(EDIT: keeping this for archival purposes but I'm almost certainly no longer plural.)

I swear we'll settle on a final #introduction one of these days xD but, things keep changing, so just one more.

Hi! We're a plural system from Poland (for those not in the know: one brain with three people inside it sharing space). We've alluded to it before, but we figure there's no point in being secretive about it, at least online.

Collectively, we refer to this body and brain as "Cheshire".

We're 38 years old, in aggregate we're a non-binary trans woman. We're autistic, probably with ADHD, hopelessly nerdy. We post a lot about transness and politics, and the politics of transness. Don't say we didn't warn ya.

There will be a Pinned post on our profile explaining the whole "plurality" thing to anyone interested.

As to us individually:

[Alicja] I am Alicja, she/her. I'm the original person in this brain. If there's a post from this account that doesn't specify who's writing, it's almost certainly me. I'm the nerdiest (into #ttrpg , #fantasy , #scifi , #gamedesign, #martialarts). I draw stuff and work on and off on a big cRPG project.

I'm the shyest and also somewhat socially inept. If I screw up or do wrong by you, please tell me. It's almost certainly not malice. I'll try my best to fix any damage I've done.

[Artemida] We decided to not speak for each other, so I guess it's my turn to introduce myself. I'm Artemida, once known as Oddtail (she/her right now), if you want to be stupid and Freudian, I'm the Id around here, I guess. I'm a competitive, outdoorsy, sports-y type. I originally emerged to help Alicja get through some difficult shit, nowadays I'm trying to figure out who I am apart from being an extension of Alicja's brain. If others are to be believed, I'm the asshole and the difficult one. I prefer to think of myself as not overly sensitive.

[Mara] I am Mara, it/its, I used to be called Mosse. I haven't been around long. I'm a quiet, witchy type. I have more affinity with nature than the other two. I'm also probably the main reason Alicja is non-binary. I prefer to stay in the background, I rarely front, and I don't easily get upset or emotional or passionate. I am content just Existing. Don't see much point in fronting, but I'm always around.

[Alicja] As mentioned, there will be a Pinned post on this profile for anyone confused about the entire "plurality" thing or just needing more context.

Lorv was worried about what was coming. She was on the Disc of Agê preparing for the worst, when she felt a familiar feeling. It was accompanied by a distant, faraway sound that was easy to ignore, but once she heard it, she would hear it for hours. Eventually, she found Raius who was at the House of Agê that straddles the forest and jungle sides of the Disc. 

“I have to leave for a while, will you be alright until I return?” she asked him as he oversaw the training of dwellers of the Disc in mystical combat.  

“I’m fine,” he said distractedly. “Anything I need to know about?”

“No, just something I need to see about, I should be back very soon.”

Lorv flew away from the Disc, concentrating on the distant sound, and before long she realized what she was chasing, but how was it possible that she was hearing it in the Fonlands? The sound led her to the Shifting Planes of the Disc of Lêgba where many of the recruits from the multiverse who would accompany the Vodun into battle against the enemy in their home-realm were gathering. It wasn’t long before she found the female Earther with the large humanoid-deer female with elaborate horns and a dark coating of fur on one of the shifting planes. Lorv was wide-eyed as she landed. The Earther and the humanoid deer were sitting opposite one another and between them was a large vase that contained eight Purple Mysticism. 

“Are those the eight mysticisms from the shrine of the Mystic Ogeran?” she asked, never taking her eyes from the flowers that seemed to glow even brighter than she remembered. 

“They are,” a male who appeared to be a humanoid kangaroo in a golden body suit that covered his tail said as he landed on the platform opposite Lorv. “You must be Lorv of the Rocky Forests. I am Wazad, also known as Sao-Reyne of the Fhetat.”

“How do you know me?” Lorv asked, full of curiosity about the situation that was unfolding. She had many questions. 

