Soulbond

undefined: A soulbond is, broadly, a member of a system or a presses in someone's mind that is a fictional character in some way.

It is commonly used to refer to a walk-in from another world that existed independently from them before arriving, or holds the metaphysical belief that they did. It may also be used to refer to a fictive that takes a separate sentience, especially among writers. It can also be a connection one feels to a fictional character to the intensity that they appear in their headspace or as an internal voice.

Soulbonds can be considered fictives. Soulbonding is also typically centered around a host, known as a soulbonder.

Types of soulbonds
There are three described types of soulbonds which soulbonders and soulbonds sometimes use to describe themselves.

Permanent resident: A soulbond that lives with a soulbonder permanently. May not be able to go back to their realm, or may not want to.

Day tripper: A soulbond which goes between their realm and the soulbonder's and spends time with the soulbonder temporarily. Sometimes can communicate with the soulbonder while in their realm, but sometimes can not.

Internal Cellphones/Telephone: A soulbond which stays in their realm and lives their continued life, but can communicate with the soulbonder while both parties do their own thing.

History
Soulbonding as a phenomenon has been recorded for a long time.

One historical figures which might have been considered a soulbonder was Robert E. Howard, who experienced his character of Conan the Barbarian as a separate entity in his head while he was writing his story and in a 1933 letter stated "I enjoy writing about him more than any character I have ever created. He almost seems to write himself. I find stories dealing with him roll out much easier than any others." .

Another one was Edith Wharton, who described the characters in her novels as separate pretenses. She described her experiences as "The imagining of tales...had gone on in me since my first conscious moments; I cannot remember the time when I did not want to "make up" stories. But it was in Paris that I found the necessary formula. Oddly enough, I had no desire to write my stories down (even had I known how to write, and I couldn't yet form a letter); but from the first I had to have a book in my hand to "make up" with, and from the first it had to be a certain sort of book."

Leonard Nimoy also experienced Spock as a separate entity in his head while he was working on Star Treck.

Soulbonding was first coined by Amanda Flowers with the JFW (Just for Writers) mailing list, capitalized originally as "SoulBonding". The capitalization took inspiration from the RPG SoulBlazer. It's difficult to say with certainty when it was coined, but it was definitively used in 1999 and could have been coined as early as 1997.

The term began to spread by 2001.

Alternate terms for soulbond were also purposed for those who didn't feel their soulbonding was as spiritual, such as fictive, however these were later used by the rest of plural community. The term is still used by both fictives and writers.

Related Terms
Soulbonder is what a host with soulbonds is referred to.

Fictive was coined by soulbonders some time around 2006 and is a much broader used term for a fictional entity in the system.

Factive is someone in a system who is based on a preexisting person, and some soulbonders may have factives.

Walk-in is a system member who came in from a different place, and can be used to describe many soulbond experiences.