Can We Get A Cross Aspect Master Post?

heir of time or prince of mind?

Daily 6 - Prince of Mind

i love reading peoples takes on mspa reader’s classpect so i drew some various readers

Classpects as Real-Life Magick: Aspect Archetypes

So, here we are again, discussing the absolutely bonkers idea that Homestuck's Classpect system could be used to form a coherent, real-life magickal system. I've talked briefly about the various Forces and Wills that affect the Homestuck universe, and how those directly translate to our modern understanding of magick, but I'd like to touch on Aspects and how one could use them in a system loosely constructed from the mythology of Paradox Space. Each Aspect can be treated as having its own Domain, which includes both concrete and abstract symbols, as well as what the Aspect itself represents in the Universe. The Aspects as they're represented in the form of universal Forces are also represented in the human form, and in following this system one can "tap into" those Forces, whether for personal development or for directing those energies outward. (I definitely draw inspiration from the idea of panpsychism for this.)

I'll begin the discussion of the Aspects by delving into their Archetypes, and will expand more upon their Domains for another post. While the Classes have obvious inspiration from Jung's primary archetypes, the Aspects can also be represented similarly. If you were to personify each Aspect, they would look a bit like the following:

Space: The Creator. Infinitely patient, Space is generally calm and collected, if a bit cold at times. Yet, it's also responsible for the creation of the universe, over which it watches with a protective gaze. If its propagation is threatened, Space is capable of an incredible fury, evoking the unforgiving chaos of a star gone supernova, or the inevitable terror of a black hole.

Time: The Destroyer. Controlling, steady, and ever-present describe Time quite well. Despite its generally destructive nature, it's quite capable of incredible works of creation, most notably in the realm of music. Synchronicities are the calling card of Time; when meaningful events happen simultaneously, take notice. Time contains endless passion and drive, its fires unquenchable.

Mind: The Actor. This Aspect embodies cognitive dissonance and the ability to completely disappear into a role. Mind appears differently to anyone who comes across it, which can make signs of its influence difficult to track down. Epiphany and synthesis are the children of Mind, sought by creatives and intellectuals alike. A deep understanding of abstract reality comes with understanding Mind.

Heart: The Romantic. When dealing in matters of the soul, Heart embraces that identity which remains stable and encourages genuine connection between people. It holds the mirror to nature and exposes virtue and flaw alike. Clear self-awareness and a complicated relationship with that self are hallmarks of Heart, as well as a tendency toward melodrama, with or without an audience.

Hope: The Storyteller. Intense euphoria, unbound by pragmatism, heralds the influence of Hope. It painstakingly crafts a story for its chosen ones, who are encouraged to submit and live fully in that truth. This Aspect lends itself to to the miraculous and fantastical, opening minds to a myriad of possibilities, and those who embody Hope can get utterly lost in its labyrinth of the theoretical.

Rage: The Satirist. Contempt and a vindictive nature are part and parcel of Rage's nature, as an Aspect that inspires doubt and insanity, as well as a refusal to engage with frivolity. It stirs melancholy in dark hearts and is manifest through gallows humor and rejection of fantasy. It is the hammer to which everything else appears as a nail, though its steadfast determination is invaluable.

Breath: The Trickster. Those under Breath's influence share its nature of playfulness and constant motion. At times, this manifests as immaturity through a lack of groundedness. Breath is prone to distraction, constantly shifting its own path upon encountering any sort of resistance or responsibility. The Aspect is self-driven and individualistic, disconnected from others of its kind.

Blood: The Wounded Healer. Much as its name suggests, Blood is fully grounded in the struggle and suffering inherent to life. However, it also embodies a profound empathy for others and an unmatched dedication to those bonds, as well as an understanding of what personal sacrifices must be made to accomplish a given goal. It is relentless and deeply dedicated to building vast networks of allies.

Life: The Alchemist. Even in the deepest cracks in the sidewalk of the Furthest Ring, Life finds a way. It flourishes in the bountiful harvest and transmutation of energy, wealth, and influence. Those blessed by its influence are durable and ever-present, making decisions that utterly transform the world around them. This constant cycling of energy is necessary to keep the universe balanced and in motion.

Doom: The Martyr. Limits and restrictions are just as important to the universe as negative space in a piece of artwork. Doom generally festers like a slow-growing mold, but the telltale sign of Doom's influence is a massive, unsustainable release of energy that usually results in burnout. The Aspect also has a deep connection to inorganic systems and constructs, many centered around death.

Light: The Teacher. Knowledge itself lies in the realm of Light, which is made manifest through instruction and understanding of important information. Omniscient beings receive their enviable sight through Light, which ultimately seeks to scour the universe, leaving no stone unturned in its hunger to learn and teach. It promises great fortune to those who assist in its declared purpose.