“The same way you know about Ogeran’s Mysticisms, I too am a Mystic of Fytor,” Sao-Reyne said with a smile. “Since the incorporation of Outer Spacetime into the Fonlands, I have focused my attention on monitoring Prime 5 for the presence of the coming enemy and I ended up on Rycoia by accident, or so I thought. The Mystics had summoned me to find out why their connection to Outer Spacetime was severed and they wanted to know what happened. I spent more time on Rycoia than I intended because there was so much to learn. I would still be there if not for the arrival of Sarah and her friend Par-Cell 77,” Sao-Reyne said and the female Earther Sarah stood; the deer-like female Par-Cell 77 remained seated but she was tall enough that they all continued their conversation easily. “When she entered the Fonlands, the Mysticisms of Ogeran began to sing, and I brought them here at the behest of the Mystics, and the Mysticisms themselves.”

Lorv was overwhelmed by the story. She looked at Sarah who had fair skin and dark hair and she wore simple clothing. 

“Why do the Mysticisms call to you?” she asked Sarah and Par-Cell responded.

“She doesn’t know her heritage well enough to answer your question and things are complicated by the fact that these Mysticisms were presented to her in a universe other than the one she calls home. This is the daughter of Ogeran…”

“My father’s name is Jethro,” Sarah said. “Jethro Greenfoot. My name is Sarah Greenfoot.”

“I have told you that there was much your father kept from you,” Par-Cell said and Lorv felt sympathy for Sarah who seemed to struggle with the truth that had been hidden from her. 

“He didn’t tell me his name was Ogeran when we saw him at the prison before coming here.”

“Why would he when he gave up his life as Ogeran before arriving to our Earth?” Par-Cell asked, still sounding sympathetic. 

“This is how the Mystic Ogeran is said to have looked,” Lorv said and made a hologram of him using her green magic. 

Sarah was taken aback, the resemblance to the man who had raised her was uncanny. “That’s him.”

“Not exactly,” Par-Cell said. “He was not a Mystic of Fytor in the Paradise universe. He was a being of lightning. Is the same true of the Rycoians here?”

“The Mystics display such a power, but it only appears in the most powerful of them,” Sao-Reyne explained. “A power that you share, Sarah, otherwise the Mysticisms would not have called to you.”

“But what does this mean?” Sarah asked, but before Sao-Reyne could respond, Owuo arrived. 

“Who are you?” he asked Sao-Reyne as he descended on the platform that was growing more crowded. “What have you brought to the Shifting Planes?”

“The Purple Mysticisms of Ogeran give enhanced power to a mystic who is capable of wielding their power, and that is determined by the Mysticisms themselves. Ogeran could do it, and it seems his daughter has been chosen as well. I thought it was fitting considering what we all face.”

“Do you know what those Mysticisms are?” Owuo asked. “They contain nuisances that the Vodun and I saw fit to eliminate long ago. Who knows how they ended up in those flowers, but they are truly wretched. This girl of Paradise is meant to wield the banished death dealers of the Disc of Lêgba? That seems cruel to the girl. I don’t disagree that their powers could be brought to bear against the enemy, but we’d do better to unleash them on the enemy in their home realm.”

“If Ogeran were still in possession of the Mysticisms, he’d be a welcome addition to this gathering,” Lorv said. “But I thought Ogeran was long dead.”

“Maybe we should recruit her father in Paradise,” Owuo says. 

“Why do you doubt her ability to wield the powers of these mysticisms?” Par-Cell asked, offended on Sarah’s behalf.

“Because she needs you to speak for her,” Owuo retorts, “and a presence so meek will be a weak vessel for the powers in those flowers to dominate, overload, and eventually escape. Let’s not set the girl up for failure.”

As Lorv and the others talked around Sarah, her eyes began to glow yellow-white and Sarah’s body began to spark with electricity that snapped and popped all around her until eventually everyone fell silent and moved to one side of the platform around Par-Cell to avoid the now powerful sparks that jumped off of Sarah. When she had their attention, she powered down.

“I don’t think I need these mysticisms,” Sarah says. “It’s too close to the fight for me to become familiar with something so new and strange anyway. Thank you Wazad, but I won’t be using these.”

