harmony in: classpection @paralleledharmony - Tumblr Blog

May 30

New Super Classpecting Guide

Hi, I have a some issues with my old guide. While a lot of work was put in over the years to make it properly account for other aspects, it still has the foundation of a very Light-prioritized perspective on classpecting.

I'll be keeping the old guide up because I think it still has value. If nothing else, it shows where I'm coming from and how my understanding has developed. That said, I wanted to make something new rather than just fully rewriting the old post yet again.

Let's begin.

Contents:

Aspects

Classes

Active & Passive

Categories & Inversion

Prospit & Derse

Common Misconceptions

Conclusions

Section One: Aspects

Your aspect is the lens through which you view the world. Each aspect has a counterpart that works in tandem with it to form two sides of one coin. One cannot exist without the other. Beyond this, there is a lot of overlap between aspects outside of explicit pairs.

The aspects can be interpreted in many different ways, and your manifestation of them may differ quite a bit from someone else's. They are symbols above all else, vague ideas which serve to suggest a whole, and you have to determine what that whole means to you. That said, I'll provide examples of my perspective on them as a jumping off point.

Lastly, if you find yourself wanting to know more or need further elaboration to find what distinguishes one aspect from another, I've made a post about as long as this one going into the overlap between every single aspect. Beyond that, I also have a post about how the official Aspect Wheel is organized called Triangle Theory.

Space and Time

The Space/Time pair revolves around the ways things are made. Space represents new ideas and innovation, where Time represents old ideas and iteration.

Space is beginnings, birth, diversity, experiences, and the big picture. Space players tend to enjoy every moment for what it is, bringing life to the mundane as best as they can. They'll burn down that which no longer has its place if it means making room for something better. They can be very focusless, drifting from project to project without any real drive to invest much effort into any of it.

In its purest form, Space is meditative and patient, considering all possibilities before taking action. There is no weight given to any one voice, all are considered as part of an immeasurable whole, equidistant from any and everything. Endless rumination, entirely unbiased to the point of never reaching any conclusions.

Time is endings, death, repetition, goals, and the most efficient path. Time players tend to make sure every action is productive towards reaching their goals. They aim to make every moment count so that when they look back they can feel satisfied with what they've accomplished. They can be very bad at living in the moment and enjoying the little things, always reaching for something else.

In its purest form, Time is decisive and direct, never lingering on a choice for longer than is absolutely necessary. The past feeds into the present feeds into the future, nothing from "back there" is worth anything more than what it has made room for "here." Optimization above all else, anything that drags down efficiency must be discarded.

Mind and Heart

The Mind/Heart pair revolves around the ways people behave. Mind represents the actions you take and their effect on the world, where Heart represents the soul that drove one to take those actions in the first place.

Mind is action, logic, causality, deliberation, and practicality. Mind players tend to spend a lot of time thinking things through, even if it's at the cost of solving something in a timely matter. Their focus is on the effect they have on the world around them. They can be very cold, focused more on calculating the optimal way to go about something than the feelings of the people involved.

In its purest form, Mind is rationality above desire, the infinite scope of potential outcomes to any given choice. To act without consideration for the effect it could have on the world is an unacceptable cruelty. Even if you must stay still for eternity, it's better than thoughtlessly barging through life, though inaction is itself still an active choice.

Heart is identity, emotion, intention, passion, and sentimentality. Heart players tend to give name to that which logically cannot have a self. They let their feelings guide their decisions, even if not entirely. They can be very self-centered, failing to account for the fact that the world is more complex than a collection of true essences.

In its purest form, Heart is instinct above reason, the coalesced self which paints every action in intent. Every echo of a soul carries the spark of its originator, an undeniable being who must exist beyond scrutiny, as every mark they make is a fact of their essence. To fully know another is impossible, but to strive for such is the truest form of love.

Hope and Rage

The Hope/Rage pair revolves around the ways things can be. Hope represents the potential for a better tomorrow, where Rage represents the cold hard truth of where things currently stand.

Hope is faith, possibility, conviction, positivity, and subjective reality. Hope players tend to see the beauty in that which others underestimate. They have a lot of faith that things will work out, and have a deep trust of what they know to be good. They can be very willfully ignorant, disregarding evidence that contradicts the assertions they already have.

In its purest form, Hope is a perpetual motion machine only achievable when fully embracing every thought you've ever had. It's delusion made manifest, an overwhelming faith that propagates itself for the sake of itself and making the unreal real. Positivity and trust to the utmost degree, an unstoppable force of all that is good for no reason other than that it must be.

Rage is skepticism, materialism, contradiction, anger, and performance. And clowns. Rage players tend to contain a chaos within them that can lead to volatility. They deny the lies that uphold broken or flawed systems, no matter how unpopular their perspective is. They can be very dismissive, seeing only their point of view as worthy of serious consideration.