Void: The Occultist. Endless hunger and inescapable darkness are the left and right hands of Void, which offers gifts of arcane knowledge and long-hidden power in exchange for the fame and fortune many would seek with such gifts. It twists the mind and forces their student to acknowledge their Shadow. Its power is addictive and all-consuming, but well-worth the price...to the insane.

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. 

part of the universe's inherent cruelty that all the parts of being a grownup that you idolized as a kid are both the best and worst parts of adulthood

Absolutely this. An aspect’s opposite/adjacent aspects are all related to it on a deep level.

Mind’s rationality + Breath’s heroism = Hope’s focus on justice in the test description, because justice is based on principles.

But at the same time, Blood = Organized religion (The Sufferer as a Jesus figure) and Heart’s romance are also related to Hope.

Space’s creation + Hope’s imagination = Mind’s emphasis on creativity in the test description.

And on the other hand, branching timelines are driven by Mind, and Mind’s rationality is linked to Rage’s hatred of false beliefs to produce a hatred of lies.

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.

this is gonna sound stupid but Doc Scratch is a dirk splinter?

yep!

Classpect powers and skill

So I was thinking about god-tier abilities in Homestuck, and it struck me that rather a lot of the so-called “classpect powers” showcased in hs are either A: a more “supernatural” expression of something the person in question had already been doing prior, or, rarely, B: a direct response to a previously established problem. And in aggregate, these feel like they point toward a fairly particular conception of classpect abilities, that of skills that are learned (or levelups gained in a special ability, if we want to get video gamey with it).

Let’s use John as an example. As the predominant early viewpoint character, his growth is fairly well detailed. As he enters his Land and starts properly growing, he goes from using the Breeze to send objects across his Land using the Parcel Pyxis network, to subconsciously summoning the Breeze to save himself from a fire, to subconsciously having the Breeze emanate in massive quantities from his very body to put out the planet-spanning Green Tragedy, to finally as a god-tier (and with some valuable advice from Vriska) taking full control of the Breeze and using it as a tool and weapon. All of these fall into the A category, but John also has two solid B category abilities, the ability to resist detection via scent, and the ability to turn into wind to protect himself against attacks. And both those abilities are perfect for protection against Bec Noir, who tracked John down via his scent and stabbed him in the chest shortly before John god-tiered, at which point he immediately gained the first of these abilities (he showcased the second when fighting Noir in the Furthest Ring later).

Keep reading

I was fiddling with that Calliope post for a few days in my drafts, but combined with what I've been repeating recently about "Caliborn's paradigm" I wonder if the point of classpect is to be interpreted?

obviously the aspects are symbols for fundamental concepts, and the point of a fundamental concept is whittling it down into something more real via interpretation (which is something we see in the comic, with Vriska thinking of Light as luck versus Rose thinking of fortune more in terms of fate)...

I suppose it could be argued that classes are the interpretations of the aspects, i.e. a Seer of Light inherently interprets "Light" differently to how a Thief of Light interprets it, but I think there's a level of fundamentality to a class as well. they represent fictional archetypes moreso than RPG classes (RPG classes themselves tend to represent archetypes of folkloric hero, but Sburb's classes take that a step or two further and, as such, a step or two more abstract); it's something I've only lightly touched upon before, but essentially, like the aspects, the classes are ideas that are open to interpretation by their very nature; while the platonically ideal concept of a "Prince" does exist out there, each individual Prince from each individual story is a totally different iteration, a different "interpretation" of the idea of a Prince.

I guess this is roundaboutly similar to the popular existing theory that each class is defined by a kind of keyword; the Prince and Bard are "destroyers", but it's up to interpretation what exactly that entails (as Calliope puts it, a destroyer of x is "one who destroys x, or caUses destrUction throUgh x"). in the same vein, Thieves and Rogues are "stealers", and so on; one major discipline of classpecting seems to be the scholarship of figuring out what the "keyword" is for every class pair.

but even that I find to be a bit too specific. because while Calliope certainly might interpret a Prince as a destroyer based on her observations of various Princes, in Caliborn's paradigm Prince is likely to mean something completely different. to Caliborn, there are "LOWLY PAGE[S]" and Lords whose "NOBILITY IS MANIFEST". he interprets classes as their literal meanings, the way Dirk thinks of a Prince as someone who "rule[s] over [their aspect] in a pompous, regal manner"; a way of thinking made manifest in the position of Princes in relation to Maids and Pages in Alternian society. because of course the opposite side of the "Homestuck characters are the audience" coin is that "Homestuck characters are the author". in the same way Calliope's interpretations of the classes are "true" because they line up with observable fact, Caliborn's interpretation of the classes is made true when he gains control over the narrative and is able to skew the reader's very ability to observe the facts. in Caliborn's own words, "IF I BELIEVE HARD ENOUGH [...] THEN THAT FACT BECOMES ABSOLUTELY INDISPUTABLE AS A PERMANENT MAN REALITY."

