Active Classes aren’t Selfish (Nor are Passives Selfless)

Been giving it some thought lately. I think the passive and active dichotomy being distinguished between Selfishness and Selflessness isn’t helpful. I think more useful terminology to describe it would be, self reliant and interdependent. Active classes (Self Reliant): Are individuals who enjoy life through improving their own circumstances and situations, not necessarily at the expense of others. Passive Classes (Interdependent): Are individuals who enjoy life through improving the circumstances and situations of others through their aspect. I use these terms instead of Group-Oriented and Self-Directed specifically because of the connotations of Selfishness and Selflessness, which I get into in section 3. Below are the specific problems with viewing classes in terms of activeness and selfishness. 1. It’s a bullshit and criminalizing dichotomy. Selfish (presumably active classes) are seen as parasitic, dependent leeches. Selfless characters (presumably passive) are seen as codependent perpetual victims. Both are extremes. Never mind that someone pursuing their own individual goals can have a positive ripple effect on the world around them. And far be it to conceive of the idea that someone can actually derive pleasure and sustain themselves, solely by helping others rather than being concerned with their own situation 24/7. A good example of this would be a Page of Light (first thing that came to mind). A Page of Light may pursue their own goals (as a self reliant is inclined to) but along the way encounter other individuals on a similar path and through interacting with them empower them. This will always come back to benefit the page in some way, but the fact that the page benefits in the long-term from the arrangement is not mutually exclusive from the fact that they helped someone else. This also gets rid of the stipulation that all thieves and princes are assholes who can’t meaningfully contribute to or coexist with society in any way.  2. The ideology of selfishness and selflessness in the narrative seems to be exactly what hampers the characters from actually being happy in the first place. Vriska feels like she’s “Selfish” for just existing, so she attempts to compensate by being as “Selfless” as humanly possible to disastrous effect (once again it’s an extreme).  If Vriska actually took care of herself she would ironically be happier and more inclined to make the world around her better.

Kanaya has the opposite issue. Everyone around her keeps telling her she’s too selfless, so she feels this need to stop herself from trying to help people she would otherwise help. And, as a result, she feels like she’s constantly working against herself because in truth, helping others is the way that she practices self love. It doesn’t help the fact that Kanaya’s approach to help is very motherly in nature. Even Jake is inflicted with this. He believes he needs to be selfless to his friends otherwise he isn’t worthwhile to them and contributes NOTHING to their lives. This idea that Jake exists only to serve himself or others with no inbetween is what makes Jake feel awful about himself and constantly second guess his contributions to improving his friends lives by just being a good friend. The idea that a character is being unfulfilled by doing what they are the most happy doing is what prompts them to take extreme destructive behaviors (See Aranea: Who believes that she also needs to be Selfish to be worth something). The issue has never been that characters need to strike a balance between being selfish and selfless. It’s that the characters are forced to think of themselves in those extreme terms in the first place and subsequently condemn themselves before they even have time to figure out who they are. 3. It’s practical as fuck (for classpecting). You can figure out whether a character is Active or Passive simply by observing their reasoning for doing what they’re doing. If they have an issue with being selfless then they are interdependent (passive). They might see themselves as a perpetual victim for helping others or incompetent at being of use to others causing them to withdraw from their relationships or procrastinate from taking necessary action to help others.

Conversely, if a character is accused of being too selfish by others or feels like being selfish is bad they are self reliant (active). They might beat themselves down over feeling weak and incapable, pushing themselves hard to become a pillar for their friends while simultaneously harming themselves and their friends in the process. The resulting behavior is boundary violation and being domineering (”I’m doing it for your sake so don’t complain, you selfish bastard”) mentality.

Once again this does not mean that the active player IS selfish. It means that they are perceived as selfish by those who think in terms of extremes. It also does not mean that the passive player is selfless either. Those two concepts mean literally nothing and are misleading. TLDR: The terms selfish and selfless are bad traits to assign to passive and active classes due to their extreme and condemning nature and are, in part, representative of the core ideological conflict the characters face in the story. To find a balance between being selfish and selfless, you have to disregard those concepts entirely.

