i’m so sorry if someone asked this before but what’s the difference between headmates and multiplicity? and is it possible to have fictives as a part of a system?

Oof sorry anon, this question is all kinds of confused. Let me try to detangle things for you.

headmate: a person/entity that is sharing a mind/body with at least one other person/entity. This word was coined by the non-DID (dissociative identity disorder) multiple community to refer to any entity who shares mental space with another, and to avoid using the DID word ‘alter’.

Multiplicity: the state of being a multiple. The state of having headmates or alters. 

usage: ‘I experience multiplicity because I have headmates’. 

fictive: a headmate from, or based on a fictional source. This is a non-DID term. The DID equivalent is ‘fictional introject’.

It is possible to be a multiple and to have fictives. DID systems experience fictional introjects.

There is currently some debate in the multiple community if non-DID multiples should use the term ‘system’. Those who believe that system is a DID-only term would say that systems only experience fictional introjects, not fictives, because fictional introject is the correct DID term.