#Rogue Class

[themuskrater]

It's always funny to me that Rogues get this stereotype of being dark and edgy PCs. But then you remember THIS is the inspiration for all Rogues:

If you don't know, now you know:

Bilbo Baggins was the inspiration for the Rogue class in D&D

[thatcerealkiller]

The Winner

art by @vicious-mongrel featuring a snacking Astarion & my bleeding but victorious Tav 🔥

[notcaptainjack]

[starlit1daydream]

Introduction to my Classpecting Ideas

This felt like a good idea for something to put out before I put my Knight & Page analysis out there, since I plan on making this a 6 part series. (Potentially 7 if demand for a Lord/Muse addendum is high enough).

So, I'll be laying out my most important philosophies on the subject here for future reference.

Classpecting is...

Point A. Classpecting is malleable.

There is not one rigid, set definition for any Class pair, or any Aspect pairing. The freedom of the author is that they may assign any symbolism to a concept that they may like.

What I mean by this is that people often seem to think that manifestations of an Aspect within Homestuck's narrative paint that object or idea as a concept inherently tied to that Aspect.

Example: Pumpkins & Void. You would not believe the amount of people in the early fandom who swore by the idea that pumpkins were inherently just Void constructs because of their role in Homestuck's narrative.

No? Pumpkins symbolise Void in Homestuck itself and Homestuck itself only only due to a running gag inherent to Homestuck itself.

Anything, with enough narrative basis and existing thematic ties, can serve to symbolise an Aspect. Furthermore, two different authors may have different ideas of what Aspect something represents.

Some authors may see alcohol, for example, as a Void-bound concept owing to its obfuscation of fair judgement. Some may see it as a Light-bound concept owing to the idea of 'in vino veritas' and the tendency of drunkenness to induce truthful confessions. Some may see it as a Life-bound concept owing to its associations with hedonism and impulsive behaviour.

With enough narrative consistence, anything is possible. Homestuck's narrative is not as rigid of a point of reference as some people would swear by it being. This is deeply important.

Point B. Classpecting is not the whole of a character.

I can't exactly phrase this in a satisfactory manner, but... a Classpect is not a personality type in of itself. An individual being a Prince of Heart does not instantly make them Dirk Strider. It merely means that their core value is identity & selfhood, and they interact with it by destroying it. It is that simple!

I see, time and time again, Classpecting blogs acting as if a Classpect is indicative of a character's whole personality and giving guides as to the exact behaviours & quirks a character with that Classpect should have.

I am imploring you to explore wider possibilities when it comes to this. Even if it means sharing a title with a canon character! It doesn't mean you have to just rewrite that canon character because that's not how Classpecting works.

I've seen fanventure characters share titles with canon characters. (Sovereignstuck's Annomi Errata & Dynama Zarrow sharing titles with Dirk & Porrim respectively, and Porrim herself is also a player in that narrative, mind you!)

I've seen fanventure characters share titles with eachother. (Vast Error's Dismas Mersiv is a Rogue of Mind. One of my fantrolls is also a Rogue of Mind!)

In every instance, they are fundamentally different people. I cannot put it any simpler than this.

Point C. Classpecting is always applicable.

That is the perfection of the Classpecting system. You can give a title to any character, from anything ever made. It's not even that difficult if you're half-decent at media analysis!

Quite literally all you need to do is ask yourself two questions.

"What's this character's core value?" and "How do they interact with that?" Do that, and you've got yourself a Classpect.

That's the beauty of it! It's obviously not going to be as airtight as a story that has the Classpecting system baked directly into the narrative, but it's still going to work out!

Hell, do it to yourself! Do it to your friends! The world's your oyster. You can do anything you want, forever, for the rest of time. I'm a Seer of Life! My best friend is a Page of Blood! My mother is a Witch of Hope! Go wild.

Post formatting

For my Classpecting posts, I'll aim to give two related definitions for every Class.

Definition A is the narrative function, what the Class says about the person and how they interact with their Aspect as an abstract concept.

