Sprite

The Kernelsprite is an entity released when a Sburb player first opens his or her Cruxtruder. At first, Kernelsprites are nigh-on-useless, unintelligible balls of light (the Kernel). In order to be useful, they must be prototyped, which involves dropping an object into the Kernelsprite (losing that object forever). They are said to be "drawn," in a sense, to the dead or soon-to-be-deceased - while there is no explicit rule saying that a Kernelsprite must be prototyped with something dead or doomed, across all sessions ever played, almost all of them are. These objects' characteristics determine the sprite's personality and abilities. Sprites can be prototyped at least twice (so far no one has attempted to prototype them a third time), and at least one pre-entry prototyping is necessary to win the game, presumably because Skaia would otherwise be unable to grow to its final form.

A properly prototyped sprite is given access to a wealth of knowledge about Sburb, but there are apparently limits on what a player's sprite can tell them and when, and sprites are supposed to be coy in nature. Davesprite, however, decides this is all nonsense and agrees to tell the kids anything they need to know.

Sprites cannot accompany their players through the first gate. Players unlock the power to have the sprites accompany them through the gates at a later point in the game. John, Rose, and Dave have unlocked this ability in the form of special pendants given to them by their sprites.

The Trolls' Lususprites were all killed, presumably by Jack Noir or something else related to The Scratch. It is unlikely that they were disposed of by the game itself, as Aradia remains in sprite form.

Prototyping
Prototyping is when a Kernel is "merged" with an item, taking on certain similarities, turning it into a Kernelsprite. Upon entering The Medium, a prototyped kernelsprite will divide into a Kernel and a Sprite, The Kernel will also divide in two, carrying the data of the item(s) that prototyped it to Prospit and Derse. So, not only is the kernelsprite modified with the data, but also the Monsters players face and the Royals of the light and dark kingdoms. For example, John Egbert prototypes his kernelsprite with a Harlequin doll, resulting in imps and ogres with colorful harlequin outfits. The imps also seem content with just causing a ruckus instead of defeating John. It should be noted that the traits the sprites inherit from post-entry prototyping have no effect on the medium. Therefore, none of the imps have traits akin to John's grandmother. These traits appear instantaneously; they are not limited to underlings created after the Kernel splits.

Kernelsprites require one pre-entry prototyping in order to successfully evolve the battlefield to its final form, which is necessary in order to allow the Genesis Frog to grow. A session with no pre-entry prototyping is called a Void session. A lack of orbs on a session's Prospit and Derse (as well as the Queens' rings and Kings' scepters) are indicative of a Void session. The post-Scratch session is a Void session as shown from the HS 6290 (lack of Prospitian) HS 6386 (and Dersite orbs.) Rose also spoke of the new session being void in HS 6601 (Act 6 Intermission 2), adding that HS 6603 (the battlefield from the pre-scratch session could be used in the new session) to make the game possible to win. When HS 6565 (Jane entered), God Cat prevented her sprite from being prototyped, and Jane entered the medium without having done so. Unprototyped Kernelsprites are uneffected by entry in the Medium and do not lose their kernel, however after prototyping the kernel disappears. It should be noted that since the Kernel never divided and thus never carried its information to Prospit and Derse, Jane's planet appears to also lack the seven gates.

Before prototyping, the Kernelsprite is unintelligible. It only communicates intelligibly after it's prototyped with a living or once-living creature, and its intelligence appears limited to that of its composing parts. Rose's Jaspersprite is notably less adept at conveying concepts than John's or Dave's sprites, although it seems to have been granted enough intelligence to be able to talk to her (or perhaps Jaspers was not an ordinary cat while alive). Dave's Calsprite... well, let's not go there.

It is unknown if multiple simultaneous prototypings count as a single prototyping or not. Jane's sprite was simultaneously prototyped with the remains of Tavros and Vriska leaving it unknown if this is a single prototyping or not.

Self-Prototyping
While a Sprite is supposed to act as a guide to the player, a player is also capable of prototyping themselves and becoming their own Sprite. Three different forms of self-prototyping have been shown.


 * Regular self-prototyping - Where a player straight up prototypes themselves, Aradia did this form of prototyping. She was able to act as a normal player, when she ascended to the God tiers her sprite body was destroyed and all trace of the sprite was purged from her.
 * Alternate future self-prototyping - Where a player prototypes a duplicate from a doomed timeline, Dave did this form of prototyping. This method is mostly only available to heroes of Time, it allows a Sprite which has mostly the same personality and thoughts as the player allowing them to easily communicate information about the game. It also serves to avert the doomed status of the duplicate.
 * Dream self-prototyping - Where a player prototypes their Dream Self, Jade did this form of prototyping. A Dream Self Sprite displays the confused absent-mindedness displayed by normal Dream Selves. While Jadesprite acted as an autonomous being, she had died before prototyping and it is unknown if this would be the case for a still living Dream Self. Resurrecting dead Dream Selves in this manner reopens one of the ways to ascend to the god tiers for players, with the added benefit of retaining Sprite powers while returning to a normal form, however any other prototyping remain in effect, for better or worse.

Appearance
A sprite has two forms: the simple form, usually a disembodied head, (like John's harlequin sprite before entering the Medium) and a ghostly form (like John's sprite after entering the Medium). There seems to be no consistent rule with the sprite's appearance, since the kids' sprites take on their second forms under seemingly different circumstances.
 * John's harlequin sprite was in simple form before entering the Medium, then ghostly form post-entry.
 * Rose's Jaspersprite was in simple form before the tier-two prototyping.
 * Dave's sprite follows the rules for John.
 * Jade's sprite was never in simple form.

Abilities
In addition to their broad knowledge of the game's mechanics, Sprites are very potent in combat, possessing a broad range of abilities.

Nannasprite has been seen dropping various items on Crude Ogres, telekinetically pick up objects, heal John and clean his bedsheets (or so the Salamanders report). Jaspersprite was able to rescue Rose by extending his tentacles to a ridiculous degree. The Crowsprite was able to create a nest, carrying over its old instincts. Calsprite was able to easily defeat two Sulphur Ogres by expelling several smuppets from his mouth and even transformed into a large smuppet. Davesprite can also use his stomach sword as a weapon, to great effect. Becsprite and Jadesprite possessed powers that mixed properties of both First Guardians and Sprites.

This all implies that Sprites are intended to aid in battle early on and that abilities consistant across all sprites are influenced by the items prototyped with.

Jane's Tavrisprite "tavrisploded" only minutes after being called into existence by Gamzee after complaining bitterly about the irreconcilable personalities it inherited. It is not clear at this point whether this destruction involved a willing decision by the Tavrisprite itself.