Add a Story to the list!

[lb_lee]

If you have a story you want to add to the list, leave it in the comments below! Anyone can do this; you don't need an account!

This catalog purposely takes a very broad, ambiguous view of what constitutes "plural." Make our day! Story types that have been accepted in the past include:
* Spirit possession
* Imaginary friends
* Spirit marriage
* Exploring geographies of the mind, imagination, and fiction
* Bodysharing symbiotes
* MPD/DID
* Plural stories
* Telepathic bodyhopping shenanigans

Rules for submission (changed 5/17/2024):

• Only submit stories. We're willing to play with what defines a story, especially for personal experience accounts and experimental work, but self-help, philosophy, 101 and such do not belong here.
• Don't submit your own work. Boost your fellows!
• Please do not submit more than four titles by the same creator/s. When this archive gets bigger, we'll expand how many entries one creator/s can have.
• The story must be made by an adult (or at least not easily identified as made by a minor). This is to prevent malicious submissions and harassment of kids.
• The story must be publicly available. No unrecorded LARPS, rare books, or stuff on account-locked websites.
• If incomplete, the story must at least have a decent stop point. No just-started webcomics, please! They may not endure!
• You must have taken in the whole story (or at least all that's available at the time of submission). This is for complete content warnings and stuff.
• Spirited/many-selvedness must be core to story or main character/s. If you can remove it from the work without the whole thing falling apart, then please do not recommend it. (If you're not sure, ask! Make our day!)
• You must say why it's worth plurals' time. It doesn't have to be good, exactly, but it's gotta be worth it. This is to avoid completionist spam.

Does the story qualify? Then submit it using the form below! (Feel free to use the tags page for pointers.)

[Title] by [Creator/s] ([genre] [medium], [year released])

"[insert a cool quote from the work here]"

Blurb:

Why is it worth your time?:

Plural/1+ Tags: Choose from the ones on the tag list, or add your own!

Content Warnings: please include spoilers! I have this comm set up so that individual posts have only plural tag spoilers (because that's what folks are here for!), while content warnings will be in the comments. That way, people who want to remain spoiler-free can read the post itself and be fine, and the people who want all the warnings can scroll down.

Accessibility Notes: See the tag list for examples. Also note how you can get it. Is it an easy library book? Has someone digitized it and put it elsewhere? Is it backed up anywhere?

Misc. Notes (if any):

Is it long, medium, or short?: I wrote the standards here.

It is for kids, teens, adults, or everybody?

Comments

[erinptah]

Austria's entry for Eurovision 2023 immediately reminded me of some of the songs here, so I figured I'd bring it up!

Teya & Salena - Who The Hell Is Edgar? music video / Lyrics (English & Armenian)

Happy to fill out the whole form if you like it...or, hey, it's a 3-minute song, if y'all wanted to write up the entry yourself it wouldn't take long.

[lb_lee]

We unfortunately have very poor connectivity in our new place right now, so listening to music or watching vids is right out. So normally you'd be right, we'd do it ourself, but in this case, you filling out the form would be a big help!

[erinptah]

On it!


Title: Who The Hell Is Edgar?

Creator/s: Teya & Salena

Medium, Genre, and Format: Song + music video, Europop, comedy, digital

Year Released: 2023

Is it long, medium, or short?: Short

It is for kids, teens, or adults only?: All ages, unless you think "who the hell...?" is too salty for smaller children

A cool quote from the work: "Don't know how he possessed me, but I'm happy that he did / 'Cause this song is feeling special, and is gonna make me rich"

Blurb: Our narrator finds herself body-sharing with Edgar Allen Poe, decides to let him write as much as he wants, while she and her friend/business partner handle the marketing.

Why is it worth your time?: Austria's entry to Eurovision 2023, which means it's catchy, unreservedly weird, a quick watch, and comes with a great performance. The narrator's relationship with Edgar is incredibly cute and positive, even though the people around her never quite get it (and even though his writing genius doesn't translate into the riches she was hoping for).

Plural Tags: abuse: not mentioned, people: introjects, people: the dead, relationships: teamwork, type: switching

Content Warnings: One line about "Maybe I should call a doctor or an exorcist", but she only brings up the idea to reject it, and never goes back to it.

