characterized by the paranoid's constant conscious maintenance of our autonomic nervous system. if he drops his concentration for even a second, the princess' presence will shut our organs down. we have never been aware of our own body more, and have also never believed more in its limitations. surviving biological failure seems like an impossibility. and so, it becomes one. we are only ever as embodied as we believe ourselves to be.

- the shifting mound, describing the shackled prisoner route

[strixcattus]

I did some skimming through a couple routes in my attempt to figure out where the small/frail/warmth and sadness distinction actually stems from (and I think I've got it now), but apparently for the first time ever I didn't take the knife when heading down to the Nightmare, and I've... discovered something.

Normally, when you try to free the nightmare, Hero asks for Paranoid's advice, and things proceed like so:

You get to hear Hero doing a terrible job of running the autonomic nervous system while Paranoid absolutely tears into the Narrator, and it's great.

In my run, leaving the blade behind, it went a little bit differently.

You never get to hear Paranoid's speech. He doesn't even give Hero a chance, even though technically Hero is doing better in this version. It's also Paranoid who demands to have a break, rather than Hero who offers him one. They're practically at each other's throats—or at least, Paranoid is at Hero's. I don't think Hero is really capable of having that sort of ill will towards another Voice.

There are a few other differences—notably, the Nightmare leads the way up the stairs, and the door opens in the correct direction. But the complete distrust from Paranoid that we get here really stands out.

[dailyanarchistposts]

A friend of mine, a Trump supporter, recently sent me a social media post from an anonymous Seattle police officer about the “organized protest” zone, or autonomous zone, established by the Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement in the city’s Capitol Hill neighborhood. The officer argues, in part, that “there is a part of our country that is no longer under our control,” and that “we [the police] have been castrated.” The post is mostly filed with misinformation, that the protest space has its own currency, ID system, and that the former police precinct, abandoned by the mayor and the city at the height of the protests, is being used as a BLM headquarters – no doubt a kind of black witches coven in their imagination. Indeed, in the language used in the post, “terrorists” and “anarchists” are stock piling “ammo and chemical weapons,” and are headed by a “warlord” who “drives a tesla and has been arrested for drugs, guns, pimping and crimes against children.” The officer concludes that “this is real,” and that “you can’t make this up.” These developments they call “unthinkable.”

The police are not the only ones hysterical at the loss of their station. Right wing media have also chimed in, exacerbating and stoking the fears of the Right. Fox media personality, Tucker Carlson, for example, bloviates on his nightly show that the founders of the Capitol Hill Organized Protest (CHOP) are “just like the conquistadors” because they’ve seized and occupied already established land and are extorting local businesses. Not to be outdone, President Trump, searching for an election year issue, called on the city of Seattle to attack and retake the space. He tweeted angerly, “Take back your city NOW. If you don’t do it, I will. This is not a game. These ugly Anarchists must be stopped IMMEDIATELY.”

What is unthinkable, or was at the beginning of the month, is the power of the Black Lives Matter movement in the streets. The emergence of the autonomous zone is a pinnacle of that power, a significant victory. It demonstrates the ability of popular power to win the impossible from structures of white supremacy – the state and the propertied interests they represent. That victory, and the subsequent diminution of state violence, is a major step forward for community self-control and autonomy. It shows that ending anti-Black violence is the first and most basic step to honoring Black life.

But it is just the beginning. Honoring Black life means constructing a society where Black autonomy and Black power are the cornerstones of community, and one where Black freedom is the foundation for broader, collective liberation. The advent of the movement’s autonomous zone was a step in that direction. Taking the city’s east police precinct demonstrates not only that our movements can win, but we can win previously unimaginable victories for Black lives.

There is another legacy now that must be dealt with from the CHOP. Much uglier, it is about the violence that took one life and left several in critical condition in a series of recent shootings. The shootings and the lack of direction for the space sadly demonstrate that our movements are not yet mature enough to know what to do with victory. As I write, the Seattle police are threatening to retake the building in the wake of the violence.

The shootings happened as the movement languished. With no clear direction, political, strategic, and tactical infighting broke out, reminiscent of Occupy Wall Street’s failures. Questions emerged over whether the encampment was for abolition or reform, taking the police station or not, “autonomy” or remaking existing institutions, marching or occupying, and others. This infighting was rooted in a lack of decision-making process that made even the most basic agreements impossible to gain collective consent.

In the autonomous zone, a diverse flowering of self-activity emerged, a variegated patchwork of mutual aid projects, support, care, and action that reflected the full diversity of the movement’s politics and people. That beautiful moment must not be lost in its downfall, but now with violence in the space, it must also be held within a more complex picture of the movement’s failures as well.

[bird-in-the-space]

Echoes of the Unknown

You meet the Autobots and finally learn about the war between them and the Decepticons.

Warnings: waking up, having tubes attached to you, and some social anxiety.

Chapter 9

--------------------------------

Voices reached your ears. They were muffled till they became clearer when you opened your eyes and found yourself staring at a rocky ceiling. It took you a moment to get your bearings, but you noticed the headache was gone and your stomach was not making twists and turns anymore. You felt better. You then noticed that you were lying on some kind of metallic bed and there were tubes attached to you. One was adding energon into your system and the other seemed to be removing something. It looked blue but was darker and more murky.  You also noticed the bruise beneath your arm was patched up. 

