Quadrants

Troll culture is a frustratingly difficult concept for humans to grasp, so much so that in response to a HS 4394 (callous remark), Andrew Hussie trolls the readers by forcing us to to read the troll relationship info HS 4395 (all over again), BACK TO BACK TO BACK TO BACK TO BACK TO BACK. It is built around a set of extremely complicated relationships. As Karkat says to Vriska, trolls are driven by the two primary emotions, hate and pity. (Keep in mind it's Karkat of all people that's saying this.) It seems like both of these are necessary in troll society, although most of their social system remains obscure.

Troll romance is divided into four quadrants including matespritship (denoted with a heart), moirallegiance (signified by a diamond), kismesissitude (employing the spade as its emblem), and auspisticism (iconified as a club).

The boundaries between the relationships are fluid. Young trolls, like humans, have to find the right balance between the emotions. Since all the Hivebent trolls are still young, they seem to be perpetually confused by the complexities of troll romance, and in some cases are far from discovering romance in any quadrant. Trolls do not differentiate HS 4528 (by sex or gender) when it comes to their relationships - the very idea is foreign to them.

Nepeta appears to be keeping track of the red relationships with her Shipping wall.

Red Romance (Redrom)
These types fall under the Pity hemisphere of Troll emotions, and are associated with the color red. They are tied to strongly positive emotions.

Mating Fondness/Matespritship ♥
"karkat"

- CG: <3

The one most like human love/romance. Matesprits have a strong feeling of affection for one another - though troll psychology being what it is, courtship can be just as violent as that between kismeses, and indeed it can flail between one and the other. It is one of the two Concupiscent relationships, those that deal with reproduction, the other being Kismesissitude. Matepritships's quadrant is known as the Flushed Quadrant.

Dad and Mom were given as examples when Matespritship was described.

The term is a portmanteau of "mate" and "esprit" (lively, with spirit.) Mating fondness corresponds with the ancient Greek concept of έρως (érōs), or "passionate/lustful love."

Known Matesprits:


 * Karkat and Terezi, from HS 4476 (this) conversation.
 * Feferi and Sollux, most likely.

Known unrequited Matesprits:
 * Eridan for Feferi.
 * Kanaya for Vriska.
 * Nepeta for Karkat, according to her shipping wall.
 * Vriska for Nicolas Cage.

Possible Matesprit/Kismesis double reacharound pairs include:
 * Equius and Aradia.
 * Vriska for Tavros.

Double reacharound pairs correspond with the ancient Greek concept of μανία (mania), or "highly volatile/obsessive love".

Chat version: <3

Moirallegiance ♦
"kanaya"

- GA: It Just Means Theres Got To Be Someone Around To Keep An Eye On Them

Moirallegiance (derived from the three Moirae, or Fates, and the word allegiance) is a process that occurs between a troll and their "moirail". It is a form of guardianship, but it isn't simply about being platonic soul bros forever, see Andrew's comment. A troll is compelled by fate to watch over their moirail and keep them in line. Despite the platonic appearance of this role (as we currently understand it) to us humans, trolls consider it a type of HS 4241 (romance). It is one of the two Conciliatory relationships, the other being Auspistice. Moirallegiance's quadrant is known as the Pale Quadrant. As it is a redrom, it is linked to pity in the same way that black romance (blackrom) is linked to hate.

Moirallegiance is a portmanteau of "moira" (fated) and "allegiance." This kind of relationship may be most similar to the Greek concept of φιλíα (Philía), or "true friendship," which can be defined as "an intentional response to promote well-being when cooperating with or befriending others".

Known moirails:
 * Feferi and Eridan (Formerly)
 * Equius and Nepeta
 * Kanaya and Vriska

Chat version: <>

Black Romance (Blackrom)
These types fall under the Hate hemisphere, and are associated with the color black. They are tied to strongly negative emotions.

Auspistice ♣
"eridan"

- CA: i figure if youre going to auspisticize any twwo brinesuckers wwho sneer at each other a funny wway you might as wwell make it official and be ours right

An auspistice (derived from the terms auspice and armistice) is a "facilitator" of some sort between two others, mediating interactions between them and keeping their relationship functional. Eridan said that he and Vriska would likely become Kismeses if Kanaya did not intervene and Auspistice for them, which hints at the relationship between the two mediated parties being similar to, but distinct from, a Kismesis relationship. Without auspistices, widespread black infidelity is guaranteed. It is one of the two Conciliatory relationships, the more platonic ones, the other being Moirallegiance. Auspistice's quadrant is known as the Ashen Quadrant.

