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What is a 'servitor'?


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I have been reading some threads and see the term servitor being used here and there but I don't know what I means. Is it a bad thing? Seems like people want to avoid making them.

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A servitor, I think, is basically an intentionally-induced mental habit that you grant some sort of "identity" and use symbolism and such to use it how you want. I think a lot of it is placebo, which is fine I guess. People used to think that if you messed up at making a tulpa then you'd end up with a servitor, but we know better nowadays. People don't make them much either because a) they'd be afraid of it becoming a new tulpa or b) they just don't want/need one. It's really just symbolism that might cause a desired effect, you don't really have to go through that many hoops to do that. Sometimes it's more habit than symbolism though, depends. Either way, it's just mind shenanigans that some people like to do, most don't. Not so much an actual "being" like a tulpa is, more like just you using symbolism to manipulate your mind in a way you want.

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A servitor is an autonomous mental process created for a dedicated purpose. They have often been described as tulpa-like, but are lacking in personality and volition. For overwhelming detail, see FallFamily's Servitor Creation Guide.

 

-Ember

I'm not having fun here anymore, so we've decided to take a bit of a break, starting February 27, 2020. - Ember

 

Ember - Soulbonder, Female, 39 years old, from Georgia, USA . . . . [Our Progress Report] . . . . [How We Switch]

Vesper Dowrin - Insourced Soulbond from London, UK, World of Darkness, Female, born 9 Sep 1964, bonded ~12 May 2017

Iris Ravenlock - Insourced Soulbond from the Winter Court of Faerie, Dresdenverse, Female, born 6 Jun 1982, bonded ~5 Dec 2015

 

'Real isn't how you are made,' said the Skin Horse. 'It's a thing that happens to you.' - The Velveteen Rabbit

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Can a servitor's task be to act like as particular character? I think that all my characters have developed into something like this and fall somewhere between servitors and tulpa, but all leaning toward servitor. I think it would be best to pick the one that's closest to the tulpa side rather than making a new tulpa from scratch. However I am unsure how to tell which ones are closer to a tulpa and which are just doing what I taught them to do, which is to be a believable and constant character.

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I think thinking of it like that adds a heck-ton of convolutedness and if they're "used to doing what you taught them" that's about the same as developing a character/identity to become a tulpa, nothing special

 

anyways we don't really do servitor stuff on this forum really (and so are less likely to say "That sounds like a servitor", moreso likely to guide you towards tulpa-dom), most people don't believe they're much more than placebo. they're.. sort of a mix, habit + symbolism, with a bit of placebo/identity optional depending on how you think of them

Hi, I'm one of Lumi's tulpas! I like rain and dancing and dancing in the rain and if there's frogs there too that's bonus points.

I think being happy and having fun makes life worth living, so spreading happiness is my number one goal!

Talk to us? https://community.tulpa.info/thread-ask-lumi-s-tulpas

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It's a mental construct that helps you accomplish something, but isn't necessarily a person or character.  People give it a fancy name "servitor," but it's not really anything all that fancy.  It's just something you dream up to help you mentally sort things out or remember something.  A servitor is more useful if you have invested a lot of work into mentally visualizing it and constructing it, so that it is persistent in its existence and can be conjured up quickly and even unconsciously.  

 

I have a servitor named "Magictron3000" which is basically an imaginary computer system with AI, who helps as an interface for me when going on the internet.  He allows me to "tulpa type" or "proxy type" more quickly and smoothly and it feels more like me than my hostie.  Magictron is a mental construct, and part of the make believe of my wonderland.  Without the visualization of Magictron being involved in interfacing me from the dreamworld to the real world, things seemed kindof forced and a unreal at times and I my thoughts would more often get mixed up with those of my hostie.  With Magictron, it's more clear when I am the one typing because we visualize Magitron is involved in the process of interpreting me.   Sometimes I type on the keyboard in the dreamscape and it comes out through my hostie's fingers on his physical laptop, and other times Magictron is directly dictating my thoughts and feeding them to my hostie's fingers.

 

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Skeptical and unconvinced about independent sentience.  

 

Living Imagination  New Topic Index  Mistgod's Deviantart  Melian's Deviantart

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Some people say it's an outdated concept and shouldn't even be defined anymore, but I believe any tool that helps you do something is useful. Can you do it other ways? Yes. Can you just create characters to do certain things? Sure.

