The Daemian Union (TDU) V2 (POSTING OPEN!)

[Scarf]

I will :)

What we're trying to explain to newbies is which part of daemianism is cause and which part is effect. You and I, we go in for the form finding aspect of the thing and the imaginary friend part (though we put emphasis on the opposite bits, which is fine). These two are not inextricably linked...you can talk to your daemon without form finding (which is really the best thing to do if you're young and unlikely to be settled or stable or anything) and you can form find without a daemon.

When it comes to the form finding part the form is a metaphorical representation of you. Binturong represents me, the me part of me. My settled form is not representative of anything to do with my daemon, who is less social and less empathetic than me. His personality is all construct and has nothing to do with my form finding.

The imaginary friend part, the bit concerning your daemon, is at the most rudimentary stage about separating out a bit of your conscious brain in order to use it as dialogue. Maybe you see it as more spiritual, but the bare bones is that it's a shard of consciousness given personality and voice (how consciously you do this depends on the person, because this is the bit of daemianism with less guidelines because it's all subjective and personal). You can leave that bit there, and for me I often do. Luth doesn't have a consistent voice or a gender and I'm crap at visual projection most of the time, so he's generally just a voice in my head. However I sometimes choose to project him, because it's fun, and for me I choose to project my animal metaphor for my personality onto him.

This is where newbies often get tangled up. The thing that you project your daemon as is an effect, not a cause of settling. This is an established Truth. It makes no sense for it to be the cause. What we've been trying to establish is that your daemon taking [x] form is not the cause of you settling as that, but you may visualise your daemon in [x] form if you have a settled personality and have done the legwork to find a form that represents that.

Comfortable forms don't have to have anything to do with settling, so establishing that projected!form and settled!form are not always linked is important. Ideally there'd be a different word, but form is really nice and simple and stuff. It's good to project a form that you relate to, but that is not always what you are settled as and it certainly does not determine what you are settled as, which is the crux of the issue.

[nio]

My daemon is usually an arctic fox or a red fox. He seems to like those, and they seem to suit me. He doesn't shift much anymore, I think he's close to settling. I feel more of an arctic fox... but you never know!

Ah, remember that it isn't him that settles, it's you/your personality. What forms he takes, how long he spends in those forms, how often he changes, those things have nothing to do with the settling of your personality. :]

Yes, I know that. It IS my personality! I know it does, but I am seriously talking about my personality.

[wolverine♥]

Ahhh page 666! D: lol.

You can talk to your daemon without form finding (which is really the best thing to do if you're young and unlikely to be settled or stable or anything) and you can form find without a daemon.

This is pretty much me right now. I talk with Nir all the time(*brofist*), but we never really got into form-finding all that much. We're going to at some point, but my personality is nowhere near settled because I'm too young. We skimmed through some bird analysis' and saw a few birds that sounded like they fit me, but we never projected them much at all.

[Cinereus]

I could see them for you, Comanche, but I prefer NGSD over it. :]

Thanks for the input. :] Like I said, I think I'm sticking with Singers, I'm just dabbling around a bit to see if I've changed enough to warrant a bit of a form shift - mostly it's just an increase in confidence and a progressively smaller concern for some aspects of hierarchy/authority, which seems to be more like growing into the form than growing out of it.

[nio]

I have just started making a daemon site. Take a look here?

[Scarf]

Hmm.

A dæmon is your soul, but in an animal form outside your body. They feel your pain, emotions and thoughts.

I see what you're doing there, but your wording slants towards the idea that daemons are a supernatural thing, which does not tally with daemianism as an internet subculture. Sure, HDM daemons are pretty soul-licious, but this [reasonably outdated] poll shows that most TDFers view them as at least partially mental construct.

The part about feeling emotions is a given, because it's a bit of your conscious mind, but when it's expressed like that it...gives more significance to that than it should.

If you're interested in community consensus concerning what this is all about I'd recommend hanging around the forums more, or hopping over to daemonnoodle. It's a wok in progress but it's still tasty.

[pancreas]

The only reason I form search a lot is because I enjoy reading the DA's, and it's also cool to have loads of things to project as. Buuuut... I'm still nowhere near ready for settling. I like having the freedom (even though I basically still would) of not being 'tied down' to one form. Although Kite keeps to the same set of animals - unless I find another one I want to try - we flit from form to form a lot, and the only ones he returns to consistently now are the tri-coloured koi and European pine marten. Those two are both night forms, and neither fit my personality well. ouo b

Apparently a small companion dog or some type of rodent - like a mouse - would fit me. Projecting a chihuahua seems strange to me still, even if it is totally adorable and I want to nom it's cute little face off, but Kite is a house mouse quite a lot. Although its mostly in the imaginary stories/roleplays that take place inside my head. >.>

[wolverine♥]

I8chichi, that seems like a cool website, but isn't TDF really the same exact thing?

[Kheisa]

Well, TDP* would be essentially exactly the same thing. TDP just doesn't get updated anymore (does it?). That's why DaemonNoodle (as Scarf linked) is in the works; it's being put together by one (or maybe a few, idk) of our more experienced members so that it gives an accurate/up to date view of the way the forum views daemons now. :]

[Tibetador]

I think some new daemon sites would be quite refreshing for the community, especially for some people who couldn't really make a home for themselves on TDF...