QUADRANTS

What is This?

Homestuck is a webcomic notorious for being unneccesarily complex, and in my opinion, actively seeks to achieve this by any means possible. One example of this is the quadrant system, which is used to describe the sense of romance that trolls, an already complex fictional species, possess.

Despite the initial, unavoidable learning curve that is inherent to understand anything in Homestuck, I find myself understanding and experiencing the quadrant system of romance far more than that of human romance. In fact, the quadrant I understand the least is the one that most closely mirrors human romance.

Basic Information

The quadrant system, as could be inferred by the name, is made up of 4 quadrants, each being represented by a card suite. The heart represents flushed romance, the diamond represents pale romance, the spade represents pitch romance, and the club represents ashen romance.

The quadrants are further organized, as can be seen on the typical quadrant diagram to the right. The rows are divided by the emotion driving the attraction. The top row, which is labeled as red romance and contains flushed and pale romance, is driven by pity. The botton row, which is labeled as black romance and contains pitch and ashen romance, are driven by hate. The columns, though, are organized by function of the relationship that forms in either quadrant. The leftmost column, which is labeled as concupiscent and contains flushed and pitch romance, serves sexual reproductive purposes. The rightmost column, which is labeled as conciliatory and contains pale and ashen romance, serves quality of life purposes.

Quadrant vacillation is another phenomina that is not uncommon in troll romance and romantic relationships that trolls experience. However, I am only covering the quadrants in an isolated manner in this guide, rather than all of the nuances of troll romance, so vacillation, along with other things such as the drones or the pails he carries, will not be covered here.

What is This?

Basic Information

Overview

Flushed romance is a subset of red romance and is represented by a heart symbol. The driving emotion in this quadrant is pity, and flushed relationships, which are also called matespritships, are formed for the purpose of sexual reproduction.

Hussie's Explanation

"When two individuals find themselves in the flushed quadrant together, they are said to be MATESPRITS. Matespritship is the closest parallel to the human concept of romance trolls have. It plays a role in the trolls' reproductive cycle, just as it does for humans."

My Thoughts

I believe Hussie's explanation, though simplified, is quite accurate. Note that he says it is "the closest parallel to the human concept of romance", rather than an exact equivalent. Many people, for whatever reason, believe that the flushed quadrant and human romance are synonymous with each other. This is simply not true- human romance is incredibly nuanced, and the quadrants, while retaining some nuance, are rather flat in comparison when comparing an individual quadrant to all of human romance. My personal believe is that human romance is a mix of both flush and pale romance, with the exact balance changing depending on context, the specific relationship, and other factors.

What it Feels Like

In my experience, and other peoples' own ideas and headcanons, flushed romance is very similar to the honey moon phase of a relationship. It is very reminescent of romantic cliches in the human sense. When you feel flushed attraction to someone else, you want to escape the troubles of the world with them and through them. In the instance of struggling through something, flushed romance is less about helping your matesprit through whatever may be troubling them in typically "constructive" ways, such as providing advice, coping mechanisms, or letting them know their short comings in an attempt to help them improve as a person, and more about finding ways to distract them from this and helping them feel better in the moment.

Simply put, flushed romance is more about how much fun you can have with the other person than anything else.

Overview

Pale romance is a subset of red romance and is represented by a diamond symbol. The driving emotion in this quadrant is pity, and pale relationships, which are also called moirallegiences, are formed for quality of life purposes.

Hussie's Explanation

"[The ashen] quadrant presides over MOIRALLEGIENCE, the other conciliatory relationship. A reasonable human translation would be the concept of a soul mate, but in a more platonic sense, and with a more specific social purpose.

"Trolls are a very angry and violent race. Some are more hot-tempered and dangerous than others, to the extent that if left to their own devices, they would present a serious threat to society, or even to themselves. Such trolls will have an instinctive pale attraction to a more even-tempered troll, who may become their MOIRAIL. The moirail is obliged to pacify the other, to function as the better half. The two partners in a strong pale relationship will serve to balance and complement each other's emotional profiles, and thus allow their other relationships to be more successful.

"It's often ambiguous especially among young trolls whether a bond formed between an acquaintance is true moirallegence, or the usual variety of platonic involvement. Furthermore, romantic intentions of a more flushed nature can often be mistaken for paler leanings, much to the frustration of the suitor."

My Thoughts

This explanation is strong in some areas, and weak in others. Hussie treats the concept as entirely alien to humans, and explains it as such. I hold the belief that human romance can be described as a mix of both flushed and pale romance, and thus, that pale romance could be explained in an easier to understand manner than it is within Homestuck.

Over the years, many people have adopted a different "human equivalence" to describe pale romance as rather than "platonic soulmates"- queerplatonic partners. Both of these analogies, though, are problematic when you're attempting to understand exactly how each quadrant feels. Both of these analogies imply that moirallegiences are not romantic. This implication is clear in the case of "PLATONIC soulmates". However, in the case of queerplatonicism, it may not be so clear if you're not familiar with this concept.

