A member who takes care of the system's mental and emotional health. This may include looking after younger members ("littles"), providing comfort and therapy-like support to other members, or any number of other related jobs.
A member who is "sourced from" a fictional character. May have similarities to their source in personality or even retain some of their source's memories, but are not necessarily literally the same individual; more often, fictives are closer to a replica or copy of that character, and may differ significantly in various ways.
A member who holds the system's front the majority of the time. Note the slight difference from a shell , which is a primarily social role; a member who is a shell is often also a host and vice versa, but not necessarily.
A member who helps ensure the system stays on-task and properly takes care of work, chores, and other responsibilities.
A member who causes significant and direct harm to the system or other members. Contrary to popular belief due to bad representation in media, persecutors are not "evil", and most are simply attempting to protect the system in a misguided or self-destructive way, and can often become protectors if the other members are willing to work with them to channel those efforts in a healthier direction.
A member who protects the system from percieved threats, usually external but potentially also mental or existential.
A member who serves as the system's public persona and/or legal identity. Typically the member who most often handles interactions with people outside the system who don't, or aren't allowed to, know about the system.
A system within a system - a member who is themselves a system separate from the overall supersystem . Individual members of a subsystem may or may not be considered members of the supersystem.
The inverse of a subsystem , a system which contains one or more members who are themselves systems.
A state in which two or more members of the system are mixed up with each other and unsure who is who. Usually unintentional, and may result in stress or confusion for some systems.
The act of holding the front simultaneously with one or more other members. In most systems, only one person is "in control" at a time most of the time, but co-fronting creates an exception to that dynamic. Not to be confused with co-conscious, in which multiple members receive sensory input from the body, but do not necessarily have control.
A state in which a particular member disappears or becomes effectively comatose for an indefinite period of time.
An "inner world" in which system members can interact with each other to varying degrees. Not exclusive to systems, but much more commonly a topic of discussion in the plural community than outside it, as it's a vital tool for individual members to communicate and interact.
One of the two primary medical diagnoses, alongside the somewhat broader OSDD (Other Specified Dissociative Disorder), which are common causes of plurality. Note that not all systems necessarily fit a particular diagnosis at all; DID is simply one of many possible causes of plurality.
Learn more about DID ⮚
A system whose formation was not caused by trauma, as opposed to traumagenic .
A system whose formation was caused by trauma, as opposed to endogenic .
A set of neopronouns representing a gender which is void-like, null, or empty.
A person who is not a system, being the only person occupying their body.
A small button in the shape of an encircled lowercase I, which are scattered throughout the Foxflower Shrine site, and can be clicked to pop up a short definition of potentially unfamiliar terms.
In the trading card game Magic: The Gathering, cards are assigned to one or more of five colors, representing both the card's mechanical identity and the character's driving philosophy. We've used them here as a "personality test", to represent different members' personalities in a brief and intuitive format.
Different combinations of colors overlap in various ways, and can give a broad overview of an approach to life. Keep in mind that no color or combination is evil, and the philosophies they represent are extreme oversimplifications. Learn more