Accessibility Notes: Audio, the music video has captions in English, lyrics written out and translated into multiple languages on EurovisionWorld

Misc. Notes (if any): I went with the "switching" tag even though it doesn't come up in the lyrics, because the music video gives the narrator a few masc-presenting scenes complete with fake mustache, which I'm gonna go ahead and interpret as "trying to make the body more comfortable for Edgar while he's fronting."

[(Anonymous)]

Title: Secondhand Soup

Creator/s: Kiernan Sjursen-Lien/zakeno/K+CO’s system

Medium, Genre, and Format: comic, comedy slice-of-life, digital (https://zakeno.tumblr.com/tagged/secondhand%20soup) and print volumes 1-3 (https://www.kiernansjursenlien.com/product-page/secondhand-soup-issue-1)

Year Released: 2018-2022?

Is it long, medium, or short?: medium

It is for kids, teens, or adults only?: it’s a colourful silly comic, but it does talk about day-to-day realities, transphobia, and mental illness so the audience is presumed to be at least teens.

A cool quote from the work: “- You’re somebody to me. - You’ll get sick of me, too. - You kidding? I wouldn’t even get sick of those silly little animated yellow guys you like so much. - They are funny… They like bananas… - They sure do.”

Blurb: “The adventures of three young adult animals just trying to get by in the big city!”

Why is it worth your time?: Bailey, the yellow cat, is explicitly stated to have Dissociative Identity Disorder and a couple of pages depict Bailey with their alters. Even though DID is shown mostly as a struggle, Bailey also has a personality outside of that (they are the goofiest member of the main trio). If you want a humorous slice-of-life comic where one of the characters happens to be plural, it’s for you!

Plural Tags: abuse not mentioned (but DID is specified in the tags and additional material), non-switching, mostly enmity but occasional teamwork/friendship, visions and voices, children, imaginary friends, maybe more tags??

Content Warnings: N/A

Accessibility Notes: N/A, no alt text/plain text/image descriptions.

Misc. Notes (if any): the authors were interviewed by Alexandrite System about Secondhand Soup and DID: https://youtu.be/1L7v20hJkWM

[lb_lee]

Added to the index! Sorry for the delay, switching to a new OS slowed us down. Thank you for submitting!

[erinptah]

Title: Princess & the System

Creator/s: bobapearlcomics

Medium, Genre, and Format: Webcomic, sci-fi, digital

Year Released: Not sure when it started, but it's ongoing

Is it long, medium, or short?: Short (so far)

It is for kids, teens, or adults only?: Teen+

A cool quote from the work: "Why does everyone call you princess anyways?" [Don't say it.] [SAYING ITTTTT.] [Don't say it.] "We sold our real name to the fae." [Oh my god, GOBBO WHY?!]

Blurb: It's about a cyborg with DID, also cool armor and magic powers from a deal with the Fae that they warn everyone else not to imitate, trying to become queen of the pirates. First step: rescue a future-Twitch celebrity who just livestreamed herself fighting cops by turning into a dragon.

Why is it worth your time?: Absolutely wild genre-blend with fast-paced action and immediately-appealing characters. The main character is a system of (at least) three, with a fun, affectionate dynamic. (We get a lot of their internal conversation in color-coded dialogue boxes, and when someone talks out loud, their armor lights up in those colors to help you track who's fronting.) No idea if they'll ever reach their Pirate Queen goal, but I'm excited to see how many adventures they get up to in the process.

Plural Tags: abuse not mentioned, cofronting, teamwork, mindsharing, setting-specific, switching

Content Warnings: Sci-fi violence? So far that's it

Accessibility Notes: images, no transcript. Some fast-moving animations

Misc. Notes (if any): The main character has a fictional cybernetics-induced condition in-universe, but the creator just calls it DID in the author's notes, and says it's influenced by their own experience: "The ways the characters navigate their personas, the difficulties they face, and their coping mechanisms, reflect aspects of how people, like myself, grapple with DID."

[lb_lee]

Added to the catalog! Thanks so much for submitting this; we'd never heard of it!