As defined by the LGBTQIA+ wiki, a queerplatonic relationship is "a non-sexual, non-romantic partnership with an emotional strength that may be seen as beyond a friendship since it has the prioritization and commitment usually considered to be part of romantic relationships". Though parties of a queerplatonic relationship can feel romantically attracted to each other, the relationship itself is explicitly not romantic in nature. However, pale ROMANCE is one quadrant within the quadrant system of ROMANCE. Though moirallegiences may look like queerplatonic relationships to humans, many people seem to forget that pale romance is explicitly a romantic attraction to another person.

Additionally, I believe that pacification is NOT the only purpose of pale relationships, and that it is moreso a troll-exclusive aspect of them, due to their violence as a species caused by the conditions of their home planet.

What it Feels Like

Pale romance focuses on the betterment of the object of attraction as a person. It's basically like "I can fix them", except both parties feel this way about each other. It focuses less on having fun with the other person, and more on helping them become better. In a healthy moirallegience, you and your moirail are on the same side, working together to help the both of you achieve your goals, and helping each other with their blind spots, so to speak. They each function as the other's better half, complimenting each other in their strengths and weaknesses.

Overview

Pitch romance is a subset of black romance and is represented by a spade symbol. The driving emotion in this quadrant is hate, and pitch relationships, which are also called kismesissitudes, are formed for the purpose of sexual reproduction.

Hussie's Explanation

"When a pair of adversaries delve into [the pitch] quadrant, they become each other's KISMESIS. As one of the concupiscent quadrants, it plays a role in procreation as well. There is no particularly good human translation for this concept. The closest would be an especially potent arch-rivalry."

My Thoughts

This isn't incorrect, but it is an oversimplification. Unfortunately, since every kismesissitude in the comic was either extremely toxic or happened entirely off screen, this is all we have to work with, and we have to fill the gaps with a lot of speculation.

What it Feels Like

It's important to note that "hate" is not used in the same way as it is in human society. It is a subset of love, just like pity. The best way to describe it is a rivalry. Pitch attraction to someone can be likened to seeing all of their flaws that prevent them from fulfilling their potential and wanting to push them to become better through challenges and pushing their limits.

It's similar to the pale quadrant in that both parties want to see the other become the best versions of themselves because they deeply care about each other, but the pitch quadrant focuses on achieving this betterment through what I would describe as "tough love" or "negative reinforcement". But at the end of the day, both parties care about each other and want to see each other succeed. A kismesissitude where both parties were praying on each others' downfall would be incredibly toxic. There are lines you don't cross in every quadrant, including the pitch quadrant.

However, it's not only based on this want to see someone become better. Two people in the pitch quadrants should also have equal skillsets and abilities in at least one area, such as archery or video gaming- it's still a rivalry, after all. You are both pushing each other to become better to spite the other person, essentially.

Overview

Ashen romance is a subset of black romance and is represented by a club symbol. The driving emotion in this quadrant is hate, and ashen relationships, which are also called auspisticisms, are formed for quality of life purposes. This quadrant is unique in that a relationship in this quadrant contains 3 people, rather than 2.

Hussie's Explanation

"This quadrant involves a particular type of three-way relationship of a black romantic nature. Falling on the conciliatory side, it has no bearing on the reproductive cycle, except for indirect ramifications.

"When two trolls are locked in a feud or some otherwise contentious relationship, one can intervene and become their AUSPISTICE. The auspistice mediates between the two, playing the role of a peace keeper, preventing the feud from boiling over into a fully caliginous rivalry.

"Since such lesser feuds are quite common among trolls, there is a significant need for auspisticing parties. Without them, too many ashen feuds would become caliginous, and begin to conflict with other exclusive kismesis relationships, leading to a great deal of social complexity and sore feelings (even more so than black romance usually involves). Without auspisticism, the result would be widespread black infidelity.

"[...]

"An auspistice can stabilize particularly turbulent relationships. If the auspistice fails to mediate properly, or has no interest in the role, or perhaps has different romantic intentions him/herself altogether, then the relationship often quickly deteriorates into one of an especially hostile and torrid nature."

My Thoughts

I'm not sure why Hussie had this much to say about ashen romance and not pitch romance, since one's understanding of auspisticism heavily relies on an existing understanding of pitch romance, but I digress. Ashen romance is easily the most nuanced quadrant, and despite that, Hussie actually explained it pretty well. I would just like to add that, at least initially, the ashen romance is between the auspistice (the middle leaf) and the two other people that are being auspisticed (the bottom leaves). As time passes, though, the feelings between the three parties will develop into unique (but still black) feelings for the other parties.

What it Feels Like

I will admit I have very little experience with the ashen quadrant, so bear with me. Someone who experiences ashen romance for another pair of people wants the best for them, but it's less focused on each person bettering themself, and more focused on each person reaching a mutual understanding and helping all parties work through disagreements. The auspistice will facilitate this, of course, and feels ashen romance towards the other two from the start. This sort of ashen romance can be described as caring for the other two people, and wanting them to shut up and stop bickering because all three parties have bigger problems at hand and this is trivial. However, the two bottom leaves at first will usually experience pitch feelings. Overtime, this evolves into a softer sort of hate that's more practical. The feelings shift away from a desire for rivalry and more towards a desire for collaboration on the mundane.

I'm not confident in this description, though, so take it with a grain of salt. In the future I will try to ask someone who is far more experienced than I am for help describing this quadrant to reduce the flanderization of this already heavily flanderized quadrant.