Definition B is the practical function, what the Class says about their role in the session and how they interact with their Aspect as a SBURB construct.

Therefore, we get an idea of both the abstract, personal definition of a Classpect, and the functional, game application of a Classpect.

I'll also aim to give about two or three examples for each individual title about how you could write a character with them, since there are always going to be multiple directions you can take with a Classpect.

Conclusion

tl;dr - what I'm trying to say is this. Classpecting is malleable, easily applicable & capable of saying any number of things, and my posts will aim to give two concise definitions of both narrative and practical function for every title.

I'll get the Knight:Page analysis done either today or tomorrow, and the rest of the Class posts will be staggered releases in order of poll results. Thus, the order is going to be:

Knights & Pages, Deficiency and Exploitation.

Mages & Seers, Experience and Comprehension.

Witches & Heirs, Adherence and Manipulation.

Princes & Bards, Instability and Destruction.

Thieves & Rogues, Inundation and Redistribution.

Maids & Sylphs, Maintenance and Generation.

And, potentially...

7. Lords & Muses, Absolution and Dominion.

And then, subsequently, the order for the Aspect posts, which I've decided based on relevance to the canon, roughly speaking anyways...

Space & Time, Genesis and Terminus.

Breath & Blood, Fluidity and Stability.

Light & Void, Potential and Simplicity.

Heart & Mind, Instinct and Dialectics.

Life & Doom, Progress and Stagnation.

Hope & Rage, Conviction and Iconoclasm.

I look forward to the next post. Until then, take care.

[propheticclown]

I haven't made a homestuck post in a bit so I just wanna talk about how much Nepeta as a character makes me a bit sad. All Rouges in Homestuck have problems with romance related to their aspect, with Roxy, as a Rouge of Void, fighting to feel relevant and seen through attempting to be seen as a "fun-loving, hot girl". As well as Rufioh, as a Rouge of Breath, struggling to stay bound in a romantic relationship, cheating on Damara with Horrus and wanting to leave Horrus by the time we're introduced to him. Heart players also struggle with Romance. This is shown with Meulin (who I have made a post about because I love Olive Bloods), who has had a failed relationship with Kurloz and a toxic moirailigence with Horuss. And Dirk, who fails to realize that he only loves his own idea of Jake until going into trickster mode. Nepeta as a Rouge of Heart is a heartbreaking mishmash of both of these traits. Not many people know, but Nepeta uses her shipping wall as a coping mechanism for her feelings of loneliness. Her unreciprocated flushed feelings for Karkat don't help her in the slightest. Although a lot of the ships she has come true, due to the fact that she's a Rouge, she can only give the romantic relationships she craves to others, guiding others to a treasure she cannot possess. Despite this, she's a very upbeat and pawsitive character (pun intended). She holds no negative feelings towards Terezi despite Karkat having a crush on her, in fact, she doesn't hold any negative feelings towards any of the Beta Trolls, including Eridan, who she actually feels sad for after discovering he died. Speaking of Eridan, I would like to point out that both Eridan and Nepeta have a LOT of things in common and unique interactions that not many people talk about. Firstly, both Nepeta and Eridan are the only two Beta Trolls who never got kissed. Along with this, while Eridan's arc revolved around switching sides and wanting to join Jack Noir, resulting in his death, Nepeta's arc revolves around her undying loyalty to her friends, which also results in her death. Also, Eridan is canonically the ONLY troll in Homestuck to have any romantic feelings for Nepeta. Along with this, Nepeta is the only character besides Feferi that Eridan asks to be matesprits with. Small tangent aside, Nepeta's lack of aggression towards the beta trolls is due to the fact that she has the only healthy moirailigence in the entirety of Homestuck. Although she often gets upset at Equius' behavior, she overall enjoys his presence and have a mutually beneficial relationship, with Nepeta calming down Equius' constant inner anger and strength complex and Equius letting Nepeta vent her frustrations to him about her deep feelings of loneliness. Her loyalty to her friends and complex inner turmoil as a Rouge of Heart leads her to have a deep wish to experience a love that will never flee from her. She ends up feeling as though she needs to be loved in order to be whole as a person and although the feelings towards Equius are strictly platonic, it's that loyalty and understanding that leads her to want to save him from Gamzee during Murderstuck.