[erinptah]

I only found it through the Obscure Webcomics Tournament on Tumblr, so you're definitely not the only one(s)! Hoping this will send a few more readers its way.

Mentopolis

[(Anonymous)]

Title: Mentopolis

Creator/s: Dropout's (formerly CollegeHumor) Dimension 20 TTRPG Let's Play series

Medium, Genre, and Format: Let's Play series streamed on Dropout.tv. Noir murder mystery in a mind ala Disney's Inside Out

Year Released: 2023

Is it long, medium, or short?: Medium length Let's Play. Clocks in at 12:31:20 over 6 episodes.

It is for kids, teens, or adults only? Some elements might be too much for kids, but teens and older should be able to handle the series fine (the series starts off with the murder for a murder mystery).

A cool quote from the work: A mind in a city. A city in a mind.

Blurb: Murder mystery set in the mind of Elias Hodge, scientist.

Why is it worth your time?: The series is a fun combination of noir murder mystery and themes from Disney's Inside Out.

Plural Tags: Otherworld headspace.

Content Warnings: The series is set in a city in the mind going through Prohibition similar to the experience in the US (Al Capone era). Specific content warnings are given in the episode blurb (such as misophonia: lip smacking).

Accessibility Notes: Audio/dubbing, with subtitles and a transcript feature that's searchable (in the streaming service).

Misc. Notes (if any):
Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9riE94Kkwq4
1st episode for free: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9pT1OhH3F1Y

Teach the Cat

[yolcatzin]

Title: ねこのティーチくん Teach the Cat

Creator/s: Oyasainoni 9

Medium, Genre, and Format: Online animated series, slice-of-life psychological thriller with comedic elements

Year Released: 2019 to 2022

Is it long, medium, or short?: Long. Although most of the episodes are each under a minute in length, the whole series is about 4 and a half hours.

It is for kids, teens, or adults only? Probably adults. Though the art is intentionally crude and cartoonish, there's plenty of onscreen gore and exploration of heavy topics.

A cool quote from the work: 「やあ、僕の名前はティーチくんだよ。今日は僕といろんな事学ぼう」 "Hey, my name's Teach. Today we're going to learn all sorts of things."

Blurb: A thriller dressed up as a very incompetent edutainment show. Your host, a cat named Teach (joined by his headmates Sam and Kobayashi), tries to give you entertaining life lessons from the white void he calls home, even as he is beset by unpleasant, horrific, and inexplicable events.

Why is it worth your time?: Don't let the crude art style fool you. The mysteries are compelling, the drama is effective, the comedic moments land, and the bodysharing protagonists have very interesting dynamics with each other.
When we watched, we were invested in the one-sided relationship Sam has with Teach. That bunny is filled with so much yearning and he is so unhealthy and obsessive about it. He's a riot!

Plural Tags: abuse intermediate-focus, enmity, family, friendship, nonhumans, romantic, spiritual, switching, the dead, visions, voices

Content Warnings: Infrequent eyestrain-inducing graphics and harsh noises.
Depictions of abuse between headmates, blood, body horror, death, illness, gore, manipulation, murder, mutilation, obsessive/stalkerish behavior, suicide, unreality, urine, vomit.
Discussions of familial abuse, incest, sexual assault, and COVID-19. (Context: This series is full of seasonal/topical episodes, so there are a few episodes from 2020 that mention the pandemic. These can be skipped without missing out on important plot points.)

Accessibility Notes: This series is entirely in Japanese. There are no transcripts or Japanese subtitles. As of the time of this submission, the first fourty episodes have been subtitled in English by the creator, and there are fansubs going up to episode 200 of 374 (compiled in this playlist). Unfortunately, all of these subtitles are baked in (not screen-reader-friendly) and riddled with errors. If you don't speak Japanese, you won't be able to fully enjoy this series.

Episode by episode playlist

Compilation playlist

Re: Teach the Cat

[lb_lee]

Sneak: Thank you for the submission! It has been added here: https://pluralstories.dreamwidth.org/40296.html ^_^

[lb_lee]

Sneak: Finally got a chance to listen to this as I added language tags, and this is SO MUCH FUN! Thanks for letting us know this song existed, it was so great!

