Wayward Vagabond

The Wayward Vagabond is a mysterious wanderer who exists 'years in the future, but not many' - in 2422, in fact. His species is currently indeterminate. He became a playable character during Act 2. A unique characteristic he has is that he lacks a Sylladex: to pick up objects, he simply does so. Though this severely limits his inventory capacity to things he could reasonably carry, he doesn't have to worry about problems with Fetch Modi.

Biography
The Vagabond is a being of currently unknown origin, who was wandering through the desert of the post-apocalyptic world. While wandering on the outskirts of a city's ruins, he stumbled upon a mysterious construct bearing the Sburb logo. Removing the top of the construct, he descended into a derelict Underground Base with a single functioning computer depicting John Egbert back in the story's present day, and allowed communication with him through unknown means.

The Vagabond is not human; his skin is actually a "rigid carapace", and he has four pointy fingers. What has been shown of its face are two, ogling eyes, and blunt teeth like "that of livestock". His body is wrapped in what appear to be bandages or rags. Despite the obvious association, it is worth noting that Problem Sleuth has been proven to be fiction in the world of Homestuck as it is in ours -- to say nothing of the Vagabond's initial rudeness quite uncharacteristic of the other ogler in the MSPA multiverse, and the necessity of an instructive text to imbue him with proper manners.

On his left wrist is a bar code pattern that he would rather not think about. He may be an escaped slave, prisoner, or--indeed--livestock. The fact that he compulsively consumes plant matter (e.g. paper, a rotten pumpkin, a plant) as well as any green colored item he can get his hands on (e.g. Uranium, Chalk) supports this. He also noted to John, "THE GREEN TEXT WAS ATTRACTIVE." This further supports the theory.

The Vagabond's appearance is noticeably similar to that of Jack Noir and the Aimless Renegade. They all have black carapaces, gray tongues, and an abusive king. This suggests that the Vagabond is of the Shale Imp race, however, he denies that he is an imp, and has no idea what an imp is, although it is possible this could be because he resents his past, and is trying to forget about it. Alternatively, his race could have an entirely different collective name, with Imps being a designation he was legitimately unaware of. There is a slight possibility the Vagabond could be Noir himself, although the gap in time and difference in physical features makes this unlikely; all considered, he is probably a native of the Dark Kingdom who has yet to be introduced in the story's present day.

Personality
Initially, the Vagabond was rather rude, typing in all capitals, repeatedly referring to John as 'boy,' getting angry at Rose for losing her connection while moving the car, etc. However after a flamewar argument with John caused the Vagabond to switch off his caps lock accidentally, a compartment opened in the Vagabond's room, releasing a book on human etiquette which he seems to have taken to heart (or stomach). Whether he is rude or polite, the Vagabond has a habit of barraging John with suggestions which causes John to zone out, much to the ire of Rose.

WV is quite the perfectionist. He is constantly smacking himself for doing stupid things, and lashing verbally at John and Rose when they make mistakes. This may hint at some deeply ingrained disciplinary conditioning. Also, as previously mentioned, he compulsively eats any green objects in sight that he can get his mouth around (The pumpkin stalk only survived for a while because he couldn't nibble it off the pumpkin).

The Vagabond appears to be intelligent despite the lack of etiquette; he knew how to operate a computer from the get-go, trumps the player's initial suggestion of retrieving one's arms by interrupting the command to point out that he had them already, figured that the base runs on nuclear power from the atom diagram on the power cell, and knew that his knife is actually a flag from a mailbox. These last two examples seem to indicate that nuclear power and a postal system exist in the Vagabond's world, despite the rather post-apocalyptic scenery. He also appears to understand Morse Code, as this is the means by which Serenity communicates with him.

The Vagabond has a deep, intense hatred for Kings, who he sees as bossy tyrants. This could be related to the bar code on his wrist. Instead of royalty, he likes the concept of democratically elected mayors, to the point of building 'Can Town,' a town made out of cans of food, and pretending to be its mayor for several minutes, or perhaps hours. He sets the cans in a "military training" session that is remarkably like a game of chess, for four hours and nine minutes.

His 'name' literally translates to "contrary nomad" in this case, he turned away from the Dark King. As such, he is most likely an Exile, as described by Nanna.

Role
Using the keyboard of the computer, the Vagabond is able to send messages and commands to John. Though John usually does what the Vagabond suggests, he has the ability to abjure anything he finds personally distasteful. It's yet to be explained how the Vagabond's computer is powerful enough to allow the user to interfere with past events or what the Vagabond is trying to accomplish or if he even realizes what they're doing. It has been suggested that the three blank screens on the computer could offer an ability to command/advise John's friends should they consume a cruxite apple, or something similar.

The Vagabond has "an uncanny knack for tracking precise distances." This talent, along with a meter stick giving him a frame of reference, allows the Vagabond to make good use of the appearifier in the base, which can transport any object from anywhere - and possibly anytime - on Earth to the second room in the base, as long as the user knows exactly where and when the object is.

Speculation
Oddly enough, the room the Vagabond begins in seems to be a metaphor for the situation the Homestuck Kids are in, back in 2009. This includes the planets he draws on the wall in addition to the chess game he attempts to play.

The Vagabond's carapace, his sense of distance and location, his white-colored counterpart, and his association of battle with Chess may suggest he's some sort of living chess piece himself, most likely either a pawn or something even lower. He could be a hypothetical citizen piece, a subject of The Dark King. This would also explain his hatred for kings. His failure to play anything resembling a game of chess - even when given four hours and nine minutes - may suggest he's not a very good chess piece.

One notable fact about the chess game is that Black (perhaps the Dark Kingdom) prevails in the end, as in the battle between Little and dark that Nannaquin describes to John. The Wayward Vagabond may be an escapee from the Dark Kingdom, no longer wishing to be a pawn. If this is true, then The Peregrine Mendicant could possibly be from the Light Kingdom, especially as she looks like one of its residents and was ready to attack him when they first met. The similarity between Dark Kingdom subjects and Problem Sleuth characters adds credence to this speculation. He seems to know something about the world the 4 main characters (may or may not) travel to by his drawings on the wall.

The first has a volcanic tropical planet similar Jade's Island (1st place on the drawing possibly related to the biggest meteor falling there)

The second has both a color scheme and metal appearance often associated with Dave (2nd place on the drawing possibly related to the second biggest meteor falling there)

The third is colorful and magical, much like a wizard in Rose's home would make (3rd place on the drawing possibly related to the second smallest meteor falling there)

The fourth is a black inky splotch similar to Egbert's current location (4th place on the drawing possibly related to the smallest meteor falling there)

The Dark and Light planets on the opposite walls represent the forces of dark and light. Shown to be on opposite sides of Skaia during Nannaquin's Monologue. It is unknown what significance the roles of the moons surrounding the dark/light planets hold.