Rage and Void: A Quickie

So this was just a thought that came to my mind via, but if you think about it, the end point of Rage is void which is unavoidable physical truths (I called them cold hard facts). That which is meaningless/possesses no meaning drives Ragebound’s insane. Thus Rage is often connected to void and Ragebounds need to learn to navigate and avoid falling into complete despair at the meaninglessness of reality. This squares nicely with Void’s inherent connection to the scientific process/method (See Equius and Roxy’s interest in robotics and reproducing the same thing over and over again) and Eridan’s (the prince of Hope/embracer of rage) penchant for science.  Conversely, Light’s endpoint is hope. Lightbounds are singled out as having intense convictions (conviction being tied to Hope through it’s description) to the point where they are morally grey. Furthermore, Lightbounds tends to utilize their knowledge to build escapes out of uncomfortable or dangerous situations (See: Rose and Vriska coming up with plans).  It is also the lightbounds who are themselves connected with abstract ideas and beliefs (hope-coded), such as Luck and Freudianism. So there you have it.  Void is connected to science and physical reality through it’s relationship to Rage. 

AND 

Light is connected to the spiritual and supernatural through it’s relationship to Hope.

Nihkee Moolah’s going to fuck some shit up once she realizes biological determinism is bullshit. Just saying.

The Distinction Between Light and Rage (With Some Gushers)

One of the things I’ve seen come up in discussion about the aspects is some overlaps between them to varying degrees. One good example of this Light and Rage.  I think it’s pretty much consensus at this point that Rage = Truth or Revelations. But it gets really interesting when talking about Light because Light also presides over the concept of truth. Some people have tried to smooth over the similarities by saying that Rage is “emotional truths” or truths that make you feel bad, but I think it’s a bit more complex than that. I think the distinction between the two is as follows: Ragebounds are “correct” and Lightbounds are “right”. Generally speaking. What do I mean by this?  Well, for the sake of this post, I am defining “correct” as presenting facts or evidence, and being “Right” is possessing an understanding of the facts in such a way that allows one to provide new insights, or form new arguments. Rage is the deconstructive aspect to Hopes conservativeness. As the Extended Zodiac states. 

The “true” objective reality that Ragebounds seek is noted to be covered up by “lies” (something Hope would preside over as Hope is an aspect of illusions, and beliefs). For the rage bound, the truth is something that must already exist and is being covered up, and their primary goal is to rip and tear things to find the irreducibles. The cold hard facts.  The Extended Zodiac paints Lightbounds as the exact opposite in this regard: 

Where Ragebound pursue the facts to destroy faulty arguments, Lightbounds pursue facts to form new arguments. The EZ funnily describes them as “alchemists” linking them to Sburb’s alchemy system, which utilizes a resource called “Grist” (defined as a substance used to back up an argument). 

The limitation of Lightbound’s relationship with Truth and a Ragebound’s is that a Lightbound constructs new perspectives, arguments, and grants themselves more options while eliminating the bad or unwise ones while Ragebounds use their evidence to deconstruct arguments and systems and get to the heart of the matter. Don’t bother asking Ragebounds for solutions to any fallouts or results of their radical behavior. “What the heck are we supposed to believe now?” everyone shouts and riots. Ragebounds trap themselves (and others) in the pursuit of truth. This is the core flaw of the Ragebound. Their pursuit of “truth” is not necessarily the pursuit of the good. It is often impractical, paranoia induced, and self destructive as a result of an inability to reconcile with the opposing aspect “Hope”.  This dynamic may be in part influenced by their neighboring aspects Mind and Doom. Light sits across from Mind on the EZ potentially indicating that some elements of Mind’s options, and lack of bias are carried over. Conversely, Doom is across from Rage indicating the limitation and narrowing down of options that Ragebounds experience as they discover and move towards the truth. Additional Notes: A Lightbound recognizes that some lies are necessary and are even good (afterall belief becomes reality in paradox space), while doing their best to eliminate the bad ones. Ragebounds lack this nuance. If the foundations are false, it’s all bad. No matter what. Yet, at the same time, Rage when cultivated properly and not extreme is the driving force behind all positive and negative social change. The catalyst. While Hope may inspire people to continue fighting, it is Rage that starts the fight to begin with. In a wise system, built on humanitarian principles the Ragebound is at the forefront tearing down evil before it even becomes a threat at best or prompting a sensationalist movement and influencing culture (insert “it’s all the rage” joke here) as trendsetter rebels. TLDR; Ragebounds be like:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6VdP9CtdHo0

Clowns, Bullies, and Joey Claire

Part of me wonders if the clown-car sequence in Hiveswap Act 2 is a symbolic re-enactment of a past event in Joey’s life. Not to say that it didn’t “literally happen”, but moreso that the event has clear psychological ties to Joey.