Re: Mentopolis

[lb_lee]

Added! Thank you, Chris!

[(Anonymous)]

Title: The Glass Scientists

Creators: Sage Cotugno (main writer/artist); Julia Elliott, Lucy Xue, & Tiina Purin (additional artists, depending on the chapter)

Medium, Genre, and Format: comic, historical fantasy, digital

Year Released: 2015-ongoing

Is it long, medium, or short?: long

It is for kids, teens, or adults only? teens and adults

A cool quote from the work:
"I am the darkness within! The caged beast at the heart of all humanity! The spirit of--"
"London at night! I know! Speaking of humbug, you do realize I can hear all of your little inner monologues, don't you?"

Blurb: Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, only more queer and crossing over with other classic horror. Jekyll runs a society for mad scientists like himself who push the boundaries, hoping to become more accepted by wider society. Of course, considering it's the Victorian era, this is easier said than done. Especially when there's Hyde, who has his own agenda...

Why is it worth your time?: Takes the Jekyll and Hyde story and makes it more nuanced, not simply 'Hyde is pure evil'. The two don't necessarily get along, but their relationship has elements that some systems may find relatable. Though switching has to be physically induced via potion, the two still make plans at a couple points on when to switch so one member can go out and do something he wants to do, etc. Also does a good job tackling themes such as racism, queerphobia, and classism. The art is quite nice!

Plural Tags: on purpose, otherworld, enmity

Content Warnings: racism, homophobia and transphobia, the typical psychological effects that occur with Victorian repression, trauma, body horror, blood, some sexual situations (non-explicit), emotional manipulation, strained family dynamics

Accessibility Notes: N/A

Misc. Notes (if any): The primary author is nonbinary and a POC! The first volume is now in print with a second volume on the way, but it is free to read online with weekly page uploads.
https://www.theglassscientists.com/about

Spoilers: Since it is still ongoing as of this submission, the ultimate fate of Jekyll and Hyde is unclear. Currently they are undergoing uncontrollable switching and the animosity is stronger than the start of the comic. No idea if it will lead to integration or what will happen by the end.

[(Anonymous)]

Title: Planet Laika

Creators: Quintet, Zéque, Enix (publisher)

Medium, Genre, and Format: video game, sci-fi fantasy, PlayStation

Year Released: 1999

Is it long, medium, or short?: short-medium, roughly 8-10 hours (but could take longer if you examine everything or get lost)

It is for kids, teens, or adults only? adults

A cool quote from the work: "As no one philosophy can fulfill all aspects of human life alone, your one self cannot go on unless you learn to work with the trio."

Blurb: A small crew of astronauts is on a mission to investigate Mars, where rumor has it a strange energy called 'Evil Mind' is stirring up delusions. One of these crew members is protagonist(s) Laika, a rookie radio engineer who is also plural. Like most instances of Mars in fiction, things quickly go south. Between solving mysteries, interacting with Mars' varied inhabitants, and hopefully putting a stop to the impending 'Judgement,' Laika and their bodymates - Ernest, Spacer, and Yolanda - confront their joint past and find who they all truly are. Also, everyone has a dog face, and yes, it is plot important.

Why is it worth your time?: The depiction of plurality is surprisingly sympathetic and dimensional for the time. If any bodymate dies in combat, it's a game over because the story considers all of them important. Most residents of Mars may be or are explicitly shown to be two-in-one; a few are three-in-one and Laika is five-in-one. Bodymates are usually treated like their own people, always called by their own name and pronouns by other characters. Though the writing at times can be questionable and other times very hard to follow, there are some legitimately interesting examinations of trauma, identity, and how the conservative Christian ideals of 'pure good' and 'sin' can be damaging. Like Xenogears, it's best to go in remembering when it was made, especially if you go looking at the original Japanese materials which...are more of their time than the English fan translation. (As an example of a strange writing choice, the bodymates are labeled as separate types of 'evil' but are not depicted as bad people in their actions.)