In the end, Nepeta as a Rouge of Heart is a girl with a simple wish. To find love in order to not feel lonely and even though she doesn't succeed, she still fights to protect those she holds closely and while I believe her arc should've been written WAY BETTER AND KILLING HER OFF WAS SUCH BULLSHIT AND HUSSIE DIDN'T EVEN BRING HER BACK WHEN JOHN GOT THE ABILITY TO DO THAT AND IT MADE ME SO ANGRY!!! She's still one of the most enjoyable characters in all of Homestuck and my personal favorite Beta Troll. *Cough cough* anyway read S33K THE HIGHB100D by @pastabaguette it's beautiful. *Cough cough*

[irradiatedpathogen]

SKETCHBOOK TOUR!!!!(1/2)

theres gonna 8e more other other peoples n teh next part

[classpecting-the-hoyoverse]

Veritas Ratio: The Rogue of Light

Rogue: The passive stealing class

One who steals aspect for others

Alternatively, one who shares or one who redistributes aspect with others

Light

Abstract: Knowledge, Awareness, Attention, Relevance, Fortune, Luck

Literal: Actual Light (Brightness), Vision, Eyes, the Sun, Stars

This is gonna become a series isn't it?

It is. Now let's get going on discussing everyone's favorite interstellar scholar: Dr. Veritas Ratio!!

Let's get the obvious out of the way: His aspect.

Light is more commonly known as the aspect of knowledge. But instead of talking about he’s light-bound personality wise, why don’t we shake things up a bit? We know that he's a smart and knowledgeable man, but what more can his aspect offer for us aside from that?

To fit with Ratio's Greco-Roman theming, I'll briefly discuss the World of Ideas in Plato's allegory of the Cave.

Forgive me to if I do get the allegory wrong and please feel free to correct me!

The gist of this is that ordinary people are like prisoners chained to a cave, only able to perceive reality through shadow puppets and the distorted noises that bounce off the cave walls. These prisoners were born in the cave and had been raised in the cave, not knowing anything else outside of it; ignorance. It's only when they break out of their chains do these prisoners start their path to enlightenment and they achieve it so once they see the bright sun outside of their cave; the World of Ideas.

Ratio seeks to break everyone from the chains of ignorance and guide them towards enlightenment through spreading his knowledge throughout the universe.

Ratio is the man who would forcefully break the prisoners' chains and nudge them towards the light, as much as he could anyways.

And for one specific character, he hopes it is enough.

We'll get back to him later! Next I want to talk about is Ratio and his connection to Christian Gnosticism, which likely had served as inspiration for the concept of the Light aspect in Homestuck. I will be borrowing ideas from one of optimisticDualist's essays so I highly recommend giving it a quick read before continuing onward.

According to Gnostic myth, the world was created through the desires of an aeon named Sophia, an Emanator of light. I should also note that the Greek word for wisdom is Σοφία.

Sophia longed to understand God in His entirety, but in doing so she committed treason and was thus cast out of heaven. Her desire gave birth to Yaldabaoth: a blind, violent, and ignorant god who knew nothing but himself. He created the material world that you and I perceive, shielded from the light of Sophia that birthed him. Because a blind god made the world in his image, the denizens of his earth are also blind to Sophia.

So what do banished gods have to do with the purple guy?

Well, just like Archimedes and screws, things come back around. In order to save yourself from Yaldabaoth’s world, one must be delivered a certain knowledge that is delivered by a “messenger of light” and thus gain the ability to perceive Sophia and her World of Ideas.

In other words, salvation can be sought in what Gnosticism calls a gnosis.

However, one cannot just simply be gifted a gnosis. Those who seek Sophia’s salvation must be driven to reach it, reach beyond the Demiurge’s dark and imprisoning world and into the intangible, bright world above.

Doesn’t that sound familiar?