“I’m glad that we have come to an agreement,” Owuo said as everyone shifted to their original positions on the platform. “We should all leave these here and I will seal this platform while we discuss how we will deploy them in this time of war.”

Sao-Reyne agreed and everyone present went with Owuo to discuss the situation with the three Vodun who would lead forces into the home of their enemy.

“I still think benching all the Black magic users was a short-sighted move,” Lêgba says as he lounges in the large web of Aku. The daysource of the Disc has set and the only light is the glow of Aku’s web that is an eerie mix of black and gold. The web casts a significant glow over the Changing Desert nearest to the exterior of the Celestial Library where the web was spun.

“You saw what happened in Talj,” Owuo says as he finishes the snack that Aku had offered him from her web, a worm-like Fonlander that she had spun up and paralyzed. Owuo had ripped a seam in the webbing and dug his hand in to grab fistfuls of the worm’s flesh that he shoves into his mouth. It is messy and slimy juices drip from his hands still, but Aku provides a bunch of her webbing that isn’t sticky for him to clean himself as they all talk together. 

“I agree with Lêgba,” Aku says. “It’s true there was a vulnerability, but I doubt Lêgba would have been so easily turned.”

“Why was Une able to turn any of the Black magic users who went to Talj?” Owuo asks. “I don’t think I fully understand the vulnerability.”

“Black magic represents change,” Lêgba tries to explain, and he is thoughtful in his response so he speaks deliberately. “Une is powerful with all that she has consumed, so maybe the ease that she was able to take us over comes from that fact, she could simply overpower the Black magic users in Talj and take control of the magic, causing it to change to her will.”

“I guess that makes sense,” Owuo says thoughtfully, “but we really aren’t sure of the exact reason? Nwa Wa, the Zombie General, couldn’t explain it and she was maybe the most powerful wielder of the Black in Talj. She said that at no point did she feel the switch and from her point of view, nothing had changed but the target of her aggression. The takeover was so subtle that we were terrified to even risk it happening again, and we didn’t take the time to really probe the issue to hammer it down.”

“Zacchaeus said something similar,” Lêgba adds. “He was very hard on himself and believed that he was only taken over so easily and seamlessly because of his own weakness and unfamiliarity with arcana, which he has worked very hard to rectify since then. But it wasn’t a defect in Zacchaeus, it was a weakness of Black magic itself.”

“Or,” Aku interjects, “it is as you said before, that everyone who went to Talj was just overwhelmed by Une’s power. So a user of the Black with more power than Une would be fine.”

Owuo shakes his head slowly. “Is there a Fonlander, or any being in the multiverse for that matter, with more arcana than a being like Une who has gathered incredible amounts of power from entire realms that she consumes or draws power from? She even has stores of energy that Sakpata and his team are discovering. They are managing to clean these existences, but that just means that Une will be storing all of her power in her own existence, which is great if the three Vodun and their forces there can kill Une, but it will make that harder to do.”

“We get it,” Aku says, “Une is very powerful. But even if Lêgba, the Vodun of Black magic, isn’t as strong as Une, that doesn’t mean he can’t add to his power. The Vodun in the Une-verse are doing just that with the forces they took there. They are all sharing their arcana with the legions that went with them and their superior understanding of their arcana is what gives them the edge over the immense power of Une.”

“You think that we should be gathering black magic to face Une ourselves?” Lêgba asks. 

“It’s better than hiding out in my web,” Aku says. “The incredible powers of the Fonlands, coupled with the refugees from the Talj Rip and the recruits from the multiversal structure still in the Fonlands helping us, there is an immense amount of the types of energies that comprise Une still here in the Fonlands, not to mention the Divine Essence itself. Of course I don’t know for sure, but I believe that there is enough power in the Fonlands to face and defeat at least the being that has arrived to the aether outside of Aido Hwedo. Lêgba’s shouldn’t be cowering, he should be powering up so that if he does face that part of Une that is here, he will be more powerful and quickly overwhelm it before he can be compelled to become the weapon to slay the Mother-Father.”

