Carapacian

A Dersite and Prospitian soldier as seen on The Battlefield.

Carapacians are a species residing in The Medium, namely on the planets Prospit and Derse. Often referred to in-dialogue as "chess guys", they are present in every Sburb session, and are essential to the players' performance in the game.

Biology

True to their name, carapacians have shiny, firm, yet supple carapaces and, like humans, red blood. The only exception being Snowman who had blue blood, not due to her being royalty but to her acquired tie to the Alternian universe's lifeline, which is represented by blue. All carapacians besides the royalty of the kingdoms have barcodes on their wrists due to being cloned in The Veil. It is implied that they are made from the genetic material of the royalty. They resemble chess pieces, due to serving a similar purpose. Carapacians come in many shapes and sizes, some having flat teeth and others fangs. Also, some have claws and some have variable numbers of fingers.

It is at least known that carapacians have ribs, a spine and a pelvis, but, being in sprite-form in the example, it is unclear if there are bones in the arms and legs . The black queen, when drawn in detail, is shown to have jointed limbs. As seen during Cascade, the other carapacians do too and the detail is simply not shown most of the time.

Unlike Underlings and the monsters of The Battlefield, carapacians are not directly affected by player prototypings unless bearing a Queen's Ring or King's Scepter, and in fact are the only ones who can use them. This is probably a reference to how pawns can become Queens when they reach the end of the chessboard. Carapacians also seem to have perfect spatial memory, stemming from their genetic material and roles.

Carapacians are supposed to live "maybe a couple hundred years" due to each of them having the potential of becoming Exiles, wandering forever until they figure how to rebuild civilization. They also appear to have some instinctual sense for the mythological roles of players they interact with, with WV's instincts going so far as to have a sense that John was being trained by a Thief (Vriska).

Through carapacians feeling attraction and differences between male and female carapacians, it is somewhat implied carapacians are capable of mammalian reproduction. Details of this are unknown.

Purpose in the game

Royalty

Every session has a king and queen from both Prospit and Derse. The kings lead their armies against each other on the Battlefield, while the queens stay on their respective planets to rule their kingdoms. They are augmented by each player's prototypings, connected to the prototyping spires on Prospit and Derse. In standard sessions the Dersite Queen and King will serve as the final bosses of the game.

On the Battlefield

Main article: The Armies of Light and Darkness

On the Battlefield, at the center of Skaia the black and white king lead their armies in a battle to destroy/protect Skaia. Their forces are composed of Chess piece-themed Carapacians, Pawns being by far the largest part of it.

In their respective kingdoms

Agents

Agents are high-ranking members of one of the two kingdoms in the Incipisphere fighting over Skaia. They have a variety of ranks, with the Archagent being directly below the king and queen. They deal with the affairs of their kingdom, and are under the command of the kingdom's respective queen, though sometimes they revolt. Their special status as an agent is denoted by a symbol on their clothes, usually a simple pentagon. Jack Noir and his close circle of agents have the 4 suits of cards as symbols instead.

Known Agents include:

• Jack Noir states his rank as being Archagent, which is the third highest Dersite rank behind Queen and King.
• The Draconian Dignitary, the Hegemonic Brute, and the Courtyard Droll are also agents of Derse working directly under Jack Noir.
• Authority Regulator was identified as an Agent when Parcel Mistress first saw him.
• The sentries and regulator lugs on Prospit.
• As said in the album's description, Mobius Trip and Hadron Kaleido are agents to their respective moons.

Other Occupations

The kingdoms also seem to have farmers, postal couriers, painters, and presumably a variety of other essential jobs. They seem to be lower in rank than the agents, and are more alike to regular employees. Carapacians that do not serve as pawns on the Battlefield are implied to serve their kingdoms in other ways.

On the host planet

Main article: Exiles

Sometimes, carapacians are exiled from the Incipisphere to the post-apocalyptic host planet of the session, and get there by the Reckoning. They wander around in the desert, until they eventually find and activate bases. They are still able to influence events by suggesting commands to their respective players. According to Terezi they are also tasked with the reintroduction of civilization to the meteor-ravaged planet.

Major Carapacians

• White Queen
• White King
• Black Queen
• Black King
• Wayward Vagabond
• Peregrine Mendicant
• Aimless Renegade
• Jack Noir
• Draconian Dignitary
• Hegemonic Brute
• Courtyard Droll
• Spades Slick
• Diamonds Droog
• Hearts Boxcars
• Clubs Deuce
• Snowman
• Ms. Paint

Trivia

• The white and black colorations of the Carapacians might be a reference to Black and White shamanism, if the references to Mongolian spirituality in Homestuck are intentional.
• This page implies that Carapacians think of The Furthest Ring as an equivalent to hell and substitute references to hell with references to the Ring.