Early in Act 1, Joey describes a tense relationship with the other kids at school. They call her a “poser” for liking video games and invalidate her accomplishments. Funnily enough she also refers to them as clowns who may be “evil”. Fast forward to Act 2 and Joey literally has to deal with literal clown children who keep calling into validity her “murders”. All the while, being scrutinized by Chahut every step of the way for not being a real murderer (gamer) A hyper-exaggeration of Joey’s previous conflict with popularity and peers given that they literally attack her. And this all literally happens after Joey explains to Xefros that he’s allowed to form his own opinions and not give into peer pressure because of Dammek. Almost as though that conversation was the catalyst for the events right after it. I wouldn’t be surprised if on Earth, Joey experienced tension between being herself and thinking for herself and fitting in. Maybe the train cart partly represents Joey’s experience with school to an extent, innocently entering and then learning about social hierarchies and inadvertently transgressing them? It’s lonely, feels like no one is really on her side, and the people at the top are assholes for one reason or another. Where Homestuck had artificially constructed lands for each of the players, it appears to me (at least right now) that Hiveswap focuses more on how individuals effectively construct their own lands without Sburb (by externalizing their thoughts) and the consequences of not having control over that in a drastically different environment. Because like, the worst place for your fear of clowns to come into being is literally a hellscape planet full of them.

Derse (The Orphans) and Prospit (The Innocents)

I think one of the interesting things in Homestuck are the parallels between John, Jade, and Vriska. Vriska can sort of relate to Jade in the sense of having a demanding custodian figure who is incredibly powerful and dominates most aspects of her life.  And Vriska, as a kid, experiences light in the same way that John experiences breath, by which I mean she receives Mindfang’s journal out of no where in a dire moment of need, which serves to foster her own growth and development and protect her from the danger of culling.  Part of me wonders if Vriska was sort of roleplaying more than just a Sylph at various moments in her life. Like she’s a thief, don’t get me wrong, but environmentally speaking, she’s thrown into the witch role and heir role pretty early on in her life. And then she copes by becoming a thief, which turns out really well for her (all things considered). The Sylph roleplay seems less...compulsory? I’ve also considered that Prospit and Derse describe two Jungian archetypal roles. To clarify, Jung believed there were two child archetypes. The Orphan (marked by their interdependence and empathy but also a tendency to wallow in victimization) and the Innocent (marked by naivety, faith, and denial).  These archetypes are at the root of the Knight and Page classes respectively. Prospit Dreamers seem more in line with the “innocent” archetype, acting as servants to whatever hierarchal structure they are born into for the most part. Vriska, as rebellious as she is, for the majority of her narrative is acting out distinctly Alternian notions of redemption arcs and advancement. Derse Dreamers on the other hand seem tied to the Orphan. Not favored by Skaia’s light and living in cultures described as “offensive” victimization seemingly becomes a huge component of a Derse dreamers identity. And, as a result, they tend to wallow in moments of trauma rather than attempting to move past them.  For Dave, this looks like dwelling on his relationship with bro. For Rose, this is tied into her experience losing Jaspers at a young age and then being forced to stand in the rain for hours mourning him.  Of course this gets iffy when you get characters like Karkat who, by virtue of being a knight, is inherently tied to the Orphan. I guess you could argue that Karkat lives in a huge stage of denial for most of his life, hoping that one day he could become a threshecutioner. 