Auspistice is a portmanteau of "auspicious" (fortunate, promising) and "armistice" (truce.) It may be analogous to the ancient Greek concept of αγάπη (agápē), or "selfless love," since the auspistice doesn't get anything out of this directly.

Known auspisitices:
 * Kanaya between Eridan and Vriska. According to Eridan, Kanaya can be called upon frequently for this function, and he refers to her as "the village twwo wwheel devvice when it comes to auspisticing."
 * Kanaya between Vriska and Tavros. Yet it failed, because she was too worked up on her own feelings to grasp the situation and now it's all gone down the slime tube.
 * Almost John, between Terezi and Karkat, but this was averted.
 * Almost Terezi, between Sollux and Eridan, as implied by the new flash.

Chat version: c3<

Kismesissitude ♠
"feferi"

- CC: T)(at is so ridiculous, any girl would be lucky to )(ave a kismesis as diabolical as you, especially T)(AT one.

This is what a troll feels towards someone known as their kismesis (derived from the terms kismet + nemesis) or "fated enemy". This is linked to hatred, and it is necessary that both parties feel hatred towards each other. It is one of the two Concupiscent relationships, those that deal with reproduction, the other being Matespritship. Kismesissitude's quadrant is known as the Caliginous Quadrant.

Kismesis is a portmanteau of "kismet" (fated) and "nemesis." It may be analogous to the ancient Greek concept of στοργή (storgē), or "love by familiarity," in this case "familiarity breeds contempt."

Known Kismessitudes:
 * Jack and the Queen. Andrew stated the relationship was something the Trolls would immediately see as Kismesis. Even in the form of Snowman, the Black Queen continues to taunt Spades Slick.
 * Karkat for Karkat. He said that he thought he might be his own Kismesis. The only opponent he's ever really felt was strong enough against him was his past and future selves, who he has spent most of his recent time on Trollian arguing with. He felt this way before he met John.

Known unrequited Kissmessitudes:
 * Eridan for Vriska, but she doesn't return the feelings. They might have had this type of relationship in the past.
 * Eridan for Rose. He solicits her, citing what he perceives to be similarities between the two of them as reasons why they would make a good rivalry: noble blood and diabolical theatrics. She blows up his computer, which seems to only exaggerate his feelings towards her.
 * Karkat for John, as shown in HS 4526 (Act 5 Act 2). Over time though, the feeling changes to this human emotion called friendship.

Possible Matesprit/Kismesis double reacharound pairs include:
 * Equius and Aradia.
 * Vriska for Tavros.

Chat version: <3<

Friendship
A troll disease which spreads among groups if not carefully controlled. Equius says that in troll language, the word for friend is exactly the same as the word for enemy, even though he says both words separately, in HS 4121 (the same conversation). The word in question is most likely "hatefriend", used by Vriska to describe the friendship of Karkat and Jack Noir. It could also be that, in spoken troll language, the words are pronounced the same, even though they are spelled differently. Friendship may overlap with the four romances. It is possible that all the trolls are/will be each other's friend in the present/future. They all know each other, and they are the last of their race stuck playing a game together.
 * Karkat is Gamzee's best friend and hates every minute of it.
 * Sollux and Karkat are mutual best friends as well. For such a crab, Karkat has an awful lot of friends.

Friendship corresponds with the ancient Greek concept of φιλία (philía), or "love between peers," which humans inexplicably believe to be a good and powerful thing, and which John has alternatively called and rejected as an emotion.

Relationships With Humans
In trolling the kids' timeline, and despite Karkat's orders to troll with extreme predjudice, some of the trolls seem to have developed feelings towards the kids, the only confirmed one being Karkat's failed kismessitude for John, but with moirallegiance-type feelings HS 004630 (here), shown by Kanaya for Rose. Also, Vriska used the symbol for matespritship, <3, or at least HS 004625 (her version of it) when John instinctively used her typing quirk. Terezi has also been shown being somewhat infatuated by Dave, though the outcome remains to be seen.