#classpect basics

[classpectingblog]

The classpect system and mental illness

Disclaimer- obviously this will be talking about mental illness. There’s nothing explicit or triggering but if you’re not feeling it right now, it’s totally fine to skip. I talk about my experiences with depression, anxiety, and autism, and I also mention ADHD and personality disorders.

Boy, having a solid grasp of one’s identity sure is difficult with several different disorders in the way. But I haven’t seen anyone discussing this with regards to classpecting, so I’m here to talk about it. This is going to differ from person to person, disorder to disorder, so if you’re trying to figure out your title as someone with mental illness, take some time to ponder this.

I think the main question here is: is the mental disorder a core of who you are? Even if you would act different without it, would you be a whole different person?

For me, it’s a bit of both. I don’t define myself with depression and anxiety because I feel that they only affect how I act and what I can do. I’d jump at the chance to be rid of them because I’m sure I could live up to more of my potential without the apathy and fatigue of depression, without the constant second-guessing and nausea of anxiety.

However, I am autistic, and that’s completely different. I was born autistic, I’ll die autistic, and even if there was a cure I wouldn’t take it. I wouldn’t be myself without it because it’s the way I process things, the way I feel things, the way I connect with people, and the way my whole life has been structured.

Are you indecisive and absorbed with making the best choice possible because your aspect is mind? Or is it because anxiety is forcing you to ruminate on that instead of what you’d prefer to be doing?

Are you very concerned with remaining free and untethered because your aspect is breath? Or is it because depression is telling you not to get involved with anyone because they won’t like you anyway?

Are you an active, restless person who prefers to make any decision, including bad ones, over no decision at all because your aspect is time? Or do you have ADHD and need more stimulation than others so impulsivity is the result?

When I was first figuring out my classpect title, I paid attention to filtering out the hopelessness that comes along with depression because I knew that on my good days, that wasn’t a part of who I was, and I didn’t want to be like that. On the other hand, I think my autism actually keyed me into the rage aspect; autistic people often have very strong ideas of right and wrong, and take it very seriously when people don’t feel the same. My morality is a little confusing, to others and sometimes myself, but regardless it’s something that leads my life and I get very intense about it.

Developmental disorders like autism and ADHD are often just a part of who you are regardless of how society treats the more inconvenient symptoms as if they’re choices. Personality disorders can be the same way depending on the person; they’re something you gain during childhood and often can’t be completely “cured” so I’ve heard some people say they wouldn’t want it completely gone and some people say that it’s nothing but a burden to them.

Unfortunately, understanding the way your mental illness reflects on your identity isn’t really something I can walk someone through like I can with classpects.

I just wanted to make this post in case it resonates with anyone else, especially those still trying to understand themselves. I’ve seen a couple people suggest that if you struggle with identity, your aspect is probably heart, but I don’t think it’s that simple for people with disorders that have “lack of stable identity” as an official symptom.

[classpectingblog]

This is an overview of my thoughts towards the classes and aspects since I know opinions are so varied! The class section is on this post and I’ll be reblogging with the aspect section. My next post will be detailing my definitions of "passive" and "active" in order to clarify my stance on the great knight/page debate, to clarify what I mean by statements like "third most passive pair", and to explain the concept of active and passive aspects.

Classes:

Sylph (passive) & Maid (active) = create, heal, increase

These classes focus on creating their aspect and creating through their aspect. “Create” tends to imply making something from scratch but you can also create from what’s already there, which is healing and increasing. -Sylphs and Maids make up the most passive pair of the classes.

Prince (active) & Bard (passive) = destroy, erode, decrease

These classes focus on destroying their aspect and destroying through their aspect. This is probably the pair everyone agrees on the most. I do want to point out that it’s not an all-or-nothing deal; you can erode something without obliterating it completely and those are both destruction. -Princes and Bards make up the most active pair of the classes.

Seer (passive) & Mage (active) = guide, understand, learn

These classes focus on guiding their aspect and guiding through their aspect. I prefer the keyword “guide” because while “understand” is definitely accurate, it doesn’t get across how the classes actually act. I still use “understand” pretty often because it’s still relevant, as you need to understand something in order to guide someone through it. -Seers and Mages make up the second most passive pair of the classes.

Witch (active) & Heir (passive) = change, inherit, manipulate

These classes focus on changing their aspect and changing through their aspect. “Inherit” is most often used for heir specifically, but both classes have a theme of being given something and having to make it your own, i.e. changing what you inherit. -Witches and Heirs make up the second most active pair of the classes.

Rogue (passive) & Thief (active) = steal, take, distribute

These classes focus on stealing their aspect and stealing through their aspect. This is another easily understood pair. “Distribute” is usually used for rogue because it’s a more passive action, but it’s applicable to both classes. -Rogues and Thieves make up the third most active pair of the classes.

Page (active) & Knight (passive) = serve, give, indulge

These classes focus on serving their aspect and serving through their aspect. As I said at the top of the post, I’ll be explaining why I think page is active and knight is passive in my next post. I’ve not seen the keyword “indulge” used before but I found it fitting. Both classes tend to be at the whims of others and the whims of their aspect, and they deal with that by indulging them, and serving them to the best of their ability. -Pages and Knights make up the third most passive pair of the classes.

Muse (passive) & Lord (active) = ? command, embody, rule ?

These classes focus on commanding their aspect and commanding through their aspect. I’m going to be honest, I don’t focus on these much, partly because we only have a single, unclear example of each, and partly because in the general population they’re not very common. I really only use them when I classpect media, not actual people. -Muses and Lords are the most extreme examples of passive and active classes respectively.

[classpectingblog]

Inversion and Roleplay

Definitely a source of contention between the major players of the classpecting community. I believe that both are applicable to some extent, but not to the lengths I’ve seen some people take them to. I view both under the same umbrella and definitely don’t see them as either/or. Roleplay is a simpler concept to understand so that’ll come first.