Musings on the Witch and Heir

The Witch is a cataclysmic being of epic proportion. Capable of changing what was once though to be immutable, be it the law of physics, or one’s own life-span. Yet perhaps because of this immense power, Witches grapple greatly with the reality of becoming evil.  In Homestuck the aspect and the soul are one in the same. And so on some level all classes are capable of influencing souls. For the Witch, this is mostly self-directed. Constantly adapting their identity to their goals, the Witch is difficult to pin down.  And maybe in a way, this is their greatest strength. The ability to change one’s self consciously and with purpose is not to be taken lightly.  However, without boundaries, without limits or rules that are immutable, the Witch’s kind hearted nature is jeopardized. Jade becomes Grimdark losing all ethical and moral filters. Rose also becomes Grimdark while imitating her mom’s image of a witch. Damara is shaped by her relationship to her aspect and the goals of her custodian, a familiar figure that empowers the witch while simultaneously dictating every element of their life. Without boundaries the witch is in danger of becoming a dark, greedy, sadistic and confusing monster. So basically a thief with waaaay too much power. (See: HIC) Ironically, the other “changer” class, doesn’t have this burden. Heirs rarely change throughout their session. Exemplifying all of the positives and negatives of their aspect, they rarely need to.  The true strength of the Heir is that their stable identities allow them to become agents of change for others, prompting spiritual growth. While the Witch responds to the material world and it’s impositions on her desires, the heir responds to the desire for spiritual growth present in all around him. We all know of John’s escapades that winds up in his friends becoming happier and developing hobbies, but Equius’ contributions are quite understandably, unnoticed. If Light is tied to the concept of enlightenment, then Equius is spiritually damned. He embodies (or seeks to embody) all toxic elements of society, But this prompts growth and change in his friends. By becoming unsightly and uncomfortable he prompts reflection on Alternian society.

While the Heir is a magician themselves, they are spared from the threat of becoming evil and blessed with innocence that will endear them to others. This innocence, unfortunately, leads to them harming those around them unintentionally or being used as tools as worse. Equius becomes a tool of obfuscation, concealing critical information from Calliope’s journal. As optimistic duelist notes, John dies in one timeline for the sake of the plot. Like the rogue, their power is locked outside of themselves. However, unlike the Rogue, the power isn’t indifferent to their wills, acting as a guardian until they need it. The Heir themselves may not become evil or cruel, but they may come under the tutelage of one who is.  And even those who are “evil” may find themselves being positively influenced by the heir in one way or another.

Musing on Rogues and Knights

While the Thief is inspired to take what’s around them for themselves, the rogue is inspired to share themselves with others. This selflessness affords them a veneer of morality and care from others, no doubt. I mean, who doesn’t love Roxy? Or Nepeta?  Of the two “stealer” classes the Rogue appears to be the most well adjusted. Yet, like their counterpart they are infected by a feeling of incompleteness. As though their aspect is an unrequited lover they are constantly pursuing in the form of the people around them. Nepeta desires the pure heart of Karkat, but her feelings are largely ignored. Roxy idealizes the physical reality of Dirk and his “manliness”, but his identity prevents him from being in a relationship with her. it as though the rogue is invisible to their own aspect at times. This is the fatal flaw of the Rogue. Like the thief they have locked their powers outside of themselves. Except, their power is not just outside of themselves but inside the hearts of others in the form of ideals. And so they relentlessly attempt to pick the locks of the hearts of those around them. They are in a constant battle with their greed for love which results in them doing amoral things in the pursuit of it. Whether that be enabling a facist dictator to rise to power, or unwanted romantic advances. However, this is balanced by their innate sense of empathy and responsibility to those they love. Transgressions lead to guilt and their guilt ultimately leads to them growing as a person and doing the right thing. The Knight, like the page, is complete in and of themselves. They perceive a lack in themselves because society tells them that their uniqueness, their eccentricities, their empathy (the part of their aspect which humanizes them) makes them deeply flawed. Seeking comfort in others they remove the parts of their aspect that are ridiculed and criticized at worst and obscure them at best. Of course this is false knowledge acquired by being caught up in the lies (void) of society. Dave’s empathy and giving nature is not any more of a weakness than Karkat’s ability to deeply connect with those around him. But this feels like reality to them. Karkat and Dave both ignore the empathetic components of their own aspects in favor of the “powerful” elements. They see themselves as tools that need to be refined. Beings somehow broken. And so the Knight pursues an ideal just as the Rogue does and live in a perpetual state of dissatisfaction until they learn that they are whole and it is society that is incomplete. Like the thief, they are pushed for more, but rather than acquiring more they seek to become more than what they are. Which, unfortunately is actually less.

