#quadrant analysis

[slowpokedragon]

seeing homestuck analysis made my brain go brrr.

ykw im gonna say it....!!! the idea that matespritship is "the closest to human romance" is fundamentally misunderstood by a majority of the hs fandom! matespritship is "closest to human romance" [karkats words] in the sense that its closest to the human concept of *dating.* the concupiscent quadrants are provocation based, and more align with the ideas of "going out on dates and having sex / one night stands" with people, rather than longterm human romance.

the actual thing closest to "human romance" was the relationship between the signless and the disciple that "transcended all four quadrants"; if i had to pick a quadrant closest to "human marriage" or a longterm relationship, it would be ***moiraillegiance!!!***

moirails are conciliatory yes, but more than that they are *balanced equals, matched pairs.* theyre the closest quadrant to the traditional human soul mate. the one who perfectly completes you and keeps you on an even keel. the idea that moirails are platonic or qpr is just fundamentally wrong. *some* moirails can be qprs somewhat, but it literally is textually just a different form of romance, the same way that dating somebody vs being married to them for a decade are different forms of romance!!!

when youre married to someone for a long time, they often stop surprising you (not in the sense of "i bought you a gift!" but in the sense of the feelings that provokes. when youre first dating somebody, youd be surprised and pleased and a little awed that they went out their way for you. when youve been married a long time, youre still surprised and pleased, but its with this undercurrent of "hah, of course they would do this for me; they *love* me!"); moiraillegiance is the deepest quadrant and the most complex, which is why the presentation of moiraillegiance varies so wildly! look at depictions of matesprits, and youll see they all follow the same patterns of "shallowish romance between two people that have been dating for awhile"; moirails vary wildly!

the two extremes are definitely nepeta and equius vs folykl and kuprum. both pairs are equally balanced and a matched pair, its just that theyre on opposite ends of the "moirail spectrum" in what ways they provide for and ease their quadrantmates. the idea that matespritship is "human romance" is so wrong its laughable and thats why davekat is destined to fail if they dont deepen their relationship from matesprits to smeared moirails or human romance altogether IN THIS ESSAY I WILL

in a canon only reading; davekat COULD WORK and thats what drives me crazy. if they communicated better and changed their relationship it COULD WORK! but communication in romance is fundamentally incompatible w both of their characters! so i froth at the mouth

[zerotheclasspector]

If it's okay can I have a flush quad analysis for a maid of doom and a knight of void, and how it will go out

I wasn’t really planning on doing quadrant analyses, but it sounds kinda fun so I’ll give it a go!

Flushed/Red relationships are comprised of physical attraction and positive feelings. In Troll society, it’s primarily for procreation. The human equivalent is just regular romance, though physical attraction isn’t a requirement. (Important Note: I’m not gonna get into depth with physical attraction because of this blog is totally SFW)

A Mage of Doom is someone who understands death and destruction for themselves, and a Knight of Void is one who serves secrets and ideas for others.

In a redrom setting, a Mage of Doom would have pretty good knowledge of their own toxic traits in a relationship, which would allow them to improve themself easier. The Knight of Void would be a bit more troublesome in a relationship, as they would be serving only ideas to their partner. This isn’t inherently a problem in a relationship, but if they never give their partner the truth about anything, this could lead to problems in a relationship. However, a positive way the Knight could serve Void would be by telling their partner issues that at not be obvious, which would improve their relationship.

Overall, I think this relationship would turn out pretty well! I’m not sure if I’ll ever do this kind of thing again, but it was fun doing it this time.

[rogue-of-heart-classpecting]

can you do a quadrant analysis thing on me and my bf rogue of space <3 knight of time

You guys are literally inverts. Now I personally love knights. I haven’t met one irl but I love their characters. I bet you could help him tone it down and accept himself and he could help you keep going when you want to give up. If you have a good relationship. Now of course that part depends on you. Everyone is different. Not all rogue of space or knight of time are alike. So the time and space thing… you guys could do a sick intramural collab? Is that what it’s called? Like an art and music collab? You could make something really cool together. Like a music video. Now I don’t mean to make you cringe but are you aware your mans classpect is Dave’s. Haha just kidding we all love ya dave. He’s just kind of intense. He would need a safe person to talk to about his insecurities with masculinity. Dave embraces the parts of time that he has mastery and fluency over like pacing and music. That covers for his (secret) hair trigger nerves and fear of not being “man” enough. Rogues will often want something but they won’t be able to ask for it. The knight can help you build up courage in other parts of your life until you have the confidence to get it for yourself. This could work out.

