Introject Empathy

*The following information was originally published on Pluralpedia, and is being published here for additional archiving purposes. You can find the Pluralpedia article for this page here.*

**Introject Empathy,** or **Introject Shifting,** is when an established member of a system regardless of role finds themselves being represented as an entirely different person through an introject. What this means is one moment a headmate sees themself in the headspace as themself, but their form can be disrupted at anytime via Introject Empathy when a sourced/introjected headmate takes their place and identity.

For example, if a system member is in any sort of distress, or thinking through a problem that requires prolonged time in thought, it's entirely possible to start feeling like, or actually start *becoming* that sourced/introjected headmate.

For a more specific example, say that a system member at the front is doing something tedious and requires problem solving such as grocery shopping in the external world. At any point, depending on the system, the fronter's internal voice could start sounding like a sourced/introjected headmate, their soma could shift to their form as well, and their internal surroundings can shift to accommodate the introjected form.

A reason this might occur is if the brain sees similar qualities in a character from any media, or another person the system has met in the external world at that moment in time. This can cause the brain to start attempting to model a new headmate around an established system member to scan for similar qualities in real time. If an introjected headmate *does not* form by the end of Introject Empathy, it can very well constitute as an Introject Flicker.

Depending on the system and it's system members, instances of Introject Empathy could be non-events, cause confusion, or it can highly distress a headmate who is insecure in their identity for any reason, or they find the sourced headmate to come from a traumatizing source. System members may react differently and uniquely to Introject Empathy.

If an introject does form from Introject Empathy, they may or may not join the main system depending on overall reception, desire, or simply from the system structure itself realizing that it may not need the qualities it was looking for in said introject after all.

## Related Terms

**Faceclaim:** A **Faceclaim** is when a system member uses a voice, body, face, etc. to represent them in the headspace and external world (through profile pictures or aesthetics). Any system member formed by this is referred to as a Facetroject.

**Soma Stealer:** A **Soma Stealer** is a system member who steals another system member's internal form, with or without the member's consent. This can feel as such for a headmate constantly subjected to unwanted Introject Empathy from the brain.

**Introject Flicker:** An **Introject Flicker** is when a system member has fictionflickers due to their form, for example, an introject from any movie might feel like another character altogether because they share a voice actor or other similar qualities with said character. They may or may not feel like said character forever.

**Soma Fluid:** Being **Soma Fluid** means that a system member can shift between different forms depending on their mood, desires, etc. Their soma fluidity capabilities can have a range of limits depending on the system, or be entirely unrestrained. Related to **Interras** and **Shapeshifters**.

**Identityshifter:** An **Identityshifter** is a consciousness that can shift between multiple identities, taking on their traits and becoming different system members. This is commonly seen in Monoconscious systems.

**Monoconscious:** A **Monoconscious** system is where every system member shares the same stream of consciousness; switching between members feels more like *becoming them* rather than moving aside to let them front instead. Due to the nature of the system's conscious processing, this makes Introject Empathy more likely to be a common occurrence, but it does not have to be.