I got inspired by a theory I found from this post however I disagreed with some of their choices...so I made my own version of an aspect breakdown.

Space is divided into Start and Place, which is further divided into Stir and Flux for the former and Scope and Vast for the latter. Stir was inspired by the primordial soup from which all life began and flux was honestly due to my playing overwatch too much but also has to do with gravity itself. Scope and Vast kind of go hand in hand and deal with spatial dimensions.

Time is split into Stream, for the flow of time itself. The MSPA reader saying that "time is like a river" gave me this idea. Eon is the other half of time. Stream breaks down into Hint to represent how any moment can cause an entire timeline to diverge into an offshoot, and into Trend which signifies how once a timeline becomes doomed things just get worse and worse. Eon goes into Bide since we've always had moments where we've had to bide our time, and Stop because once a timeline is over, it's done.

Light is divided into Bright and Lot. Bright is then divided into Flash and Warm which are really self explanatory. Lot (as in "casting lots") is broken into Grasp (as in grasping information) and Odds (they can be good or bad)

Void is broken down into Still (like the still puddle in the image) and Dark. Still then turns into Depth and Hide. Dark turns into Fog and Shade. I feel these are self explanatory, but if anyone wants me to go into them, I'm open to any questions.

Life is Grow and Romp. Grow becomes Sprout (who hasn't noticed tiny little green shoots out of the ground when spring comes?) and Pluck (for who but the young are so full of energy and Life?) Also good for a reference to the webcomic itself (lad/lass scamper, pluck). Romp (a word for playing or being at play) turns into Wild and Vim. Animals play all the time and life keeps going even after we try and tear it down.

Doom becomes Curb and Grind. Curb (think like how the curb keeps a car from crashing into innocent pedestrians) turns into Rule (for rules and laws keep us from running Wild-get it?) and Yield (for we all must submit to things we don't want to do for the greater good). Chose the picture of the stigmata because well tbh I am still a Christian and because it fits. Grind (like how gamers grind to get better at what they do) goes down into Sift (sifting the good from the bad) and Trim (as in trimming overgrown leaves and branches).

Breath is Move and Sound. Move then is Rush (running so fast you can feel the wind on your face) and Lift (because then you can fly). Sound becomes Din (the noise, noise, noise) and Tell (because sound and thus voices carry through air).

Blood is diluted (get it? cause it's liquid?) into Yoke ("we are equally yoked") and Trust (in order to accomplish bigger things). Yoke turns into Serve and Vow. I know that marriage vows aren't the only kind of vow, but I thought the picture fit best. Trust turns into Touch and Lead.

Heart (my own aspect!) is Pith and Whim. Pith is the core of something (for example, the pith of a fruit) and whim-because who hasn't ever done something on a whim? Pith is then divided into Self and Groove. (We all have our own self and groove) Whim becomes sway and mood, because moods can sway us to act one way or another.

With Mind I agreed with @wakraya in that it was Will and Thought. However for me, Will then becomes Seek and Delve. Thought becomes Plan and Mull. If you notice, I left a tiny reference to Terezi in way of the icons-none of them have open eyes.

Hope, to me, is Yearn and Dare. We all yearn for better things, but only some of us dare to take that first step. Yearn turns into Dream (not dreams like the space aspect pushed too far) but to dream at night and during the day when we want more, and into Grace. This is where I think the whole "physical attraction" part of Hope players comes in. Dare breaks down into Fun and Wish. Yes, this means I believe that Hope is inherently magical, or that magic itself is a part of the Hope aspect. That, or (if you believe that magic is fake like Eridan does) that advanced enough science/technology is indistinguishable from magic.

Rage is broken down into Fume and Shun. Fume (to be angry in silence) turns into Spur and Force. Since Rage is doing the opposite of just Hoping, I feel these subcategories are accurate. Shun turns into Warn (of danger) and Fear (think of the fight or flight or freeze or fawn response in nature. To fawn is when one tries to please in order to mitigate danger.)

This took me about a day to make but I had a bunch of fun doing it and figuring out how to break down each Aspect. Hit me up if you have any questions or comments! (I also want to credit the person behind the original theory, but they aren't on tumblr anymore.)