[ladyylavenderrr]

Incoming rant nobody but me cares about. Spain’s dub of the scene where we find out Tain is Garak’s dad enrages me so much.

So, I just love watching this scene in any language that has this formal and informal pronoun distinction unlike English. Almost all of them have Garak, Tain and/or both go from using formal pronouns to informal pronouns in this scene and it hits so hard. I obviously don’t know enough of each language this show was dubbed in to know how all of them do this, but the german dub (I’m biased I know) does it like this. Tain and Garak use formal pronouns for each other and the moment Garak directly calls Tain “father”, they switch to informal. Some dubs have only Garak use informal pronouns while Tain uses formal ones and vice versa, but having them both switch pronouns is my favorite way of doing this. Do you know what my least favorite way of doing it is? Having them both continue to use formal pronouns with each other like Spain’s dub had them do.

I definitely understand why you might choose to make this translation decision. Tain and Garak aren’t close at all. In fact, in another universe where the two openly acknowledged each other as father and son, I can definitely see them still using formal pronouns with each other despite that or at least Garak might use them for Tain. Tain is 100% the type of ridiculously old fashioned and authoritative father that would have his son use formal pronouns for him. The closest thing to that in English would be a father who makes his kid call him sir, I guess. So I can definitely see why, if one doesn’t analyze this scene’s meaning at all, they might choose to have the two continue the formal pronoun shtick.

Here’s the issue tho. Beyond this scene serving as a way to reveal this big plot twist to the audience, the main point of it is to have Garak and Tain, for the first time in their entire lives, be open and vulnerable with each other. It’s very difficult to imagine the two have even spoken the truth about their relationship out loud before, based on how Tain instinctively panics at Garak calling him his father despite thinking they’re alone. This is the first time we see Tain be something even resembling loving and paternal and it’s the first time Garak lets himself so explicitly state his desire to be loved. Of course, he can’t ask for it very explicitly, but saying “let me be your son” is as close to it as he can get. And Tain can’t be so explicit in admitting he does care for Garak, but saying “you’ve always been a weakness I can’t afford” and telling him he was proud of him on this one specific day years ago is as close to it as he can get.

My point is, this is supposed to be Tain and Garak being as vulnerable as they can possibly be with each other. Formal pronouns just don’t mesh with that in my opinion. Going from formal to informal pronouns is a great choice though.

Long rant. Sorry. I’m so insane about translating media

[lime-bloods]

i would LOVE a post on that. i have been thinking extensively about pitch romance and how deeply, cruelly toxic it is and how quadrants are in general. a lot of stuff is based in karkat's pov on it (and karkat is like. sooo biased love the guy to death but he is SO BIASED!!!) but sometimes it's in the narration and the existence of auspisticism & the fact that quadrants potentially existed on beforus trips me up as well...

this is a great question! and I suppose "the beginning" is probably the best place to start for a post about this, after all.

it's important to be aware that when we think of Beforus as a planet that is "good", this is not necessarily because it is wholly good by our own standards or even by the author's standards, but because it is good within Homestuck's philosophy, that the "good" is that which is "true" or "real", rather than what is "true" necessarily being good. to put this in another way - which I've only just recently begun to fully understand myself - Beforus being free of Lord English's corruption doesn't mean it's free of problems, just that it's problems are "real" problems, as opposed to fictional problems; they're reflective of problems we have on Earth.

pivotally, Beforus still has systems of gendered oppression, and in that sense it's clear how the intrinsically gendered violence of Alternia's quadrants would find their own place in Beforan society. it's just that in this context, these dynamics arise as part of complex sociological phenomena over thousands of years and aren't put in place solely for a specific purpose by an omnipotent time god, and as such won't necessarily manifest themselves in the exact same ways, or necessarily be "as bad". as with so many things in Homestuck, it's the idea at the core of the concept that's most important; kismesissitude and matespritship on Beforus should be recognisably the same idea as the quadrants on Alternia, just as they are recognisably the same "quadrants" practised by cherubs and humans, despite all of these arising from vastly different and largely disconnected cultural contexts.

