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Educating y'all on fictives

I feel like fictives are one of the most misunderstood parts of plurality, so woe! Educational post be upon ye.

What is a fictive?

A type of alter that forms based on a fictional character. This isn't just movie and book characters but can be figures from mythology or fairy tales or OCs too. A fictive is a form of introject. An introject being an alter that forms based on a pre existing person. So yes, real people. Celebrities, influencers, family members and friends etc. we call ones based on real people factives. Unfortunately it's pretty common for trauma based systems to introject their abusers, so it's by no means just fictives that exist in systems.

Why do they exist?

There's a few different factors, all can play a part in a fictives development or only some will. Depends on the situation.

1) They're like a base. They already have a name, appearance, general personality. So if the brain is splitting, and it needs a new alter FAST. It's very easy to just copy and paste a character into the system. Half the work is already done, they have a name and appearance and personality already.

2) They fill a particular role. Let's say you need a caretaker, and you happen to be watching a new TV show at the time. One of the characters has a very gentle, parental like personality and would be the exact kind of person that takes to a caretaker role well. So the system will take that character to fill that role. This has happened with us several times. We needed a protector, L is a detective which is literally a job that stops crime and protects people. So he split to fill the protector role. Nowadays he's the co host, but the current protector Achilles split for the same reason. We needed a new protector because L had to move onto being co host. Achilles is literally a warrior who is known for his fierce protection of his boyfriend. He makes a perfect protector.

3) The character means something to you. When a child is going through a trauma or stressor, it's very common for children use daydreaming, imagination play and fiction as a form of escapism. Kids look up to superhero characters, magical characters, the 'good guys' in a story. Their mind goes "if I was friend with x character, they'd be able to help me. They'd be friends with me" or "if I was x character, I'd not be in this situation, I could fight back". They cling to that particular character out of a sense of longing for help and comfort, being strong enough to fight back or get through the trauma. So the character ends up splitting into the system. This also happened with us as a kid, with Ahk and Zack. Zack is a pop star who's well liked. We were a bullied, isolated and lonely child. We were in the mindset of "if I was like Zack, I'd not be made fun of ams have friends" and in popped Zack. With Ahk it was "he's a brave, powerful Pharaoh. He'd be able to handle something like this" so in popped Ahk.

4) I call this one the domino effect. You split one fictive for one of the reasons above, then that fictive starts to miss their friends and family, they start to process their own trauma and feel the need to have someone to help them through it. Someone they know and trust. Like a source mate. Boom, you've just split one. This is ALSO something that happened to us with Hypnos. He REALLY misses is family, for four years he was without any of his siblings. But then Moros showed up because Hypnos was longing for his big brother for four years. This doesn't always happen, it's one of those right place right time situations. But when the stars align, it can happen.

5) if you have Autsim or ADHD or something similar that involves special interest and hyperfixations, that can also effect you splitting a lot of fictives. If literally all you're thinking about your favourite game because your special interest, you'll probably end up getting a few of the characters just from the fact they're on your mind while you're going through a split.

6) their trauma mirrors yours. Sometimes the brain can repress and cover up trauma memories with faux memories of situations that are similar but not the same. It's a way of disassociating and separating yourself from the trauma so you can still function in day to day life. So in the case of systems, if a character has been through something similar to you, you can split them as a way of covering up your own trauma with theirs.