Soulbonding Info

What is soulbonding?

Soulbonding is a phenomenon where a person, usually after forming a strong connection to a fictional character and/or world, can communicate with characters in their head. There are three categories of bonds: daytrippers, permanent residents, and telephone bonds. They can be anything from a character from media to a soulbonders ocs or paras.
The more metaphysical definition of soulbonding is: A person that's in this world connects to entities from other universes, which allows them to enter the soulbonders mind.

How do I soulbond?

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. Soulbonding became more and more obscure overtime as sites got deleted, and (from what I have seen) the community became absorbed into both the plural and fictionkin communities.

(Note: All the essays on the history stop around the late 2010s, I'm going to write a history essay on it that includes more recent history and first hand accounts)

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.

  • Soulbond  The person a soulbonder bonds with. It can be shorted to bond or bonds.

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

  • Day trippers  A bond who can travel to and from their world, they can sometimes be both a telephone bond and a daytripper. Other names: Guests, visitors

  • Telephone bonds  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

  • Reverse soulbonding  An experience where instead of a bond coming into your head, you go into theirs. It's generally 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 persons mind to another, they retain their personality and any information/experiences gained while they were bonded to the first person.

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.

  • Ficitive  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 ficitive comes from

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

Flags

Metaphysical soulbonding flag

Soulbonding flag
(note: this flag is exclusively meant for people who use the metaphysical definition of soulbonding)(note 2: the colors of this carrd were mostly colorpicked from this flag)

Metaphysical soulbond flag

Soulbond flag
(note: this flag is exclusively meant for people who use the metaphysical definition of soulbonding)

Metaphysical soulbonder flag

Soulbonder flag
(note: this flag is exclusively meant for people who use the metaphysical definition of soulbonding)

Symbols

Soulbond symbol

Soulbonding symbol