the tendency for the same ideas to reliably bubble up to the surface again and again in different contexts is a central law of Homestuck's metaphysics: in the words of the reliable Doc Scratch, "there is essentially nothing new in paradox space." and it's relevant that Scratch is the one to relate this truism, because therein lies a crucial different in connotation between "storyteller" and "narrator"; it is not a narrator's job to invent new ideas, but rather to spin their own interpretation of what has already happened. this is why Scratch's ancestor stories are "troll fanfction"; he's writing an AU of characters who already lived on Beforus. we can only assume that, in the same vein, in "creating" Alternia's quadrants Scratch merely took those parts of Beforus that were convenient to his vision and amplified them to be all-important. (alchemy, as described by 9th century author Jabir ibn Hayyan, was the transmutation of one material into another by manipulating qualities that already existed within all matter, pushing some into the background and pulling others into the fore.)

it's easy to think of auspisticism, meanwhile, as unique among the quadrants in that it superficially seems to provide a service that is beneficial to all involved, and certainly towards Act 6 a lot of the children seem very interested in interpreting it this way. but in the narrative context in which it's introduced to us, I think it's clearly much more about control. as far as the ashen quadrant is concerned, what happens to the participants themselves is inconsequential; a successful ashen quadrant merely upholds the social idea of monogamy by stemming "widespread black infidelity." which is on its own a patently absurd idea: fidelity enforced by the race who practice punishable-by-death polygamy in order to mix all of their genes together in a single pool?! yes, it makes sense within the context of a nonsensically complicated alien reproductive process, but the nonsensical complicatedness of it all is entirely the point; the quadrants are designed to intersect in ways that not even the trolls themselves could ever fully understand. just as it's often impossible for a troll to distinguish between feelings that are platonic, pale or red, when Eridan attempts to "spark a rivalry wit)( [Sollux] to get [Feferi] to auspisticize [...] and pull us out of our quadrant" it's "t)(e oldest and lamest trick in t)(e book" precisely because it's the quadrant working exactly as intended! all of the quadrants serve to make relationships messier under the guise of making them more structured because messy relationships make for a great story, which is Alternia's fundamental purpose.

I think the Karkat point is worthy of another post deconstructing all the quadrants more broadly, because a lot of different things have been said about it already and it's worth getting into, but straightforwardly I think it must be understood that Karkat and "the narration" have fundamentally the same bias; the narrative wants us to take Alternia seriously because Alternia as a machine is a construction of the narrative for the purposes of the narrative, and Karkat wants us to take Alternia seriously because he's a massive stooge who has made his whole life's purpose out of buying into that narrative.

[nekropsii]

♤crotuna is double awful to me as a mituna liker and also guy who is obsesessed with troll society. like thats not how kismessitude works its a rivalry you cant just put to people who dont like each other together and call it pitch. can anyone hear me. its so dark in here.

ALSO when people act like cronus couldnt abuse mituna if they were in spades... KILLING YOU WITH MY MIND. did everyone just forget about terezi and gsmzee???

Pitch is Rivalry, yeah. Competitive Self Betterment. A lot of people seem to forget some genuine affection is necessary for BlackRom to work out and that there's clear distinction between "BlackRom" and "Just Hating Someone". The reason they can get so intense is because you care about the other party. It's a hell of a lot easier to get mad at something if you care about it, either because you love that thing or because it's negatively impacting something you love. It's why politics get people so up in arms. Politics inherently spell out who you do and do not care for the lives and rights of, and if that steps on groups that represent people that others care about a lot, they're going to get angry. Because... Duh.

Abusive Kismesissitudes are real and extremely possible, and I hate when people act like "Abuse" and "Kismesissitude" are either synonymous or completely exclusive of each other. Gamzee and Terezi were directly addressed as being in an Abusive Kismesissitude. There was a whole damn arc about it. Confronting the fact that it was an Abusive Kismesissitude was done in plain terms and on screen. It's pretty clearly spelled out.

So, yeah, fully agree. Pitch CroTuna is not fucking real and it never will be, because Cronus does not love Mituna and Mituna does not love him, and they're not in a god damned Quadrant. Cronus is explicitly just Mituna's abuser, and while this does involve Cronus sexually assaulting him, the mere presence of Mituna getting assaulted does not at all equate to either of them having feelings for each other, and if you so much as imply anything near contrary to that point, you are a sick fuck and should get hit by a car. Cronus does not care about Mituna. He cares about the fact that he can take advantage of the fact that he's a very vulnerable target that people will not listen to if he tries to speak up about the fact that he is getting abused. Cronus says that directly. He admits to it, in plain terms!