In its purest form, Rage is untethered fury for all that should never have been, the scorching exposure of every falsehood. It's an eternal play on the world stage, revelry in the facade, dancing around in what everyone knows to be fiction. A fruitless denial of all that ever could be, nothing but the ground which gives purchase to every step you take.

Breath and Blood

The Breath/Blood pair revolves around the ways society is formed. Breath represents the individual and the importance of lenience, where Blood represents the group and the need to do good by others.

Breath is selfhood, movement, freedom, laughter, and transparency. Breath players tend to adapt to their surroundings well enough to fit in, but not to tie themselves down. They're fluid and flexible, living without only one place to call home. They can be very unreliable, refusing to deal with the reality of a bad situation in favor of ignoring or avoiding it.

In its purest form, Breath is immaterial, essential and influential yet ever-changing and thus essentially nothing. Chained down by nothing, floating along as the breeze is inclined, impossible to grasp and sweeping everyone along with it. Laughter in the face of what upsets you, levity as relief from the stale air around you.

Blood is community, bonds, responsibility, sincerity, and familiarity. Blood players tend to be very loyal to those they hold dear. They focus more on the attachments they've made than on gathering new ones, though they won't shy from new friends. They can be very self-destructive, seeing sacrifice as a first step rather than a last resort.

In its purest form, Blood is the tight grip that pulls you out of oncoming traffic and the person attached to it who will never let you go. Thick bonds you could drown in, devotion that will not budge, giving itself fully and expecting the same of you. Security and honesty like no other, the tightly tucked in blankets that keep you warm at night.

Life and Doom

The Life/Doom pair revolves around the ways things must go. Life represents an endless forward march of progress, where Doom represents the laws of the universe which keep everything in check.

Life is nature, defiance, abundance, growth, and rigidity. Life players tend to take their problems head on, even when it'd be easier to give in. They hold a very strong will to break through the boundaries of what’s possible. They can be very stubborn in their idea of what positive forward movement actually means.

In its purest form, Life is existence without care for consequence, a nurtured sapling in constant contest with the trees around it to see which can get the most sunlight. The weeds you try your hardest to remove, but which never stop cropping back up. The will to pursue your truest path forward, uncompromising even in the face of a world of scrutiny.

Doom is fate, acceptance, limitation, decay, and adaptability. Doom players tend to play the system, but they know not to push their luck. They are bound to the rules that keep the universe moving as it should, and will always play their part. They can be very defeatist, giving up in situations they could easily overcome with a little effort.

In its purest form, Doom is the inevitable structure of all that is and ever will be, the strict rules which dictate reality. A maze you know only by your collisions with its walls, naturally urging you to pace yourself so you don't fly face first into disaster. The slow rotting away of all that once lived, giving way to new life which can feed on its corpse.

Light and Void

The Light/Void pair revolves around the ways we understand things. Light represents the answers, where Void represents the further questions that arise.

Light is meaning, narrative, symbolism, fortune, and knowledge. Light players tend to have high aspirations, as they know the best possible outcome is within their reach. They are focused on the main plot of the story of their life, and often weave the narrative themselves. They can be very perfectionist, losing themselves in the effort to reach a truth that may not even exist.

In its purest form, Light is certainty in what we observe, the weight behind imagery and the truths they have to offer. The narrative of the universe is spun in every idea, and power is found in those who understand it. Luck and unluck, the impossible odds that somehow find a way despite the human desire to write them off.

Void is mystery, intuition, obfuscation, absence, and wisdom. Void players tend to have a love for the obscure and the nameless. They understand that nothing can ever truly be known, and that personal experience heavily paints one's perceptions of events. They can be very apathetic, embracing nihilism above all else and losing the will to care for the world around them.

In its purest form, Void is the doubt that shrouds every inch of our reality, and peace with the questions that will never be answered. There is a nothingness at the heart of the forces that be, an utter lack of will to impart on those who reside within it. That which happens is neither predestined nor essential, it just is, and the only meaning within your life is what you give to it.

Section Two: Classes

Your class is how you act on your worldview. This often feeds into personality, but is not directly influenced by your personality. Much like aspects, classes come in pairs. There are also active(-) and passive(+) classes. Active players see their aspect as a force to wrangle into submission, while passive players take a more cooperative approach. More on this later.

Classes are a challenge from SBURB. In the real world, they are a challenge you choose, often subconsciously, to better yourself and your relationship with your aspect. It's possible that you have already completed your challenge at the time of reading this, but it has a funny way of coming back in new forms.

Witches and Sylphs: Change

Witch is an active(-) class which morphs its aspect. They manipulate their aspect, sometimes contorting it so much that it becomes barely recognizable as itself. Their challenge is to forcefully reclaim agency by shifting their aspect into something which serves their own wants and needs.