Questions finally popped into your head when you got back to your senses. Where are you? 

You leaned up your head, looking around the place, and to your shock, saw more robots. You recognized the blue and yellow robots from before, but now there was a big green one and one very big red and blue one. You saw Emily talking to the big one and saw Jack and Raf, but there was now also a girl with pink on her hair. 

Emily seemed to be explaining something as they all listened. You leaned up on your arms, trying to make sense of what they were saying while also taking in your new surroundings. It looked like some kind of hidden base.

“Hey, do not get up. The cleaning process isn’t finished yet,” Another robot suddenly appeared beside you. He was white and red and sounded like a grumpy old man. His appearance startled you. 

“Ah!” You yelped and smacked his hand away when he tried to touch you. 

Your sudden yelp and the bang of metals hitting together caught Emily’s and the other robots’ attention. 

You lay there frozen as they all looked at you. 

“(Name)! How are you feeling?!” Emily ran toward you, holding onto the safety railing of the platform she was standing on. 

“Better… " You uttered, looking at the robots and the place around you. 

“Where are we?” you asked.

“You’re in the Autobot base, a hidden silo that was provided to us by our human allies in the government,” the big red and blue robot explained. “You were brought here after Bumblebee and Arcee informed us of your condition,” he added.

You stared at him for a moment, feeling rather intimidated.

“Okay…” you answered, still a bit out of it. “What exactly happened? Why are we here?” you questioned, looking at Emily. 

“Due to the spoiled oils and the severe lack of energon in your system. Your whole frame went into a shutdown, which nearly led to a stasis lock. You are lucky you were brought here before your frame could sustain any serious damage. What were you thinking?! Drinking earth oils! Do you have any idea how unbelievably unhealthy that is? It is already a miracle you survived this long with severe energon deficiency, ” the white and red robot scolded you angrily. You assumed he was a medic as he kinda looked like an ambulance.

"And not only that, you tried to consume unprocessed energon like some earth food. You can't eat it in its rawest form," he added.

“Well, sorry, I didn’t know about energon till recently, ” you uttered, slightly annoyed by his tone. 

“Emily already explained your unique condition to us. I am Optimus Prime, we are autonomous lifeforms from the planet—” Before the big blue robot could continue, the girl with pink on her hair suddenly disrupted. 

“Dude! Did you really switch bodies with a con?” she asked loudly. 

“Uhm… yeah,” you answered awkwardly. 

“That’s so cool!” she exclaimed. 

“No… not really,” you shook your head, before turning toward Optimus and the… other bots. 

“So who are you guys exactly? And what are Decepticons?” You asked, remembering the yellow and the blue robot chased you because of it. 

“The Decepticons were the ones we saw yesterday and tried to come after us. Apparently, the con you inhabit is called a Vehicon,” Emily explained. 

“Okay, that still explains very little, “ you said. 

“Maybe we should start from the beginning, to help you understand everything you have experienced so far,” the big robot, Optimus, said. 

You nodded. “Well, I am all ears,” you said. 

The big robot, Optimus, told you about Cybertron and the ongoing war between the two factions, the Autobots, and the Decepticons. You listened attentively, nodding along as everything slowly began to make sense and how lucky you were in your yesterday’s trip.

“Taken your unique condition. You are welcome to stay with us. There is no knowing what the Decepticons would have done if they learned of your existence,” Optimus said. 

“Well, taken how you described them, I think it's safe to assume that they would not have done anything good,” you said.  

“Is there really no way for you to turn back human?” Jack asked. 

“No. Even if there was. It’s already too late. My human body is already beneath the earth because my funeral was two months ago,” you replied. 

“So, you’re stuck?” Raf asked. 

“Yeah. I’m stuck,” You said, looking down. 

“Prime!”

You jolted from the sudden new voice. A man dressed in a gray suit suddenly walked out of the elevator. You guessed he was from the military, but oh boy, he did not look happy about something. 

“I just got a report that a yellow Camaro and a blue wheeler was seen driving recklessly around town, chasing a purple car. You better have a good explanation,” he stopped when he saw Emily and you. 

“Uhh… hello,” Emily greeted. 

“Another one?!” he exclaimed. “And why is there a con here?” he pointed at you. 

“I can explain. The bots here have a good reason why we’re here. My name is Emily Walkerson and the con here isn’t actually a con, but my friend (Name) (Lastname),” Emily introduced herself and you. 

“Huh? Isn’t that a human name?” the man questioned with a raised brow.  

“That’s because I used to be a human, Mister…” you trailed off as you didn’t know his name. 

“Fowler. Special Agent William Fowler,” the man finally revealed his name, showing his badge and putting it back. “So let me get this straight. You used to be a human?!” he looked at you skeptically. 

“Allow me to explain. During our last summer camp. We had an accident and (Name) fell into a Decepticon mine, where she found an alien artifact, and that artifact caused (Name) to switch bodies with one of these Decepticons. Her human body died from the progress and she has been stuck as a con since,” Emily explained. 

“We met these bots today and they were kind enough to help (Name) because she was sick from the lack of energon. The chase happened because they startled us, and we are really sorry for the trouble, Agent Fowler,” Emily apologized as Fowler seemed calm about the explanation. 