This is not shipping material, this is explicitly, textually someone experiencing extreme violence and bigotry at the hands of a man who does not care for the rights, happiness, consent, lives, and bodily autonomy of other people. This is explicitly someone getting intentionally targeted and abused because they are a vulnerable, oppressed minority group and the abuser feels confident they can get away with the abuse. Cronus has openly admitted to wishing that "culling meant what it should mean on Beforus", meaning making Alternian Culling methods - which is literal eugenics - the standard, so that he could kill Mituna for the crime of being disabled and get away with it. Nothing Cronus has ever said to Mituna even verges on Pitch Flirting. Not even close. It's just raw, unfiltered violent abuse and hatred.

If one is going to fetishize or romanticize abuse, at least own up to it. Don't try to warp canon just to soften and blur the edges. Don't get coy. Be straightforward and tag + talk about it appropriately, like an adult. Because if you're pairing Cronus and Mituna together, you are not writing a Pitch Relationship, you are writing Extreme Abuse. This shit isn't consensual, and the playing field is NOT even. Do not pretend like it is. Do not get coy. Be honest.

[her-reidiance]

A Kindred Spirit's Revelations, or: How This Arknights Player only came to love Lappland infinitely more — a Treatise by Her-Reidiance

I have had so many thoughts about Lappland in Il Siracusano it's insane. She afflicts my brain like Oripathy. Please bear with me, below is a long post and contains spoilers for the event.

EDIT: This part is misremembered, I apologize. The Saluzzos took in Cellinia Texas 7 years ago, after the Texas famiglia was "liquidated" for rebelling against Signora Sicilia. Yet Salvadore also sent Cellinia to live with them before the purge.

Lappland and Texas have been through how much together... was Lappland infected after Cellinia was taken in? How did those changes start to show... slowly or rapidly? Did Lappland's obsession begin with Cellinia first leaving Siracusa, or was it prior to that? Despite what we do gain knowledge of in the event, there's still some open doors.

We do know that they know each other quite well, and there's still some vestige of trust before the event's conclusion, this being my favorite representation:

The fact that Cellinia doesn't even bat an eye at the fact that Lappland broke into a supposedly well secured prison, but also the fact that she accepts the treat that Lappland brought, only to then realize it's her least favorite flavor — a fact Lappland had to have known going into this — sets my heart on fire. They know each other so well! They're complementary, contrasting, they have intimate knowledge of each other (take this phrase as you will, I already know how I do) and they regularly stay in some sort of off-balance with each other.

But the fact is, Lappland's obsession with Cellinia isn't just some textbook stalker with a crush, like what most would initially think given what had been presented prior to Il Siracusano. As Lappland says herself:

Lappland grew up the perfect Siracusan, the perfect Donna in training, the perfect killer. She was everything that could be expected of a woman in her station. She didn't see any way out of that life. It's what she was born in, it's what she will die in. But then along comes Cellinia Texas, doing nothing to save her family's life when the time comes to exterminate them, simply walking away from it all, and then walking away from her years later to go to Lungmen. Whatever condition Lappland was in by then, a switch was flicked on nonetheless, and she realized: "Oh... if it sucks... I can hit the bricks!"

But could she, really? What if Texas came back to Siracusa, and found that she could not truly escape her destined life after all, that she was just as bound to this place as Lappland was and would die here? That was the real test, and thus the events of Il Siracusano take place. But, when all is said and done, and it's just the two of them alone in the park...

I love this so much because it illustrates that our favorite insanity wolf has evolved! There is progress in her character arc! It's in an absolutely unhinged direction but it is no less in character for it. Her obsession has left from focusing solely on Texas as the Ideal, and now focused on destroyed Siracusa as a sort of Anti Ideal. Lappland now knows she is not bound by fate or blood or destiny to the place she was born. She too can simply watch the flames consume her family, her life, and walk away. And unlike Cellinia, she intends to be the one to light the match. The narrative gestures to this as well:

Lappland is now able to face the world, the wide world around her, not just as backdrops to her pursuit of Cellinia, but as hers to explore, to enjoy, to destroy as she wishes!

This moment is so much to me. It's the sudden clarity in her vision that demonstrates that she finally sees Cellinia as her own person, as just Texas the woman. Texas the Penguin Logistics courier. Texas, the woman who left. And she's no longer Lappland Saluzzo, shackled to her family name or a predestined future as its leader. She's... just Lappland.