By Gnostic definition, Ratio should be an Emanator of wisdom, helping curing others of ignorance and helping them on their way towards enlightenment. Hell, you can even say that he's a sylph with all the constant allusions to healing and helping, especially since that Ratio's a Doctor.

However, we all know that this isn't true. Within Ratio's character stories, it can be inferred that his one goal in life is to become an Emanator of the Erudition. His arduous pursuit of knowledge was likely all in hopes in attracting Nous' gaze.

Yet, despite all his efforts, Ratio was never spared a glance

Dr. Ratio is a model Emanator of wisdom by Gnostic standards, yet within his own universe his Aeon of Erudition does not acknowledge him. No matter how hard he tries, he will never reach the status of a member of the Genius society, almost as if he wasn't destined to be a part of it.

Let’s talk about his class: The rogue.

Rogues in Homestuck are the outcasts of their societies. They're loners, isolated, unable to fit in with the groups they want to identify in.

Rogue of Heart Nepeta Leijon lives alone in Alternia's wilderness far from troll society with her lusus as her only companion that is physically close to her.

She's been explicitly described as lonely, creating comics and ships of herself and her friends in order to mitigate her feelings of isolation from other trolls:

Then there's Rogue of Void Roxy Lalonde, who for her first 16 years of life was the only human within her town of carapaces, whom she provides food for. The only other human in her post-apocalyptic world is more than 1700 miles away.

Being a Void-Bound, her isolation is very much apparent, but her loneliness reaches its apex during her bad end in her Pesterquest route. Drinking herself to a stupor as the undeserving consequences of seeing her mother just once consumes her.

And then Rogue of Breath Rufioh Nitram, who was seen as a mutant for his wings and thus was avoided by his fellow trolls, which took a blow on his self-esteem.

Rogues also struggle with a surplus of their aspect and trying to cope up with that extra while it consumes them. Nepeta taking on the personas of other people through roleplaying, as well as her cave walls being covered in shipping grids. Rufioh living a literally directionless grubhood as travels with a nomadic group called the Lost Weaboos, not to mention his wings, a symbol of freedom, being the cause of why he views himself so lowly. And then there's Roxy, who feels so alone in the carapacian bastion that she fills that void with insobriety, befuddling her mind.

So what does this have to say about Dr. Ratio? All three rogues here have exhibited some type of self-worth issues and a desire to connect with others, but due to being so engulfed by their aspect, it hinders them from reaching that goal...

What if tiny Ratio exhibited such intellect at such a young age that throughout his childhood, he was told that he would be a great scholar growing up? Maybe his genius would earn him a spot within the Genius Society. He was even admitted into a university during his adolescent years.

As that is impressive as that sounds, can you imagine how isolating that can be for a child? Ratio, the only kid in class with his classmates years above him, talking about things outside of academia that he's too young to understand. Meanwhile Ratio likely doesn't interact with those his age as they couldn't provide anything to stimulate his brain. It could also be vice-versa too: Ratio trying to talk to them about topics far beyond their comprehension and they just start to distance themselves from him, unable to understand him, making an outcast out of him.

His intelligence and genius isolates him from making any genuine friendships during his formal years of life. At least, any that we know of before 2.1.

This loneliness does seem to follow him well into his adulthood as well: Becoming a celebrity comes with its own flavor of isolation: being surrounded by the limelight yet no one will truly understand you.

And let's not forget about his ambitions to become an Emanator of the Erudition, to become a member of the Genius Society, which he fell short of...

...something that he holds quite close to his chest, a betrayal of his self-perceived character. He became yet, once again, an outcast.

Another thing, I want you guys to got to Ratio's wiki real quick and see how many characters mention him.

How many people do you think were close to Ratio?

Within the team selection menu of Star Rail, Ratio has lines for when he's added to a team with Ruan Mei and Herta, yet the reverse isn't true. Both Genius scholars say nothing when added to a team with Ratio already in it, almost as if they don't acknowledge him.

There is, however, only one character who says something when added to a team with the Mundanite already in it.

Can you guess who it is?

