How to Understand Homestuck Quadrants

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Last Updated: March 14, 2023 Approved

Perhaps you heard references to "Homestuck" and "Quadrants" on a social media site. Unless you've read Homestuck, you probably have no clue what anyone's talking about. When you first found out about "Shipping," you were confused enough, but what's up with all this redrom and blackrom nonsense? Continue reading to learn more.

Part 1

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Understanding Quadrants

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The Homestuck term "Quadrants" refers to the type of romance experienced by the web comic's main non-human species, the trolls. This is because, unlike us humans, they have four different types of romantic experiences. Their romance can be viewed as one giant square that's divided in half vertically, and then in half again, horizontally.
Redrom And Blackrom. The first and most important division between the quadrants is between what is known as Redrom and Blackrom. Redrom, or Red Romance, is feelings based off primarily positive emotions, similar to the human concept of love and friendship. Blackrom, or Black Romance, is the opposite, and based off primarily negative emotions, such as rivalry and competition.

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Concupiscent and Conciliatory. The second division is between the concupiscent and conciliatory quadrants. Concupiscent quadrants are the ones that are viewed as more romantic and play a leading role in reproduction, whereas conciliatory quadrants focus on more platonic relationships that have other roles that you'll see later.
Matespritship. The first quadrant and is the redrom concupiscent romance known as Matespritship, denoted by the symbol of the heart, <3. This quadrant is the most similar to normal human romance, as it is based off positive emotions and plays a role in reproduction. However, human love and a trollian flushed relationship still have their differences. While the romantic feelings of humans tend to be based around adoration, sometimes idolising the person of their affection, matesprits usually pity their partner instead. Matesprits feel sorry for each other and want to be of help.
Moirailegiance. The second quadrant is the redrom conciliatory romance known as moirailegiance, denoted by the symbol of the diamond, <>. An easier viewpoint for humans on this romance is the idea of a Soulmate, but in a more platonic sense, being conciliatory. Trolls are a somewhat violent race by nature, but some are more so than others. In the case a more tempermantal troll were to have a fit or go on a rampage, it would be their Moirail's responsibility to pacify them for the safety of everyone else. Those who enter a pale relationship do so wanting to make themselves better people, learning from each other's strengths and weaknesses.
Kismesistude. The third quadrant is the blackrom concupiscent romance known as kismesistude, denoted by the symbol of the spade, <3<. A very common misconception of caliginous relationships is that they hate each other and are in a constant state of trying to kill their kismesis. This is not true. The caliginous feelings that serve as the base for a kismesistude are more similar to a rivary, trying to outdo and one up their partner. However, leaving it at that is a major simplification, as many other factors and emotions play into the nature of a kismesistude. Some of these are respect and admiration. A troll will dislike their kismesis, and want to prove that they're better, but why? They see that the receiver of their caliginous feelings could potentially be better than them, and they feel the urge to disprove that, to their kismesis, to everyone, but most importantly, to themselves. Without that sense of competition, a kismesistude would fall apart quickly, leaving bitter disappointment in its wake.
Auspisticism. The foruth and final quadrant is the blackrom conciliatory romance known as auspisticism, denoted by the sumbol of the club, c8<. This quadrant is probably the hardest for humans to grasp, as it is the only form of romance not subject to universal rules of infidelity, meaning any given person could be involved in any number of ashen relationships, and it is the only form of romance involving three parties. As was previously mentioned, trolls are a violent race by nature, resulting in many bickerments and quarrels, some of which result in blooming caliginous feelings. However, if a caliginous relationship was born from every argument, it would present widespread blackrom fidelity. This is where auspistices come in. When two trolls begin to show feelings marking the start of a kismesitude, and auspistice can step in and separate, or auspistise, the two. They may do this for a number of reasons. Maybe one or both of them already have a kismesis. Maybe that particular pairing would be disastrous for everyone around them. Maybe the auspistice has a caliginous crush on one of them. For our current intents and purposes, their reason doesn't matter. Think of it as two school children arguing over something, like a toy or a pencil. When a teacher, parent, or peer steps in to break them up, trolls would say that they are acting auspistice.