Plural Tags: fictioneers, fusion/integration, setting-specific, memory work, on purpose, otherworld, realitymashing, teamwork, community, enmity

Content Warnings: A TON. alcoholism, animal cruelty, assault, child abuse (physical, emotional, and sexual), death, dissociation, domestic violence, hospital surgery, integration (portrayed both negatively and positively)*, misogyny, murder, pedophiles, psychosis/delusions, religion, strong language, suicide and resulting survivor's guilt, trauma, very stereotypical depictions of Native Americans.
*Spoilers, one system of three integrates via killing a bodymate, but the one responsible turns into a boss battle so it seems more negative. In comparison, Laika& integrates by the end and the vibe seems to be positive.

Accessibility Notes: N/A

Misc. Notes: The game is long out of print and has never been re-released, but there are still ways to experience the story.
For Japanese speakers, NicoNicoDouga has a couple of different playthroughs to check out, some which go into more detail than others. There's also one on YouTube with no commentary: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLYnPhfZ3IEC0gVoIAvFp_S1veJosDqw1C
In 2022, an English fan translation was released. A full playthrough of that is also on YouTube with no commentary (except at the very end): https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLegyQtkE9qr02L83RyYu19HzKdrHecp2B
The translation tries to be sensitive while acknowledging the game's shortcomings. E.g., it treats obviously trans characters with more respect than the original script, but the term 'personalities' is still used to refer to bodymates, and it keeps the term 'psycho' which the game uses to refer to one of the three types of evil on Mars.

[lb_lee]

Sneak: Wow, I had never heard of this game, despite being a PS1 kid! Thanks for letting us know about it; it has been added!

[lb_lee]

Sneak: This comic looks so cool! Thank you, anon, I have added it to the catalog!

[erinptah]

Title: Meanwhile at the Withershins Inn (novel); "6. A Multiplicity of Dwarves" and "7. People in Glass Coffins" (the relevant chapters)

Creator/s: The Insubordinate Pen (writing collective, 2 singlets + 1 system)

Medium, Genre, and Format: Fantasy novel, digital text

Year Released: 2019

Is it long, medium, or short?: Short

It is for kids, teens, or adults only? Not kid-targeted, but probably safe for anyone to read

A cool quote from the work:

“Just take a seat anywhere you like, there’s a dear. Oh! By chance, did you see someone leaving just now? We had another applicant here a moment ago, sweet girl. But she seems to have run off. Didn’t even wait for her tea, poor thing.”

“Um…” Elaine is clearly calculating the manifold reasons that might propel one into premature flight. But there is no whiff of gingerbread as of yet.

Blurb: What happens when you mix one drunk fairy godmother with a multitude of blue cocktails, add a stubborn barmaid with a unique taste in adventures, and filter it all through a sarcastic narrator who can't seem to keep themselves out of the story? Elaine is on a quest to rescue a dragon egg, through a world of "every fairy tale is real, but not quite the way you were told..."

Why is it worth your time?: Funny and charming. The character voices are well-rendered and entertaining. Some of the jokes will be predictable if you've read other fairy-tale parodies, but others are still refreshing. And "what if the Seven Dwarves were one dwarf system with seven alters?" is a really solid twist.

Found this via a video on the Gianu System's channel, a chat with the other two (singlet) members of their writing collective, where the novel came up. (Link is to that specific section of the video.) The IRL system was very involved in working out how to write the fantasy system in a way that would make them happy to read, and sounds really proud of the result.

Plural Tags: creator: bodyshares, abuse: not mentioned, cofronting, people: children, relationships: family, relationships: teamwork

Content Warnings: as per the original fairy tale, the Seven Dwarves have Snow White in a glass coffin, and it's ambiguous whether she's dead or not

Accessibility Notes: Available online, plain text, screenreadable

Misc. Notes (if any): The Seven Dwarves only feature in chapters 6-7, but Elaine's quest is episodic enough that you can read that adventure as a standalone piece and enjoy it. Given the plural co-creator, I figured I'd err on the side of reccing it!

(The novel is a WIP, and the video says the dwarf system is slated to reappear eventually...but as of this writing, it hasn't updated in A While.)

