#i dont ljike them

[upward-centrifuge]

the seadweller post, aka the first and last time i will give this much of a shit about homestuck fish.

No clue how to introduce this, so I'm just going to tell you what is true about seadwellers canonically. Seadwellers are completely distinct from everyone else on the hemospectrum, including other highbloods, in a way that isn't dissimilar to the aristocracy. Only the fuschias are actually rulers, but the violets are still royalty. Like, explicitly they are royalty. The seadwellers live in their own little world that is separate from everyone else, and they are ALL royalty. They don't have to worry about culling, they don't have to worry about money, and yet they are still people in an unjust system and this does have consequences.

In fragments, for this reason, I portray seadweller society very blatantly as an aristocracy. And the thing about an aristocracy is that it is its own tiny society where the stakes are different, the rules are different, and there are countless eyes on you at all times.

Don't get me wrong, these people are immensely privileged. They experience almost none of the risks and dangers the average Alternian faces. However, they are locked constantly in a risky social game. One in which other people are often the pawns.

They live in a world of constant power struggle, turmoil, and subterfuge, where every single action means something. This is what compels people about period dramas that focus on royalty and rich people. The aristocracy suffers no real threats, so they play convoluted power games that can be much more fun to watch.

Now, I don't focus on all this much in fragments, because one, that's a lot of screen time to spend on something ultimately more or less irrelevant to the story; and two, I don't actually find this kind of subtle power play all that compelling. It's nice sometimes, as a little treat, but you're not gonna find me watching Downton Abbey. lol.

Why I bring this all up is again, to reiterate: the seadweller aristocracy is Like That because they are at the very top. They suffer no real threats, so they have to create their own hostile little society. This goes for the hemospectrum, too. When everyone in your little society-within-a-society is at the very top of the food chain, you can't use normal hierarchy as a quick way of controlling people. So you create your own heirarcies. Seadweller society in fragments is hyper-aware of physical differences. Ethnic and regional features that are just considered "people look different depending on where they're from, big surprise" by other castes become distinct ethnic groups in the eyes of seadwellers, and it's how they form their pecking order.

In the eyes of your average Alternian, if you put a member of their caste from somewhere cold and a member of their caste from somewhere hot next to each other and then asked them to tell you the difference, they might identify ethnic traits, like one of them being fatter, but they're just as likely to point out those traits as any other traits, like the two being different genders. They're also most likely not going to attribute those physical differences to anything other than random chance.

Meanwhile, if you asked your average seadweller to do the same, they'd immediately be able to identify one as a larger-than-life, brightly colored tropic-dweller, and the other as a hardy, blubbery icefish. This shit is a big deal to them, and they're pretty racist about it.

This is why I mentioned my seadweller hierarchy as something I think a larger fanbase would love to misinterpet. I fear that the collective tumblr fandom hivemind would see that and decide that rich people are oppressed on my version of Alternia. In fact, what I am actually trying to portray is the subtle power dynamics that the obscenely rich and powerful create amongst themselves, and those dynamics do frequently involve race and ethnicity. Turn away from the British/European upper class, look at Robber Barons in America or the games that politicians play amongst themselves. Hell, look at the American middle class. There's a lot to observe.

[indescriptequilibrium]

bein an anarchocommunist n a transsexual butch both feel like i should carry some kind of a sign messaging to both comrades n sisters (but i repeat myself) that im not gonna betray the revolution at the first sign of trouble even if i personally disagree w/ some of the hierarchies upheld i kno why they're there n they even serve a purpose at times but i dont ljike them