#tsoc;steven

[crowlysium]

Alright, I won’t write a mini-dissertation about this topic, but it’s time to discuss how Steven turning to stone in the Duat represents dormancy.

First, let me explain what dormancy is. Dormancy is the term for when an alter becomes inactive. They don’t front and you can’t find them in IW. It’s kinda like a volcano. A dormant volcano isn’t gone, it’s still a volcano, but it hasn’t woken up. Many systems describe dormancy as an alter sleeping for an indeterminate amount of time. It isn’t death, however.

Now that we know what dormancy is, we can compare this to Steven turning to stone and Marc’s dialog in the Field of Reeds after.

Marc says to Taweret, “We need to go back for him.” This prompts the very correct response of “It doesn’t work like that,” from the Hippo.

Forcing an alter back from dormancy can have a lot of negative effects on the alter and system. It’s something that shouldn’t be done unless absolutely necessary, as dormancy happens for a specific reason. This is a show with a hippo goddess, though.

Taweret says “You don’t need him anymore, Marc.” Alters go dormant because their role has been fulfilled. All alters have a purpose, not determined by if the system chooses to follow those labels that denote the role. When the body died, Steven had no purpose.

-Steven Grant

[crowlysium]

Today I want to talk about how the psych ward from then later Moon Knight episodes represents both the Duat and the IW (Inner World)

We know from Tawaret outright stating it that the psych ward is the Duat, where souls are judged in the Egyptian afterlife. She states that the ship holds the memories of a person and that it takes the form of something comprehensive to the deceased.

In systems with an IW (Not all have one), it can be just about anything. For example, ours used to be various places from all of our introjects sources, but it has recently changed to be our original fantasy world from our wip. Some others could have a simple house, or a void with singular rooms. They could, such as with Marc’s system, have a mental health facility.

How is the psych ward both the afterlife and the IW?

Marc and Steven are able to interact in a physical manner and are also able to view memories, things that do happen in IW. They also go there when the body dies, which means neither of them would front.

For systems with IWs, it is where alters live when not fronting. In the episode where Steven isn’t fronting, where he says he is imprisoned, he is in their IW, though he (and Marc) may not have access to visualize that yet. It is also possible neither could visualize it as they were largely co-fronting during their time together and for some systems, when alters are cofronting this limits their connection to their IW

It is likely intentional that this place works as it does so that it involves the Egyptian mythology of Moon Knight and also subtly represents DID in a way that isn’t too far off from the realities some systems may experience. As a singlet, it is hard to accurately portray our experiences, but by putting it in with the afterlife, it does so very well. A system might be able to relate to some of the things in that psych ward, where singlets can simply enjoy a plot about escaping the afterlife.

Steven turning to stone represents dormancy, by the way, but that’s a topic for later.

-Steven Grant