New System Map [Me]

We've been working on a new system map. Now that we're back to eight people, we needed a new design. As a reminder, here's the old map:

With Grace and Lynn combined, and Jarett gone dormant, the rooms needed redone. And Silent One needed its own room, now that it was becoming more active like a 'real' alter. We weren't using the Quiet Room as such. And the Sharing and Watching Rooms were kind of flowing together.

The first notice we got of any redesign was before Grace and Lynn combined. Kiara told the Boss something about a space being made for Silent One; a space full of plants and trunks and vines and noises; a jungle room. Several times we find Kiara with scraps of paper on the floor, moving them around to show relationships between alters. Then Grace and Lynn combined and Jarett decided to use that opportunity to go dormant. Now we eight names on paper scraps, plus the functional rooms. We were having trouble coming up with a design that worked.

One day, I was at work, and noticed Kiara sketching during a meeting; I tried not to watch, and let her go ahead. She put us all in an octagon, with a smaller octagon inside as a public space. Then she decided maybe I needed a bigger space, and extended it outside the larger octagon. And shoved a 'closet' for Jarett in the back of Gracelyn's space. And I noticed it looked a lot like an IDIC, which is a symbol I use to represent myself many places online (left). It represents a philosophy of encouraging folks' differences as strengths, and includes notes of tolerance and acceptance.


The last couple of days, we've been working on a new floorplan-design based on the IDIC (right). You can see where those alters that easily switch one to another are close by. The kids are next to each other, the folks that do S&M play are together, and the ones with a service orientation are together. Silent One is pushed to the end of the hallway/mingling area in its Jungle Room. And there is storage behind Gracelyn's area for Jarett. I did get a strong feeling that multiple storage spaces needed to be created back there, so I wonder what else might be back there. In gray around the middle is open space where everyone can mingle, watch what's going on inside and out, and prepare to come out in control. And in the center is the Interface. This was a sort of front office or receptionist's area in the former floor plan.

So we'll see how this new plan works for now. I couldn't work it up on blueprint-type software; none of the free programs I've used before would support an octagonal building. But I'm still pretty pleased with the way it turned out.