#hemoanonymity

[galaxicalshoist]

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♋︎ Sign class: Signless / Hemoanonymous

[Each flag consists of seven stripes. In the center are three thick stripes of equal width; instead of a blood color they display three shades of medium grey. The outer stripes of each flag are black, which are thinner than the center stripes but thicker than the stripes between them, which are light grey / silver. The first version of the flag has seven black squares placed along the center stripe, the fourth of which has the Homestuck symbol for Cancer, also in grey.]

Sign classes and signs pulled from The Extended Zodiac.

Flag designed by me (free to use!)

[mirkstrolls]

And adding on to that, how important is being hemoanon to Taz? Is it simply business, or are there religious connotations to it? Why did she choose going hemoanon over caste impersonation?

It’s pretty important to her, but the reasons why are somewhat of a muddle!

Taz got religion at roughly the same time she became aware of her ancestral legacy, both of which combined to give her one hell of a grudge against the status quo. Caste inequality wrecked her ancestor’s life; caste inequality led to the death of her religion’s messiah figure, that sort of thing.

The actual order of events, though, started with the ancestry thing. Taz inherited a vast treasure, but she also inherited several enemies who may or may not be on the lookout for the next Tasend. Her ancestor’s letter advised her to conceal her caste, name, symbol, and even horn shape – Taz chose to go hemoanon rather than impersonate another caste because of the religious implications, and also because if she couldn’t be her Real Self, she’d prefer to dodge the whole system. 

And then once she was hemoanon, she figured she might as well get into the criminal underground. If everyone already thinks you’re a criminal, why not roll with it?

[mirkstrolls]

What are your thoughts on hemoanonymity? How much of a social stigma do you think there is against it and how much do you think forgoing a solid caste can impact a troll's life?

Because of the amount of hemoanons in both canon and the FTC, I don’t play hemoanonymity as being a flagrantly illegal thing, or a sure sign of mutant status. It does, however, carry a heavy implication of criminality; social reactions would be similar to, in our world, seeing someone in all black clothing and a ski mask strolling around the streets – or, I guess, seeing a stereotypical “gangster” in one’s white suburban neighborhood. Most people assume hemoanons are criminals!

And, like, sometimes they are. They’re also possibly lowblood rebels, slumming highbloods, hippies of all castes, people going incognito for personal reasons, and, of course, mutants. But the first thing that would pop into your average troll’s head on seeing a gray symbol is “welp, they’re probably gonna steal my wallet or try to sell me drugs in a few minutes.”

Which does of course affect the hemoanon’s life! Short of places like Malseka, where the police force is hemoanon except for their officers, forgoing caste markers can get you kicked out of a lot of places in “nice” neighborhoods. Some people might not sell to you or let you rent a hive, some people might consider any crime against you more permissible because, well, you’re a hemoanon, who are you going to tell?

[mirkstrolls]

Would Weeds or Vide ever go hemoanon? If no, would Taz ever impersonate a different caste?

Uhhhh, Weeds probably wouldn’t unless he had a “noble cause,” whatever that ended up being. But it is a form of lying! And possibly cowardly. It would have to be a very noble cause, and even if it was he’d still feel uncomfortable with it.

Vide assumes all hemoanons are criminals and lowbloods anyway and wouldn’t want to be lumped in with that lot since she’s a good lowblood, obviously. But she’s worn all gray/black/white outfits before unintentionally, and possibly would again if she thought it would be beneficial to her clade.

Taz probably would impersonate another caste, if she needed to! She knows her hemoanon status makes her conspicuous in a lot of situations, she has access to the supplies to make herself up as another caste; as long as the people whose opinions she cares about knew that it was a disguise and not her real caste, she’d be fine with it. She stays anon partly to make a quiet religious statement, and partly because if she can’t show her own identity, she’d rather show none.