“Wow. A smooth talker,” Miko remarked. 

“I see… Well, this is just going to add more papers to my desk,” Fowler uttered, shaking his head. 

“And how long has your friend been a con?” he asked. 

“Two months now,” Emily replied. 

“Taken (Name)’s unique condition. We have decided to allow her to stay at our base, Agent Fowler. Since her state is irreversible. It would be wiser to let her stay somewhere safe and where she can learn more about being a cybertronian,” Optimus spoke. 

“Well, I do not know what else to say, prime. A human mind in an alien body is not something we ever expected to happen. Do the cons know about this? You don’t think they might try taking advantage of her?” Fowler questioned, motioning at you. 

“For all they know, she is a Vehicon gone rogue. Something the Decepticons would not consider an important matter. However, I think it would be best for her to remain here, to avoid Decepticons gaining any interest in her,” Optimus explained. 

You looked into nothing for a moment. It was reasonable and staying here would probably keep you safe, but what if you had to stay here forever? The idea did not sound pleasant to you. 

“Very well. I will then get the paperwork done, assuming Miss Walkerson here is going to be a regular sight as well,” Fowler then retreated into the elevator and left. 

You sighed, feeling the tension leave your body. 

“That went better than expected,” the big green robot stated. 

“So, is Fowler like your liaison to the human world?” Emily looked toward Optimus. 

“That is correct. Agent Fowler might seem like a strict individual, but he is a valuable ally to us,” Optimus answered. 

“Well, most of the time,” the green robot added. 

“So, what now? We welcome Emily and (Name) to the team?” Jack asked. 

“I don’t mind. Plus I think it would be good for (Name) to have someone she knows around since she is still very new to all of this,” Emily said. 

“I’m not a kid you know?” you grumbled, crossing your arms while still lying on the metal bed. However, you did feel grateful for the suggestion. You would have not known how to interact with these bots by yourself because, like new people, they were complete strangers to you. 

“Cool! My name’s Miko by the way,” the girl with pink on her looked toward you. “That’s Bulkhead. That’s Bumblebee. That’s Arcee, and the doc bot here is Ratchet,” she said while pointing to each of the robots. ‘Ratchet’ grumbled under her introduction while you panicked.  You missed some of the names because you were not prepared for the sudden introduction spree. Who was who again?

“Uhm… hi?” 

“What is it like being a giant robot?” she then asked. 

“Ugh…” 

“Can you transform? Can you use your blaster arm? What was yesterday's trip like? Were you scared?” she asked a question after question. You began to feel dizzy from trying to think and find an answer to her questions. 

Luckily, Emily was your saving grace. 

“Miko. How about we leave the personal questions for later? (Name) still needs to rest and get fixed up,” Emily asked, laying her hands on the younger girl’s shoulders. 

You mentally thanked her for being an angel. You felt like you were going to explode moments ago. 

“She’s right, so how you all huss while I finish the cleaning progress,” the medic bot, ‘Ratchet’ you think his name was, said and waved his hand for them to go away. 

“Alright. Tell us when you’re done,” Emily said and you were left in peace. You lay on the metal bed, staring at the ceiling while thinking of everything you just learned. Cybertron. Autobots. Decepticons. It all sounded so unreal. Just what kind of permanent mess have you gotten yourself into?

[utopya-cc]

SIMS4 MOD | Kiss-n-Grind

Hey guys, hope you all are doing well. Quiet excited about this one,

The main idea was to make a mod that will focus on adding more romantic interactions to the game. to add more realistic moments between couples. I wanted to add what I feel is missing from the game.

So After some searching and looking at what should I make first, I have decided to start with a passionate grinding/dancing interactions, There is too much stuff to cover in the club life. that the game didn't manage to add, other than some silly dances. Your Sims couple can't even dance together.

Therefore I ended up turning These new animations into their own mod, It will be a great foundation for all the ideas that I want to add!!

The mod For now will introduces two new interactions with their animations and emotions/buffs

The new pie menu will appear in the Romance category under the name Kiss and Grind, all the new interactions will appear on it:

The interaction won't appear if your sim hasn't had their first kiss yet, or the level of romance is too low

Features Of the Mods:

New highly detailed animation with their own sounds

New pie menu for the new interaction

New icons for each Interaction/animation that will suit their own animation

A new dynamic buff system which increases with the romance bar

These interactions will give you a buff for both the actor and target sim.

There is a chance to get some notifications/comments from your partner

The animations were made to have a more romantic feel to them. to give the player the freedom to use them in any game style they want. All the icons used are custom-made by me, I did put extra time into them to be more visually pleasing and match their original content

Possible outcomes:

I have implemented in this mod a new buff system that will depend on the relationship between the Sims and some other factors:

First of all The outcomes will be highly randomized for both the actor and the target to keep the game more exciting.

The higher the romance level between your sims the higher chance of getting more intimates outcomes with stronger emotions:

Obviously, this is a club-based mod, you take your sim there to meet up with new Sims, So Even with a low romance, The outcomes may be higher and unique If your sim has high charisma.

When the romance bar is higher the 90% there is a small chance to get a notification/comment from your partner.

