God tier



Note: This entire article is in need of revision after [S] Cascade.

The God Tiers is a series of the highest levels of power available to players of Sburb. Achieving God Tier status provides the beneficiary with godlike power in their respective element. To reach the God Tiers, one is required to access the Quest Bed (or Quest Cocoon) located on their planet (or at the center of Prospit or Derse's moon) and die while lying upon it, a process apparently referred to as taking a "legendary nap"; the specific cause of death does not appear to be important. It is unknown whether a player absolutely has to have gained all the levels (all of them) of their Echeladder before proceeding with the ascension - both John and Vriska had fulfilled this alleged requirement, and Jade, having successfully bred the Genesis Frog just before her death, likely was as well.

The process
Players ascend to God Tier in one of two ways. John, Jade and Vriska all ascend by dying - as their main selves - on the Quest Bed of their planet (or Quest Recuperacoon, depending on race), causing their Dream Self to appear on a corresponding Skaian Quest Bed and subsequently ascend. During this process, both Jade and John were visited and enshrouded by a totem creature of their Planet - John by Fireflies and Jade by Hummingbirds. The second method of ascension involves another set of Quest Beds hidden deep within the centre, or 'Crypt', of each kingdom's moon. When a Dreamself has taken on the role of a dead player, dying on this bed causes the Dreamself to resurrect as a God Tier player. In both cases, it is the Dreamself that becomes the God Tier character, and the original player is dead before ascension occurs. Note that crypt-beds have only been depicted in Derse's moon, so the second method may only be available - or recommended - for Derse dreamers. Additionally, only Aradia's Quest Recuperacoon was seen in the center of the Troll's Derse Moon, perhaps suggesting that this method of reaching God Tier is only available to certain players.

Players ascend to the god tier by dying on their Quest Bed, either as their main self or their dream self. Both John and Vriska died as their main selves on their planets' Quest Beds. However, Jade was already labeled "dead." before being put on her Quest Bed, challenging the current assumption that the moment of death must take place on the Quest Bed. John and Vriska's dreamselves were transported from Prospit to a corresponding Quest Bed on Skaia, where they ascended, while Jade's dreamself was already on Skaia, where her bed may have already been destroyed by the meteors. The dreamselves of Aradia, Rose, and Dave died on Quest Beds within the heart of Derse, and ascended there. It is not known if the distinction between Derse and Prospit ascensions is deliberate, nor whether Quest Cocoons exist elsewhere in the core for other Derse dreamers.

According to what the Trolls believe, the process required to ascend is a test issued by Sburb to see if the player in question is willing to face their own oblivion to obtain greater power. In the course of the sessions seen, six characters have ascended and none of them have done so unequivocally willingly; Dave and Terezi even explicitly denied the ability to face their own deaths. John Egbert was killed by Jack Noir and Jade Harley by Courtyard Droll's shaving-cream bomb, but other characters arranged their transportation to their quest beds. Vriska Serket chose to die in her Quest Cocoon only after she was beaten half to death by Aradia. Aradia Megido's dream self was sleeping in her Quest Cocoon at the heart of Derse when she was killed by Jack Noir's Green Sun powers. Likewise Dave Strider and Rose Lalonde died in the wake of their creation of the Green Sun, though they did not make any attempt to escape the explosion and had previously accepted this task as a suicide mission, making them seemed. After the death of the main self triggers the process, their consciousness will merge permanently into the body of the dream self, and the new form will be given a significant power increase. Accompanying the ascension is a new hooded outfit for the newly-ascended god -- a godhood, as it were. A player's title dictates to some extent the exact nature of the god tier hoodie, while the color is determined by the symbol of their aspect.