Witches are experimenters, making full use of whatever freedom they can scrounge together after a lifetime of having their options limited. They tend to push the limits around them to see how everything ticks, more often out of curiosity than malice. At their worst, they can put their own self-interest above everyone else, seeing any push-back as a return to having their hands tied. At their best, they claim masterful control over their own domain, deconstructing and repurposing their aspect for the benefit of themselves and others.

Sylph is an active(-) class which mends its aspect. They restore their aspect in places where it has faded away, bringing new life to it wherever they go. Their challenge is to value themselves as more than just a vessel for their aspect, and to learn to repair their relationship with it once they separate their worth from it.

Sylphs have a tendency to be rather nosy, forcing themselves into situations where they could possibly be the slightest bit of use. They're used to being the resident problem solver, so they can get a bit restless when nothing seems to be going wrong. At their worst, they can overextend themselves to the benefit of literally no one, just to have something to fix. At their best, they foster their aspect in any who could ask for it, but will do so in their own time, when they think it's wisest.

Princes and Bards: Destroy

Prince is an active(-) class which discards its aspect. They have a strong disdain for their aspect in favor of its pair, and tend to recklessly get rid of it with no consideration for the consequences. Their challenge is accept that their aspect is a part of them, and to be selective in what parts of it they destroy so that the good parts can remain.

Princes have strict standards for their aspect, as they've spent their life being haunted by endless manifestations of it. They meticulously pick apart at all the fluff, hoping to find at least one worthwhile thread in the tapestry to work with. At their worst, they can fully discard their aspect while trying and failing to act as its pair, leaving nothing but broken shards in their wake. At their best, they keep their aspect in check with strict standards, and allow themselves to be a living example of their refined tastes.

Bard is a passive(+) class which diminishes its aspect. They undermine their aspect's foundations, needling away at it in others until it has no room to stand. Their challenge is to understand what role they play so they can externalize their destruction with more intent and direction, as they usually start out only destroying it within themselves.

Bards want you to believe they're just a harmless fool with nothing of substance to say, all the while working to undermine the king's status. They're an ever-filling tankard of their aspect, and despite attempting to keep their levels low, they can sometimes explode with little to no warning. At their worst, they can put their understanding of the world over your own and do their best to make you comply with it. At their best, they reveal the worst of their aspect, keeping it from festering in spaces that have become overrun.

Thieves and Rogues: Steal

Thief is an active(-) class which appropriates its aspect. They fight tooth and nail for every scrap of their aspect they can get, as it has never come easily to them. Their challenge is to find how to keep their aspect from being taken away from them so they can focus their efforts on stealing it from the right targets, rather than completely indiscriminately.

Thieves have very high aspirations despite their humble beginnings, fighting for the opportunity to live their best life. They tend to come off as a bit callous, seeing relationships as at least somewhat transactional. At their worst, they can step over anyone in their way, seeing people as worth nothing more than the coins in their purse. At their best, they're able to use their dragon's hoard as leverage to get things done that someone with limited access may find impossible.

Rogue is a passive(+) class which allocates its aspect. They find a lot of comfort in their aspect and have incredibly easy access to it, and often do not realize how valuable it could be to others. Their challenge is to understand the ways in which most people lack their aspect, and to find ways to provide it for them.

Rogues have a very defined comfort zone, and can often be pretty cagey about who they let into it, or what they let out of it. They tend to share little bits here and there, giving off the impression that they're being more forthcoming than they actually are. At their worst, they can close themselves off from the outside world, stagnating in a cage of their own making. At their best, they move their aspect around with ease, taking it from those who are irresponsible with it and delivering it to those in need.

Knights and Pages: Preserve

Knight is an active(-) class which upholds its aspect. They have an inherent desire to be passive, leading them to try to use their aspect to protect those around them above all else. Their challenge is to accept their aptitude for utilizing their aspect to benefit themselves, as their efforts will have a ripple effect that improves the lives of those around them.

Knights have a complicated relationship with their aspect, as it's often tied up in some grander ideals which ultimately serve to make things messy. They tend to try to pretend that they've got it all figured out, even when they're still sorting through all the baggage. At their worst, they can fully refuse to engage with their aspect, letting their life fall apart in the process and usually denying that's what's happening. At their best, they wield their aspect with clean efficiency, quickly cutting down the problems in front of them so they can spend more time on everything else.

Page is a passive(+) class which uplifts its aspect. They have an inherent desire to be active, often drawing on some inspirational figure and trying to be as self-reliant as possible. Their challenge is to accept that they work best in a team, and to let go of the negative associations they have with relying on others.

Pages have the purest ideation of their aspect out of every class, often to the point of naivety, and they want nothing more than to do their best to represent it. They tend to bite off more than they can chew, aiming to be the best and brightest without actually working on the basics. At their worst, they can insist that they know what they're doing while running around in circles getting nowhere. At their best, they preserve the integrity of their aspect and lending a hand to those in need, having learned to make a massive difference in their own unconventional way.

