====== Empty system ======

(Namespace: [[plural glossary:start]])

^ Type of term | Possible type of [[system]] |
^ Synonyms or near-synonyms | [[Frontstuck]], [[singlet]], [[median]] |
^ Antonyms or near-antonyms | [[Multiple]] |

An empty system is a type of [[system]] who is also a [[singlet]], in the sense that they feel they do //not// have [[headmate|headmates]], but nonetheless identify with the [[plural]] and [[system]] labels in some way. They are, in effect, a system consisting of one singular headmate, themself, who, by process of elimination, is also the [[core]], [[host]], and/or [[original]], and is [[frontstuck]].

There could be a variety of reasons someone might identify this way:

  * They may be [[DID]]/[[OSDD]]-diagnosed but not [[plural]]; that is, they have a DID/OSDD symptom profile and are a [[system]] in the medical sense, but their subjective lived experience of these symptoms is not framed in terms of [[headmate|headmates]].
  * They may feel somewhere between [[singlet]] and [[median]], but closer to a singlet.
  * They may want to show that they personally relate to and support the [[plural]] community, to such an extent as feeling they belong there and are among friends and like-minded people there, even though their own lived experience is not exactly comparable.
  * They may be a member of a highly [[partitionary]] system, and have never actually //met// their [[headmate|headmates]], knowing of them only due to evidence of actions they took while [[blackout|blacked out]]. For this reason, they might not consider them headmates at all, so much as simply a form of amnesia. More-or-less equivalently, they may be the only headmate occupying their [[subsystem]], [[side system]], or [[layer]].
  * They may in fact have and even be peripherally aware of [[headmate|headmates]], but simply be deep in denial. (Even if you suspect this may be the case, they, not you, are the authoritative expert on the functioning of their own mind, and it is essential to respect and conform to the way //they// account for their own experience. If their framing of their perhaps-denial is that they do not have headmates, you should consider them for all intents and purposes not to have headmates and talk to and about them accordingly, until and unless they say otherwise.)
  * They may experience a lot of [[dissociation]] or other quintessentially [[plural]]-like experiences but //not// in a manner organized into [[headmate|headmates]] per se.
  * They may have [[headmate|headmates]] but feel that all of them are [[fragment|fragments]].
  * They may have [[headmate|headmates]], but desire [[final fusion]], and feel that taking personal accountability for their headmates is in alignment with that goal, whereas acknowledging their individuality is [[elaboration|antithetical]] to it.

This list is not exhaustive, nor mutually exclusive. Someone might identify as an empty system for more than one of these reasons and/or other reasons entirely.