Part time soulmates, Full time problem. No other dynamic can sum them up. Texas still cares for Lappland, just as she does Giovanna, as a part of her past that she did not altogether dislike. But she also sees more clearly than either of them. Giovanna, stuck in the past when she was Cellinia's best friend. Lappland, presently stuck on destroying the city around her as a final show of independence.

Finally, Lappland leaves the city, after a couple of loose ends are wrapped up. She wanders the wasteland, where the freshly defeated Zaaro happens upon her.

She fights Zaaro for THREE MONTHS in the middle of desolate wastelands. In all of that time, Zaaro didn't kill her, because he came to realize that there was no point in it. There was no satiation to be found for doing so, and that her fractured mind makes her a perfect candidate to be his next Fang. She is an empty husk, a woman who has nothing to live for by herself, but she is full. Full of training, full of potential, full of a singular goal; she is perfect to serve as the vengeance that Zaaro wishes to exact on Siracusa for his failure. And so, they team up, forming a bond forged in mutual hate. Not unlike the original appearance of Eddie Brock and Venom, truly.

The timing of the Azione Solo stories seems ambiguous to me, but some of them definitely take place after the main events of Il Siracusano. Of course, while I'm on the subject, let's discuss Lappland's solo story. I believe I have space left for more pictures so I'll share a few.

The summation is that Lappland makes a minor cameo in Cellinia's, in which she leaves a radio for the Texas to find, and she also goes about rooting through her family's estate one more time. She finds a photo of her younger self, and reminisces slightly on it. In between there was also a musbeast that she found and decided to keep, until it was taken and slain by the Saluzzo mafiosos.

After reminiscing about her father, and how doomed he — and as a result, she — are by being born as Saluzzos, as part of the mafia famiglie system... she destroys the image, while lamenting briefly that once again, the beloved pet of hers was killed by her father, laughing maniacally. To her, there still is no escape, or at least that's one way her mind leans. She knows Cellinia left, but maybe... maybe she cannot. All she can do is burn it down so there is nothing left to trap her. Nothing left to come back to. Scorched earth.

Finally, she dismisses Capone from her tentative services, having recruited him and Gambino at the end of Code of Brawl. Capone at this point realizes a bit just how absolutely feral and insane his "boss" is, and he is ready to die trying to kill her to be rid of her, by holding a knife in his sleeve. Of course, this is Lappland we're talking about. She sees through it right away and expresses probably one of her more genuine selves by stating that he's making a choice, and that's enough for her. He's free to go. The duplicitous Lappland, who prior might just have killed him for the sake of... sport? Insurance? On a whim? Lets him go instead, because she respects that he is making a choice for himself, rather than what he had been doing all event, which is walking on eggshells around her and trying not to be killed by her. We leave Lappland's story for now with this:

This implies that she returns to the city at some point after contracting with Zaaro. This to me shows promise of a continuance of her character. Lappland, The Fang of Zaaro, 6-star Operator coming sometime. Maybe during the Laterano event? After all, there's much more questions left to be answered... like why Lappland, a Lupo from Siracusa, can use Arts so well; and implied to be a skill of hers before her infection... but that's a ramble for another post.

Thank you for reading, and I hope you all understand my kinship with Lappland a little better, or at least have a bit more appreciation for this wonderful, horrible, terrifying, beautiful creature.

[bluekittyyoyo]

ALTERNIAN CULTURE ANALYSIS: APATHY AS ANTITHESIS. AN ESSAY ON TROLL SOCIETY'S UNDERSTANDING OF EMOTIONS

listen to me. it only makes logical sense that trolls would have a strong understanding of the idea that the opposite of "love" is actually antipathy; having no strong feelings whatsoever. I know what you're saying, "but the quadrants have love and hate as a dichotomy, they clearly think of hate as love's antithesis-" no. wrong. the quadrants are obviously not representative of every emotion a troll can have, the quadrants are a concept of ROMANCE. see there's the keyword here. love and hate are both integral parts of this romance, they do not exist in opposition to each other as in one cancels out the other, they are two sides of the same coin. having quadrant feelings for someone regardless of alignment is indicative of caring about them, of being passionate about them. I know those words typically have purely positive connotations when used about human romantic understandings but disconnect that for a second. basically it comes down to a slightly warped version of "horseshoe theory" (where supposed opposites, in this case love and hate, are actually closer together than the middleground). I think this concept is firmly supported by canon, examples off the top of my head:

from the quadrants explanation;