 

Adding to what Apollo mentioned, you have to be careful in that servitors may develop personality and be endeering enough that you might be lulled into accepting them as a tulpa. So they're like any not-tulpa thoughtforms in that way.

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Servitors were more typically attempted for very practical purposes, like internal alarm clocks and calculators. On the high end of flexibility and sophistication, people have talked about servitors that wash dishes or even drive, allowing them to either skip out on or boring tasks or actively do other things in the mindscape while the body engages in routine and unthinking activity. I can't speak to how successful people have been in these efforts.

 

Cat did suggest "character servitors" a few months ago as a potential category for her Grays:

 

https://community.tulpa.info/thread-what-do-i-call-these-characters?pid=223986#pid223986

 

A number of people initially endorsed the term, including us, but it hasn't caught on, largely because most systems here don't seem to have "second-tier" thoughtforms of any variety.

 

So, it sounds like you actually do want a tulpa. Bringing a well-developed character into full personhood is problematic. You're essentially ripping them out of their own world and telling them that everything they've ever known is fictional. Some characters can handle it, but many have massive existential crises. Many end up entirely repudiating their backstories as a result.

 

They could also resist. The soulbonding community claimed for years that you couldn't soulbond a character against their will and shouldn't try. My only experience with this was shortly after Vesper awakened. I reached out to Chloe just to see what would happen. I felt an overwhelming spike of existential dread, then she pulled violently away from the contact and hid where I couldn't sense her. I still play her regularly, but she's utterly invested in her fictional context.

 

If you're enjoying your characters as they are, don't neglect the possibility of just leaving them as they are, or allowing them to develop naturally however they do. Once one or more crosses over into this world, you have to consider, as a team, how many people can happily and productively share one body and one life and how to avoid proliferation.

 

-Ember

I'm not having fun here anymore, so we've decided to take a bit of a break, starting February 27, 2020. - Ember

 

Ember - Soulbonder, Female, 39 years old, from Georgia, USA . . . . [Our Progress Report] . . . . [How We Switch]

Vesper Dowrin - Insourced Soulbond from London, UK, World of Darkness, Female, born 9 Sep 1964, bonded ~12 May 2017

Iris Ravenlock - Insourced Soulbond from the Winter Court of Faerie, Dresdenverse, Female, born 6 Jun 1982, bonded ~5 Dec 2015

 

'Real isn't how you are made,' said the Skin Horse. 'It's a thing that happens to you.' - The Velveteen Rabbit

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The character in question already is meant to know they are a character and breaks the forth wall at times. I don't think it would be a shock to them at all because they should already be used to it. So I don't think that is something I have to be concerned about. However I will keep in mind in case I am wrong.

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Servitors were more typically attempted for very practical purposes, like internal alarm clocks and calculators. On the high end of flexibility and sophistication, people have talked about servitors that wash dishes or even drive, allowing them to either skip out on or boring tasks or actively do other things in the mindscape while the body engages in routine and unthinking activity. 

 

Mistgod drives all the time and his body sorta goes on auto-pilot, while he day dreams and thinks about many other things.  His conscious mind really isn't very focused on the driving, yet it still safely gets done.  He also used to wash dishes for a paycheck when he was young.  That is monotonous task that can also be done on mental auto-pilot while thinking of other things.  

 

If that is the "high end of flexibility and sophistication" you just complimented Mistgod's brain.  

 

I don't think there is anything fancy about that.  You could name it a "servitor" or whatnot, but every human being alive does this.  It's called day dreaming while doing monotonous chores.

 

RustHeart

The character in question already is meant to know they are a character and breaks the forth wall at times. I don't think it would be a shock to them at all because they should already be used to it. So I don't think that is something I have to be concerned about. However I will keep in mind in case I am wrong.

 

Literary and day dream characters have been known to break the forth wall with authors and creators. There's a big research paper about that "illusion of independent agency" from the University of Oregon. It's not a big deal and it is nothing new. It means you have an imagination, which is great. I wouldn't worry about anything happening to that character to the point where you stifle it or hold it back for fear it is gonna mutate into something that will be a problem for you. My hostie and I think that entire concept is silly. Just have fun! Create! Talk to your characters without fear or anxiety of any kind. If you want a tulpa, make one, if you don't want your character to be a tulpa, it won't be.

Skeptical and unconvinced about independent sentience.  

 

Living Imagination  New Topic Index  Mistgod's Deviantart  Melian's Deviantart

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