Mages and Seers: Know

Mage is an active(-) class which unravels its aspect. Their inherent understanding of their aspect comes from a lifetime of being bombarded with all of the good and bad of it, often causing animosity or frustration. Their challenge is to use their knowledge to improve their own conditions, sorting out the good from the bad.

Mages are natural outsiders, whether others realize this or not. Their experience of the world is so different from the norm that they can often feel completely alone, left only to weather their own thoughts. At their worst, they can get consumed by isolationism, determining that making connections with the people around them isn't worth the effort. At their best, they spend some reasonable time in their wizard tower pondering their orb, but regularly descend to show off their new findings that can completely rewrite the assumptions people have been working under.

Seer is a passive(+) class which understands its aspect. They seek to know everything there is to know about their aspect, and aim to guide those around them from their unique vantage point. Their challenge is to see through misinformation and distractions to discern the true essence of their aspect, rather than letting their perception be painted by assumptions.

Seers tend to be fairly talkative, but their words are rarely without some level of substance. They often end up using those around them as sounding boards, testing an idea out for the first time while posturing it as advice. At their worst, they can be fairly elitist, seeing themselves as the only one with their head on straight in a crowd of fools. At their best, they know what information should be applied to which situations and can thoughtfully guide people through the gauntlet of their aspect.

Maids and Heirs: Prepare

Maid is a passive(+) class which indulges its aspect. They are guided by their aspect, shaped in its image and doing their best to make it the best it can be. Their challenge is to make room for their own thoughts and feelings, rather than letting themselves get completely overtaken by their service.

Maids are so entrenched in their aspect that even once they're able to be themselves, they find that their self has been thoroughly drenched in its influence. They tend to get so caught up in their own perspective that they fail to consider any others unless prompted. At their worst, they can give their aspect undue control over them by either fully submitting to or fully rejecting it, and may drag others down to their level. At their best, they find a healthy balance and keep their aspect in peak shape, letting it guide them while guiding it in turn with their own personal flair.

Heir is a passive(+) class which inherits its aspect. Their class is one of the purest representations of their aspect, as it has served and shaped them their entire life. Their challenge is to find where their aspect resides within themselves, rather than just filling the space around them with external iterations of it.

Heirs tend to be a little oblivious, both to their own inner workings as well as the internality of other people. They won't offer up any deep insights about their aspect, because from their perspective it's just a self-evident fact of how the world works. At their worst, they can be shockingly stubborn, refusing to budge on seemingly random things while being unable to elaborate on why it's any different from all the stuff they'll let slide. At their best, they fully embody their aspect through and through, becoming a living manifestation of it and effortlessly fostering it wherever they go.

Lords and Muses

Lastly, I want to address Lord and Muse. The way I see it, the master classes are essentially just "active of [aspect]" and "passive of [aspect]" with no specialization. They're not roles that I personally think a real life person can fit into, but they can be useful for story construction. Sometimes a character is simply nothing but an unlimited active or passive force of nature, impacting the entire fabric of the narrative itself, and that's useful to have language for.

Section Three: Active & Passive

So what exactly are Active and Passive classes? Well, they aren't super cleanly defined anywhere, but we know it's a spectrum rather than a binary and we know the positions of every class on that spectrum. Here's a slightly cleaner scale than what Hussie provided us with, for your viewing pleasure.

The basic idea is that active classes exploit their aspect, where passive classes act more as a vehicle for their aspect. While the Active and Passive names refer mainly to their powers, narratively they fit more cleanly as Proactive and Reactive. The further to the right you go, the more reactive the class is.

Where this gets fun is the active/active and passive/passive pairs, where Sylph is more passive than Witch, but still active, and Maid is more active than Heir, but still passive. When this got revealed a lot of people were confused because what does it even mean to be the "more passive" part of an active pair, or vice versa?

Well, allow me to define Active and Passive in a slightly different way. I've come to find that you can accurately say that Active classes deal with the structural foundations of their aspect, and Passive classes deal with the conceptual manifestations of their aspect. Sylph and Maid are swapped in this regard, as they're the passive and active of their pairs, respectively.

This works not only in general attitudes, but also in terms of powers. "Structural" classes seem to have much stronger innate powers, working with what is already there, whereas "Conceptual" classes seem to have to build it up over time but can reach greater heights. Let me lay this out with each pair.

Witch/Sylph: Witches identify their aspect and begin changing it to suit their needs, where Sylphs change things to manifest their aspect where it could be.

Prince/Bard: Princes destroy pre-existing manifestations of their aspect, where Bards keep their aspect from manifesting in the first place.

Thief/Rogue: Thieves take existing bits of their aspect wherever they can find it, where Rogues rearrange their aspect into places they perceive it could be useful after considering the possibilities.