"The relationships each quadrant describes tend to be malleable, if not volatile,"

as stated with the pitched/flushed vacillation and the canon examples of pale/flushed, but also I think it is implied (though less so) that it applies to every quadrant and there are many ways unexplored in canon that every quadrant can bleed into another.

this famous line:

"It should be noted that in troll language, the word for friend is exactly the same as the word for enemy."

this quote being on the page where equius pesters gamzee, citing that he does so with regularity and thus considers him a "friend" (but that's not the whole picture). this adds to the notion of these relationships not being considered opposite but stemming from the same root idea of investment in a person.

I think it's very interesting because I believe the authorial intentions of incorporating hate as an integral part of troll society and culture is meant to contribute to the idea of them as a cruel and violent society, and while that may have some truth for the ways in which individuals treat each other peer-to-peer in average situations I actually think the real overarching effect it has is trolls coming off as a more emotionally honest society at the cost of simplicity and peace.

the implications of hate being considered on equal terms with love to me paint an image of a society that encourages embracing all emotions to the fullest extent, a society that might even consider the worst thing you can be not as someone who is filled with hate but in fact someone who does not care at all. I'm reminded of the conversation between vriska and aradia in hivebent:

vriska calling her a "miserable soulless witch" followed by repeating she hates her and "only regrets killing her cause it made her so BORING!!!!!!!!"

of course we also see plenty of times that "not giving a shit" is a thing that trolls are naturally inclined to do because you only have so much emotional resource to devote to a finite amount of things. moreover that alternia is a society that encourages emotional "balance", to embrace the love and the hate both with the same passion.

again as karkat rants to vriska also in hivebent:

"A WELL BALANCED PERSON IS GOING TO HAVE A GOOD DISTRIBUTION BETWEEN HATE AND THE VARIOUS PITY HUMORS."

you may also recognize this conversation as the same one where karkat claims this (rather infamously imo):

"PITY IS OF COURSE JUST THE TONED DOWN VERSION OF THE CENTRAL EMOTION, HATE."

(adding more to the "trolls believe hate and love come from the same emotional source" pile even if the manner of it is slightly off-center here)

and vriska's response to karkat's ranting:

"Did you learn this crap from your awful romance movies?" "THEY'RE REALLY INTRIGUING SOCIOLOGICALLY."

I hope this presentation makes it clear but for the audience in the back: karkat's interpretation of emotional composition of trolls is most likely complete bullshit and not at all factual nor, in my opinion, should be taken as biological information about trolls. for that reason I believe the reference to humoral medicine is completely intentional, invoking the imagerey of bullshit pseudoscience. just in the same way as I don't think it would be reasonable to make any similar claim about the nature of human emotions (and anyone who does is trying to sell you something). in A6A615 dave even states that "both humans and trolls are emotionally versatile sentient beings that can feel many hells of different things".

what I'm mainly getting at here using these quotes is that there is a cultural precedent for the claims he is making. karkat did not spawn these ideas about emotions out of thin air or scientific research, he got them from watching romance films. which particularly, as presumably low-culture media in much the same fashion as our own, would in fact make them excellent case studies on the general cultural attitudes of the society that consumes them. and that society, as karkat observes, makes indications that a) emotions of hate and love stem from the same source and b) trolls ought to have a balance of negative and positive emotions, where apathy is considered more undesirable.

so what I mean to say from all these observations, my formal opinion: to trolls there can exist this nebulous feeling of being emotionally attachment to someone, to desire any kind of relationship with them. and with that the average troll has a far better understanding that the most devastating response possible is actually none at all; to be completely unaffected by them.

so what am I saying with all this? it is my idea that in troll culture, trolls have a concept of relationships and emotions that can exist as a nebulous idea of just being *passionate*, of caring about something or someone and the distinction between negative or positive is merely a nuance rather than an opposition, and the actual socially reviled opposition to this feeling is being apathetic.

for example a troll rejecting another for a particular desired quadrant is heartbreaking (or diamondbreaking, spadesbreaking etc), but as there exists a desire for connection generally by virtue of the desire at all, it would be less devastating and possibly could become just as fulfilling for the connection to exist as a different quadrant, even on the other side of red/black. the most devastating possible outcome of a rejection would be that of total apathy, of the idea that one inspires no passions, no emotions of any kind in a person.

