Troll Primer

[mindseer]

Always a WIP

I am no expert on Homestuck, so if you wish to suggest a correction below, send me a private message. I may or may not update the information below. I'm disabling comments, though, because this is more meant to be a helpful reference for non-HS familiar people who want to understand these things a little better, not to open dialogue on topics many of us have hashed out for way too long anyway.

Table of Contents
1) What are some Basics you can tell me about what a Troll is?
2) What is the Hemospectrum and how is Troll Society organized?
3) What is Troll Romance like and how do they make more trolls? (The PG version)
4) What the hell is this SGRUB game and how does it affect the story?
5) What's the Plot of Homestuck?
6) What's Troll Culture Like? (Big time WIP)

Comments

(frozen) Quadrants: Troll Romance/Reproduction

[mindseer]

Two questions for the day:
1) How do Trolls make a baby?
-Do you remember in Pokemon, when you gave them your pokemon at the pokemon nursery and they said "Sometimes a miracle happens and an egg appears!" And nobody ever told you how it happened? This is one of those times. Dumb jokes are a thing, but we're not getting into crude biology. It's a PG Game.

Just know that it involves buckets and buckets freak trolls out. That is all you need to know.

2) Ok, so what about Troll Relationships?
-now this, I will answer. Trolls are intensely romantic creatures with complicated dynamics. They view four 'types' of relationships as being "Romantic" in nature, with two of these being associated with the reproductive process, one of them "Redrom" and the other one "Blackrom."

Basics -
Redrom are romantic entanglements centered around the emotion of Pity or Sympathy. One or both partners have pity towards the other that carries with it a quality of affection, akin to friendly or loving interest. These relationships usually have a dominant partner and a submissive partner. One is pitied, the other pities, though this can vascillate at times between them.

Blackrom are romantic entanglements centered around the emotion of Hate and Rivalry. These partners enter into a rivalry-centered relationship of mutual hatred and endeavor to one-up or harm each other without actually killing or destroying each other. (It is important to note that trolls are violent. There is platonic hate, which usually just involves wanting to kill someone or not deal with them, and romantic hate, which wants to play up the hatred in almost comically theatrical varieties.)

These two types of emotion get tied into two romantic relationships each, creating what are called the "Quadrants." Two are Red, two are black.
-Reproductive Relationships: Matespriteship (Red/Flushed) & Kismessitude (Black/Pitch)
-Non-Reproductive Relationships: Moirailship (Red/Pale) & Auspisticism (Black/Ashen)

People flip between these things all the time, and added to this you get situations where people are flushed for someone who hates them, yada yada yada, and it all gets hopelessly convoluted after a while. Trolls are, additionally, culturally bisexual, hermaphroditic and generally polyamorous because of their need for both Flushed and Pitch relationships to reproduce. If this sounds like a clusterfuck, it is.

The Quadrants: Because basically that's the only way this makes even a little bit of sense (I'm lying. It doesn't. It never did.)

These are sometimes symbolized by a suit in a deck of cards in text chat to show interest.
-Matespriteship/Flushed: <3
This is basically the closest thing to a normal human romantic relationship in the western sense you're going to find. One partner pities the other, and the other likes being pitied. They feel deeply protective of each other and attracted, going out of their way to support one another. It usually has a Submissive/Dominant element, though this may be more because of the caste system than the emotions involved. It is not especially violent, but can become so because of the protective element.

Multiple Matesprites are unlikely due to inherent jealousy, but not strictly impossible.

-Moirailship/Pale: <>
Somewhat closely akin to human friendship, a moirailship is a sort of mutual bond between two people who find something in the other that they pity, and who want to help 'fix' or address that element. It is a supportive friendship that is not sexual in nature and tends to be very protective, angling to protect the moirail not only from others but from their own worst inclinations. One of the more well known examples was Nepeta and Equius, where Equius would guard Nepeta against her flighty nature and making foolish choices that might get her killed, and she tried to control Equius' more obsessive and violent urges, keeping him from doing unfortunate things that would have lasting consequences. They weren't successful, mind you, but they show how it's 'supposed' to work in principle.

Multiple moirailships are not unheard of, but troll problems tend to be inclusive and demanding. One doesn't usually have multiple best friends who save each other from themselves regularly. The same goes here, though it's not impossible.

-Kismessitude/Pitch: <3<
Trolls are violent. Even Rust bloods are violent. They hate lots of things. A kismesis is someone that someone hates almost to the point of obsession, but not someone that they want to simply kill, destroy or never see. It is a seething, blinding obsession that drives them to one-up, to challenge and to fuck with that person near constantly. When the feeling is returned, it becomes akin to the concept of a "Hateship" with a heavy rivalry element. The longer-lived a hateship goes, the more that partners will develop a sort of rapport where they can deal with their urges to one-up each other without going overboard. Youthful hateships, however, have a nasty habit of being very violent.

Multiple Kismesis relationships are a good way to get a lot of dead trolls. They happen. They usually end in blood. No tears. Just lots and lots of blood and bodies.

-Auspisticism/Ashen: o8<
Like I said. Trolls hate a LOT of things. And they go too far with that hate a lot of times. They're also polyamorous, which means the possibility of multiple kismesis exists, which is a good way to find a whole lot of dead fucking trolls when the jealousy hits. That, and they just want to wreck shit sometimes. The Ashen quadrant is sort of an accidental result of this.

In this, a third party steps into a hateful relationship and mediates it in some fashion. Possibly they calm the parties down so that they're seething but not romantic/overly destructive. Possibly they give the two of them something else to hate and keep the others busy. Possibly a lot of things. The point is that the third party exists to keep these two from blowing their gaskets and everyone around them to hell, and they keep things nice and stable. It is not unheard of to see individuals with multiple Ashen engagements, though this can get very exhausting and earns one a reputation as a "Fussy McBritches" (I'm looking at you Kanaya.)

Good, now. Did that all sound stupid and confusing? Congratulations! It is, and you're right there with Karkat, many fans and the rest of the cast who got really tired of this by end canon. It's a complicated headache.