The mod will be enhanced further in the future, with New animations, New mechanics, and features.

I still love the original idea. So once I have decided all the interactions for it, I will start making them into their own mod, and leave this one just for the club-related animations.

The interactions shouldn't be played autonomously,

Better to wait until the animation is finished and the queue is clear before playing another one.

Requirement : This mod needs the XML injector by Scumbumbo. You can download it here : https://scumbumbomods.com/xml-injector

How to install :

Just put both my mod and the XML injector script into your Sims 4 Mods folder.

Reblogs are super appreciated!

DOWNLOAD

[drdemonprince]

okay as someone who is critical of performative activism can you explain to me how protesting isn't performative? not tring to 'gotcha' you, i just really don't get how standing holding signs in seattle impacts what's happening overseas. the 'block the boat' protest made sense to me bc they were stopping weapons sent to israel, and it makes sense when like laborers damage equipment as part of a work stoppage bc they're wasting the bosses money. but most protests seem to be about 'showing solidarity' and i feel like usually they're more for the benefit of the protestors and to make them feel good for getting involved even if the involvement doesn't directly affect the outcome of whatever they're protesting. i'm open to being wrong about that though?

I used to feel this way, anon. And then I saw Palestinian men full on crying at protests while Facetiming their relatives overseas to show them that people actually cared. And I saw young Palestinian kids walking in front of their parents, moms, dads, aunts, and uncles, leading the chants of thousands of people, filled with confidence, not afraid to name their home land and give a voice to their resistance. And I saw elderly Muslim people, people who have likely not attended many American protests before of this size, emboldened and waving Palestinian flags and recognizing old family friends in the crowd and embracing one another. And I saw the highway be stopped for hours by thousands of us, forcing the entire city's road system to be rerouted, forcing untold numbers to contend with the rage that is being felt. And I saw us shut down all Black Friday shopping on the north end of Michigan avenue, closing off Victoria's Secret (which has manufacturing plants on Palestinian land), and covering the largest Starbucks in the Midwest (an informal boycott Target) with dozens of pro-Palestinian banners and stickers. And I've seen us showing up for one another again and again and again, every weekend, blocking off boycotted stores, ending business as usual, disrupting traffic, exhausting the police (who have had to pull a lot of overtime to deal with us), drawing attention to the cause, ending politicians' fundraising and meet & greet events, and not allowing business to go on as usual our ourselves to be complicit any longer.

I get the jadedness. I do. I have been there, especially after seeing awful police violence against protestors in 2020 and then seeing very little legal change occur. But the meaningful change we need will not occur via legal avenues. Protest is a means of building up collective power, of training people to think more collectively, of helping to normalize the viewpoints that we are advocating for, of disrupting regular everyday activities such as shopping and work that distract people from what is happening, of wearing the police state, of making our political representatives fearful and tired, and of setting the stage for larger, bolder, more disruptive direct actions that prevent or end humanitarian crises.

Block the boat doesn't just happen out of nowhere. You have to have a dedicated team of organizers and hundreds to thousands of devoted activists, medics, legal observers, coordinators, and people on the side lines offering resources and food. You need people to feel uplifted, motivated, and confident. You don't just get that in one day. The west coast has been able to launch incredibly effective actions like these because their work is YEARS in the making. Every major protest, every autonomous zone, every organizing meeting, it has all led to this. It takes work. It takes people being willing to show up and do that work, regularly, even when it is not glamorous, even when they do not get a sticker for it, and even when they cannot always walk away feeling that they've done something personally in that moment. It is a collective, long term endeavor, and it requires toughness and commitment.

Besides, the protests we are talking about actually are direct actions. Protestors yesterday shut down Zara. And now the company has to contend with a lot of bad PR from thousands of us screaming outside Zara's flagship store in the Chicago, speaking out about its advertisements mocking the Palestinian people. Shutting down the highway multiple times and other boycotted stores and ruining political fundraisers is directly impactful too. Now if any protestors want to take it further than that, I welcome them and I'll be there to join them. The Black & Indigenous solidarity rally in 2020 was one really impactful example. It came to blows in a serious way, but we almost tore the Columbus statue down. The city was so afraid of another incident they took the statue down themselves.

This is how we get things done. We show up, in large numbers, we give comfort and steadfast support to those most targeted, we show the state our true numbers, we wake other people up from their slumber, and we keep pushing to do more. We need as many people on the line as possible. The presence of every single person at a protest is powerfully felt. Numbers gives us confidence, it literally keeps us warmer in the cold in a noticeable way, it shows Palestinian people that we are with them, it broadcasts a message on the world stage, and it makes it possible for things like flipping over police cars and starting fires and closing bomb manufacturers possible.

[thewisaaaaad]

You thought I was done, didn’t ya?

You thought I had no more unique ideas for narilamb, but NOOOO

I have seen several iterations (read: 3) of future cotl where Narinder is a AI created by the bishops or something adjacent to that, one where lamb is an ai scan of the real lamb.

But i have yet to see a version where lamb is a robot created to serve.

ALLOW ME TO CAPITALIZE ON THIS >:)

So we start with the bishops being a major tech corporation that controls the whole city. Their products affect every facet of life, from locomotion to furniture to food to- you guessed it- robots!

