This informative essay examines auspisticism within Homestuck’s canon and dubiously canon materials in order to streamline it into an easy-to-understand guide for fans who want to know more about auspisticism. There’s so much room for exploration of auspisticism within the fandom, so I hope this helps someone understand it a little bit better. For more on auspisticism, check out my auspisticism themed tumblr @ashmates or shoot me an ask for my own headcanons @visionaryParacosmos.
What IS Auspisticism?
Auspisticism, the ashen quadrant, is the black, conciliatory quadrant (Homestuck, page 2393). It is represented by a black or gray club card suit symbol (Homestuck, page 2397 and page 6007). Like the other quadrants, trolls will “feel strongly compelled to find balance” and “seek gratifying relationships” in the ashen quadrant (Homestuck, page 2393).
Unlike other quadrants, the ashen quadrant is a “three-way relationship” (Homestuck, page 2397), rather than a two person relationship. Two trolls will be “locked in a feud or some otherwise contentious relationship” when the third troll, the auspistice, “mediates between the two, playing the role of a peace keeper, [and] preventing the feud from boiling over into a fully caliginous rivalry,” (Homestuck, page 2397). They are a trio, a triad, a complete chain.
The auspistice helps “stabilize particularly turbulent relationships” (Homestuck, page 2400), especially ones that involve volatile vacillation, would lead to infidelity and/or involve a difference in romantic feelings (i.e. one troll feels red while the other feels black), (Homestuck, page 2398). These kinds of “lesser feuds are quite common among trolls,” thus there is a great need for auspistices and auspisticizing relationships (Homestuck, page 2397).
Black Romance
Auspisticism is one of the black quadrants. Black romance, or blackrom, is “rooted in the strongly negative” (Homestuck, page 2393), also referred to as hate, hostility, and antipathy (Homestuck, page 2296 and page 7490).
An auspisticism and a kismesissitude are generally considered mutually exclusive. This is first illustrated by Eridan trying to turn a caliginous relationship ashen; “you dont wwant to be our auspistice cause you dont wwant to get locked into that sort of relation wwith her i can respect that,” (Homestuck, page 2343). It is later reinforced by Feferi when Eridan tries to turn her flush relationship ashen:
“Don’t try to provoke )(im. It’s not like I don’t know w)(at you’re doing! You keep trying to spark a rivalry wit)( )(im to get me to auspisticize between you two, and pull us out of our quadrant! It is t)(e oldest and lamest trick in t)(e book. It didn’t work t)(en and it won’t work now!” (Homestuck, page 3321)
Conciliatory Romance
Auspisticism is one of the conciliatory quadrants, also rarely called the “pale” quadrants (Homestuck, page 3882). Conciliatory romance is “closely likened to platonic relationships by human standards,” (Homestuck, page 2393). This does not mean auspisticism is a platonic relationship, as it is consistently referred to as a romantic relationship elsewhere throughout Homestuck (pages 2343, 2393, 2398, 5414, 6018, and 7508, to name a few). Conciliatory means a romantic relationship that “has no [direct] bearing on the reproductive cycle,” (Homestuck, page 2397).
It seems that one of the distinguishing factors trolls tend to consider when contrasting pale and ashen romance is that ashen romance “Addresses Conciliatory Romantic Feelings Not Directed At A Single Person But At Two People Who Are Presently In Such A Contentious Relationship,” (Homestuck, page 5414).
Alternian Social Perception
Trolls generally have a “cultural preoccupation with romantic destiny” and believe “strongly that each quadrant holds one and only one true pairing for them,” (Homestuck, page 2405). In the case of auspisticism, they believe there is a “triad of trolls somewhere in the cosmos that were…MADE FOR EACH OTHER,” (Homestuck, page 2405 and page 2406).
Despite this, there seems to be multiple social pressures for auspisticizing. One pressure is to prevent lesser rivalries from contributing to the gene pool, as “[e]specially strong matesprit and kismesis pairings yield more dominant genetic material. The more powerful the complement or potent the rivalry, the more dominant the genes,” (Homestuck, page 2396).
Another pressure is to prevent or work through social tensions. “Correct me if I’m wrong but [isn’t] that whole [arrangement] getting into territory of social [taboo]?…This could create a [schism] in our group, that we could all be torn apart,” (Homestuck, pages 5413 and 5414). The auspistice conciliates not because the parties are a bad caliginous match, but because they would destroy the social ecosystem around them.
Ashen Flirting & Feelings
Ashen flirting is not specifically examined in the comic, but it is described in the author commentary:
“You have to be pretty alert to tell when someone is hitting on you in the clubs quadrant. It’s subtle enough to miss easily. “Hey, could you tell that bastard over there he’s a bastard for me? And don’t you DARE think of watering down my message of hate for me, so as to moderate this unpleasant rivalry I’m placing you in the middle of!” Okay, that’s an obvious clubs solicitation. But usually they don’t sound like that. You know how sometimes in bar fights, there’s the guy who wants to start a fight, but he tries to get his friends to “hold him back”? That’s textbook solicitation in the ashen quadrant. Apparently rowdy, drunken bros do it all the time.” (Homestuck: Book 5, page 199).
Essentially, encouraging a potential auspistice to mitigate arguments and fights is what ashen flirting is about.
