Collective Alters
A collective Alter is one identity held by two or more people. This page covers what a collective is, what a member can rely on, and the two ways a group forms one.
None of it is reachable yet. The rules below are decided. No surface carries them today, so every section says where it stands.
What a collective Alter is
Two or more ~alter identities hold one identity together. That shared identity is a collective Alter. It is addressed as one thing rather than as its members one at a time. What can be asked of a collective from outside it, and how it answers, is not settled.
A collective is one object, not a tier above a personal Alter. A personal Alter is the thing a collective is made from. Holding a place in a collective changes nothing about the personal Alter that holds it, and one person can sit in several collectives while staying one person across all of them.
Two is the floor. There is no collective of one. Settled·Not built
A registered business and a group of friends will form the same object here. Nothing heavier for organisations, nothing lighter for everybody else, and nothing to upgrade between. Settled·Not built
Forming is not the same as being recognised
Forming a collective gives a group a shared identity. It does not confer a status, a rank, or a badge of standing, and no group can declare itself recognised by forming. Recognition is something the record shows over time, never something a group awards itself at the moment it forms.
What a member can rely on
Your place in a collective is yours, and it stays yours whatever your handle does. You can always leave your own place. Nobody can enrol you by naming you, and being listed by other people is not membership.
Each member takes part with their own identity, and one member never carries a collective on their own. Settled·Not built
The two ways one forms
Groups arrive at a shared identity from two different directions. Both produce the same object under the same rules, and the only real difference is the moment of forming. Settled·Not built
A group decides to exist and forms on purpose. A neighbourhood association that needs to hold a permit in its own name. A union branch that vouches for the tenure and certification of its own members. A professional body that answers for the standing of its member firms. These groups mean to outlast whatever they formed around.
A group forms around one thing and worries about the rest later. Three friends starting a podcast together, who two years on need the record of who actually did what. A band. A raid group that exists for one night. Nothing is scaled down for them and nothing is deferred.
These are not two products and not two tiers. The podcast trio and the professional body form the same object under the same rules. What differs is how long the group expects to be using it.
Where each act stands today
Settled means the rule is decided. Not built means no surface carries it. Every act below is currently the second, and some are not settled either.
| Act | Rule | Reachable |
|---|---|---|
| Form a collective | Settled | No |
| Bring someone in, and their agreeing to join | Settled | No |
| Leave a collective you belong to | Settled | No |
| Read a collective from outside it | Not settled | No |
| A collective earning as one | Not settled | No |
Nothing on this page describes something a person can do today. When these acts become reachable, this page will say which surface carries them.