Musing on Pages and Thieves

One interesting connection between Pages and Thieves I think is poverty. Both experience a form of poverty, though there is subtle differences.  A thief experiences a poverty of their aspect in themselves (a form of spiritual poverty), and this desire to “fill in the gap” motivates them to acquire material wealth. For example, Vriska pursues treasure heavily and Meenah is interested in large quantities of money. Even Tagora is interested heavily in money which he uses to buy rainbow drinker skincare products and decorate his hive (space coded). From their perspective, their aspect is a material that they can buy or acquire. And while this provides temporary relief, it ultimately leads to them being terrified of being backstabbed or betrayed (having their aspect stolen from them as they do to others), or endlessly attempting to pursue more, even at the expense of others. The Page, in contrast, is not remotely poor in spirit. They embrace their aspects quite wholeheartedly and as a result are contented in themselves. While they are blessed to be free from the curse of “incompleteness”  and instead with spiritual wisdom, they are initially cursed with powerlessness in the form of material poverty or the poverty of others of their aspect. The Page is objectified as their aspect. Jake is seen as desire incarnate to his band of friends (though is only truly respected by Dirk). Tavros too is objectified as “detachment” and “freedom” by Vriska and as such is antagonized as she drives forward with her attempts to be relevant (materially important). Vriska’s suppression of Tavros is a suppression of her own “enlightenment” (the part of her aspect which she perceives will make her weak). While the Thief compensates for their weakness and insecurity through things, Pages compensate for it through love and consideration from others. 

There’s also a matter of “who you are” being determined mostly by your beliefs.  Moving away from the synthesis stuff... I’m tempted to view the Hope-Life-Rage-Doom relationship as the difference between being empowered by your ego vs being enslaved to it. With the latter two being enslaved to their egos (or indicating the enslavement of the formers). Hope players act on their convictions and thus could be considered enslaved to the rules/boundaries (doom) they strive to uphold.  In contrast, life is not enslaved by rules but rather individual perception and skepticism. A lack of ability to believe in the subjectivity of others/possibilities of reality other than what was directly experienced. From the perspective of Hope and Life players they are empowered by their aspect, but the reader sees the opposite is also true. Believing anything is possible makes one delusional and complacent in current problems (waiting for salvation/death is definitely space and doom-coded). And paranoidly (rage) relying on one’s single experience and logic easily results in becoming tyrants. Hence Life-bounds are “pushy certain they know best” at their worst and Hope bounds are “selfish” at their worst.  Light-Mind-Heart-And Void have a less intense version of this conflict between ego empowerment and ego enslavement. Mind and Void in my mind  combine to produce logic. Logic is rooted in the material world. And while it’s useful for structuring societies, it can also be used to justify human rights violations rooted in physical limitations/support corrupt structures. This explains the “nastiness” of mindbounds at their worst and the “apathy” (cold materialism) of voidbounds at their worst.  Their perceived lack of bias makes them easily malleable to circumstance. Life is also logic oriented, but it’s so passionately oriented towards it’s own logic it neglects all other possibilities, which makes it an incredibly biased logic.  Heart and Light combine to produce the self. Which is inherently resistant to structures (very much so in the case of heart). Light is similar to mind in that it is shaped by external circumstance, however, Light is more fixed and less malleable. Light players are concerned with evaluating their environment and determining the correct self they must form to survive in it, then cultivating that self while trying to protect what is already there.  Heart defies context altogether for the most part and instead focuses on universality of iterations of one self. E.g: Dirk is a “trainer” in all realities independent of context. How that training looks is shaped by context, but at his core (seemingly biologically and thus void coded) Dirk is predisposed towards becoming a warrior trainer. Heart has more rigid boundaries than light does, though the boundaries light players have are usually extremely important to them.

Hmmmst (Aspect Synthesis Theory)

Sorry, I had to get one in.  I’m considering that maybe the aspects are literally built out of each other. And so they are reducible/irreducible at the same time (which in hindsight sounds very homestuck).

