Chatting about factxueliums.

Chapter One: What the hell is a factxuelium?

Factxueliums are a unit of fantasy structure. A fantasy structure is a psychological component that lays out how, where, when, why, and what kinds of fantasties appear and function within day to day life. A unit of this structure would be the responses to [how/what/where/when/why].

As an example, my structure would look like this.. [how: visionauris]-[what: general]-[where:orthocosm]-[when: triggered]-[why: factxuelium]. This is then turned into a sentence when needed (i.e. "my (general) fantasies are triggered by visionauris because of my orthoacosmic factxuelium").

Factxueliums are more than just units though, and have different ways of manifesting or functioning.

From the Guide to FpD, it is said that factxueliums are "where there are multiple, complex, or fractured fact/paracharas (partially or wholly) acting on their own." These said charas are expressed as alternative personalities or different people. "Complex" is used here to refer to how the nature of charas in factxueliums may appear to be different people because of their different views, actions, identity, or choices. It is important to recognize that factcharas and paracharas are always extensions and therefore are the same people as the "starter" (starter being an event, person, or creation of a factxuel).

Regarding manifestation, factxueliums can form from an array of things such as metacosms, visionauris, neuronarration, roleplay, maladaptive daydreaming, plurality, fantasy episodes, etc. Because of this, they have flexibility in use and function, oftentimes aligning or misaligning with the symptoms of something listed above.

Within factxueliums, functions are variable due to where fantasies are experienced. Some fantasies exist only in the exocosm, the extrapersonal shared world, where they might be harder to ignore and cause derealization and disfunctional movement. Some appear elsewhere like the endocosm, a private interpersonal world.

Chapter Two: How do charas work?

Charas are character personalities. They are not real people but are characters applied to people in reference to their personality. Most with factcharas identify as said character and said character can look like whatever they want. Charas are mostly involuntary creations in order to cope with fantasies or distress by disconnecting from reality. These creations constantly change and can layer on top of each other.

A chara works by replacing the true self of the factual person with a fictional self, oftentimes sourced from external media. This fictional self may represent bigger or better versions of them and may be used as a way to fantasize about who they want to be. Charas can also appear in metacosms and be expressed in the exocosm.

There are two types of established charas; factcharas and paracharas. A factcharas is a factual character used in every day life while a parachara is a character often seen in metacosms that have a similar role to imaginary friends.

Charas can carry their own roles too, with some being benecarriers or malcarriers, in factxueliums, charas take on heavier or more complex responsibilities as the structure may be split up between charas or fantasy type. I.e. a factchara may be built for emotional distress and a parachara may be a malcarrier of the distress, being there to take away the stress and emotional turmoil.

Chapter Four: Metacosms and Otherworlds

One big thing about factxueliums that cannot be forgotten is their existence in different metacosms.

Factxueliums can function in the exocosm by use of literal physical phenomenon and tools that emulate the interaction between two charas. One chara may embody a doll and another might present the self for some time. They may flip.

In metacosms, anything is possible. An orthocosm may introduce more fiction than exocosms and may include celebrating fictional holidays and living the life of a character everyday rather than online or as roleplay. Paracosms may have vivid communication between charas as if they were different people, etc.

Metacosms exist to help further the development of charas and for reoccurring fantasies to have a backdrop. Most fantasies exist without one.

Chapter Five: Terminology

When discussing aspects of factxueliums, charas and the structure matters, yes, but I believe other concepts play a part in it as well.

3.a, What are Flips?

A flip is a conscious or subconscious change in what chara is currently being used. This can appear to look like a personality change, a mood change, a different accent or clothing, or a complete lack of connection to reality. Reality in this case means "anything you currently experience physically or metaphysically. Anything outside of your knowledge, your everyday life, or your planes of existence are not realities to you."

3.b, What is a Snap?

Snaps are violent breaks of a chara, usually from a reality check or a reality morph. They are distressing and uncomfortable to have as these snaps are often unpredictable and can occur whenever. When a chara is "broken", it is essentially a shard of glass where the other pieces are either too distant or too lost to be put back together. Snaps usually accompany a mental breakdown or a shutdown.

Chapter Six: What does it mean if I have a factxuelium?

Well, if you have a factxuelium, you have fantasy-prone disorder.

Though this disorder is an unrecognized disorder, it's existence is still present in its non-disordered form, fantasy-prone personality. While similar to maladaptive daydreaming disorder, it's form and structure are different.

From the criteria, "Section A.A1 describes the immersion, absorption into fantasy which may include false senses. Resulting in identification or perception of such fantasy as physically real. Those who fantasize will often see themselves as a part of fiction rather than the factual world and actively seek out fiction as a way to complete their identity," and "Section A.A2 describes the intentional and voluntary decision to bring a fictional or fantasy to life through art, music, writing etc. This must refer to becoming the creation rather than roleplaying. Those who fantasize often roleplay and act out characters but they use that outlet to create personas and characters related to themselves in order to reconnect the fictional bridge they seek."

"FpD comes from prolonged exposure and repeated escapism coping mechanisms that may be needed for trauma but it is not caused by trauma or abuse itself. It may even form from maladaptive versions of Fantasy Prone Personality or Neuronarration. Since FpD arrives in regular teenage years, with Fantasy-prone or Neuronarration sometimes as precursors, it is likely that FpD is caused by a plethora of things. Including trauma or neglect."

From this, we can conclude that if one does have a factxuelium, it is most likely:

not from trauma.

not from any other disorder.

rooted in fantasy and likely includes fictional beings.

the comfort and joy in embracing factxueliums that allow them to be happy.

Chapter Seven: My experiences

I have had fantasy-prone disorder since I was young and firmly believe it is a form that has developed into maladaptive traits. That is why I coined fantasy-prone disorder.

My everyday is existing in an orthocosm, one foot in and one foot out. My memory is fleeting most of the time unless it is reocurring and trained, even the most important things I may forget (keys, wallet, a simple task) and if I am side tracked, my brain will not remember what I was doing unless it's right in front of me. That is usually because my thoughts between tasks are fantasies and daydreams, taking over my every waking moment. I will sometimes forget to do the smallest of tasks just because I was daydreaming and disassociating while doing something else right beside it.

My factchara and parachara are me but little imagined versions of me that I wear as masks, and both of them are extremely hard to tell apart unless specified. Azriel is faster while Stolas is elegant, Azriel is on his toes while Stolas likes to be pampered. There are subtle contrasts that can be missed because they only change my demeanor, not my sense of self or internal identity. Wearing these charas take a lot out of me and whenever I am with different groups, I mask differently and I show different sides of me when needed, sometimes taking off both charas and being my "true self" (which I consider to be lost at the moment).

For our factxuelium, we are always in our orthocosm and prefer to stay there, always deep in fantasy and consuming fiction while being able to convert factual media to fiction as a means of coping. The idea that fiction should then be less important or not given the time of day bothers me because how I see the world is through daydreams and thoughts of "what if?" and through stories about monsters and beasts. These things are how I process my trauma and my emotions and how I understand the complexity of life, so to have fantasy deemed immature or less valuable.. it's demeaning to folks like me who can paint the world in metaphors to our messiahs and prophets.

I have experienced flips, which tend to be more sensorial, with goosebumps or shivers for us. Snaps rarely happen but when they do, it's rebuilt pretty quickly and my parachara (Stolas) is able to put me back in a good enough mood to remake Azriel. I personally consider my fantasy-prone disorder to be a disability, referring to the part where my memory and senses are so disorganized due to dissociation that I am simply not there or just not fully aware of myself and this reality at some points.