Owuo and Legba look from Aku to one another and then back to Aku. 

“You’re right,” Lêgba says.

“An interesting power returned to the Fonlands recently,” Owuo says. “The Ajogun.”

“How is that possible?” Aku asks and she laughs. “The two of you and Jo went to great lengths to kill them, and angered the Mother-Father in the process.”

“It is impossible to defy the will of the Mother-Father,” Owuo says. “The Ajogun were a nuisance to the Fonlands, but rather than let us end them permanently, the Mother-Father sent them to the other realm, to a planet called Rycoia where a group of mystics known as the eight trapped the Ajogun in the flowers they call Mysticisms. The Wazad of the other realm brought these Mysticisms to the Fonlands because they called to a being we recruited from the multiverse. But that being rightly refused the power that was far too much for them to wield. And the Vodun who went to the Une-verse didn’t want to risk unleashing such unstable magic in the Une-verse, even though it is a great store of Violet magic, after all of the Black magic decayed over time, I assumed. The Ajogun are more powerful than they ever were. It is hard to gauge the full extent of their power because the binding of the Mysticisms is top notch.”

“Why haven’t you told me about this before?” Lêgba asks.

“Because he was trying to figure out if they would benefit him and he must be intimidated by the prospect of the Ajogan escaping their mystical prison and harming him,” Aku says without judgement. 

“You know me all too well,” Owuo says. 

“So you only offer them to me to avoid any negative consequences to yourself?” Lêgba says with a laugh. “You really are a great friend.”

“Aren’t I?” Owuo says.

“Is it possible to drain these flowers of the powers they contain without releasing the Ajogun?” Aku asks.

“I can’t say,” Owuo admits. “When I probed the Mysticisms, I couldn’t learn too much for fear that the Ajogun would use me as a way to escape their binding. On Rycoia in the other realm, there was a mystic, Ogeran, who managed to harness the powers of the Mysticisms to the benefit of everyone, he was known as the most powerful mystic in the history of the realm. He was able to wield this power without releasing the Ajogun or consuming or destroying the Mysticisms.”

“How do you know so much of this history?” Lêgba asks. “Did you learn it while probing the flowers?”

“The mmoatia, Lorv,” Owuo says. “She was an explorer of the other realm for your experiment there, I believe they call it Endla.”

“Oh,” Lêgba says with delight. “I always forget about Endla because it was a creation of one of my more sophisticated iterations who carried out experiments in creating life. I absorbed that iteration so long ago that those memories are buried deep under all of the memories of the iterations I have reabsorbed since then. But I remember Lorv and the mmoatia. Agê sent them to keep an eye on me and my creations. I never minded, that is why we ended up working together, to learn more about the other realm. I’m glad that the collaboration proved fruitful. Where is Lorv now? If she is the expert on these flowers, I would like to speak with her before I attempt to absorb the powers of the Ajogun.”

“I believe she is on the Disc of Agê,” Owuo says. “Will you travel to see her? The enemy would never think to look for you there.”

“Let’s go, we can make a trip of it,” Legba says enthusiastically. 

“No thank you, friend,” Owuo says, shaking his head. “I am comfortable and full and I am enjoying it here with Aku. Besides, if the enemy manages to find one of us, it’s better that we are not in the same place. We’ll be here when you’re done to let us know what you think about absorbing the power of the Mysticisms.”

Lêgba doesn’t protest but says goodbye to Owuo and Aku to travel to the house of Agê on her Disc. When he arrives, he is impressed to see the ranks of Green magic users training in mystical combat. The power off of them is significant and Lêgba smiles at the mmoatia who lead the training. When they notice him, the mmoatia fly to greet the Vodun with reverence. 

“It is good to see that you all are prepared here,” Lêgba smiles down at them. “Lorv, I came seeking your counsel if you can spare a moment.”

“I will allow you two to speak and return to the training,” Raius, the other mmoatia with Lorv, says and returns to the other Fonlanders. 

“What counsel can I give to the Vodun Lêgba’s?” Lorv asks. 