and with that established now we can get into my ideas about how alternian media rating systems work, such as a troll equivalent to rotten tomatoes where movies/books/films etc are rated on 5 different scales (also possibly two different modified 3 scale versions) in addition to a simplified two-scale version where the measure of "good" is based on "how much did this work inspire emotional reactions in you vs how much did you not give any shit at all"- the cane hooks me by the neck and pulls me off stage

[cannoliparty]

quadrants explained!

quadrants are a fun and (compared to homestuck's other elements) simpler element in the comic. personally, i find them intriguing but i dont really make any pairings with them unfortunately :( atleast theyre fun to explain!! so here we are ^_^

overview

the quadrants are the ways trolls experience romantic attraction to eachother, and what their relationships are based off of. these 4 quadrants are as follows:

matespriteship <3

moirallegiance <>

kismessitude <3<

auspiticism c3<

keep in mind ALL these quadrants are a form of dating, whether feelings are of love, hate, pacifism, etc.

(note: i looove the detail of these quadrants having little text symbols like earth's own romance (<3)!! its clever and makes troll romance seem even more realistic)

in a more literal sense, the quadrants obviously take a liking to the 4 suits in a deck of cards. this plays into the theme of "bar games", with the pool motif of the felt/lord english being another example.

quadrants can be sorted into 4 sections:

red romance: <3 and <>

black romance: <3< and c3<

concupiscent: <3 and <3<

conciliatory: <> and c3<

quadrants

matespriteship <3

this is (probably) the easiest to understand between the 4 - because matespriteship is the same to human romantic attraction. trolls will feel deep respect and adoration stemming from attributes of their matesprite, and this is a positive connection.

moirallegiance <>

moirallegience can be closely described as "platonic soulmates" - but keep in mind this is still regarded as a way of romance and dating!

moirails look out for eachother. they are the first person you confide in, as you are to your moirail. they help eachother in pacifying emotions, and keeping the other calm. theyre mostly necessary because of the violent practices in troll society, and moirails help tone down their partner's violent tendencies and general negative emotions.

an example is karkat & gamzee: at first gamzee carried out the duty of pacifying karkat's loud anger, but later the jobs flipped and karkat had to calm gamzee down from his own murder-spree.

all this pacifying is done through "shoosh-papping" which i feel is just homestuck's funny way of communicating how trolls calm eachother down as moirails: through physical comfort. overall, moirails know how to keep eachother in check aswell as always support and be there for eachother, whether its over their rage, their sadness over a quadrant, or their all-out violent thoughts.

kismessitude <3<

kismessitude is a form of romance that perfectly resembles the violent society trolls are in. it is best described as a rivalry, with a deep hatred for your kismesis. but regardless, this hatred and the quadrant in general is rooted in a deep admiration for the qualities and/or feats of the kismesis, and its just that that makes the quadrant a form of romance and not animalistic violence.

but thats why its normal for a kismessitude to be pretty violent. you hate eachother, after all. and with this deep hatred combined with alternia's normalized violence, something's bound to happen, and fights will break out indefinitely.

although, often kismessitude can be too violent for its own good. an example being when the rivalry and hatred for eachother is too strong and you can end up culling eachother is when a 3rd person (and the 4th quadrant!) must step in.

auspisticism c3<

this quadrant is only present in kismessitudes, but not all kismessitudes have/need an austpistice. the auspistice is the mediator of a kismessitude for when it gets too violent, and someone else needs to step in and calm both/either of the parties down. its to make sure the rivalry remains healthy & balanced, aswell as keeping the pair away from culling eachother, because otherwise then its not dating, and just plain hatred.

of course, auspiticism comes in different forms. the most prominent example is kanaya in a (albeit strange) kismessitude between vriska & tavros. kanaya would mediate and talk to vriska, keeping her away from getting too heated/over the top and straight-up culling tavros. this is an example of when an auspistice is needed for only one overly-violent party member of the kismessitude, but austpisticism can be especially taxing when both parties are overheated in hatred & violence.

categories

now that all quadrants have been established, we can go further in-depth with their categories.

red romance

matespriteship & moirallegiance are in this category! this is because of the non-violent elements in both of these quadrants, as one is positively romantic and the other is used to pacify negative thoughts.

black romance

this category contains kismessitude & auspisticism. this is due to the hateful nature in these romances, whether the parties are mutually hating or it's a 3rd party who must step in on the hate.