We can see a little deeper into black flirting more broadly when John and Karkat talk about black romantic crushes. Karkat describes “FRUSTRATION,” “NEGATIVE EMOTIONS,” “NEGATIVE FEELINGS,” and “HOT HEADED FEELINGS” being the “ESSENCE OF BLACK ROMANCE,” with admiration and “SUBTLE POSITIVES” creating “TENSION” by “AGGRAVATING FACTORS” like “INFURIATING FLAWS,” (Homestuck, page 7490). He also discusses how the positives are also the basis for red feelings should vacillation occur.
Ashen Dating
One of the best insights we have into ashen dating comes from the quadrant master himself, Karkat Vantas. “IF I HAD BEEN ON THE BALL AND AUSPISTICIZED BETWEEN [KANAYA] AND ROSE, [KANAYA] WOULD HAVE HAD THE TIME TO AUSPISTICIZE BETWEEN [TEREZI] AND GAMZEE,” (Homestuck, page 6018). This quote could have several different implications and any or all of them could be true at the same time.
Firstly, this could imply that it’s socially acceptable to be in two separate auspisticisms so long as the individual is engaging in different roles, i.e. a mediated party in one and an auspistice in the other. This is antithetical to the social perception of having a fated trio.
Secondly, this could imply that short-lived auspisticisms are common, which would match what we know about there being enough lesser rivalries that there is a great need for auspistices (Homestuck, page 2397). This is supported by the continuous assertion that “widespread black infidelity” is a significant issue within troll culture (Homestuck, page 2397; Homestuck: Book 4, page 313).
Thirdly, this could mean nothing and simply be Karkat trying to force all the solutions to problems into the paradigm of troll romance.
Examples of Ashen Relationships
Many of you may expect this section to be full of relationships involving Kanaya. However, there’s a LOT to say about her relationship to auspisticism, which really expands past the scope of this essay.
So, instead, I will discuss other implied and dubiously canon ashen ships. The ones I’m examining here are Jade/Karkat, Sollux/Nepeta/Karkat, and Vriska’s auspisticisms.
Jade/Karkat
Even the shipper extraordinaire Nepeta Leijon sees that ashen JadeKat is a viable ship. Above, she has depicted Jade mediating between past and future Karkat (Homestuck, page 3438).
Karkat exhibits both positive and negative feelings towards Jade while talking to Kanaya about her: “I WANT A PASSWORD RIGHT NOW OR I WILL DIRECT MY COLD LASER HATESTARE THROUGH YOUR BULGE FROM BEHIND MY GOOFY ASS GOGGLY GIRL GLASSES…OK, YES, I’LL SAY SHE’S A LOT MORE DECENT THAN I GAVE HER CREDIT FOR ORIGINALLY,” (Homestuck, page 3321). Dave accuses Karkat of “slobbering all over jade” (Homestuck, page 2852) and Kanaya says “It Sounds Like [Karkat] Like[s] [Jade]” (Homestuck, page 3321). Karkat even nearly confesses to having feelings for Jade at one point (Homestuck, page 4101). Jade also expresses finding Karkat’s trollish demeanor charming (Homestuck, page 3415). It’s suffice to say that the two of them have mutual feelings that run both positive and negative.
Furthermore, both of them have mediated between the other and another version of themself. Jade mediates between past and future Karkat from page 2851 to 2852 of Homestuck. Likewise, Karkat mediates between Jade and Jadesprite from page 3250 to page 3253. It is nigh impossible for me to believe that a troll would see this relationship and interpret Jade and Karkat’s feelings as anything other than ashen.
Further discussion of this pairing can be found here.
Sollux/Nepeta/Karkat
The first recommendation I have for any readers is for you to immediately pause reading this and to follow this link to read the print-only Paradox Space comic Fiduspawn. Have you done that? Okay, cool.
It’s textually and visually acknowledged that Nepeta, Sollux, and Karkat are ashen flirting in this story, starting as early as page 6 when Karkat and Sollux argue, with Nepeta being the only one breaking their fight up, and it’s solidified on the final page where an ashen symbol can be seen by Nepeta as they all walk away.
Karkat and Sollux’s public arguing could be seen as a brazen ashen solicitation. Although Nepeta expresses distaste for the idea of being ashen for the two of them, it is more likely that this is due to her flush crush on Karkat rather than any issue she has for the ashen quadrant (Homestuck, page 3438).
Further discussion of this trio and Fiduspawn can be found here.
Vriska
Kanaya noted Vriska’s propensity for auspisticism and said that she “Probably Diffused A Lot Of Unpleasant Situations Before They Started” (Homestuck, page 7508) during the course of the meteor trip. Between this and Vriska alluding to “ashen liaisons,” (Homestuck, page 7508) it is implied that Vriska engaged in several short-term auspisticisms. Based on the Vriskagram update (Homestuck, page 7449), it can be inferred that these include Vriska mediating between Gamzee and Terezi and between Rose and Kanaya.
Final Words
“IT’S ALL PRETTY STRAIGHTFORWARD, REALLY,” (Homestuck, page 7490).
Don’t let this essay constrain you, let it give you a foundation to build upon! A springboard to give you a jumping off point! I like seeing the new directions that people take ashen romance, so if there’s an idea of yours that doesn’t fit canon, feel free to disregard this and have fun!