“It seems you are an expert on these Mysticism that I have only learned of recently from Owuo.”

“What did Owuo do with them?” Lorv asks. They both sit in the grass as they speak and Lov’s large wings are relaxed at her back. She is comfortable conversing with the Vodun despite her respect for his title, she had spent enough time with Agê to know that the Vodun are generally affable.

“He is trying to give them to me. He thinks that they might make me more powerful than the enemy we face and that I will be able to defeat the enemy in the aether. Do you think that is possible?”

“The powers of the Mystic of Fytor on Rycoia surprised me,” Lorv admits. “I had never been so impressed by the mastery of arcana of any being in the other realm as I was by the Mystics. Not even Metatron and the aerphim are as powerful as the mystics. I never told the other mmoatia or the aerphim this because of vows that I have taken as a Mystic of Fytor myself, but there are Rycoians born with ecstatic glands and Third Hearts.”

Lêgba is baffled by this. He, or a sophisticated iteration of him, had explored the cosmos of universe Prime 5 and had discovered the sentient beings of Earth, and those in the Soulaxar Galaxy that was very far from Earth. The rest of the realm seemed empty, but apparently, since Lêgba had reabsorbed the iteration who created Endla, Lorv had discovered Rycoia that was ancient compared to all of the known civilizations of Prime 5.

“The Rycoians had never left their planet before my ship arrived and established trade routes,” Lorv continues. “Not that they couldn’t, the Rycoians have sophisticated enough technology that their race has spread to other habitable planets in their solar system, and they have much more sophisticated arcana that allows for travel across vast distances but they only use that to travel between worlds occupied by Rycoians. They were this way because they felt that they guarded a secret, a doorway, portal, into paradise and the mystics of Fytor guarded that doorway with their lives. I became a Mystic when I learned that the doorway to paradise led to the Fonlands. They have revered the Fonlands as their heaven, the destination of their souls in death, since the doorway opened. It wasn’t opened naturally during the First Unrest, either. It happened after a great duel of mystics that seemingly ripped open existence itself and the Fonlands was on the other side. I joined them to learn more about the culture and overall, they are honorable and venerate the Vodun even if they do not realize it and I assume it is the reason the Mother-Father has seen fit to bless them with ecstatic glands and Third Hearts. Did Owuo tell you of the Mystic Ogeran?”

“That he wielded the power of the Ajogun trapped in the Mysticisms without freeing them and preserving the Mysticisms. I assume that was possible because he was one of these other realm descendents of the Fonlands?”

Lorv nods. “Indeed he was. I think that the appearance of these descendants of the Fonlands as you call them appeared spontaneously because Divine Essence exists on Rycoia, but I was never able to confirm that. And I didn’t know the Mystic Ogeran personally so know that I am only relying on historical accounts that could have been embellished or completely made up, but Ogeran used the powers of the Mysticisms to become the most powerful mystic of Fytor and he prevented evil among the Rycoians from festering. He tamed the new worlds that Rycoians settled on. By all accounts, Ogeran wielded the power of a Vodun, maybe even at a level that far surpasses it, but again, it’s hard to know if this is true without knowing Ogeran personally. I have been in the presence of the Mysticisms, though, and the power that I experienced is on par with the power I have witnessed from you and your siblings. The Purple Mysticisms are truly a wonder. I didn’t know the Ajogun, they existed in the Fonlands before my time, but from what I have learned about them from the Scroll in the Time Chamber, they are not the same beings of immense Black magic that you tried to kill. Their time on Rycoia, their time trapped inside the Mysticism turned them into beacons of the dark Violet that they exude. And they only get more powerful with time. When I realized they had been brought to the Fonlands, I heard them singing, and previously only the Mystic Ogeron could hear them sing, but I imagine that the increase in their powers since that time has strengthened the volume of their song. I can’t imagine how it would impact my powers to try to wield the arcana of the Mysticisms, but I can say that just their close proximity in the Fonlands has made my death flame more potent. It is very possible that wielding the Mysticisms will greatly increase your powers if they allow you to wield their powers. If they don’t then you will have to force it and I imagine that would weaken the binding of the Ajogun. The Mysticisms are Rycoian and they guard the powers they bind with arcana that exceeds the Mystics. One does not demand the power of the Mysticisms, it is bestowed.”