And the Local Autonomous Maintenance Bot is the invention of the proud inventor Narinder. These little guys go around and fix everything in the mega city- for a price, of course.

Then, as fate dictates, Nari got into a spat with his siblings. I like to think that, for all the wealth that he was willing to drain from the city’s people, he wanted to return that wealth somehow. A way to resurrect the city, one might say.

This, he is imprisoned in the bowels of Old Faith, where the police barely do their jobs and just send out drones to do their work. If a drone breaks, who cares? They can get another one!

The bishops, fearing retribution from their estranged brother, shut down all of the L.A.M.B. Units. For you see, they were concerned that he had coded a backdoor, so that he could turn the humble service drones on them. Thus, they sent out a kill command, permanently bricking all of the innocent little bots.

But that was never their purpose. They were intended to keep the city alive. Without them, replacement products can only go so far. Narinder knows this, and looks for a way to save the city.

And indeed, there is. An old, disused L.A.M.B. Unit, quietly tutting away in the back of the prison, never shut down. In fact, it hadn’t had an ai reset in some years, due to its connection to the system being severed some years ago.

Lambs were never intended for combat. But Nari has no other choice.

But what kind of trauma would such a drastic shift in purpose inflict on a mind that only knew how to help?

[thecircularsystem]

Well, now I understand why people syscourse. There’s just so much wrong with this that I don’t want to leave it stand.

If you’re interested in a conversation, dissociative-misinfo, I’d be happy to have one. I don’t feel like you really listened the first time, however, so… know that this post is really for everyone else to understand the flaws of your argument.

A huge misconception I saw was people comparing their claimed plurality to DID/OSDD "plurality." People with DID/OSDD are not plural. People with DID/OSDD are 1 person with severe dissociation that causes them to subjectively believe they are multiple identities/people, but the fact is that they are 1 person and 1 identity.

While this may be the physical representation of CDDs, plurality is an umbrella label. The best definition I’ve seen is “the experience of having multiple autonomous agents in one body.” Would you deny that parts, in DID, work apart from one another and have their own goals, desires, and beliefs?

I’m an individual who uses and benefits from parts language over people-based language, but that does not deny the personhood of my parts. They are no less real and significant. To say they don’t count as plurality simply because they’re parts of a whole is to deny that personhood.

There is no harm in identifying as plural, even as a system of parts. I don’t personally identify as plural, but that’s because plural is an opt-in label, and is one that I do not associate with for personal reasons. One can identify as plural and still recover from DID.

Umbrella labels such as plural contain a large population. I agree with you that most endogenic systems don’t have similar presentations of systemhood as DID systems do! But they can all be considered plural if they would like. There is no harm.

I’ll start with the argument that there's so many endos claiming the same thing, and therefore they can't all be lying. Historically speaking there are many instances of millions of people claiming an experience that is scientifically impossible or blatantly false.

How wonderful, then, that endogenic systems have not been proven scientifically impossible or blatantly false.

Take flat earthers, for example. All known science about anything relating to the earth states and proves that it is round, and yet around 10% of the US believes it is flat, among other conspiracies such as the moon landing being fake. Hell, COVID showed us just how many vaccine and illness deniers there are, almost everyone has at least 1 family member they can think of who denied it.

The roundness of the earth is a scientific fact that can be proven. We can see it from space, and have before; we can study the shadows of obelisks and see the curvature through the angles used.

Covid is a scientific fact that can be proven; it exists, we can see it under a microscope and have, and we can prove the quality of vaccines.

Endogenic plurality is not a scientific fact that can be proven, or at least, has not been proven as of yet. It is a completely subjective experience inside one person’s own head. The sheer amount of people who share that experience indicate that something is happening. They indicate that people are experiencing something.

It would be foolish to suggest that all endogenic systems are DID systems, as the majority do not display the symptoms of DID.

It would be foolish to suggest all endogenic systems are faking, for many reasons (harassment, sheer volume of individuals, length of time claimed to be endogenic, etc).

It would be foolish to suggest endogenic systems are experiencing some other disorder, as many are not dysfunctional or distressed by their plurality.

Simply put, sometimes the easiest answer is the best one. Why not just accept, “That group of people over there say they’re experiencing that, and it does me no harm to accept that”?

As for, "I'm not going to deny someone's experiences." You may not, but science does. Would you "not deny someone's experiences" if their experience was beating cancer with essential oils? Maybe you wouldn't outright, but we can both acknowledge what an outlandish and impossible claim that is. Being an 'endogenic system' when a system is a clinical term for people with DID (an inherently trauma-caused condition) is an impossible claim.

Science does not deny endogenic systemhood.

There are no studies, no articles, not even opinion essays from psychologists, which dictate that endogenic systems cannot exist. Trust me, I had been looking for years (up until I realized that I really, really, could not give less of a shit).

An endogenic system claiming to exist is not the same thing as someone beating cancer with essential oils. One is a personal experience, and one is scientifically not happening. Moreover, scientifically “outlandish” does not make something scientifically impossible; I would make sure you use the clearest language possible.

As for “clinical term…”

System is not a clinical term. At least, it hasn’t been for decades now. It’s a community term to discuss the individual parts collectively… collected. The term was taken in the early 2000s from the natural multiplicity movement — but as that happened, the usage of system took less and less prominence in CDD circles. System had grown in all circles to be an identity, rather than a medical term, and not as many people “identified” as systems.