Knight/Page: Knights fight for what they have of their aspect against concepts which challenge it, where Pages fight for the potential of their aspect against structures which challenge it.

Mage/Seer: Mages know what their aspect is and how it fundamentally works, where Seers know the ways their aspect can manifest and how to achieve that.

Maid/Heir: Maids are very tangibly provided their aspect but are given heavy responsibilities in turn, where Heirs experience very intangible pressures all around them and serve those ideals.

In each case, the Active class has a more tangible role from the beginning, often springing into action the instant they enter the game, or even before. Passive classes need to feel it out, get an understanding of the new world they're in before they can start making a difference.

While I said Passive classes seem to be able to reach greater heights, it's worth noting that everything Conceptual is built on the Structural. A Thief of Light can significantly sway the narrative in ways that go beyond what a Seer of Light can predict, for example. No classpect is inherently "better" than any other, and each one has the potential to make a massive impact.

Section Four: Categories & Inversion

There's a common theory that when someone's classpect leaves them feeling powerless, they can end up taking on the role of a different class of their aspect pair. This is directly stated to not be how it works in Homestuck, but I think it's still a fun and valuable thing to think about. It also gives me an excuse to categorize things even further, which is always good without exception.

So, one's inverted classpect is often manifested in the worst possible way it could be. These are usually the classpects at their worst, toxic to the individual and sometimes those around them as they crash out about something or other. Perhaps they can just be another tool in your arsenal, who knows. Maybe there's a little something about that in a later section.

Now, if we take the classes as roles which make up "society," we have three categories: Witch/Sylph Outside Influence to Maid/Heir Inside Influence, Thief/Rogue Disruption to Knight/Page Maintenance, Prince/Bard Denial to Mage/Seer Acceptance. Worth noting that people often pair Witch/Sylph with Mage/Seer and Maid/Heir with Prince/Bard for inversion, which makes sense in terms of their vibes, but I think this works better from a functional standpoint.

Structural in this context means dealing in the present realities of society. It's the solid ground at your feet, very in line with the Rage aspect. Conceptual in this context means dealing in the potential realities of society. It's the ephemeral, brimming with possibility, very in line with the Hope aspect.

Okay, now I'm going to show you an insane image.

Wow, that's an insane image. It even includes Lord and Muse, what the fuck? What a curve-ball. Let's dive into it.

Witch/Heir: Witches influence the structure of society from the outside, and invert with Heirs who influence the concepts of society from the inside. They are both affected by it in turn, with Witches being pushed out of society, and Heirs benefitting from it.

Witches make their aspect unrecognizable, where Heirs struggle to recognize their aspect due to oversaturation. Witches need to return whatever they’re changing back to its original form at some point or they risk losing track of it, and since Heirs struggle to recognize their aspect they can end up breaking the boundaries of it that they can’t see.

Maid/Sylph: Maids influence the structure of society from the inside, and invert with Sylphs who influence the concepts of society from the outside. They are both affected by it in turn, with Maids given responsibilities by society, and Sylphs failing to exist within a context which doesn't fit their magical existence.

Being so close to the center of the scale, Maids are self-focused passive while Sylphs are others-focused active, so it’s really easy for them to invert in some unhealthy ways. Maids with the “this works for me so let me apply it to you” and Sylphs with the “this works for others so why isn’t it solving my problems?”

Thief/Page: Thieves disrupt the structure of society, and invert with Pages who maintain the concepts of society. They are both affected by it in turn, with Thieves being punished by society, and Pages being celebrated only for what they could be.

When both classes have been denied their aspect for so long, they can get pretty toxic with it. Thieves may just accept their aspect pair as it is and let it take over their life, and Pages may try to get their aspect by depriving others of its pair.

Knight/Rogue: Knights maintain the structure of society, and invert with Rogues who disrupt the concepts of society. They are both affected by it in turn, with Knights being celebrated for their accomplishments, and Rogues only being punished in theory because they're seen as mostly harmless.

They both feel the need to micromanage their aspect. Knights can get so in their head about protecting people and self-sacrifice that they give what they have of their aspect to other people and compensate by taking its pair, and Rogues can turn their distribution of their aspect into an act of martyrdom, putting others above their own comfort.

Prince/Seer: Princes deny the structure of society, and invert with Seers who accept the concepts of society. They are both affected by it in turn, with Princes being denied the ability to be anything less than perfect, and Seers being accepted only in that they're allowed to guide the hero.

Both have a very idealistic view of, ironically, the same aspect in their pair. Princes can discard their aspect entirely and attempt to take on its pair, guiding others with their “findings” on it, and when Seers are dissatisfied with their findings, they might just tear it all to shreds.

Mage/Bard: Mages accept the structure of society, and invert with Bards who deny the concepts of society. They are both affected by it in turn, with Mages being accepted only when they are of wizardly use, and Bards having their ideas written off as silly hogwash.

