Auspisticism

Auspisticism is one of the four quadrants recognised in troll romance. It is a form of black romance, like kismesissitude, and is a conciliatory quadrant like moirallegience; uniquely among the quadrants, it involves three parties rather than just two.

Auspisticism is represented by the club (♣ or o8<) symbol and an ashen gray color; as such it is known as the ashen quadrant.

Concept and creation

Etymology

Like the names of the other quadrants, auspisticism plays on the term soulmate; an auspice is an omen or sign, while an armistice is a cessation of conflict between two or more parties.

Purpose and practice

“When two trolls are locked in a feud or some otherwise contentious relationship, one can intervene and become their AUSPISTICE. The auspistice mediates between the two, playing the role of a peace keeper, preventing the feud from boiling over into a fully caliginous rivalry.”

— Homestuck, p. 2397

Thanks to their bellicose nature, feelings of a negatively-driven nature are much more common between trolls than positive feelings; because a troll can only have one romantic kismesis, auspisticism exists to prevent these lesser feuds from erupting into full-blown caliginous affairs. There may also be circumstances where “Two Parties [...] May In Fact Be Perfect For Each Other”, but the chaotic nature of the caliginous quadrant could threaten the stability of the rest of the two trolls' relationships. Such a scenario could also call for that kismesissitude to be replaced with a placating auspisticism.

The troll responsible for mediating between the two platonic rivals is the auspisticing party, who is said to auspisticize, and is called the auspistice; if there is a name for the other two members of such a relationship, it is not known. Though preventing caliginous infidelity is an important social purpose, auspisticism is “Generally Not Regarded As One Of The More Emotionally Fulfilling Quadrants [...] And Can Be Quite Laborious To Maintain”; it is even implied that the “Conciliatory Romantic Feelings” associated with the quadrant are felt only by the auspistice toward the other two parties, who otherwise feel only for each other. Because of this unique setup, however, it is technically possible for one troll to be involved in two separate auspisticisms, albeit in different "roles"; Karkat Vantas suggests that if he were to play auspistice “BETWEEN [Kanaya] AND ROSE, [Kanaya] WOULD HAVE HAD THE TIME TO AUSPISTICIZE BETWEEN [Terezi] AND GAMZEE!”

Karkat's idea to auspisticize between Kanaya and Rose Lalonde could be taken as indicating that an auspisticism may sometimes replace a red romance rather than a pitch romance, as Kanaya and Rose are more accurately described as matesprits.^{[citation needed]} However this could also simply owe to Karkat's penchant for quadrant vacillation and difficulty adhering to traditional quadrants.^{[citation needed]}

Examples

Kanaya Maryam acting as auspistice to Vriska Serket and Tavros Nitram's tumultuous relationship is used as an example of a typical auspisticism. However, Andrew Hussie's commentary in the Homestuck books suggests that "these three never even formalize a real auspisticeship" and that it's "much more accurate" to depict Vriska and Tavros as part of a vacillation between matespritship and kismesissitude, only sometimes with Kanaya's ashen involvement.

Eridan Ampora attempts and fails to convince both Terezi and Feferi to auspisticize between him and Sollux.

Vacillating relationships involving ashen feelings

• Kanaya auspisticing between Eridan and Vriska.