[packbat]

Title:

Piranesi

Creator/s:

Susanna Clarke

Medium, Genre, and Format:

Fantasy print novel, with an English-language audiobook narrated by Chiwetel Ejiofor and quite a lot of professional translations.

Year Released:

2020

Is it long, medium, or short?:

Medium; the hardcover print edition is about 245 pages and the English-language audiobook is 7 hours long.

It is for kids, teens, or adults only?

It's not marketed as a YA book but I wouldn't stop a teenager who wanted to read it. I would warn them that it contains some heavy material, however.

A cool quote from the work:

[...] And indeed, this is what must have happened now, because the next thing I knew was that I was waking suddenly out of sleep.

A Full Moon stood in the centre of the Single Doorway, flooding the Hall with Light. The Statues on the Walls were all posed as if they had just turned to face the Doorway, their marble Eyes fixed on the Moon. They were different from the Statues in other Halls; they were not isolated individuals, but representations of a Crowd. Here were two with their Arms about each other; here one had his Hand on the Shoulder of one in front, the better to pull himself forward to see the Moon; here a Child held on to its Father's Hand. There was even a Dog that — having no interest in the Moon — stood on its Hind Legs, its Front Paws on its Master's Chest, pleading for attention. The Rear Wall was a mass of Statues — not neatly arranged in Tiers, but a jumbled, chaotic Crowd. Foremost among them was a Young Man, who stood bathed in the Moonlight, elation in his Face, a Banner in his Hand.

I almost forgot to breathe. For a moment I had an inkling of what it might be like if instead of two people in the World there were thousands.

Blurb:

A series of journal entries by a man living in an apparently-infinite House full of Statues, oceans, and clouds, as he comes to learn more about the nature of his world and realize certain truths which were hidden from him.

Why is it worth your time?:

Mostly it's a really cool story and we loved reading it? The protagonist's memory issues mean that he is solving a mystery where we know a lot more than he does. But also, the story being structured around a journal lets us see the perspectives of multiple inhabitants of the protagonist's body over the course of the story.

Plural Tags:

abuse:high-focus, memory work, visions, closeting

Content Warnings:

gaslighting, animal death (fishing, a monkey offscreen), human death, kidnapping, unsanitary (one character is implied to have soiled himself, another throws up), fatphobia (very brief but intense), violence, drowning. Also, there's a heroic cop character, and the only explicitly LGBTQ+ character out of the dozen or so named characters is a villain.

Accessibility Notes:

audio/dubbing, language:español, language:polski, language:deutsche, language:català, language:nederlands, language:汉语, language:italiano, language:português, language:한국어, language:türkçe, language:française

Misc. Notes (if any):

There is a lot of obvious inspiration from Jorge Luis Borges and similar otherworldly fantasty, but it also draws from the author's experience with ME/CFS in a lot of subtle ways. And it has a good ending, which for us Packbats makes it easier to deal with the heavy stuff.

[lb_lee]

Sneak: Due to the problems we've had with linkrot and WIPs disappearing before reaching a suitable pause point, I have added a rule that a work has to have a decent pause point if incomplete. Would you say this work has that? If so, I will add it! :D

(Sorry for the delays in doing this. The past couple months were... distracting.)

[lb_lee]

Sneak: Sorry for the delay! Added! Thank you very much for your submission! :D

[packbat]

No worries - y'all've had a lot going on! Thanks for maintaining this project!

[erinptah]

Totally unsurprising that stuff was delayed, no worries!

If you read the whole novel, the last posted chapter isn't a great pause point -- the main character's quest still has a lot of loose ends. But if you just read chapters 6-7, I think it ends at a good point for the plural character's story? Like, they get a reasonable standalone mini-arc where a new Fairy Tale Protagonist Girl stumbles into their lives, learns about the system members and how they work together, then hits the reveal of "they have the possibly-dead Snow White in a box in their living room" and peaces the heck out of there.

So, do with that as you will!

[lb_lee]

Sneak: Okay, that sounds good enough for me! Adding now! Thank you for the submission! :D

EDIT: added!

[lb_lee]

Sneak: I have really enjoyed this project and am very happy I took it on! It's very unglamorous and very useful, and it makes us really happy! :D I hope other people find it useful too.