When you feel like you know all the good and bad of your aspect, it can give you the sense that the pair is a fraud’s game. Mages may descend from their wizard tower occasionally to say that their aspect pair is fucking stupid and NOT how things work in real life, and Bards may ascend their clown tower to look down on everyone from a lens of superiority in the jammies of their pair.

Lord/Muse: Lords encompass all of the structure of society, and invert with Muses who encompass all of the concepts of society. They are both affected by it in turn, with Lords being made to embody the entire culture, and Muses being made to embody the ideals of that culture.

Can a Lord and a Muse experience inversion? I would argue no, as the expectations for them are too high. Lords are masters of all that is already there, and Muses are masters of all that ever could be. They are Structure and Concept made manifest, and to achieve that you have to forego the possibility for anything else.

Section Five: Prospit & Derse

So, okay, if you've read Homestuck, you may be wondering where Lunar Sway fits into all of this. The answer, I've been convinced, is right here. Previously, I didn't think it was really worth putting much thought into the system, but that's when I was considering it in terms of "144 classpects + 2 moons," instead of "288 class, aspect, and moon combinations." The moons actually play into classpecting very interestingly, I've come to find!

So what do these moons actually mean? Well, I think the color choice matters a lot. Prospit and Derse are yellow and purple, respectively, and this same coloration applies to two other major bits of symbolism in Homestuck: Hope and Rage, and Heroic and Just deaths.

In very simple terms, yellow represents "good" and purple represents "bad" in all three of these. This plays into the last connection I want to draw to the moons: Passive and Active. Passivity and Activity are at one point referred to in canon as "selfless" and "selfish." These are fairly loaded terms, and I don't think that's without reason. In the general consciousness, they're in line with the "good and bad" through-line being drawn here, and there's something to be said about the ways heroes in stories are usually reactive, where villains are usually proactive.

The core of it as I see it is that Prospit dreamers are concerned with if they are good or not, and Derse dreamers are concerned with if they are bad or not. The thing is that most people want to "be good." There's a reason people often say "everyone's the hero of their own story," as much as I disagree with that sentiment.

In both Homestuck and reality, most Derse dreamers do not want to be the villain, they want to mitigate their negative impact on the world, but they will rarely see themselves as a hero. Prospit dreamers, perhaps more dangerously, will rarely see themselves as a villain. Both have their drawbacks, neither moon is inherently better than the other.

Now, I want to be very clear that despite the connections I've alluded to between all the various symbolism in Homestuck, you can absolutely be a Prospit dreamer and a Rage player, or a Derse dreamer and a passive class, or whatever. These things are not necessarily going to line up perfectly, and usually won't.

For example, I am a Maid of Time, I lean more Hope than Rage, and I'm a Derse dreamer. Most canon characters have not taken a firm stance on Hope vs Rage, but we do have one example of someone leaning fully on the "good" side of all of these in Jake English. Any configuration is possible, even if some may be "more likely" than others.

Now, you may have noticed that this plays in well with the last section, as I even explicitly refer to Structural and Conceptual as being in line with Rage and Hope. Beyond this, each structure-focused class is the active of their pair, and each concept-focused class is the passive of their pair. All of this is to say that there is a delicious line that can be drawn between all of the concepts presented thus far:

"Evil"/"Good", "Selfish"/"Selfless", Derse/Prospit, Rage/Hope, Just/Heroic, Structural/Conceptual. It's the cold hard reality vs the bright possible future. It's fucking thematic as hell. It's beautiful.

Section Six: Common Misconceptions

Soooo... Sometimes people think things about the classes and aspects that are wrong. Not like "oh that's an interesting idea that could possibly be true, I like your perspective!" but just like factually textually inaccurate. Some of them are even quite mean! Let's lay some of them out!

Aspects

Space: I see a lot of people conflating Space and Breath, but Space has just as many limitations as Time does. Space is not freedom, it's disconnection, and at the end of the day Breath is still an aspect defined by how one relates to other people. Space and Time are often very lonely aspects due to the absolute vastness of their concepts. Space players often get lost with their head in the clouds, looking at every moment back on Earth through a telescope.

Time: While Space being fairly lonely is somewhat commonly understood, Time is often overlooked in this regard. The thing is that both Space and Time players struggle to look at their present circumstances as its own thing. Space gets lost in the vastness of all of existence, but Time gets just as lost in the momentum of every passing second. Time has no time to linger in "now," because every "now" goes away in the blink of an eye. Both look beyond the world directly in front of them in a way that makes it hard to live in the moment, and to engage with those living within those moments.

Mind: Mind players are not immune to cognitive bias. When you're constantly drawing connections between ideas in your mind and building a vast inner world, you can easily take one small misunderstanding and weave it into a massive one before anyone has the thought to correct you. As a result, Mind players are very prone to being blindsided by that which falls outside of the understanding they've built up. The unpredictable patterns of behavior often found in some Heart players are particularly baffling to them.