But, as for all classes, their lives aren't meant to be miserable forever. A Rogue must find a way to overcome this loneliness; piecing through the walls of their confines made of their aspect. Instead of just keeping all their aspect for themselves like their Thief counterpart, Rogues find fulfillment through sharing their aspect, often by taking it from one source and distributing it to others. Or in some cases, exchanging something else in order to hand out.

And after all this, I dare say that Ratio joining the Genius Society would be the worst mistake he'd ever make. Stay with me, I have my reasons:

Though we never got to see much of Nepeta in action, we know that she distributes Heart through her shipping chart, arranging couples, distributing aspects of their personalities to see who would go together the best.

The amount of thought that she puts into her ships puts a Sylph of the same aspect like me to shame!

I digress.

In exchange of bringing attention to the Watterbitch that's about to destroy their game, Roxy was able to obscure the progression of her session from prying eyes, covering it in a blanket of blankness in order to keep Batterwitch from knowing what they're up to.

And then for Rufioh, his Alternian counterpart The Summoner lead a rebellion against the Condecse, using his wings to guide his fellow trolls towards freedom.

And even after his defeat, his tale lives on as Pupa Pan. While the tale of his rebellious predecessor the Signless is silenced and therefore lost to obscurity, the Summoner's story lives on, allowing the idea of freedom to flow into the mind of young trolls.

Dr. Ratio's entire character is dedicated to making education accessible for all. Though some of this does end up into his desire to cure people of idiocy, Ratio does truly believe that everyone should get a chance to attain knowledge. I'd even say that his ambition is the reason why he became a professor!

Ratio would dedicate his life towards his goal towards sharing knowledge, even if it meant forsaking Nous' attention in exchange.

His path also affirms this drive. One would expect that someone as knowledgeable as him would be following the path of Erudition, but instead Ratio follows the Hunt.

Ratio's determination to educate, his determination to spread light across the universe manifested into the path he follows. Even if he's never accepted by the Genius Society, he won't let that hinder him or dampen his drive. Ratio just simply strides forward.

The people who make up Nous' faction are described as researchers that rarely interact with each other, and even rarer are the people who are willing to share their research. Ratio would have never found fulfillment in being a member of the Genius Society, I'm almost certain that by joining it he would just be seeking out more and more knowledge, more and more light, becoming more and more isolated.

And one more thing: Rogues are fond of those who manage to get close to them. They appreciate their company and are incredibly dear to them.

For Nepeta, she has Equius.

For Roxy, she has Calliope.

Rufioh had Damara and the Summoner had the Marquise.

So who does Ratio have?

Even outside of a shipping lens, Aventurine is a very important person to Ratio. The 2.1 Penacony story quest demonstrated how much in tandem these two can be together; how much they trusted each other to pull off this huge gamble and draw attention to the death happening in the Planet of Dreams and Festivites. Luck and Knowledge, they both work in perfect harmony.

Aventurine calls him his equal during his episode in “Keeping Up with Star Rail”, claiming that Ratio’s the only one who can understand him.

Ratio and Aventurine must have something closer than just mutual respect however. Before Aventurine goes off into his grandiose self-annihilation, he checks up on him. He risks breaking their façade of disgruntled-coworkers-at-best just to make sure Aventurine can continue on.

Ratio does care for the Stoneheart. So much so that he imparts luck to quite literally the luckiest man alive in hopes that his advice will carry him out of the darkness that he’s in and back into the light. Bringing him out of the blinding Nihility and back into the World of Ideas, back into reality.

And it makes this note all the more important when Aventurine accepts Ratio’s advice, accepting his light when most would brush it off.

Ratio is a bright person, yet most cannot see past his luminosity and at the same time, he can’t shine bright enough to attract those he aspires to be. To remedy this, the Rogue of Light distributes his lights to others who needs it. He wants to cure those inflicted with ignorance and guide them towards enlightenment.

Knowledge for knowledge’s sake is not his Ratio rolls. His altruism may go against what the Genius Society believes in, but he wouldn’t change his ideals for anyone, steadfast in his determination to cure idiocy.