To discount the communal nature of the term System is to discount countless of endogenic plurals from the 2000s and 2010s who had no other terminology to use. They were told they were systems with DID who did not know their trauma, because what other options were there?

Regardless. The term system hasn’t been a strictly medical term for strictly CDD systems for quite some time (or, even, ever; to see more history, I would suggest this post, along with the sources and links in the post).

(If you're going to claim plurality, that is a spiritual and personal claim, and should not involve you calling yourself a system with alters, because those are clinical terms for pwDID/OSDD, people who are not plural)

Unintentionally — or at least, I hope it was unintentional — you’ve said here that pwCDDs cannot be spiritual or have personal claims to plurality.

Again; “system” is not a medical term. “Alters” is not solely medical either. And this is coming from someone who agrees with you that it would be far better if endogenic plurals used “plural” and “headmate” preferably, to delineate experiences. But that’s not a demand I can make of thousands of people. Nor should I; to delineate that would be to out systems who have trauma based on the words they use.

What harm does it cause? If it is known that endogenic systems exist, that they are different from CDDs, and CDD symptoms are actually discussed, then what harm does it cause to identify as plural? Your entire basis here boils down to, “I don’t like that there’s no science behind it.” To which I respond, you must feel great about xenogenders, contradicting labels, and neurodivergent labels.

Another common argument I saw was comparing endogenic plurality to being transgender, a comparison that will always be offensive and upsetting to me as a trans man. Particularly the terms "sysmed" and "traumascum" I find horrifically offensive.

I have discussed at length my thoughts about sysmed and trauamscum. Thankfully the latter of those two terms has seen a sharp fall in popularity as individuals have absolutely realized how ableist it is.

I am a queer individual myself, with a multitude of gender identities, and consider myself to be under the trans umbrella. I also am frustrated when people compare plurality to gender, particularly as someone who chooses their gender.

However. It must be acknowledged that a comparison is not the same as saying, “these two things are exactly the same.” It’s saying, “there are similarities between these two things.” For instance, the similarities in that plurality and gender are both identity-based labels, meaning both are something someone chooses to identify with. Another would be that those who experience plurality openly are prejudiced against, same as those who display their genders openly.

I’m not saying that gender and plurality are the same, or even the most similar. But comparing bigotry, labeling, and community styles of behavior is not a bad thing inherently. People who are trans are allowed to feel their plurality is similar to their gender identity, and you're allowed to feel uncomfortable about that. Both can be true.

As I understand it, endogenics don't claim to have DID/OSDD. So then, why do they claim to be systems? Systems with alters, who split? A multiple system is a clinical term used for people with DID. "Sysmed" implying that being a system is a clinically defined experience is true, because being a system is exclusive to DID/OSDD. Being a system is not being plural.

This is just a repetition of your earlier point, so do we really need to rehash this?

I will say, again, sysmed is a stupid term and I think it should leave the vocabulary of all those in syscourse. Fuck sysmed as a term. All my homies hate sysmed.

As I keep reiterating, people with DID/OSDD are not plural. They are 1 person experiencing a dissociated identity that may feel like being multiple people, but is objectively not. So with 'system' being a DID/OSDD term, endogenics using it are claiming a non-plural DID/OSDD experience, and thus countering their claim to "not be a part of the DID community" or "be a separate community."

Something being objectively true does not erase what feels true. And sometimes, what feels true is better.

For me, for instance, back to the gender examples: I am, objectively, female. But what feels true sometimes is that I am male. Does that mean I am objectively not male? Does that mean I cannot claim to be male when I feel male?

If we put this in context of CDDs, then obviously, the comparison falls apart. After all, DID isn't something I "feel" like I am. It's something I have; an affliction. But plurality is not that way. Plurality is a feeling; a belief system. To say that CDD systems cannot have a belief system... Well now, you're starting to fall into some serious ableism there.

Endogenics are not claiming a plural CDD experience. They're just claiming a plural one, and they (occasionally, with rapidly decreasing popularity) use the term "system," a term which has been community based over medically based for over a decade now, closer to over two.

As far as "traumascum," I genuinely hate anyone who uses that word. Trauma scum? What has to be wrong with you to come up with a slur for people who have experienced childhood trauma and believe in the disorder caused by childhood trauma? Once again it boils down to plurality not relating to trauma or DID/OSDD, because systems are not plural. They are singular people experiencing severe dissociation.

Agreed with you on traumascum, but again, almost everyone agrees on this, regardless of their stance on endogenic systems. If you really want to rally about it, go to ActingNG and complain. They're who you're actually upset about.

Regardless, once again, plurality is something systems can identify with, and you've never identified any harm in identifying as plural.

It's currently well-known that a LOT of autistic people meet the criteria for, or are diagnosed with, (C)PTSD, and it is uncommon for autistic people to survive childhood without trauma. There's rudimentary theories that autistic people may be more likely to develop DID because of their likelihood to experience childhood trauma either due to low tolerance of negative events, and/or the normalized abuse and neglect of special needs children.