Some examples would be: Light would be split into the aspects of space and doom as they are the two complimentary aspects on the aspect wheel. Which would make logical sense, since Light players are defined as “rule-breakers” and “resourceful” (being able to draw from their environment.) Light’s closeness to time on the aspect wheel positions it as an aspect of disparity, and thus allows them to navigate both space and the limits contained in those spaces, finding gaps in the rules. In contrast, Void would be a synthesis of Life and Time. It would make sense to be these two since time is connotated with the father and thus paternalism (which Equius is in alignment with, but also to an extent Roxy in her adoption of gendered norms as Mom Lalonde). Life would be the imposition of will onto others/force. Void is more aligned to the aspect of space, which is in opposition to time (disparity). And so, Void must be seen as having a perspective of homogeneity. The implication would be that void players don’t see disparities of time (how things change) which fits with their general rigid attitudes towards things, such as Roxy’s insistence on Dirk being gay despite gayness no longer being a relevant concept, or Equius’ insistence on the hemospectrum still being relevant. It’s my suspicion that all aspects are synthesized out of other aspects in this way, though the complimentary pairs of an aspect are the most prominent characteristics in a character. Whether or not an aspect is aligned with time or space (is it on the left or right side of the wheel) determines how an individual perceives reality (is reality fresh or new, or is it the same as it’s always been).   Lunar sway seemingly aligns with this view as Prospit dreamers (spatially oriented) are associated with the present and conformity to current norms, whereas Derse dreamers (musically/time oriented) are associated with the future and past. Difference/perception of reality as fluid may fuel their rebellion, even if their will is fixed. it’s ideas all the way down.

Hmmmst (Aspect Synthesis Theory)

Sorry, I had to get one in.  I’m considering that maybe the aspects are literally built out of each other. And so they are reducible/irreducible at the same time (which in hindsight sounds very homestuck).

Some examples would be: Light would be split into the aspects of space and doom as they are the two complimentary aspects on the aspect wheel. Which would make logical sense, since Light players are defined as “rule-breakers” and “resourceful” (being able to draw from their environment.) Light’s closeness to time on the aspect wheel positions it as an aspect of disparity, and thus allows them to navigate both space and the limits contained in those spaces, finding gaps in the rules. In contrast, Void would be a synthesis of Life and Time. It would make sense to be these two since time is connotated with the father and thus paternalism (which Equius is in alignment with, but also to an extent Roxy in her adoption of gendered norms as Mom Lalonde). Life would be the imposition of will onto others/force. Void is more aligned to the aspect of space, which is in opposition to time (disparity). And so, Void must be seen as having a perspective of homogeneity. The implication would be that void players don’t see disparities of time (how things change) which fits with their general rigid attitudes towards things, such as Roxy’s insistence on Dirk being gay despite gayness no longer being a relevant concept, or Equius’ insistence on the hemospectrum still being relevant. It’s my suspicion that all aspects are synthesized out of other aspects in this way, though the complimentary pairs of an aspect are the most prominent characteristics in a character. Whether or not an aspect is aligned with time or space (is it on the left or right side of the wheel) determines how an individual perceives reality (is reality fresh or new, or is it the same as it’s always been).   Lunar sway seemingly aligns with this view as Prospit dreamers (spatially oriented) are associated with the present and conformity to current norms, whereas Derse dreamers (musically/time oriented) are associated with the future and past. Difference/perception of reality as fluid may fuel their rebellion, even if their will is fixed. it’s ideas all the way down.

Hmmmst (Aspect Synthesis Theory)

Sorry, I had to get one in.  I’m considering that maybe the aspects are literally built out of each other. And so they are reducible/irreducible at the same time (which in hindsight sounds very homestuck).

Some examples would be: Light would be split into the aspects of space and doom as they are the two complimentary aspects on the aspect wheel. Which would make logical sense, since Light players are defined as “rule-breakers” and “resourceful” (being able to draw from their environment.) Light’s closeness to time on the aspect wheel positions it as an aspect of disparity, and thus allows them to navigate both space and the limits contained in those spaces, finding gaps in the rules. In contrast, Void would be a synthesis of Life and Time. It would make sense to be these two since time is connotated with the father and thus paternalism (which Equius is in alignment with, but also to an extent Roxy in her adoption of gendered norms as Mom Lalonde). Life would be the imposition of will onto others/force. Void is more aligned to the aspect of space, which is in opposition to time (disparity). And so, Void must be seen as having a perspective of homogeneity. The implication would be that void players don’t see disparities of time (how things change) which fits with their general rigid attitudes towards things, such as Roxy’s insistence on Dirk being gay despite gayness no longer being a relevant concept, or Equius’ insistence on the hemospectrum still being relevant. It’s my suspicion that all aspects are synthesized out of other aspects in this way, though the complimentary pairs of an aspect are the most prominent characteristics in a character. Whether or not an aspect is aligned with time or space (is it on the left or right side of the wheel) determines how an individual perceives reality (is reality fresh or new, or is it the same as it’s always been).   Lunar sway seemingly aligns with this view as Prospit dreamers (spatially oriented) are associated with the present and conformity to current norms, whereas Derse dreamers (musically/time oriented) are associated with the future and past. Difference/perception of reality as fluid may fuel their rebellion, even if their will is fixed. it’s ideas all the way down.

