Systemhood

Headmates

Communication

System members communicate with others outside their system in various means, some are verbal while fronting and have either similar or different voices to other members, some aren’t verbal but can form (and type/write/sign) full sentences, some can’t themselves type/write/sign full sentences but can have other members help them do so, and others can’t form sentences at all and communicate through feelings and ideas (that other members may be able to explain or translate).

Headmates often have to manually converse with one another, as they don’t necessarily share understanding or memory. Some systems can do this without any external input - simply speaking inside themselves, sometimes at higher speeds than verbal conversation. Many others need to speak aloud or use external tools like a notepad, a voice recorder, a private chat server, or even a conversation with a friend to mediate, in order to communicate with one another.

Don’t expect one member to remember or understand something you’ve taught to another by default, nor to agree to something another agreed to.

Cooperation, Conflict, and Competence

To operate effectively, systems often need to first learn to communicate, then to cooperate. While cases vary wildly, systems that are able to at least begrudgingly get along tend to have a more positive experience with the everyday - handling daily tasks, swapping the front, communicating with others, and so on.

Often moving towards headmate cooperation involves self-acceptance, and acceptance of others. Many system members are uncomfortable with or reject the idea of being a member of the system they’re in (or the body that entails) - or reject the presence of others around them. The first step of cooperating is accepting that the reality of the situation is that all system members are, in fact, system members - whether they get along or not.

Conflict can easily arise within a system from things like differing comfort levels with the body, different tastes on clothing or appearance, or plural-specific issues like someone not being allowed much time in the front. Some conflicts can be resolved internally but many systems require an external mediator to try and talk through the issue with both parties.

A few boons of a cooperative system include each member being able to have the kind of time in front they prefer, being able to help themselves and the other members of the system by playing to their own strengths while swapping out for things they have the most trouble with, and being able to better work with the system’s memory by keeping eachother in the loop.

Every system rests at a different level of cooperation, and some can’t breach certain barriers like communication, or willingly swapping the front. This should be respected, and not pushed uninvited.

Bonds

From the point of communication, or sometimes even a lack thereof, bonds between headmates can be quite diverse. Pluralfolk may consider their headmates to be close friends, housemates they simply put up with, a small family of some kind, and so on.

Individual system members may have fine-grained ways they relate to eachother - mentors, romantic partners, rivals, collaborators, or maybe just someone you look out for. On account of the realities of masturbation, it's also often practical to consider an intrasystem relationship to be sexual to some extent, for if nothing else to avoid discomfort.

Many bonds between headmates rely heavily on being able to socialise and interact in group environments - with people outside of their own systems involved. This gives some pluralfolk the opportunity to keep a conversation flowing without getting stuck or feeling insecure (i.e Internalised Saneism). Building rapport with others outside a system, especially over multiple members, can be very helpful for systems learning to work together - even without direct support.

Physicality

The Body

Members of a plural system share their body (usually “The Body”, “The System’s body” or sometimes “Vessel”). This creates awkward practicalities in daily life. The clothes one member puts on in the morning is not necessarily the clothes the fronting member wants to be in in the afternoon. Physical transition plans may clash, voices may feel incorrect, and so on.

While some systems consider the body to be owned by a “Host” of some kind, most pluralfolk understand that they have a responsibility to treat the body as shared (though this may take time to accept).

Sensation and Mismatch

Some elements of plurality exist beyond thoughts and headspace, but stretch into sensation (which could be considered more “subconscious” by comparison) - as an example, many pluralfolk experience a physical-feeling sensation when switching in or out of the front (often a “floating”, “sliding”, or “shifting” feeling), or feeling a presence (like a “shadow on the shoulder”) of a headmate being close by.

Where system members have differing appearances, this can impact how they experience being fronting. As an example, members who are taller may feel like the ground is further below them when they front, or that others around them “feel” less tall. Members who have a dissimilar frame to the body (or even aren’t bipedal) might feel clumsy while fronting, and have trouble with basic movement and manipulation. Members with additional appendages (legs, arms, horns, ears, tails, etc) might feel like those features are “ghostily” attached to their body, in varying levels of sensation.

Signifiers and “Tells”

Members of a system can _Signify _that they're fronting to others in various ways - Swappable name tags, reintroducing themselves when a switch occurs, or online using text signifiers (such as starting messages with a letter or emoji) or accessibility tools (e.g. PluralKit for discord) to indicate who is speaking.

Members can sometimes be told apart without signifiers (to varying degrees of accuracy) either consciously or subconsciously. On the conscious level, fronting members often exhibit different speech patterns and voices, and over time one could notice differences in gestures and other bodily expressions. Subconsciously, footfalls and the way a member walks can become recognisable. Finally, the way a certain body and face is held (often called it's "Tensions" - posture, resting face, etc) can eventually form a second-nature guess for who's fronting in a system - to the point where someone might feel that photos of two different fronters taken seconds apart have "different faces."