concupiscent

matespriteship & kismessitude are in this category. theyre here because they are the only 2 required for troll reproduction.

conciliatory

this category has moirallegiance & auspisticism. theyre here because theyre the other 2 that don't have any reproductive activities and are mostly used for pacifying/mediating. sometimes because of the lack of reproduction people dont view these quadrants as equally romantic as the concupiscent ones, but theyre still a form of dating and romantic bonds!

conclusion

overall, quadrants are fun! whether you come up with your own pairings that arent the basic matespriteship or not, i personally find them fun to analyze/look over nonetheless. feel free to comment quadrant-related things such as more in-depth discoveries or your own troll romance pairings in homestuck!! ^3^

[relaxxattack]

i COULD make a post about how the fandoms' lack of respect for moirallegiance led to the really weird popularity of kar♦kan despite kankri explaining beat for beat why that would be incest. but i'm too busy trying to be normal

[plotbunnybreeder]

It is the year 2024 and one of my friends only now decided to dive into the lore of Homestuck because video essay rabbit holes will do that to you.

For this friend, I came up with the shortest summary of this webcomic I could conceive and I figured if anyone else could appreciate it, it would be Tumblr people.

Condensed description of Homestuck:

A group of kids play a video game that ends up actually affecting reality around them, eventually destroying their planet. The intended goal of the game is to win and create a new universe, but things get complicated when an NPC goes rogue, multiple game sessions overlap and collide, and one of the sessions was 'cleared' by a glitch-cheating incel (he literally killed his inner female personality and stunted his own emotional development) who's doing whatever he wants.

The players of the other game sessions then have to decide to either subordinate the others or find a way to work together to survive and finally create a new universe for them to live in.

[paniccdefend]

honestly i don’t trust that karkat knows anything about quadrants. he gets his information from romcoms and bodice rippers; which as we all know, MUCH like his rants about quadrants, exist in a vacuum and have zero basis in reality, nor can they say anything about real life society or romance.

there has never been ANY proof of quadrants working like karkat says they do irl (eg pitch being affectionate).

[zenosanalytic]

The Heart of Things

Somefin just occurred to me:

[S]Kanaya: Return to the Core is Eridan (unhealthily)reacting to his romantic failures with murder, but it’s deeper than his refusal to accept Feferi’s rejection. If any relationship on that meteor NEEDED an auspistist, it was his (albeit questionably sincere and DEFINITELY poorly pursued)pitchcourting of Sollux, but Kanaya was so UTTERLY DONE WITH HIM, even before the game began(and everyone else[beside purrhaps Nepeta, who he was despicable to regardless] so ash-shy), that there was never any chance of someone stepping in to mediate it and prevent the outbreak of fatal violence.

THAT’S why the scene includes all four of them: it’s Eridan, and the three people who he most desires, yet has most thoroughly alienated. THEY are the quadrants he’s wrecked!

[thresholdbb]

Me, an educated person capable of analyzing media through theoretical lenses: Damn! Look at how she sits in that chair

[landofgatesandconstellations]

Rogue of light quadrants?

The rogue of light's main priority in a friend is that they can keep up intellectually. They can't know everything though. If they know nothing or everything, they may be a good kismesis.

Optimal Moirails: A rogue's flaw is indulgence, so their moirail should be able to stop them from indulging, but not so directly that the rogue hates them. A maid or sylph of void is optimal, but may be a little too direct and irritating, so doom also works well.

Optimal Matesprits: rogue of light | if there isn't another one in the session, any seer or mage works, as long as they aren't too knowledgeable. A thief, knight, page, maid, sylph or witch of light or mind works quite well too.

Optimal Kismesises: a seer. Someone too smart for the rogue's own good. Or someone too ignorant. A void player. Any page.

Optimal Auspice top leaves: Always depends on who their bottom leaf is, but the typical auspices are still good. Sylphs, seers, heart, blood. Seers and certain void players will be particularly helpful.

Probable Auspice bottom leaves: When someone is just a bit too smart or a bit too dumb, they make a good kismesis. When they're way too smart or way too dumb, they're likely to incite murder. A seer or mage or bard or page of light or mind. Anyone else real dumb or smart. A prince of light or void would also irritate the rogue, rogues tend not to like people destroying what they're trying to redistribute.

[quadrant-confusion]

are y'all alive?

Yep!! Life has just been a bitch! currently working on the stanley parable analysis!

We're trying our best!