What determines what moon a character dreams on? I know we have those weird scenarios w Vriska and Nepeta so idk how to pick which one to use for an OC
Though I can’t find the post right now (which is incredibly frustrating and I will be trying to find it again later), I did write on this some time ago. From my very vague recollection of how I think it worked best…
It’s entirely dependent, I think, on what will benefit the Player most: to be nourished by the welcoming, gentle nature of Prospit, or to be challenged by the harsh, cutthroat nature of Derse.
Think, for instance, if Jade would have thrived on Derse. While she probably would have made friends with the Dersites, the Black King and Queen, the Agents, and needless to say the Horrorterrors might have been too much for her. She’s terrified of the Horrorterrors; what if her only source of information had been them from the start? Would she have been able to commune with them in order to learn the truth of their session, to keep paradoxes stable, as she does in Homestuck? Or would she have rejected them entirely, tried to stop herself from sleeping as much as possible, etc, etc.
Conversely, what if she tried to start a rebellion on Derse? Jade is incredibly strong-willed, and tends to stick to her guns; if she thought the Dersites were under tyranic rule, would she really just sit there and let it happen, especially if she’s quite literally left in the dark? Would that be beneficial for the session, knowing that if she did this, either the Black Queen would try to take out Jade and John on Derse or the King and Queen would be prematurely defeated? What does that teach her as a Witch of Space?
In the same vein, if Rose had been a Prospitian, it… would have been much too easy for her. She’s a Seer of Light. If she was sleeping on the Moon that just threw prophetic clouds at her, what would she learn? She’d never have to seek out Light, never have to Learn from benefactors, because it’d all just be right there. It’d put her at a significant disadvantage, because then she’d never need a reason to - for instance - create the cue ball. Why bother doing that, thereby activating her powers as a Seer of Light, when she can more easily fall asleep?
Additionally, would Rose spend more of her time asleep if she were to wake up on Prospit and see the clouds? Would that actually benefit her, or the session, if she ended up spending more time staring at the clouds than putting her plans into motion, actively seeking out her information, when that’s such a significant part of her journey as a Seer?
You can see this pattern a lot in all of the characters throughout Homestuck. Why is Vriska a Prospit Dreamer? Because if she’d woken up earlier the kinder nature of Prospit would have encouraged her to be a much softer Player, and being on the same Moon as Terezi and Tavros might have likewise encouraged her to face past mistakes (and thereby go down the same growth path as (Vriska) did as a ghost). Meanwhile, Derse… might have made her worse. Encouraged her bad behaviours and the ideology that she needs to be violent and vicious and abrasive to survive, that it’s her against the world and she can’t reveal weakness.
Why is Eridan a Derse Dreamer? Because he needs to see the negative effects of the societal structure that he’s trying to convince himself he holds so dear in a non-Alternian context. He needs to be in a position where he can Destroy Hope and benefit his team - not by Destroying the Hope of the Prospitians, who are so Hopeful and need to stay that way, but by Destroying the Hope of the Dersites to weaken them in the war. He needs to see that this is something he can do, that he’ll be treated positively for it.
I think, in some ways, it might also be a subconscious reflection of the Player’s general personality (think John or Jade, both sweet and peppy characters who definitely fit more in with the general vibe of Prospit), or of who they want to be - their Ideal Self (think Jane, who maybe needs to learn some of the positive Prospitial attributes to combat some of the negativities of Life). Sometimes, it’s what they think they deserve, and then becomes something that subverts their expectations (e.g. Dirk, who seems to fit well in Derse’s cutthroat environment, but who instead rises up with the people).
So in my mind there’s a lot more to which Moon a Player ends up on than just “Active vs Passive”, and admittedly I think a lot of this is because Hussie never really planned things out in advance. We know, for instance, that the trolls were an on-the-fly addition, as were the Classpects that came with them. It’s not far to assume, therefore, that when Hussie first introduced Prospit and Derse, they were centred more heavily around the HarleyBerts (positive, bright, happy, outgoing, naive) and Strilondes (darker, mysterious, more underhanded, reserved) than anything else - their family traits.
Having to then shove 12 more characters into something he hadn’t fully fleshed out at first, and which was focused so exclusively on the four characters he’d actually planned for, can’t have been easy. Trying to then explain what the reasoning for these decisions were a decade later just makes things messy.
To bring this back to the actual question about your OC - you essentially have to think about which Moon would most benefit your Player. Which are they going to thrive on, or will most positively affect them? Which will make them grow into a better person? Will the brightness of Prospit encourage or disillusion them? Will the severity of Derse challenge or terrify them? Which motives them more? Which will make them a better Player?
You can also think about the other stuff I mentioned - which Moon most vibes with their personality or who they want to be, or what they think they deserve but ultimately subverts those expectations - but I recognise that can be very complicated, too, so you can skip that part.
There’s no 100% way to determine if you’re going to end up on Derse or Prospit, unfortunately. It’s just going to take a lot of thinking to come to that decision. It’s predominantly about individual needs.
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