Deltritus

Dubiously Canon

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Deltritus
Type	Planet
Location	Universe C
Inhabitants	Dirk Strider Rose Lalonde Terezi Pyrope Nymphs Satyrs

Deltritus is an “M-Class planet” in Universe C, first mentioned in The Homestuck Epilogues: Candy, Postscript and featured in the sequel, Homestuck: Beyond Canon.

The site of Dirk Strider and Rosebot's game, it is the home planet of both the nymph and satyr races, and is orbited by an orange, bespectacled moon.

Concept and creation

Etymology

The planet's name seemingly derives from detritus, a name for particles of dead organic matter like leaves and dead animals (which Rose uses to describe some of her scrap files), and the Greek letter delta. A river delta is the part of a river where it starts to form the most branches, reflecting the planet's geography.

This name also fits with several trends among the names of other planets in the Homestuck universe; Delta is the fourth letter of the Greek alphabet, mirroring Deltritus' position as the fourth named planet after Beforus, Alternia and Earth. Deltritus may also be intended to act as the fourth 'Earth', with the alpha and beta Earths being named for the first and second letters of both the Greek and Latin alphabets, and Earth C being named for the third Latin letter. With the addition of Deltritus, the first five letters of the Latin alphabet are all somehow represented in the names of the Homestuck series' main planets; Alternia, Beforus, Earth C, Deltritus, and the Beta and Alpha Earths.

History

Deltritus was first discovered on the Theseus' sensors by Rose Lalonde, who after several years of searching found it to be the “right size, right age, right distance from the sun” for Dirk Strider's plans. From the Earth, Dirk, Rose and Terezi Pyrope took off on a journey of “well over three years”.

The trio were pursued from Volume: Meat by an alternate Calliope in the body of Jade Harley, accompanied by a crew of Kanaya Maryam, Karkat Vantas, Dave Strider, Roxy Lalonde, the younger Calliope,^{[citation needed]} Jake English and Jane Crocker. From Volume: Candy, the alternate Calliope brought with her Aradia Megido and that timeline's Davebot.^{[citation needed]}

The competition

Dirk's plans for Deltritus.

The Theseus was totalled in the landing on the planet which Dirk named Deltritus without first checking with his daughter, who described it as “insufferable” (“Like "Alternia" or "Beforus"”), but “the perfect name” for the planet nevertheless. Once there, Dirk proposed a game with Rose; “[t]wo gods, two species, one copy of the Game.” Each of the two would take turns using a unique alchemical-ectobiology lab of Dirk's design to create species to populate the planet. Though Deltritus housed “no advanced life” at the time of its discovery, before long it was inhabited by a whole host of Dirk and Rose's experiments.

As their experiment came closer to its conclusion and Dirk's enemies approached the planet, Dirk enveloped the local galaxy in a bubble which “narratively accelerate[d] it via Bullshit”, allowing the resulting civilizations to mature without outside influence while maintaining a normal view of outer space.

Nymphs and satyrs

The sea-dwelling nymphs and land-dwelling satyrs who resulted from Rose and Dirk's experiments, respectively, had a violent history together. A particularly bloody period was called the Grey Rain, after the “spraying gouts of quicksilver and onyx blood that washed over the world like sanguine tsunamis”; conflict between a tyrannical satyr king and a nymph enchantress nearly caused mass extinction on the planet, and was stopped only by the intervention of the Exemplar and “some bullshit nymph cult”, who enacted a shaky truce between the two races.

An “omnicidal madman” from the surface and a “megalomaniacal heretic” from Deltritus' seas were also responsible for the creation of the ~PTH TREATISE “which chronicles all the undulating intricacies of the ancient programming language of the same name.”

During the time of the truce, championsTirade “tripped øver [søme enigmatic ur-tech] in a cavern”, which satyr tinnitusChakra was able to develop into the video game Shurb with the help of his copy of the ~PTH treatise. Using the “crøss-net” communication platform cha.OS, TC gathers a mixed satyr-and-nymph team consisting of CT, Swiss Elysi, Ly'lac, auguryAside and cloisteredConnoisewer - together with a band of other unnamed co-players - with the intention of playing the game, beginning the meteoric apocalypse which would presumably end the planet's history for good.

Habitation

Nymphs

Main article: Nymph

Nymphs are a race of nautical humanoids that live in the seas of Deltritus.

Satyrs

Main article: Satyr

Satyrs are horse-like humanoids that live on the surfaces of Deltritus.

Other fauna

Common Shallows Hagsnab.

A creature that is present in the oceans are “COMMON SHALLOWS HAGSNAB[S]”. They are considered pests.

Deltritus as it appeared upon the arrival of the Theseus.

Deltritus' most prominent indigenous lifeform was the arboreal ambulator, which “4R3 PL4NTS IN THE STR1CT S3NS3”, but whose bodies are composed primarily of hollow tubes which catch the planet's breeze and cause the whole plant to move as if walking. This constant uprooting and rerooting causes near constant and instantaneous geological activity such as ravines opening and closing and waterways shifting course. At least some of Deltritus' forests are composed of straight-trunked and immobile trees, with luminous fungi and tall grasses growing in the shade of their canopies; however it is unknown whether these forests developed on the planet naturally or are a result of Dirk and Rose's ecto-alchemy.

In the past, a myriad of other new species began to populate the word. Among these were larval insects with lagomorphic heads, plushlike animals with humanoid faces, unicorns with goatlike eyes, rotund dragonlike quadrupeds, chimeraic flying grubs, feline cephalopods, and an equine plant with tentacle-like prehensile vines. Among Rose's creatures, which she had a habit of “[LEAVING] WH3R3V3R WH3N SH3’S DON3 W1TH TH3M”, was an eldritch beast named “G’LUYRB, OF PORTENTS MOST GRIM”.