Powers and abilities
The key aspect of the power of God Tier players relates to their mythological aspect: the level of power they exert over is significantly enhanced to the point of near-complete control. John, the Heir of Breath, has shown that he can manipulate the breeze at levels both fine enough to fly a car around and strong enough to create a massive tornado drill powerful enough to drill cleanly through The Battlefield. Vriska, the Thief of Light, is capable of commanding fortune, an ability said by Terezi Pyrope to only be accessible and controllable to those who have full mastery over the power of light. Aradia, the Maid of Time, immediately demonstrated her level of power over time shortly after ascending by freezing the rampaging Jack Noir, himself wielding godlike power, completely of her own accord without the aid of any time-controlling items. Jade as the Witch of Space can shrink entire planets into her playthings with no external tools whatsoever, a power she did not have as her main self, manifesting her role as Hero of Space only by making glasses that could see every part of space and breeding the Genesis Frog, and which her Bec-prototyped dreamself seemed unable to use to this extent. Absolutely no specific training seems to be necessary to access the full extent of their power even immediately after ascending.

Players who achieve God Tier are immortal, and after completing a session, would live in the newly created universe as literal gods. They can be killed, but the death must either be "heroic" or "just". A heroic death requires that they fall while opposing a corrupt adversary or through a noble self-sacrifice for the greater good. A just death requires that they deserved to be killed, either through becoming corrupted and being slain by a hero, or else through causing HS 5735 (something terrible). keeps a grandfather clock, with a pendulum ticking between "heroic" and "just" halves of the clock, while displaying the symbol of the player in question. It is unclear if the clock simply displayes the outcome or if it has deeper ties to the resurrection of God Tier players.

God Tier players appear to be able to dreamshare at will. Vriska was able to enter and interfere with the nightmares of the Wayward Vagabond, and Aradia demonstrated mastery of dream bubbles in her conferences with Tavros, Kanaya, and Jade.

The physical result of ascension to the God Tiers has ties to the cultural image of perfection and the perception of what godhood should be like for the species in question. Unlike the god tier human boys and trolls, the human girls who have reached god tier both receive dresses, reflecting human society's greater presence of gender roles than troll society. Since troll biology is largely based on insect-like metamorphosis, fairies are often seen as an (imaginary) ideal, as a caterpillar becoming a butterfly. Consequently the god tier trolls gain butterfly wings. Mindfang's journal HS 5658 (mentions) that Tavros' Ancestor, The Summoner revealed wings similar to the ones trolls receive upon accending to God Tier status, most likely due to him being the Page of Breath from the HS 5953 (failed session.) Humans have no real cultural equivalent to the trolls' wing ideals, and so instead merely get the outfit. Jade, however, retains the animal ears of Jadesprite upon ascension, which could be concurrent with her ideal for the pinnacle of human form and its manifestation in her love for anthropomorphic fauna.

Failure to ascend
The sole requirement for God Tier ascension seems to be having a dreamself alive in some way and the ability to face one's death. It seems Sburb may intend all its players to be able to live as gods in the new universe they create, as this is the role for which Karkat's early dialogue claiming he is the humans' god implies he has been prepared. Rose and Dave are the only players for whom it is even arguable that they faced their own deaths. Hence we do not know how common it is throughout Sburb sessions to reach this tier, a question which is rather moot as both of the sessions of concern to us are some form or another of "a special case".

Got Tiger
"Got Tiger" is a memetic misspelling of God Tier, which originates from a Formspring question. Hussie, being Hussie, couldn't leave it alone and it became a memetic term used to refer to the God Tiers in general, its usage in such a capacity also spreading to the forums and the rest of the fan community like wildfire. Derived from it are the concepts of "getting the tiger", a verb indicating ascending to the God Tiers, and the notion that the tiger is too fast for a character to catch being a euphemism for a character's inability to ascend for whatever reason. Hussie has stated his ambition to one day get that fucking tiger himself, and in fact depicts himself at one point in the comic as wearing Kanaya's - his patron Troll's - hypothetical God Tier outfit.

Dog Tier
Another memetic corruption of the traditional God Tier, the 'Dog Tier' was first mentioned when Jade prototyped Becsprite with her dreamself. However it was revealed upon Jade's God Tier ascension that - as her dreamself was also a sprite - she kept some of Bec's prototyped properties. As such she has literally and despite all odds ascended to the 'Dog Tier', and has a pair of fluffy dog-ears to show for it. Whether she also inherits any other of Bec's traits such as keen nose, love for playing fetch and Green Sun powers is yet to be seen. As a bonus, dog is "god" spelled backwards, and rhymes with "gog", another memetic substitution for "god".