Tag: advice wanted

Shard-verse Rambling about multiplicity

I swear I’m going to start actually drawing the comic, but I keep getting distracted by my conlang.

I know I have at least a couple multiples who read my tumblr, so if you want to comment / critique / offer suggestions, I’d appreciate it.

I’ve been a bit annoyed because I have two multiple-ish systems [1. I say multiple-ish because in-universe they’re questionable. Swordcat doesn’t really have two people in one body – one has a body of its own, it’s just that that body is a sword so it also uses Swordcat’s. Because swords don’t have, like, legs. The other is Iosis/Ostanes who are questionable because they split themselves with magic alchemy.]  who are both villians / antagonists. [2. If Iosis/Ostanes were the protagonists, they could be anti-heroes, because although they kill people and stuff, they’re doing it for a good reason and they don’t do it indiscriminately.] Which sucks, because that’s about the only exposure people get to multiples/pluralities.

I had already planned on having Delia’s admin assistant at Future-Tech be multiple, but that’s just one (and I want to change their system name) and I don’t know how often they’ll show up. BUT. I’m going to make Delia’s cook (Jane Quigley is the legal name) also multiple – and they helped the other guys get the job at Future-Tech (both groups belong to a multiple like club/support group thingy in or around Shard City). I gotta figure out how exactly that’ll work and work it into the story asap (Swordcat first appears in issue #5). Jane first shows up in the story after that.

I kinda want to keep things simple for the first few issues – keep the Burton’s to Delia and Joel, with her brother-in-law showing up briefly as support / someone to elicit some info-dumping. But I may switch those two stories around, because I’d rather some civilian / good guy systems show up before a criminal one. [3. Iosis/Ostanes won’t get published for years still, so Swordcat should be the only problem for a while. And neither of them are really terrible people – Leon is kinda sweet actually  – but they’re still in prison and stuff, so…] And I still need to figure out who the people in the Quigley system are.

Darn me and my attempts to be a responsible writer.

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Shard-verse diversity – the Flock

Input welcomed to make stuff more realistic or to point out stuff I missed, especially from people who are multiple. (I am not)

Delia’s admin assistant is multiple (in-universe there’s something called Multiple Consciousness Condition – it’s NOT a disorder or disease. Multiples who need help get something similar to family therapy to work together and communicate better). (I’m specifically working on getting a ‘normal’ multiple in there because I have a couple characters, Swordcat and Ostanes/Iosis that are artificially multiple.) (Er, spoilers?)

(I’m going to say right here, anybody who’s going to try to say that multiplicity isn’t real or that it can’t be healthy or that people are doing it for attention or any other garbage like that can just shut up right now. I don’t want to hear it, I won’t approve comments along those lines, and, also, you’re wrong.)

The person who fronts the most at work is Irina. The body is female, 30-ish, and white. Over time Irina has grown to resemble the body more, although she’s still blonde while the body has dark hair. She’s non-binary and her in-world body is genderless. She showed up with a dozen others when the original was about 11, for no especial reason. (The home life was chaotic with lots of moving and family members in and out, but nothing horribly abusive). They faded / left for other worlds / died along with the original leaving Irina scrambling alone for several months. Irina took the legal name (was just ‘the pink girl’ – they were mostly named after colors by the original). She has anxiety and depression. She’s got a bit of a short temper which she tries to control. She tries to polite and nice to everyone, but she’s stubborn and impulsive.

The next people to show up were the twins Kim and Viola Violet who showed up when the body was about 13.

Kim’s a little boy aged about seven. He’s got periwinkle-ish skin, violet eyes, and butterfly wings. He can’t walk, but floats. In meatspace he’s very clumsy and stumbles a lot. He likes boys and gets lots of crushes. He likes birds and dinosaurs and loves to birdwatch. He’s very forgetful and kind of selfish (like a little kid), but loyal to his friends.

Viola age slides between 12-ish and 25-ish. She’s got red eyes, red hair, and dark purple skin. She’s asexual, has depression, and light and noise sensitivities. Because of their chaotic life she overcompensates by trying to control everything. Kim helps her remember to lighten up. She’s got tons of survival skills, the most useful one lately being able to pick locks. She loves languages and is always learning new ones. She fronted for most of the body’s teenage years. She takes a long time to warm up to people.

They’ve had a large amount of headmates show up and then fade over the years. During their teenage years it was about one a month on average.

The last one to stick around is William Beck. He’s moody, a bit of a hoarder, and has anxiety and paranoia. He’s about ten years older than the body and ages with it. Walked in from another world about when the body was graduating high school, and their family was moving across country (they decided to run away not long after that). He likes opera and has a good voice. He’s very loyal and kind. He’s got an excellent memory in-world but loses time when not fronting or co-fronting so he makes lots of notes.

William can be co-present with anybody but when not co-fronting can’t talk it Kim or Viola. Viola can only be co-present with Kim or William and loses time when not fronting. Kim can co-front with anyone. Irina doesn’t lose time and can always talk to everybody. They’re all generally co-conscious but during times of stress the fronter will get locked in for up to months at a time, which everybody hates. Kim hardly ever fronts because he can’t fake being an adult well.

They’re estranged from their family because they couldn’t handle it. They’ve got overlapping groups of friends. Delia, their boss, knows they’re multiple as do all their friends (because it isn’t stigmatized except by very conservative people). It’s easier to let strangers and other random people think they’re a singlet.

Comments? Suggestions? Critique?

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