Plural Etiquette for The River System

What do you go by collectively?

The system name is The River System, but that's sort of grudgingly. Everyone left the name up to Daski so they get to live with their non-decisions. lol

How should people refer to you?

With our individual identities, first and foremost! We are all incredibly individual people, and it is extremely important to us to be acknowledged as so.

When referring to us as a whole, or as multiple involved entities, we're totally fine with plural pronouns like "y'all", "you bunch", plural they, plural you, "you&", or even "hey you".

Non-Daski systemmates will recognize if you are referring to us as a collective by calling us The River System, but might take a moment to realize what you're talking about if they are referred to as "a member of The River System".

What terms do you prefer for referring to yourselves as individuals, or as a group? Is there any other terminology for yourselves or aspects of your experience that you use and want people to know, or that you dislike and want people to avoid when talking about you?

We use "people" as a descriptor of our personhoods. We despise this rise of the word ""being"" in the alterhuman community, and loathe being called "beings". We use "plural", "system", or rarely "collective" to describe our plurality, and we prefer to use "systemmate/sysmate" and "headmate". Only the Manor Subsystem boys use "alter" for their subsystem--the rest of us are extremely uncomfortable with the term.

We dont subscribe to the Named system roles, but members have in-sys archetypes that they fulfill and even perform--just, not ones that conform to the overarching community's expectations. As such, we tend to shy away from using "roles" because they put undue expectation on us.

Who in your system are people most likely to interact with?

90% of the time you will interact with Daski, the Host. 10% of the time, you may run into Wenduag, as she is the most interested in outside experiences (though Duranos is up and coming in that regard too, so these percentages might change).

There is a chance you'll run into Chief or Duranos, and that is most likely because they are handling Business for Daski. If you're talking about specific topics, there's a % chance of Uchak butting her beak into the conversation.

Are there any system members who are nonverbal or otherwise have difficulty communicating?

No nonverbals. The only one who can have any issues communicating would be Damien. He has an extremely thick accent, and that tends to translate into his written text. It varies between mostly plain english with some specific accent quirks, to whole words phonetically spelled, with the latter being the hardest to parse. He understands that this makes communication hard, and is totally fine being asked to have someone else type his text for him.

What should people do if they don't know who is at front?

You're more than welcome to ask! 99% of the time if someone other than Daski is in front, they will sign off messages or use PluralKit to proxy messages on Discord, so this is likely unnecessary, but we will never be offended at being asked who's talking.

Is it okay for people to ask if they can talk to someone who isn't at front at the moment?

Totally fine, yeah! We cant 100% guarantee that the requested individual will be free to come up to speak, or that we can reach them, but the current fronter will absolutely let you know that.

If someone talks to one of you, will other system members be aware of the conversation?

Yes, by default. Our co-fronting section of the headspace is rather expansive, and is also the common area of the mindscape, so folks are quite capable and free to wander in and out. Thus, be very aware that whatever you share with us, is almost 100% guaranteed to have multiple headmates listening in.

As well, the way our front memory works, anyone who fronts will have access to the memories of the previous fronter(s).

If multiple system members will be aware of a conversation, will they want to chime in? If someone wants to speak to a system member one-on-one, what expectations can they have and How should they communicate this?

Yes, and they often do if they feel they have relevant input.

If someone wants to speak one-on-one, all you need to do is ask! We will do our best to make the conversation as private as possible, but be aware that we have quite a runny thought- and empathicleak.

We are able to shield our thoughts from one another, and ask for folks to head out of the co-front area. This tends not to be a request folks take an issue with and thus will comply without a hassle, but we cannot nor do not want to force anyone out of co-front.

How out are you?

We're out in private spaces that are plural accepting, and on our Tumblr blog and of course this site. We dont go out of our way to introduce ourselves as plural to non-plural/alterhuman spaces, but we may link back here whilst in an other type of space.

We are also out to Daski's meatspace spouse, but only a very select few other meatspace friends.

Do you have any internal communication difficulties, memory issues, switch triggers, etc that others should be mindful of?

Nope, nothing out of the ordinary for ADHD, and switch triggers tend to be really hard to hit, and are personal information.

You can get the attention of Uchak or Wenduag by talking about certain topics, in which they're likely to pipe up in a conversation, but 95% of the time when someone is speaking, it's actually them in co-front, dictating what to type to Daski. Switches are a new phenomena for us, quite honestly.

What is your stance on being asked questions?

The vast majority of the time, we love questions! Especially about how our system works, or the metaphysical theory behind it. If it is questions about specific headmates, it is up to them whether they feel comfortable answering a question, but most of the time it will still be a yes. (The most private individual is Chief, good luck wrenching any information about themself out of them.)