Heart: The idea that Heart deals in splinters of the self is just straight up false, originating in the fact that we mostly understand Heart through a Prince. Heart is the cohesive, "Ultimate" self. It's the you that is present in all iterations of you, the reflection of you in the eyes of others. An inability to accept all these as part of one cohesive "you" is to fundamentally deny the aspect entirely. Don't get me wrong, maybe that's part of the challenge your class has to go through, but Heart itself is not that challenge.

Hope: People hear that Hope deals in faith and very often come to the conclusion that this must tie into religion. Hope absolutely can be religious in nature, but at its core it's just about certainty in ideas. The sky is certainly blue. You can go deeper than that, and you can fuddle about in if that's technically "true," but the sky is blue. Hope is unconcerned with sitting in the mud and discussing how wet it is, it's already building a weird little mud castle.

Rage: Rage is one of the most poorly represented aspects in all of Homestuck, because it's notoriously difficult to parse aspects when held by destroyer classes. I feel like I kind of have to work two jobs here, as I most often see people either fully demonizing it, or acting like it's an objectively rational counterpart to Hope. Rage is not evil and it's not perfect, its players are more than capable of having good intentions and barking up the wrong tree. They're people, just like everyone else.

Breath: Some people think of Breath as being lonely, as alluded to earlier, but a solitary Breath player sees it as freedom. They can of course get lost in this, but they're more comfortable being a little lonely than being tied down, and they can always use their freedom to meet someone new. Breath is not a lack of connection to others, but a lack of ties. Their players are still just as much a part of society as a Blood player, and often actually have more friends than Blood players. The ways they connect to others is just different, not absent.

Blood: There's this idea that Blood players are necessarily harsh, but that's just one way for sincerity to come through. Blood is interested in building deep bonds with people, and the best way to do that is to set the terms early. If you put up a front, if you hide your intentions, then you're either going to have to dig up bits of the foundation later down the line, or you'll be unable to fully connect with the person as yourself.

Life: For reasons I won't be getting into, Life has gotten a bit of a bad reputation in Homestuck spaces. It's very easy to see it for the ways it can propagate bad ideas, emphasizing the cancer over the flowers, but I think it's important to remember that while it's one of the main forces holding up old ideas, it's also the force which breaks through those old ideas! It's as much the infection as it is the cure.

Doom: Doom is perhaps the most misunderstood aspect of all. While Doom is suffering, it's also the relief one finds in suffering. It's an aspect one needs to come to terms with as they get older, because learning to adapt to circumstances outside of your control is the only way to make peace with a body which will inevitably break down. Doom is the aspect of disability, both in the disability itself and the ways we accommodate it. Doom is hearing aids, wheel chairs, and insulin pumps.

Light: A lot of people seem to think that to be a Light player you have to be really smart? This is hilariously wrong. Light players often have a lot of knowledge about various things, but they can be massive dumbasses. In particular, Light players can often struggle with nuance, seeing it as a distraction from the essential truths at the core of an issue. In general, though, you don't have to be an encyclopedia to be a Light player. Your values do not always coincide with your talents.

Void: This one is perhaps a bit petty, but being difficult to classpect does not automatically mean someone is a Void player. There are many reasons why someone can struggle to convey their inner workings, or can be hard to perceive from the outside. Also, more importantly... Void players aren't stupid, but will probably say they are. Don't believe their lies.

Classes

Witch: Witches are often misrepresented as being measured and balanced in their interpretations of their aspect. Toying with their aspect has been a skeleton key of sorts, so they have a very hard time adjusting when they're unable to find a way to apply it as the solution to any given problem. This most commonly manifests with them trying to brute force their aspect as the solution to any problem, even when its pair could get the job done in seconds. This can have some pretty major social consequences that seem to come out of nowhere from the perspective of the Witch.

Sylph: It's common to think of Sylphs as the "Mom friend," and while this is one way for the class to manifest, it's nowhere near exclusive, nor are Sylphs the only ones who can take on that role. More than anything, Sylphs foster their aspect, not other people. They do foster their aspect in other people, but it's nowhere near the extent of what they can do, or what they're inclined to do. Sylphs can be selfish, callous, and any other descriptor you could possibly give to a person, because they are people.

Prince: A lot of people think that Princes are just straight up evil, when in reality they're usually just kind of annoying at worst? Princes are usually more of a danger to themselves than others. It's only when they're left without a proper support net that they get nasty, which is true of most people! Their destructive nature is often attributed to malice, but they see a threat and they want to get rid of it to keep themselves and others safe, even if other people don't see the issue. If you think about it, they're kind of like Sylphs!