[ogdegenerate]

HOMESTUCK CLASSES EXPLAINED… badly

WITCHES: the aspect’s personal bitch until they decide it’s their turn to top

HIERS: the aspect’s poorly disguised self insert with unnecessary amounts to plot armor

MAGES: gets traumatized by their hyper-fixation for plot reasons

SEERS: HOLY SHIT ITS TIRESIAS FROM THE ODYSSEY!!!!

PRINCES: aspect-phobic crusaders with anger issues who makes hating this broad concept their entire personality

BARDS: green aura and flies taken to its most lethal state.

MAIDS: don’t you hate it when you try to put on the fitted sheet on the bed but the corners keep getting loose?

SYLPHS: your fairy god mother who has no sense of personal space and consent

THIEVES: [This description has 8een stolen 8y the thief of light ::::)]

ROUGES: the communist party your government warned you about

KNIGHTS: when you mask so hard it becomes your superpower

PAGES: IM A GOOFY GOOBER ROCK 🎸🎸🎸

[mr-mangrove]

so.... uh.... Infernum Calamity Terraria....

totally dont got over 1000+ hours in it....

Also yes your honor, they're all gay. One just acts like the mom.

[prince-of-time-pt]

Anyways, I would like to bring attention to the simple fact of: if you are having trouble classpecting yourself there is a 100% chance you are not a Prince, Thief, or Seer.

There IS a good chance you are a Page, Rogue, or Sylph.

[land-of-classpects-and-analysis]

Rogue Result Class Description

You are someone who wants to help people as much as you can, making your self into a piecemeal to be consumed by those in need.

Rogues are those who tend to invite theft of their Aspect, or invite theft through it. The most skilled Rogues, however, are those that know how to cultivate and steal their Aspect for not only themself, but for others, as well.

In a friend group, you're most likely the type of person to drop what you're doing to help someone else out. Even if you have your own troubles, those don't matter as much as other people's. You have a hard time saying no to the people you love. You have an even harder time in setting and maintaining boundaries within any relationships you have. The last thing you ever want to be seen as is selfish.

However, everyone has a breaking point. You can only split yourself up into smaller and smaller pieces before you basically give nothing left. Is this what you wanted? Did this happen because you don't know how to say no, or so you would finally have a reason that felt good enough for your standards? You've given so much of yourself away, and what have you got to show for it?

If you want to keep helping people, you'll have to start to learn how to help yourself first.

It'll be a slow process, and it will feel very, very wrong at first. Give yourself some time, though, and you'll be able to come back stronger and better than you were before. You just need to get comfortable with putting yourself and your needs first sometimes, and realizing how to ask for people to give you a little bit of your Aspect.

Rogues are ultimately good team players, even if they seem rather underwhelming or pointless to have in a group. Once they learn how to properly utilize their capabilities, though, they can turn the tides of a battle with a slip of their fingers. If you're in need of the Rogue's Aspect, they'll likely happily give some of it to you. After getting their act together, the Rogue can also become someone who checks on people who may have a little bit too much of the Rogue's Aspect. If they deem this to be the case, they will also happily attempt to alleviate this abundance so as to give it to those who are in greater need.

[clairedelune-13]

Lucanis is an assassin.

Assassins are known for their subtlety.

In and out before anyone knows what just happened. Like they were never there in the first place.

So why the goddamn fuck is Lucanis attacking Ghil in the most unsubtle tanky way possible?!?!?!

Flank attack that tentacle bitch, idiot!

Have you even rogued before?!?!

You’re supposed to pop stealth, then deliver a Deathblow from behind.

“Give me another shot!”

No, you fucked it up. I’m calling the Inquisitor, she’ll get it done.

[en8y]

[IMAGE ID: two rectangular flags with six horizontal flags each. each flag has these top two colors: dark dull blue, and dull blue. the first flag has these bottom four colors: light yellow, dull orange, warm purple, and medium grey. the second flag has these bottom four colors: pastel yellow, yellow-green, medium green, and dark blue. END ID.]

roguetenby: a gender related to being a rogue (in a homestuck way), and a tenby/trans enby/trans nonbinary.

roguetneu: a gender related to being a rogue (in a homestuck way), and tneu/transneutral.

