Quadrants

Al2rnia has a slightly different romance system than in canon Homestuck. For one thing, not all quadrants are necessarily romantic. There are two columns of relationships: saturated (matespritship, kismesissitude) and pale (morailliance, spiety). Saturated relationships are understood to always be romantic in nature, while pale ones can be platonic, though that's not always the case. Deviance from this model can be frowned upon, with people who don't adhere to stricter lines in their relationships being seen as flimsy, bad partners, or cheaters.

Saturated quadrants are the more “important” ones, less concerned with practical growth and more concerned with extravagant displays of affection. Pale relationships, on the other hand, are practical, and while they are seen somewhat as a stepping stone for the saturated quadrants, they are still considered important on Al2rnia. Just less.

Trolls can have multiple people in all quadrants except for moirallegiance, as long as the people in the relationship are okay with it. Vacillation (a relationship moving from one quadrant to another) is more or less accepted, though it’s thought of as an indicator of an unsteady relationship if it’s persistent, and a “loss” if a pair vacillates from a saturated quadrant to a pale one – pale-to-saturated is more expected.

For every quadrant, there are associated gestures that make it distinct from the others. They are detailed below.

Matespritship <3
(Grammar: matespritship, matespritships, matesprit, matesprits)

In its gestures and social norms, matespritship is characterized by extravagant dates, romantic spontaneity, and expensive-but-useless gifts like flowers and jewelry. It’s the quadrant in which cohabitation is most common, and, as is the case with both saturated quadrants, it’s highly romanticized and sought-after. In terms of legal protections, matespritship offers you instant access to your partner’s assets, including habitable property and – if you’re colder-blooded – business-holdings.

Kismesisitude <3<
(Grammar: kismesisitude, kismesisitudes, kismesis, kismeses)

In this quadrant, trolls challenge each other through intense antagonism and rivalry. Kismesisistude can feature mind games, physical battles, etc. It’s important in a kismesissitude to have an understanding of boundaries, since it’s easier for trolls to cross lines in this quadrant than it is in others.

This means the distinction between a kismesistude and a pitch fling varies significantly. An officially registered kismesistude provides less in the way of property-sharing than a matespritship, but it is strictly illegal to kill your kismesis, regardless of whether they're of lower caste than you, titled or untitled, etc. It’s also possible to establish specific contractual requirements regarding the legal extent of injury and inconvenience kismeses are able toimpose upon each other.

But in teen pitchdating, there exist no such legal protections; their absence and general teenage inexperience means that teen pitchdating (and adult, deliberately extralegal pitchflings) can result in occasionally-deadly injuries.

Moirallegiance <>
(Grammar: moirallegiance, moiraillegiances, moirail, moirails)

This quadrant features mutual emotional support and gentle gestures made to comfort. Vulnerability is a big part of it, which sometimes manifests in codependence. Moirallegiance is heavily romanticized in Al2rnian media as something that saves or redeems people.

While 'progressing' from a moraillegiance to a matespritship is seen as healthy and romantic, if you're fucking your moirail but call them your moirail that makes you suspect in the eyes of your peers if you’re a warm- or mid-blood, and could potentially ruin your reputation if you’re as cold as violet. Moirallegiance is also the only quadrant for which multiple partners are taboo, since this person is supposed to be your One True Confidant. This exclusivity is one of the fundamental tenets of a legal moraillegiance contract, with the other two being compassion and cohabitation.

Spiety <+>
(Grammar: spiety, spieties, spieté, spietés)

Spiety is the more blunt version of morailliance. Two trolls in a spiety are expected to tell it to each other straight and not pull any punches. Tough love rather than comfort when it comes to supporting each other. Frustration is a prime emotion for spiety – a classic spious overture is "you are doing this wrong, here, let me show you how.”

Spietes tend to be healthy. It's a quadrant that lends itself to genuine care, in part BECAUSE - though not WHOLLY because - it is rarely Romanticized and does not have HUGE MAJOR IMPORTANT TROPEY ROLE DEMANDS. In movies, spiety is typically just a pre-red stage for when you're not ready to commit, when you think about it.

Unlike the other three quadrants, spieties do not come with specific legal protections; while you can still sue to terminate one under “breach of contract”, the associated legal expectations are significantly more ambiguous.

Registered Quadranting
Each quadrant is there to serve a purpose, and to partition things tidily and in such a way that everyone's needs get met — or so the saying goes. Being officially quadranted is almost akin to a legal marriage. You can register your partners through an online system, as it grants you certain rights, like in matters of inheritance. You can get around antitrust laws that way. There are also legal protections that come with it — you can't be unceremoniously evicted in case of a breakup, for instance, and you CAN'T kill your quadrantmate, regardless of their hemostrata.

It's almost strange to have "a full deck", though. Usually, you have a red and a pitch partner. That's Regular. But some trolls might be "needy" and fill up their deck, or choose not to have any registered quadranted partners at all.

for more information on this, see quadrant termination.