Thoughts on roleplay.

It makes perfect sense to want, or feel like you need to act as someone else. Doubly so if that person is an adult role model. Trying to force yourself to fit someone else’s behavior is doomed to fail but we keep trying because, well, it sure worked for them didn’t it?

If your life isn’t going well as a prince, an active destroyer, maybe switching it up and emulating your super cool bro that’s a knight, a passive servant, would help. Who knows? (based on @/optimisticduelist2 posts about Dirk rping alpha Dave)

Roleplay is mostly centered on classes rather than aspects, because it’s your class that fuels your actions. Aspects just pertain to your worldview. No one is going to act according to their first impulse 100% of the time, and sometimes finding out where you stand in the world is hard. Life sucks sometimes, it’s really no wonder we all try to mix and match our behaviors when we’re lacking confidence or stressed out.

Neither roleplay nor inversion are game mechanics, just natural habits to try when something isn’t working like you want it too. If you’re going nowhere fast, you can try modeling yourself after someone you look up too or you can try to tweak the things about yourself that seem to be hindering you. Neither of which are good ideas for the long run and they’re gonna wear you down, but that’s not gonna stop us.

Thoughts on inversion.

I think that full, dramatic inversion is only possible with the help of fantasy rules, such as the Horrorterrors with Rose. I don’t think people in real life are capable of such a powerful 180, but I do believe we often take traits from our opposing title to move us along. Ghosting is the term I use when talking about inversion that’s only partial, either only class or aspect inversion with the other in tact, or a full inversion but only half-heartedly.

If you’re put in a situation where you’re repeatedly told that you’re not allowed to act as yourself, that you must change the behavior and thinking that’s innate to you, the easiest and most ingrained way to act is as your inverse. The complete opposite of one’s title is strikingly similar to the point that many people are confused on which they should claim.

If you’re a Witch of Heart and told to tone it down- you’re too emotional, too egocentric, too loud and passionate, etc.- you might try hesitantly acting as a Seer of Mind instead. Your talent lies in turning people to your side, in boosting their self-esteem, in solidifying their sense of identity, but if that’s not an option the next best thing would be to guide their decisions instead.

The external effects are similar- getting others to make choices they might not otherwise, but internally there’s a world of difference. When a witch of heart puts you on a different course it’s because they changed how you feel about something or how you look at yourself. When a seer of mind puts you on a different course it’s because they’ve convinced you that this is actually the right decision.

Basically, if for some reason you feel you can’t act as yourself or how you want to, the next best thing is to act as something that gets the same results and something you already have a vague talent for.

I doubt there’s any true way to predict why someone inverts versus roleplays, but it seems to me that for internal causes, inversion is usually a problem with confidence and self-esteem, either too much or too little, while roleplaying is a response to confusion or conflicting influences. As for external causes, inversion seems to happen with overbearing authority, while roleplaying stems from poor or disappointing outcomes you feel are your fault.

These are hard rules of course, just patterns I’ve noticed, and often a situation has a mix of different causes. Everyone is different so as much as I love patterns and trends, there will always be outliers.

[classpectingblog]

Passivity and Activity

We know classes are either passive or active, we know that lunar sway is tied to being passive or active, and many people suspect aspects also affect passivity and activity.

That's a right jumbled mess depending on what you think the definitions of "passive" and "active" are. I've seen a whole lot of definitions being thrown around, but I finalized my stance after seeing @/theworstpersonintheworld state that for a class to be active, it must fit every definition of active. Except my stance is sorta the opposite.

Your class, aspect, and moon only ascribe to one definition each and they don't stack up to a total level of activity. You should be able to state “I’m passive in X way, active in Y way, and active in Z way” instead of a singular “I’m passive or active”.

Classes

As it relates to classes, my definition of passive means "team-centered" while active means "self-centered". Active classes tend to focus their actions around their own goals while passive classes tend to focus their actions around the goals of everyone else. This is a common one for classes already but most people add other definitions which I do not.

Aspects

As it relates to aspects, my definition of passive means "reactive" while active means "proactive". Passive aspects are usually just living life with what they have until something catches their eye while active aspects are usually on the search for their next interests. This can also go for the definitions of "defensive" and "offensive". Passive aspects wait until something threatens their bubble and active aspects are seeking and preparing against the next threat. I’ve seen people use this definition for both classes and moons but it never seemed to fit quite right with me.

Lunar Sway

As it relates to lunar sway, my definition of passive means "receptive" while active means "unreceptive". Prospit dreamers are more open to new ideas while Derse dreamers are more closed to new ideas. This is pretty explicit within the canon explanations of Prospit and Derse on the Extended Zodiac quiz, but I wanted to make sure that it was linked together within the passive/active dichotomy.

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Myself as an example- I’m a derse-dreamer page of rage. I’m active in that I look out for myself before others, I’m active in that I’m not very receptive to new ideas, but I’m passive in that I usually wait until something comes into my life to react to it.

John as an example- he’s a prospit-dreamer heir of breath. He’s passive in that he looks out for his friends before himself, he’s passive in that he’s open to new ideas, but he’s active in that he’s usually looking out for new subjects and places to explore.

This is why I have put page as the active class of the pair instead of passive. Jake, Tavros, and Horuss are all self-centered people (which is not a bad thing y’all, self-love is important), while Dave, Karkat, and what little we know about Latula are all focused on their teams. If I viewed the classes with the “reactive and proactive” definition then I would be inclined to switch them, but I think the evidence for that is shakier.

Within the aspect wheel shown on the Extended Zodiac page, all of the bottom aspects + space are passive (reactive), while all of the top aspects + time are active (proactive).