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Understanding Transgressions

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That's all four quadrants. The confusing part is trangression. In troll society, it is not uncommon for partners to switch between quadrants. If left unchecked, it can result in chaotic infidelities, but if all goes well, transgressions can lead to beautiful emotional experiences.
Transgressions are most commonly seen between the concupiscent quadrants, Matespritship and Kismesistude, as this is where the more torrid and unpredictable emotions lie. Very rarely do two parties have requited flushed/caliginous feelings for each other; usually, one person will have a caliginous crush while the other harbors flushed emotions. In this case, one party's feelings will usually flip to match the other. Sometimes, their feeling will flip ack and forth, sometimes in harmony, sometimes in discourse. If either involved party has both a kismesis and a matesprit, this can result in ocasional concupiscnet infidelities until one of the pairs flips to match the other. Under very rare circumstances, all involved parties will have both concupiscent quadrants filled, and flipping in perfect unison. This rare and beautiful multi-person relationship is known as a Quadrangle. When person A and B's relationship is flushed, B and C will be calignous, C and D will be flushed, and D and A will be caliginous, and vice versa when they flip. A Quadrangle is the picture of a perfectly balanced romance in troll society, but it is also very delicate, as a single brief infidelity can shatter it.
Another common, though not as intricate, transgression is between the two redrom quadrants, Matespritship and Moirailegiance. Similar to the concupiscent transgression method, one party will have flushed feeling whilst the other has pale. Unlike a concupiscent transgression, however, two Moirails tend to both have pale feelings at the start of the relationship. Though this rarely happens, one moirail may begin to feel flushed emotions for the other. This change of heart can culminate in one of three ways. The first possibility is person A's flushed feelings going unrequited for too long, so they go back to pale. Another is person B learning about and being disgusted by person A's desire for a matespritship. The third is person B realising and returning the flushed feelings, resulting in a matespritship, though this is the least common. Transgressions from flushed to pale are equally uncommon, and progress the same, only in reverse.
Though transgressions between the two blackrom quadrants, Kismesistude and Auspisticism, are certainly not as intricate as concupiscent transgressions, they are considerably more common. If two people are in a caliginous relationship for a while, and the kismesitude begins to wreak havoc, and auspistice will step in. This is exactly like the previously explained ashen relationships, only the third party acting after the disastrous relationship became canon, or official. However, it is unfortuately quite common for ashen relationships to trangress into caliginous as well. If the party acting auspistice has little interest in the role, or doesn't perform well enough for any reason, they will be forced out of the quadrant while the other two presume to become kismesis.

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Can a troll be in 2 different quadrants?

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It's traditional for a troll to only be in one quadrant, but a troll can be in more than one on rare occasions, for example, Morail and Auspice.

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Is it cheating to have a Moirail and Matesprit?

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No because 1. As seen with Matespritship and Kismesitude, you can have a relationship of one type and one of another type and 2. All four of the types of romance have different societal roles, so it may even be thought of as a bad thing to not be in a relationship of all four types.

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Try doing some research on other sites about the Homestuck quadrants, such as the Homestuck official wikia, mspaintadventures.wikia.com.

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If you know anyone who's read/is reading Homestuck, ask them to explain. As your friend, they might know a way to explain the quadrants in a way you understand.

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Moirallegiance is NOT friendship, despite it not being one of the 'reproductive romances'.

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Warnings

Unless you're old enough to have been told about the process of human reproduction, Do Not Under Any Circumstances Research Troll Reproduction. Fictional or not, it can be quite graphic and is not for innocent minds. If you think you're ready, look up the word Bucket.

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Do NOT make the mistake of assuming caliginous feelings are based off hatred. This assumption is horribly misleading and embarrassingly inaccurate.

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