Soulbonding Info

Made by: The Soulbonded Teaparty with help from @Wineryplace

What is soulbonding?

Soulbonding is when a person, often after forming a strong connection to a fictional character or world, can communicate with characters in their mind. They can originate from various sources such as books, movies, original characters, roleplaying, daydreaming, personal stories, and more. Soulbonding can be experienced in many different ways and people have varying beliefs about the origins of these connections.
Some examples:

(Disclaimer: This list doesn't cover everything, and some people may see their bonds differently.)

  • Some bonders see it as a psychological phenomenon, like the illusion of independent agency.

  • Some bonders see their bonds as beings from other worlds that become attached to them.

  • Some bonders develop an emotional connection to a character and one day they start talking back.

  • Sometimes after writing about a character they'll come alive in the author's mind.

  • After someone develops a strong emotional connection with a character, that character might suddenly appear in someone's mind.

  • Someone who daydreams a lot might notice that the characters in their daydreams start developing their own personalities and making their own choices.

  • A person might intentionally try connecting with a character by reaching out or inviting them to bond with them.

  • Sometimes a character from a dream sticks around after a person has woken up and maintains a sense of connection.

Soulbonding was coined by Amanda Flowers in 1998~ on the Just For Writers (aka JFW) mailing list (though since it was a mailing list, the exact date is hard to pinpoint). Originally it was spelled as SoulBonding; based off the title of the rpg SoulBlazer. The term got spread to more people and in 2002 the first Live journal community dedicated to soulbonding was created. When the community came in contact with the multiplicity community on LJ, the two began intermixing, which caused infighting in both communities about the nature of soulbonding and plurality. As time went on, information about soulbonding became harder to find as websites were taken down, and (from what we have seen, so take this with a grain of salt) the community became absorbed into the plural and fictionkin communities.

LB-Lee sources

Terms

  • Soulbonder  The person (normally from this world, but doesn't have to be) who bonds with a soulbond. It can be used to describe the host of a soulbonded system. Can be shortened to bonder(s).

  • Soulbond  The person a soulbonder bonds with. It can be shorted to bond or bonds. Can be shortened to bond(s).

  • Permanent resident  A soulbond who stays with the soulbonder permanently, they may be unwilling or unable to return home. Other names: Resident, permanent, live-in

  • Daytripper  A bond who can travel to and from their world, they can sometimes be both a telephone bond and a daytripper. Other names: Visitors, sometimes guests

  • Telephone bond  A bond who stays in their world, but can still communicate with the bonder in this world. It's like communicating with a bond through an internal phone line. Other names: Internal cellphone, long distance, caller

  • Tourist  A variant of daytripper for bonds who rarely visit or visit noticeably less than other bonds. (coined by @anomalycouncil on Tumblr)

  • Interim   A permanent resident that leaves only when necessary, usually they'll leave for short periods of time and come back for extended periods, making them more of a resident rather than daytripper. (coined by @soularsys on Tumblr)

  • Spammer  A telephone bond that is constantly around and talking to their bonder while staying in their reality. (coined by @soularsys on Tumblr)

  • Telepath  A permanent resident or daytripper that is capable of communicating like a telephone bond when they aren't with the soulbonder. (coined by @soularsys on Tumblr)

  • Prophet  A type of bond that communicates with their bonder through dreams. (coined by @soularsys on Tumblr)

  • Guest  A telephone bond that sometimes becomes a daytripper for short periods of time, but stays in their reality more, making them more telephone bond rather than daytripper. (coined by @soularsys on Tumblr)

  • Time Lord  A bond that believes their reality is the future of the body's reality or the bond's reality is/was the past of the body's reality and time traveled to become a soulbond. (coined by @soularsys on Tumblr)

  • Reverse soulbonding  An experience where instead of a bond coming into your head, you go into theirs. It can be experienced as a type of dream. A soulbonder who can do this is called a traveler.

  • Soulbond sharing  An instance where a soulbond moves from one person's mind to another, they retain their personality and any information/experiences gained while they were bonded to the first person.

  • Munbonding  A subterm under soulbonding that denotes having purely psychological origins for their soulbonds. Pronounced "moon-bonding" (coined by @winreyplace on Tumblr)

  • Cosmabonding  A term for soulbonders who's bonds are made through reality shifting, soulbonds that shift from their realities or can shift back and forth from their realities to this one, etc. This is usually seen as a magical or spiritual experience but can also be psychological. (coined by @soularsys on Tumblr)

Terms that have fallen out of use and/or aren't used much anymore

  • Soulscape  A term used to describe a soulbonders innerworld/mindscape/headspace, a place inside a soulbonders head (or separate place entirely) to interact with and/or house their bonds.

  • Insourced  Soulbonds that aren't derived from an outside source, such as ocs or paras.

  • Outsourced  Soulbonds that are derived from an outside source, such as tv shows, books, anime, movies, ect.

  • Reality-version  A soulbonders version of a character and/or their world.

  • tar'morende  A term meaning temporary soulbond.

  • dar'morende  A term meaning permanent soulbond.

Other terms

  • Plural  The experience of having multiple people (or facets) sharing one body. There are many causes and types of plurality.

  • Headmate  A person or entity in a plural system.

  • Walk in  An entity that "walks into" the body after birth at any point. They normally have memories of another life. This can result in a headmate or they can replace a soul entirely, some kin use this to explain their identity. (note: they can also be headmates that walk in from other parts of the system)

  • Gateway system  A gateway system is a type of system that is connected to other worlds through gates/portals that are experienced as real and external to the system, body, and brain.

  • Fictive  A headmate based on a fictional source. This was coined by the soulbonding community.

  • Fictionkin Someone who identifies as a fictional character or species.

  • Source  The piece of media a fictive comes from.

(Click on the images for the actual posts, the links go to the makers accounts overall)

Flags

Soulbonding flag
(note: the colors of this carrd were mostly colorpicked from this flag)

[img id] The flag has five horizontal stripes. From the top down the colors of the stripes are: red, orange, light orange, purple, and dark blue. On the right side of the flag, there is a light orange circle in the orange stripe. On the left side, there's a light purple circle in the purple stripe. The orange and purple stripes curve around the circles, overlapping the stripes next to them. [/end img id]

Soulbond flag

Soulbonder flag

Visitor flag (an alt term for daytripper)

Resident flag (an alt term for permanent resident)

Caller flag (an alt term for telephone bond)

[img id] A flag with five horizontal stripes. From top to bottom, the colors are dark red, rust red, pale purple, grey, and dark blue. In the center of the flag is an image of a vintage phone. [/end img id]

Daytripper flag

[img id] A flag with six horizontal stripes. From top to bottom, the colors are dark navy, blue, bright blue, yellow, orange, and crimson. In the flag's center is an image of a combined sun and moon. The sun has a black outline. [/end img id]

Telephone bond flag

[img id] A flag with horizontal stripes. The top stripe is dark black, the second stripe is medium grey, the third stripe is bright red. In the middle is a wider, medium yellow stripe. Below that, the same pattern repeats from red to black. In the center of the flag, there's a red rotary phone. [/end img id]

Permanent bond flag

[img id] The flag has six horizontal stripes. The colors from top to bottom are dark navy, dark pink, raspberry, bright light blue, pastel yellow, and white. In the middle of the flag, there is a picture of a black chain with three links, which has a thin white outline around it. [/end img id]

Symbols

An eye with a Venn diagram for the pupil

Soulbonding symbol

Soulbonding rings/orbit

Soulbonding rings/orbit for soulbonders and soulbonds in relationships