Bard: Just like Princes, a lot of people see Bards as an inherently Evil Class. The main difference is that while people tend to think of Princes as sympathetically evil, they'll write off Bards as essentially having no problems and merely causing them. Bards absolutely do struggle, often disgusted by their own existence and willingly drowning themselves in distractions, delusions, and drugs. This is, of course, not a universal or eternal state of being for them, and often when they start improving on these issues they also start being more productive with others! Self-care is important!

Thief: We've talked about how Princes and Bards are demonized, and now it's time to do the same song and dance with Thieves. There is no class that is perceived as being quite as selfish as a Thief, and this is... bizarre, to me. Thieves are the little orphan stealing bread out of the dumpster at a bakery. Yes, they can sometimes take more than they need, but that is almost always temporary. If they can get some stability in their lives, a stable source of "income," all of those "evil" behaviors go away. Beyond this, we're talking concepts, very rarely is anything actually being "taken." If you can see the good Rogues can do, you can extend that to Thieves.

Rogue: If Thieves are commonly vilified, you better believe Rogues are commonly woobified. More accurately though, it's more like a counterpart to the general perception of Bards, just good and evil versions of "the silly class." The reality is that Rogues can be quite bad at taking in the opinions of others, letting themselves stagnate in an echo chamber of their own making. Rogues are awesome, I love Rogues, but they're certainly not just the class for silly people who like cats. They may tend to be fairly lax, but this can be just as much a detriment as it is a boon.

Knight: There's this idea that Knights represent a lack of their aspect in the world around them. While I think this is interesting and sometimes done in storytelling to give the Knight more incentive to do their job, it's definitely not a core part of the class. I think the reason the idea has become so widespread is because Knights have a very straightforward and direct engagement with their aspect, making the most of whatever they have, and making everything around them seem a lot less focused in turn.

Page: There's a somewhat common joke that anyone who doesn't know what their classpect is must be a Page of Heart, because Pages, of course, are stupid dumb and so a Page of Heart would be dumb at such things. This is silly! This is silly and a little mean! Pages, yes, can be quite stupid dumb, but so can literally every other class. Also, I'm on record as thinking that classpecting has a lot less to do with Heart than Mind, so it's even more silly! What's worse is that most defenses of Pages argue that they should be active... They can be cool and passive! That's the whole point!

Mage: To quote a friend of mine, "I am not a Mage because I walk a lonesome path, I walk a lonesome path because of various factors that are fueled by Knowing. I do not concern myself with the affairs of others, yes, but that does not mean it is inherently Mage-behavior to ignore those affairs. To put it more metaphorically: when a Mage navigates their ship through the center of a storm, it is not out of ignorance or dismissal of the storm itself. To do so is, inherently, a failure to Know." I think he puts this better than I ever could.

Seer: There's an idea that Seers are just far and away the most talkative class, having no filter and just rambling away for hours. I know where this perception comes from, and it's not like it's not a valid version of a Seer, but it's not the only version of a Seer that exists. Seers have a lot to say about their Aspect, and their thoughts can come pouring out at seemingly random times, but a lot of them understand when there isn't much more to be said on a topic.

Maid: There's this idea that Maids need to be obsessive and a little unhinged about their aspect. While it's certainly possible for Maids to be these things, it's often a misunderstanding. Their class is in a perpetual process of being defined by their aspect, and refining it in return. There's a constant back and forth there which keeps it on their mind, but it's not necessarily "obsessive," just endlessly relevant to them.

Heir: People tend to think of Heirs and Pages as being very similar, shoving them under the general umbrella of "main character classes," when I'd say they're actually fairly opposite in a lot of ways! They both share some outward appearances, being somewhat clueless to start out, but while Pages don't realize how long the journey ahead of them is, Heirs don't understand where they're even starting from. Pages have low natural talent and a strong drive to make up for it, where Heirs have high natural talent which allows them to become complacent. Heirs are gifted kids, riding on what comes naturally to them. Pages never had that option.

Section Seven: Conclusions

Constructing your classpect is as simple as combining your class and your aspect into one title: Maid of Time, for example. This is easier said than done, and the actual process requires a lot of introspection and interpretation. While this guide aims to give you a good grasp of the basics of these concepts, it's no substitute for actually reading Homestuck on your own and seeing these concepts play out in practice.

You should also keep in mind that unlike those bound to fiction, you are able to grow and evolve in ways that can seem illogical or narratively unsatisfying. As such, your title may not always remain the same throughout your entire life. Do not constrain yourself to fit into these boxes, they are here to help you understand and communicate a part of yourself to others.

I also think that while it's cool and good and maybe even "important" to find your own classpect, you should try to live life in consideration of all the other perspectives out there. Embracing not just your inversion, but all aspects and all classes as best as you can. You don't need to look at the world the way everyone else does, but it's good to remember those differing views exist. This, of course, is just generally good advice outside of the framework of classpecting. It's good to try to understand the people around you, etc. etc.

With all that said, thank you for reading my new guide, and happy classpecting!

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