Quadrants

Troll culture is a frustratingly difficult concept for humans to grasp, so much so that in response to a callous remark, Andrew Hussie trolls the readers by forcing us to to read the troll relationship info 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.

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 ♥
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.

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 Matespritship:


 * Karkat and Terezi, from HS 4476 (this) conversation.


 * Dad and Mother were given as examples when Andrew described Matespritship.

Known Mating Fondness:
 * Eridan expressed an unrequited mating fondness for his former moirail, Feferi.
 * Kanaya for Vriska.
 * Nepeta for Karkat, according to her shipping wall.

Possible Matesprit/Kismesis double reacharound pairs include: Double reacharound pairs corresponds with the ancient Greek concept of mania.
 * Equius and Aradia.
 * Vriska for Tavros.

Moirallegiance ♦
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". Moirallegiance appears to be a sort of fated friendship or guardianship. Moirallegiance is linked to pity in the same way that black romance is linked to hate. 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 as a type of romance. It is one of the two Conciliatory relationships, the more platonic ones, the other being Auspistice. Moirallegiance's quadrant is known as the Pale Quadrant.

Moirallegiance is a portmanteau of "moira" (fated) and "allegiance." It may be analogous to the ancient Greek concept of αγάπη (agápē ), or "selfless love".

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

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 ♣
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 Kismesisses 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. Auspitice's quadrant is known as the Ashen Quadrant.

Auspistice is a portmanteau of "auspicious" (fortunate, promising) and "armistice" (truce.) 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 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 could have worked this between Vriska and Tavros, but was too worked up on her own feelings to grasp the situation and now it's all gone down the slime tube.
 * John almost gets caught in this between Terezi and Karkat.

Kismesissitude ♠
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."

Refer to Matespritship for dual Matesprit/Kismesis cases.
 * Andrew stated the relationship between Jack Noir and the Black Queen as something the Trolls would immediately see as Kismesis. This appears especially true when they are known as Spades Slick and Snowman in the Trolls' session and fight over the barcode, and when in the kids' session the Queen kept forcing the Jack to wear the jarlequin hat.
 * Eridan feels this way about Vriska, but it's implied that she doesn't return the feelings... on the other hand, her Land of Maps and Treasure is aesthetically similar to Eridan's home, which could imply some kind of weird fixation. It should be noted that Vriska seems to have a kismesis of sorts with Tavros... this could represent conflicted desires or it could imply that despite her consistently harsh attitude, she harbors kismessitude towards one of the trolls and matespritship towards another... (_which one_ won't be even remotely clear until we see her talk with Eridan... Eridan thinks she's "bored" with his blackrom, and probably not fully clear until she reveals to Tavros the details of her manipulation and dress with the Kanaya symbol.) At any rate, Vriska has "irons in the fire" with both Eridan and Tavros.
 * Karkat 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. It's kind of embarrassing, really. It may mean that he hates himself, which is also embarrassing.

Friendship
A troll disease which spreads among groups if not carefully controlled. It should be noted that in troll language, the word for friend is exactly the same as the word for enemy. (or, at least that's what Equius says, even though he says both words separately, in the same conversation, no less). The word in question is most likely "hatefriend", used by Vriska to describe the friendship of Karkat and Jack Noir. It is possible that friendship may overlap with the four romances.
 * Karkat is Gamzee's best friend and hates every minute of it.
 * Sollux and Karkat are friends as well. For such a crab, Karkat has an awful lot of friends.
 * Eridan frequently goes to Karkat for advice. So does Kanaya and several other trolls. In fact, it seems that Karkat is the village two wheel device when it comes to relationship advice.

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.