@radiomogai @liom-archive @obscurian

[notcaptainjack]

[starlit1daydream]

Thieves & Rogues: Inundation and Redistribution

A day late, I'm aware; turning 18 will do that to a girl. I'm now older, and definitely not wiser.

The Thieves & Rogues are another contentious group; particularly the Thieves for various discourse-generating reasons - but the Rogues have their pitfalls and fall victim to mischaracterisation a lot more than you'd assume.

The Thief:Rogue dichotomy embodies inundation, redistribution and possession. It's the authority over who gets to hold their Aspect for themselves; whether it's them or somebody else, that's what being a Redistribution Class is about.

There's often some insecurity about their capacity to hold it in play as well - and they tend to use a lot of their opposite Aspect's forces; after all, what do you get when you take something but the absence of it, and therefore its opposite?

Canonical Thief players are Vriska Serket (Thief of Light) and Meenah Peixes (Thief of Life).

Canonical Rogue players are Roxy Lalonde (Rogue of Void), Nepeta Leijon (Rogue of Heart), and my arch-nemesis Rufioh Nitram (Rogue of Breath).

Point A - the narrative function of the Thief.

The Thief is the one with active distribution of their Aspect; and therefore the one liable to actively steal it. This, on paper, sounds pretty nasty - there's a reason why Thieves are lumped in with the nebulously 'bad' classes; but it's a neutral role with possible applications in either sense.

They often hold a deep-seated obsession with their Aspect; they think it's something that's out to get them and conflate an excess of it with an absence. Their perceived lack of it motivates them to hoard it, as much as possible.

Vriska Serket, the Thief of Light, is contentious for a damn good reason. Imbued with ungodly plot armour and fortune's favour, she seizes control of the narrative by force, all the while bemoaning her unlucky streak & employing the most unsubtle methods of manipulation she can think to use.

Meenah Peixes, the Thief of Life... does not understand the consequences of her actions; period. She thinks Life is out to get her, exacts every bit of free will she has out of spite and cultivates discourse and stagnation to try and encourage character development. (Oh, yeah, she also... kills people. Like, a lot.)

Their opposite Aspects are, therefore, pretty prevalent! By taking away their Aspect; they leave the inverse behind.

Vriska stealing Light leaves Void. Meenah stealing Life leaves Doom.

Often, it's almost as if they're using their inverse to cultivate their actual Aspect; Vriska uses offscreen events to justify onscreen developments - it's how she 'takes luck'. Meenah uses suffering and control in order to encourage growth - it's how she 'takes life'.

They care very little for their Aspect at the centre of it all, despite their perceived obsession; they don't seem to understand the value of it at all. That's the interesting part, I feel.

Point B, the practical function of the Thief.

Now, taking the Aspect is a very powerful ability in the right hands. We don't just see Vriska metaphorically rob fortune, she literally steals luck from her enemies mid-fight and utilises chance and possibility in order to get the upper hand.

Meenah takes 'taking life' about as seriously as you can get - not only does she really like killing people, but as the Condesce everything she did resulted in stagnation and decay in her wake as she robbed the worlds she ruled of the ability to develop; using control and hegemony to cultivate development and failing miserably.

The opposing Aspect, again, plays a prominent role! Vriska forgoes certainty and manipulates the absence of a definitive outcome to play around with luck. Meenah forgoes development and enacts control on the people beneath her to play around with change.

Point C, the narrative function of the Rogue.

I'm gonna use the Thief's concluding point as the jumpoff point for the Rogues; whereas the Thief devalues their Aspect, the Rogue puts too much stock in its importance. Their Aspect is too important to them; and so their relationship with it differs.

Passive classes tend to act without realising it, and the Rogues are no different - I'd argue their presence often leads to their Aspect being taken in a way they don't realise they're doing.

