may be a bit too spoilery but i'm interested how aranea's whole sylph of light main character syndrome thing would intersect with sovstuck's fight over the narrative
Ah, while it may be perceived as spoiler-y to some, this is something I actually do not mind going over, because a good majority of my points are just me talking about Homestuck’s canon!
In canon, Aranea’s “main character syndrome” was a very recent development, and the result of mounting frustration about being a “8oring no8ody,” a doormat whose opinions are so undervalued she has to literally pay people to listen to her, over the course of, according to her, millions of sweeps. Her actions in the comic are less her being a terrible, malicious person, and more just an act of blind, fervent desperation for some kind of relevance. She was a good person who was pushed to the absolute brink.
In Sovereignstuck, Aranea is actually a good guy. She’s a lore keeper, well known for aggregating and organizing mass amounts of information, and a good amount of the Player team actually value her insight enough with regards to the game that they will go to her for her opinion on things.
During the Patron’s game, she was the Rose of the session, and wrote down whatever she could about the game, wherever she could. The tomes she wrote on the matter were published- though they were pretty underground- and they’re actually a big reason why Retris starts the game knowing so much about it already. He’s already read a walkthrough. Or seven. Eight, maybe. Lol.
Granted… Any published walkthroughs about the game are only going to be useful as an outline. Retris definitely starts the game knowing a lot more than the average player would, or even should, thanks to Aranea’s guides, but that does not mean he’s in any regard prepared for the hell that’ll get unleashed during the session. Each game is very, very unique to themselves.