New System Member Guide

For some plural folks, sometimes new system members form and then do not know important basic information about their life. If they front before they learn this, they may become incredibly confused and upset.

Sometimes these system members benefit from a guide that gives them information about reality, their current life, and their system.

There are all-purpose guides that already exist for this, however all the ones we know of are either just term glossaries, only accurate for medical model systems, just instructions to use Pluralkit or Simply Plural, or otherwise not useful for most systems.

Therefore, this guide.

This guide is not intended to be directly shown to a new a system member, rather its a guide on how to make your OWN personal guide for your system's use. This way the guide can be tailor-made to your life and what information system members tend to not know at formation.

Presentation of your guide

Placing the guide in a place the new system member will see if they go snooping -even when confused- is paramount. If they cannot find it, it will not be used. However, ensuring this guide is also not something people you are not out to will stumble upon is also important. You don't want to accidentally out yourself because you left the guide on your bedside table and your sibling saw it.

A 'check this place if confused' on your phone wallpaper or in your wallet is a good midpoint between visibility and discretion, for an example.

Notes like this can then direct to wherever you choose to stow the main guide.

Digital and hardcopy both have pros and cons in this respect; Digital is easier to keep secret and you can make it screenreader accessible, multimedia, or with clickable links- however if you make it hardcopy a new system member who cannot access your phone or PC easily (or who may not be near the internet at all times) may find more use in it.

IT IS IN YOUR BEST INTEREST TO MAKE THE GUIDE AS READABLE AS POSSIBLE

It doesn't matter if its 'aesthetic' if the text is too tiny to read easily, the colors are very low contrast, and there are flashing lights everywhere that can cause migraines or overstimulation. It doesn't matter if its 'aesthetic' if the outlinks are not clearly labeled or the font is incredibly hard to parse.

This is a tool, that means it has to be easily useable or it will not do its job very well. Function over form is best.

Making the text very clear and easy to read makes it more likely that the system member will read and understand it.

The size of your guide is also worth thinking about at this stage. How much space you have to work with determines what you are going to put in it. Remember- less is generally more and ups the chances it actually gets read.

NOTE: If anything requires the internet to work, it is in your best interests to find a way to keep whatever it is offline, as things can lose hosting or be taken down- never mind that sometimes the internet is unavailable.

Guide Contents

What should you put in your guide?

All kinds of things, really. First, look at the kind of space you have to work with, then look at what things your new system members usually do not know and what information or instructions they tend to need.

You then need to make the barebones of that information that are nessesary for daily life or to get out of crisis fit in that space.

If you have plenty of space to put everything nessesary and more, it may be worth judging which information is actually worth putting in. If the guide is too long, the important bits can get bogged down in everything else and become lost. The guide may be dismissed due to being too long, as well.

Less is more! Avoid overwhelming the new system member with unnessesary information. If you are worried they WILL need to know your exact family tree or whatever else, having a separate collection of information like this that you make a note to refer to is better than trying to cram it all in the same space. Keep the introduction simple!

Some potential things to put in your guide:

Basic Life Information - The ultra barebones to get by in life; legal name, age, home address, important passwords, etc.
Crisis Management Information - Information to help weather an emergency. This can be emergency service numbers, grounding techniques, calming exercises, instructions, etc. Look at LB Lee's pocket crisis guide post [LINK] for some very good ideas!

It may be worth putting simple instructions for contacting a trusted person such as a close friend or therapist as it may be easier to follow in a crisis. Be aware cookie cutter instructions like 'calm down and breathe' are not helpful for everyone, and if they do not tend to help your system its no use putting them in.

Information About Plurality - A basic rundown on what a system is, that they are in one, and any important details about your system. Keep it VERY barebones. Further information can wait.
Instructions or Encouragement to do Certain Tasks - A list of tasks that they may need to do if they are out for any length of time or instructions on what to do in general (Calling in sick to work, logging themselves as existing, checking a to-do list, trying to make contact with the system, etc).
Instructions to check other places for further information - Exactly what it says on the tin.
Anything else you want! - Anything else you feel is important or useful, its your guide, do what you want!

An example guide:

If you need an example of a simple guide, here is one for a made up system!

READ ME IF CONFUSED

The reason why you are suddenly in this life/body is because you are part of a multiple system. That is, multiple people residing in one body. The others in this body have left this guide for new members like you to read, in case you did not receive this information on formation/arrival.

Important Life Information:

Body name: John Doe (you will need to respond to this!)

Birthdate: 01/01/00

Address: 1 street ln, town, state, 42069

Important passwords may be found written in the notes app of our phone, which is unlocked with passcode xxxx. The current time and date may be found on the lockscreen of our phone as well.

We work at JOB and if you need to call in sick, the number is xxx-xxxx.

If you want to learn more about our system and what that means for you, our notes app also has further information in the section labeled 'SYSTEM SHIT'. It also has further instructions on how to try to contact us, of which we are going to encourage you to try.

We will also encourage you to write a note that you exist and who you are, but no pressure if you are uncomfortable doing that.

If you are experiencing severe distress and need help, call xxx-xxxx to talk to our sister, who will help you.

If you are going to be out for a long period of time, please check the to-do list app on our phone for a list of things that need to be done each day.

Good luck, we love you, even if we haven't met you yet. Just hold tight until we can help you!