I haven’t been posting lately.

I’ve just begun my third year at University. Even then I’d like to work on structuring this blog a little bit more. When I get a grip, I’m going to come back and try to mess around, making things a bit more easier to navigate.

The Binder’s applicability is that it’s condensed information on the matriorb. Roxy mentions that she can’t use her powers without knowing the end point/thing she should be striving to produce, strengthening the knowledge is power connection but also specifying it. Condensed information is power but power can become corrupting. Uncondensed information received all at once is void (meaningless) and the experience is likened to assault. Structured information contains power that requires extraction to be of any use.  Life players (at least the main 3) tend to take complicated matters and reduce them to their bare essentials in an attempt produce an outcome they want (and often times they miss safer/less costly alternatives). HIC’s attempts of reproducing her race on Earth are treated as hairbrained. As though she follows through on every single idea that pops into her head without considering the consequences/knowledge beforehand.  People repeatedly tell Meenah her plan is bad. She criticizes Aranea for taking a better albeit roundabout route of stopping him that wouldn’t get everyone killed. Jane’s fetch modi in hindsight is the best representation of that line of thinking She synthesizes solutions to problems without considering the properties of the items (information) she combines and it’s impact on the final product. The inclination to bypass the process of extracting information from walls of colorful text results in power at the expense of all else. And power is immensely satisfying to characters like LE and HIC who enjoy imposing their will onto others. This inclination could in part be understood as a rape fantasy (imposition of will/information without consent=rape but also it’s removal as well) considering that the characters in Homestuck are metatextually walls of text given physical form within the narrative. This also puts COTL into perspective too. COTL is a story about wizards who go mad after obtaining too much power. They originally gained this power in “drips” and “drabs” from the structures in that universe. Aspects like Mind, Space, Void, Hope, and Doom seem existentially inclined to preserving complex structures of information (preventing others from being corrupted) while Time, Light, Life, Heart, and Rage seem to be about extracting information from those structures to empower themselves and refine those structures (in benign cases). So Kanaya’s desire to “withhold the point” is a desire to moderate the flow of information similar to the structure moderating the “dissemination” of information in COTL. And Jade’s interaction with Roxy over the matriorb is Jade bending the structure of space to provide Roxy with condensed info to empower her, an inversion of Kanaya’s desire.

On Life, Light and HIC

@pagedelight said:

This thought arose from my memory about a post about Meenah and her unwillingness to allow things to develop or grow. I couldn’t find the original post for this, so I may be a bit off base.

Could the Condesce’s name and motifs (and to an extent the motifs of Life players since they’re super closely related) relate heavily to information. In particular, the Condesce’s name is a joke on Meenah’s tendency to reduce information to it’s essentials? Something along the lines of condensing information? 

The weapon of choice, a trident, would also evoke the imagery of a three hole puncher which she ironically uses to kill Rose. This relation between life and information is also semi-shown with the binder that HIC gives to Roxy to construct the matriorb.

Life, the aspect most strongly associated with power, would derive it’s power from the condensing of information. Which is exactly what trickster mode (life-coded grim darkness) is in hindsight. It is looking at characters who are complex and saying “Nope, screw that, I only care about what I want” and extracting that complexity from them. 

If trickster mode is oversimplification/reduction of information and grim-darkness is it’s only known counterpart, that would seemingly imply that grim-darkness would be an abundance of information/complexity rather than it’s presumed lack. It’s not instant nihilism. 

Meaning, Rose’s grimdark transformation wasn’t triggered by receiving meaningless answers alone, but receiving extremely dense, complex (indecipherable) information all at once (multiple answers show up in the cue-ball in [S] Descend). Jade’s grimdark transformation at the sight of Jake’s page outfit would be similar. 

1. This is really strange timing: not two days ago, I was browsing the SomethingAwful MSPA thread and found a post from like 2012 musing that Feferi’s Land of Dew and Glass might be a joke on condensation, linking her the Her Imperious Condescension. I was kind of skeptical tbh, but the way you’re putting it here is making me reconsider cause like..