Roxy Lalonde, Rogue of Void, is desperate for attention, and yet obfuscates knowledge, is isolated from all society and would rather get drunk at the start of her arc than face the truth of her situation. I'd argue that she downplays her own importance as a person in the face of her friends' catastrophic communication failures. By being around, she takes the Void from her session and opens up ways to communicate whilst learning to give irrelevance to things.

Nepeta Leijon, Rogue of Heart, puts people into boxes. She makes them into little cariacatures on her walls, plays matchmaker in her stories; and yet she's also one of the most emotionally mature and genuine trolls in the story - she wears her Heart on her sleeve, and doesn't deny it. By being around, she takes the Heart from her friends by way of drawing out truer selves, as we see in her relationship with the insecure & disingenuous Equius.

Rufioh Nitram, Rogue of Breath, takes people's sense of purpose and direction and makes their agency depend on his presence in their life. He does Damara and Horuss dirty time and time again, and yet they can't cut him off because he's made himself too important. And yet there he is, spineless, giving away his own free will because he holds no security in his selfhood. He's trapping people in relationships without realising. I also want to drop an anvil on his head.

The common thread, despite the differing situations, is the indirect usage of the opposing Aspect to passively take away the true Aspect and the character development involving a realisation of their Aspect's value and the importance of keeping it for oneself. Roxy is the only Rogue whose development we see in full, unfortunately; but there's snippets with Nepeta and Rufioh Nitram changing isn't happening any time soon.

Point D, then. The practical function of the Rogue.

Once again, Roxy is our only point of reference by virtue of being the only God-Tiered Rogue; but luckily, she also gives us some really good demonstrations. Roxy literally takes the nonexistence away from something, bringing it into existence.

Inversely, she's capable of giving Void to herself, cloaking herself and by extension her whole session in a veil of invisibility. She's controlling the distribution of Void, letting it both be taken and given; after making her peace with the distribution of it.

So, the common thread is the central question of 'who gets to have my Aspect?'

A Thief would tell you 'me', and a Rogue would tell you 'anyone else'. That's what I feel separates them, and yet don't let that convince you that Thieves are bad and Rogues are good; look at Rufioh. A Thief may take for altruistic reasons, and a Rogue may give away for... not so altruistic reasons!

Get creative with it, that's what I say. How about a Thief of Doom who takes on everyone else's suffering because they're self-sacrificial to a fault? ...Okay, actually, that's my idea, don't take that one.

Anyhow, next week I'll be concluding the 'normal' classes with the Maids and Sylphs! Should be fun, I'll see you then - hopefully on time, too.

[classpecting-thoughts]

All heroes of Heart have some manner of splinters and/or masks. They all tend to have different ways that this shows up, though there is some overlap.

A Prince of Heart splinters outward, creating different versions of themselves on the outside. This tends to lead to different variations of themselves being everywhere, and can leave the Prince unsure of who their true self is, or if they even truly have one.

An Heir of Heart splinters inward. They gather different versions of themselves on the inside. Rather than being destructive and tearing down their sense of self that occurs with a Prince, this interior splintering helps build their personality, creating more of it. An Heir of Heart will compartmentalize every part of themselves, and gather labels they associate with themselves in an effort to be able to share/explain these compartmentalized parts of themselves with others.

A Thief of Heart does something similar to the Heir, splintering inward, but rather than being mostly internal, the different bits of their self that they gather come from others. A thief of heart will pick up quirks and habits from those they spend time with or respect at a much faster rate than most. They take these bits and pieces and craft their personality and sense of self out of them, making them their own in the process.

A Rogue of Heart splinters more similarly to the Prince. Rogues’ different splinters are external, but rather than the masks made up of their own personality shown to other people the Prince has, they are splinters they’ve gathered from others in a similar manner to a Thief. A Rogue will take bits and pieces from those around them and reflect them back, making them into both masks and mirrors.

Those are all the classes I currently have thoughts on, but I’d be happy to continue discussing it! Feel free to add your own thoughts if you’d like (even if it’s to say I’m wrong!).