Side note, my therapist fully agrees with this, and the way my systemhood interacts with my autism is... HOO. I could go on for years.

I think with that in mind, it makes sense that being autistic might make you more prone to developing DID, but it doesn't make you mixed origin. Even if your autism is what caused you to experience trauma, the trauma is still what caused you to form dissociated parts/a system.

Cool! That does not mean people are not plural. What harm is there in an individual identifying as mixed-origin? For instance, I identify as mixed origin from time to time, when it pleases me to share that. I have a part who split during a nightmare and resurfaced when he was needed. I have two parts who split due to intentional creation. All of them are traumagenic, but knowing why they split and how has been vital to our steps towards FM. Why is it then wrong to acknowledge those origins, if it's helping me heal?

Saying your system is 'neurogenic' because your autism made you vulnerable to trauma would be like me saying my system is 'moralgenic' because my strong morals are often why my mom abused me. It doesn't make sense, and the trauma from the abuse is what actually caused the symptoms, not whatever about me caused me to be abused.

Again, very interested in your thoughts on xenogenders.

Shoutout to anyone who chooses to identify as a xenoorigin to help them better define their system. If it's helpful to you, more power to you.

And lastly a common argument I saw was people saying the endogenic community is simply nicer to them, which doesn't prove their validity, but is really sad. I personally had this experience when I was pro-endo as a kid, because anti-endos seemed so gung ho about their opinion and pro-endos had an 'accepting everyone' vibe that a child me found comforting.

Nothing is going to "prove" endogenic validity, especially not in a way that most anti-endo systems will accept. I think this should be far more of a red flag to you; the fact that so many said that the pro-endo community accepted them, that so many are pushed away from the anti-endo community due to the sheer horrendous quality of that group.

I say this as someone who was hurt immeasurably by pro-endo systems, and found more solace than elsewhere with anti-endo systems.

But then I got older and I realized why anti-endos are so adamant about endogenic systems not being a possible concept. It's because pro-endos will tell young people struggling with dissociation that their trauma wasn't enough and they must be endo, with a smile on their face. It's because endos will use our DID/OSDD terms like system, alter, split, and insert themselves into our healing spaces, with a smile on their face. It's because endos will conflate DID/OSDD experiences with dissociated parts, to the subjective and unproven experience of plurality, with a smile on their face.

Sigh.

As I got older, I realized why anti-endos are so adamant about endogenic systems not being possible. It's because anti-endos look at endogenic systems existing and rally against them. They look at adults and call them horrible, disgusting, spit in their faces, simply for daring to call themselves a system -- a term which has been community based for longer than the term "endogenic" meant "formed without trauma." It's because anti-endos are traumatized, and many of them refuse to realize they are projecting their fears and abuse onto endogenic systems, never knowing how to stop, how to heal, how to grow.

Because endogenic systems do not hurt people.

Can abusive endogenic systems hurt people? Yes! Obviously. But that does not mean every endogenic system is inherently doing the things you listed (just like how not every anti-endo does the things I listed above). And, again, I cannot express enough how I had those same exact experiences.

I just managed to not project them onto every single endogenic system.

To me, it's very reminiscent of how conspiracy theorists will tell you all about their insane beliefs but because they're kind and welcoming many people fall for it. A community being open and welcoming doesn't say anything to the validity of their beliefs. Anti-endos are more assertive because we have so much to lose in the meaning of our disorder and the danger levels of the online community (the danger being endos grooming people into their beliefs and delaying their healing, such as what happened to me), similar to how people hate COVID deniers because many of them have lost people to COVID or have the potential to lose people as a result of anti-masking and "COVID parties."

I wasn't "groomed" by endogenic systems, but I was told I was endogenic repeatedly. This led to me sticking by my abusers for far longer. This does not negate the possibility of endogenic existence. I crashed by car due to endogenic systems feeding me misinformation. This does not negate the possibility of endogenic existence. I was kicked out of the endogenic communities for not being Plural Enough, Pro-Endo Enough, Kind Enough, etc, and so forth, and so on.

And none of that negates what people are experiencing. That's just people being hurt, and newsflash, traumatized people will get hurt, regardless of what origins the person has, if any, who hurts them.

Is there value in discussing the problems with the online community of endogenic systems on tumblr? Absofuckinglutely, and I do so often. But that doesn't negate what people are experiencing, and doesn't somehow prove that endogenic systems don't exist. It honestly just speaks to me how horrible syscourse is, and how everyone needs educated on CDDs -- something you consistently fail to do on your blog left and right, as you refuse to acknowledge the autonomy of CDD systems repeatedly, even just within this post.

LET PEOPLE FUCKING LIVE THEIR LIVES. I beg this of you.

It genuinely is not hurting us, anymore so than a normal ass person could hurt us.

I see you mention therians. You don't mind them cause they aren't medical. Neither are endogenics. Please just.... stop. Go focus on recovery -- not on endogenic systems and telling DID systems they're not allowed to be plural.

[swisccfinds]

Kiss-n-Grind Mod by UTOPYA_cc

This is a good ineractable romance mod! I like that is gives more physical interactions with your sim's partner.

Creator's Notes-

Hey guys, hope you all are doing well. Quiet excited about this one,

The main idea was to make a mod that will focus on adding more romantic interactions to the game. to add more realistic moments between couples. I wanted to add what I feel is missing from the game.