Recently, it came about that Dirk’s supply of orange soda is characterized as the ‘distilled’ orange essence of the pumpkins Roxy has… 'distill’ being the word of choice because Dirk associates Ben Stiller with the Mobster Kingpin, who runs a moonshine distillery. This set up is probably a result of Dirk 'being’ glasses, the matter of only having orange color is part of being a detached gaze, color is what the eye drinks. (Tangential: Dirk’s picture of Ben Stiller is next to Rainbow Dash)

This aligned with the independent supposition that 'rainbow drinker’ doubles as a euphemism for the eye, with Kanaya’s penchant for boiling complex subjects down to their basics being an act of 'distilling’ analogous to the object > essence work performed by the gaze.

“Her Imperious Condescension” is itself a reference to the domineering gaze of authority, which together with your 'condensation’ reading puts it perfectly in line with the Dirk and Kanaya stuff. What’s more, the first time we see the acronym HIC is an advertisement on John’s TV for the literal fruit juice! The ghostly essence flavor no less, Ectocooler Blast!

So agreed re: condensing information

(Tangent: All this talk of eyes and distilling is making me associate the death of Mobster Kingpin with the skewered olive in Mom’s martini… or Rose stabbing eyes out, for that matter)

2. The thought of HIC using her 2x3dent for paperwork is adorable. Endorsed, even though I’m not sure about the binder’s applicability to everything here.

3. I think the topic of essences goes beyond the Life aspect (as in various aspects intersect with the matter), and I don’t know what to think of the dichotomy you pose between Trickster Mode and Grimdarkness, but I don’t think I can dispute the bit about information density from the cueball, given how many images flash on screen in that last second before Rose’s eyes darken…

Something to keep in mind!

Some thoughts on “Luck Doesn’t Matter”

There’s one conversation that really bugs me. In the conversation between Dave and Terezi, Terezi states that “luck doesn’t matter” and that “all of reality is made up in a character’s mind”.  It struck me as super dismissive and a gross oversimplification of reality. Possibly stemming from Terezi’s tendency to reduce the complexity of others to enact her personal sense of justice towards them.  Saying that all of reality exists in her mind implies that there are no such thing as pre-existing circumstances and diminishes the importance of connections between people, and choices made by people in the past. If the Beforeus trolls are anything to go off of, this is a bogus line of thinking. People as a result of growing up in a different context. Healthy circumstances (e.g: good luck) produces healthy people. Unhealthy circumstances (misfortune) produces unhealthy people/semi healthy people.  Things like luck and privilege and the impact that those things have on how experience is determined and information is processed are irrelevant. Imagination is seen as this intangible thing that comes out of no where, but imagination heavily seems aligned with space (Hope is on the same sign of Space in the aspect wheel). History (events of reality) aren’t determined by conscious thinkers who do nothing but think. It’s determined by semi-conscious actors.  

I’m not crying... I’m just using my psionics.

Are Sylph’s Passive or Active?

A continuation from this post: There’s this interesting line from Kanaya:

There’s two possibilities, given the theoretical framework above. 1. Kanaya is right about titles being challenging, but wrong about why they are challenging. Being an active player (Witch) with a passive aspect (Space) certainly sounds like a challenge. You’re sort of working against yourself. Of course, if Kanaya is feeling challenged here, the implication is that she is experiencing the same problem that Jade is. Thus, Sylph must be an active class and not a passive one. However, the title is not given by the game to challenge the player, but rather is something that the game picks up on in relation to the character’s psyche and experience. Trauma is challenging, so the title is challenging. It should be important to note that Kanaya has distanced herself from her trauma on a psychological level and has had a relatively cushy life where her persona would not need to manifest to protect her. 2. Kanaya is only wrong about her class being against her natural strength. In this case Sylph is a passive class and Kanaya has a passive aspect. So, Kanaya’s classpect inherently suits her strengths but not her current environment. The former case is the most likely. Kanaya is the most likely to slip up on this nuance given than she has distanced herself from her trauma on a psychological level and has had a relatively cushy life where her Sylph of Space Persona would rarely need to manifest. Also her primary means of dealing with shit is cutting it in half... so y’know.