“So I must gain the favor of these Mysticisms to extract their power safely?” Lêgba asks. 

“That is the only way that I know.”

“Will you come with me to the Shifting Planes?” Lêgba asks. “I would like you to be there when I encounter them. Maybe they will be more open with a familiar face. But only if the dwellers of this Disc can spare you, of course, I wouldn’t want to weaken any defenses.”

“Raius has it all well in hand,” Lorv says, “and I wouldn’t miss a Vodun’s interaction with the Mysticisms for anything.”

Lêgba and Lorv travel to the Shifting Planes where Owuo had left the Mysticisms on a platform that he sealed off from others. But when they arrive at it, they see that Havoc, Catastrophe, and Grief of the Death Witch Coven have beaten them to it.

They’re trying to rebrand Pride Month, folks. With something stupid, too, like traditional family values month or some BS, like traditional family values have ever actually been more than the daydream of people who talked a better game than they lived in their actual lives. That’s not to say that heterosexual couples raising children were necessarily unhappy or anything, but the notion that everyone was happy in a traditional marriage raising children is a complete farce. The truth is, we are not all made the same and what’s good for you is not always good for me, and vice versa. Could I be a good father and raise healthy, happy children? Undoubtedly. But I would kill myself, probably slowly with alcohol because the burden of raising children would grind my last nerve. I think parents should enjoy the role, I think it makes for happy children to have parents that enjoy spending time with them and aren’t doing it out of a sense of duty or obligation. And there are plenty of people in the world who are happy to do just that. Maybe as I get older my attitude will change, but I’m 40 and I doubt it.

I’m not here to talk about birthing babies, but I’ve been reading/watching the Handmaid’s Tale/ The Testaments so it’s on my brain. Definitely read/watch it yourself and hopefully we can prevent JD Vance and Peter Thiel from turning America into Gilead.

I’m here to make sure you checked out the stories from the May 2026 Issue. And I know what you’re thinking, ‘Theres no PDF of the May 2026 Issue’, and you’re right, there isn’t yet but the stories from the issue were published on May 31 and you can find them on the Serials and Shorts page, just scroll down to Latest Issues. Or check them out here:

• Tier 1 – 16 – The Vodun Reconnoiter
• The Arcane Wizard’s Log 2120 – 16 – The Vodun versus Unea
• Wielders of the Violet – Issue 4 – Quietus and Detritus in the Une-verse
• The Second Unrest – 39 – Pultine and Tracia in the Une-verse
• The Stolid Kevin Blackmon – Issue 38 – The Man Sets a Trap
• From the Manual and Reference of the Fonlands – Disc of Gu
• ‘Young’ Vodun Chronicles: Gu’s Confidant

The May 2026 and 2026 Annual PDF issues are coming very soon.

The 2026 Annual Issue features 8 Annuals that tell the story of the aboatia Lorv and the Purple Mysticisms of Rycoia. It’s a story that covers a vast stretch of time and takes place across three different existences. It’s Lorv’s Greatest Hits, but unfortunately no soundtrack this time, but there’s buried histories, mystics, exciting revelations, and death dealers to keep things exciting. And maybe there will be a soundtrack eventually, we’ll keep you posted about that.

So don’t go anywhere dear readers. Catch up on the May stories the get ready for the Purple Mysticisms. You can check out these stories to learn more about the Mysticisms and the Mystics of Fytor on Rycoia:

• Tracia’s Greatest Hits – 5 – XO
• Multiversal Family Tree – Bright Lives – Issue 6 – A Secret History
• Bright Lives (2024 Annual) – Issue 1 –
• Smiting Champs -The Expedition to the Talj Junction – 3 – Wielders of the Gold 3
• Wielders of the Green – 33 – Lorv in Recession