Soulbonding Info
What is soulbonding?
Soulbonding is a phenomenon where a person can communicate with characters in their head after forming a strong connection to a fictional character and/or world. 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. There are many different ways this can be seen and people have varying beliefs about the exact origins of their bonds.
Some examples:
(Disclaimer: this isn't an exhaustive list and some people might have a completely different view of their bonds)
Some bonders see them as coming from their writing, after writing about a character they come alive in their mind.
Some bonders see their bonds as entities connected to them from other worlds.
Some bonders develop an emotional connection to a character and one day they show up inside their mind.
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.
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.
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.
Munbonding A subterm under soulbonding that denotes having purely psychological origins for their soulbonds. Pronounced "moon-bonding" (coined by @winreyplace 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.
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
Experiences
(Note: There are more essays n stuff on the resource doc)
Essays
Stories and poems
News articles + studies
Other stuff
(Click on the images for the actual posts, the links go to the makers accounts overall)
Flags
We would like to make another soulbonding flag that's for everyone who soulbonds, however we've been having trouble with making one. We decided to have people in the community suggest colors and stuff!
Soulbonding flag
(note: the colors of this carrd were mostly colorpicked from this flag)
[img id] A rectangular flag with five horizontal stripes. From top to bottom, the colors are red, orange, pastel orange, purple, and dark blue. Near the right side of the flag, there is a light orange circle in the middle of the orange stripe. Near the left side of the flag, there is a light purple circle in the middle of the purple stripe. The orange and purple stripes warp to surround the circles, overlapping the adjacent stripes. [/end img id]
Soulbond flag
(note: this flag is exclusively meant for people who use the metaphysical definition of soulbonding)
Soulbonder flag
(note: this flag is exclusively meant for people who use the metaphysical definition of soulbonding)
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 center of the flag, there 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 row has a dark black stripe, the second row has a medium grey stripe, the third row has a bright red stripe, in the middle is a wider, medium yellow stripe, below it is the same color pattern repeated from red to black. There is a red silhouette of a rotary phone in the middle of the flag. [/end img id]
Permanent bond flag
[img id] A flag with six horizontal stripes. From top to bottom, the colors are dark navy, dark pink, raspberry, bright light blue, pastel yellow, and white. In the center of the flag, there is an image of a black chain with three links. The chain has a thin white border around it. [/end img id]
Symbols
![[img id] An eye with a venn diagram for the pupil [/end img id]](assets/images/image04.png?v=c5e25cc2)
Soulbonding symbol