So After some searching and looking at what should I make first, I have decided to start with a passionate grinding/dancing interactions, There is too much stuff to cover in the club life. that the game didn't manage to add, other than some silly dances. Your Sims couple can't even dance together.

Therefore I ended up turning These new animations into their own mod, It will be a great foundation for all the ideas that I want to add!!

The mod For now will introduces two new interactions with their animations and emotions/buffs

The new pie menu will appear in the Romance category under the name Kiss and Grind, all the new interactions will appear on it:

The interaction won't appear if your sim hasn't had their first kiss yet, or the level of romance is too low

Features Of the Mods:

New highly detailed animation with their own sounds

New pie menu for the new interaction

New icons for each Interaction/animation that will suit their own animation

A new dynamic buff system which increases with the romance bar

These interactions will give you a buff for both the actor and target sim.

There is a chance to get some notifications/comments from your partner

The animations were made to have a more romantic feel to them. to give the player the freedom to use them in any game style they want. All the icons used are custom-made by me, I did put extra time into them to be more visually pleasing and match their original content

Possible outcomes:

I have implemented in this mod a new buff system that will depend on the relationship between the Sims and some other factors:

First of all The outcomes will be highly randomized for both the actor and the target to keep the game more exciting.

The higher the romance level between your sims the higher chance of getting more intimates outcomes with stronger emotions:

Obviously, this is a club-based mod, you take your sim there to meet up with new Sims, So Even with a low romance, The outcomes may be higher and unique If your sim has high charisma.

When the romance bar is higher the 90% there is a small chance to get a notification/comment from your partner.

The mod will be enhanced further in the future, with New animations, New mechanics, and features.

I still love the original idea. So once I have decided all the interactions for it, I will start making them into their own mod, and leave this one just for the club-related animations.

The interactions shouldn't be played autonomously,

Better to wait until the animation is finished and the queue is clear before playing another one.

Requirement : This mod needs the XML injector by Scumbumbo. You can download it here : https://scumbumbomods.com/xml-injector

How to install :

Just put both my mod and the XML injector script into your Sims 4 Mods folder.

Please visit UTOPYA_cc and show some love and support for this amazing mod!

download

[demento-mori]

Alright! Now that ive finished Act 3 ive put together some of my general thoughts and feelings from this section of the game.

First off, I absolutely love how much the dialogue, descriptions, flavour text and so on changes and evolves throughout the loops. There are so many little details and plot threads, such as Siffrin repeatedly hitting their hip against that one corner, and getting increasingly frustrated each time, or learning that the dying plant is Mirabelle's and being able to compliment it in the next loop. It makes the characters and the world seem so organic and alive, and provides a sense of progression as you are able to learn more and more about the world around you. Even though the game gives you the option to loop directly to certain floors and areas, I find that I prefer to go through the house the 'legit' way each time, simply because I'm so eager to see whats changed.

Siffrin's psychological decline has been devastating to watch play out, especially since you, the player, are right there alongside them. You're also hoping that each new dialogue unlocked, and each change in the loop means that you've found the right solution to end the loops, and everytime you're disappointed and feel like your efforts were all for nothing. This especially hit home in regards to the party/family members. The first time you do each of their friendship quests its so heartwarming and emotional, you feel so happy that you've been able to get to know them better and become closer with them. But then, in each subsequent loop the impact of those quests lessen, and its easy to begin seeing them as just another hurdle you have to overcome in order to progress. It mirrors how Siffrin gradually stops seeing them as autonomous beings and rather as actors in a play, who he is "manipulating" to get his own happy ending.

The changes in the game's artwork that show Siffrin looking more worn down and tired is equally devastating. Its a small but very effective detail that drives in how the loops are wearing down on them. It almost feels like the game itself is becoming more and more corrupted as the loops wear on.

The worldbuilding is on another level. Like, you can tell that so much thought and care has been put into the world. The countries and their different customs, the religions and their practices and mythology. The language, the fashion, the magic system, the history. One thing that really stand out to me is how Vaugarde is clearly a very wonderful place, but its far from a utopia and there are still societal issues and injustices. For example, rather than taking the route of "there is absolutely no prejudice, all races genders and sexualities are equal", the game shows that gender and romantic/sexual attraction are all widely accepted and seen as fluid due to the change belief, but conversely aromanticism and asexuality are not as common or accepted as they clash with the religions practices. This makes the world seem much more fleshed out and believable, as it provides clear and convincing justifications for why the society is the way it is. And all of this isnt even getting into the more spoilery worldbuilding elements, such as colours and the island north of vaugarde, or even simplier stuff like the other countries and their cultural differences, or the various different vaugardian towns and their unique customs.

I feel like Isat is the only video game Ive ever seen that utilises the time loop concept to its full potential, let alone accomplising that in a way that still translates to a well-made and engaging gameplay loop(ha). Both the gameplay and the story make full use of the time loop gimmick in order to craft a compelling narrative, to explore the characters, their backstories and development, and the psychological effects of the situation upon them to their maximum potential, and to ensure that the gameplay loop never becomes stale and is able to consistently keep the player invested with new things to explore each loop. Its truly a masterpiece of game development.