Carapacian

A typical Carapacian of Derse (left) and Prospit (right).

Carapacians are the native species of Prospit and Derse, and as such make up the planets' Armies of Light and Darkness on the Battlefield. Present in every Medium, they are essential non-player characters in the game of Sburb.

Concept and creation

Carapacians are modelled after chess pieces, befitting the eternal chess-like battle between white and black upon Sburb's central Battlefield which is symbolically central to Homestuck. In this same vein, Carapacians also closely resemble the genericized "human" player-characters starring in the earlier MS Paint Adventures, Jailbreak and Problem Sleuth, whose crossovers with the Midnight Crew could be considered to have retroactively made these older characters Carapacians themselves.

Biology

True to their name, carapacians are covered in a characteristic shell which is rigid but “supple as the situation demands” in jointed parts of the body such as the fist, and overall gives them an appearance not unlike a featureless chess game piece. They are not, however, strictly invertebrate, having an internal skeleton broadly resembling that of a human.^[image?] Also like humans, and like their fellow Medium-dwellers the consorts, the blood within their carapace tends to be red^[image?] (though there are special cases).

Outwardly, carapacians vary widely, most obviously in that those originating on Prospit have stark white shells while those from Derse are pitch black; beyond coloration, however, it does not seem that the two races are at all biologically different. Within these races, however, are caste-like distinctions between members based on their role in society, ranging from tall and slender queens to diminutive "pawns". The taller and more important carapacians tend to have more humanoid characteristics, with ovoid heads, four-fingered hands,^{[citation needed][image?]} and in the cases of queens, even a bodily shape resembling mammalian curvature; lesser workers tend to have only three short, pointed fingers and more spherical, game piece-like heads.

Agrarian, vegetable-eating worker carapacians may have blunt teeth “like that of livestock”, while others may be fanged meat-eaters. Andrew Hussie suggests this may be another difference in class, with "the more populous classes, soldiers, workers, farmers" being herbivorous while "higher ranking agents of a more predatorial nature like Jack have very sharp teeth": a distinction which also seems to be reflected to a smaller extent in trolls.

Befitting chess pieces, at least the pawns of the carapacian army have a “knack for tracking precise distances [...] in whatever units [they] choose.”

Reproduction and life cycle

As artifices of Sburb, carapacians seemingly come into existence spontaneously, starting with the two kings “stuck in eternal stalemate”, joined by larger armies as kernelsprites are prototyped and the Battlefield becomes more evolved.^[image?] These initial "carapacians" resemble little more than literal - if larger-than-life - chess pieces incorporating elements of prototyping; it is not until the Battlefield reaches a spherical planetoid shape that the Kings and their soldiers take on their more familiar bipedal form^{[citation needed]} - though the Queens and their subjects on Prospit and Derse take this humanoid shape from the very start.

From here, more carapacians are created through cloning in ectobiology labs hidden in the Veil far from the Battlefield, all of whom, as in proper sci-fi symbolism, bear barcodes on their wrists; as each kingdom acquires more prototyping data, these clone soldiers take on more prototyped traits, becoming more and more monstrous.^[image?] As such, carapacians do not appear to be equipped for sexual reproduction, with “not a whole lot [...] down there”, the ultimate end goal of their lives being to spend hundreds of years wandering post-apocalyptic planets using technology to re-seed them with other species of life (see Society and culture#Exiles below). Carapacians do, however, have a stage of life equivalent to human childhood.

Society and culture

Originating in the Medium, the features and mythology of the Incipisphere form the basis of carapacian culture. The Furthest Ring, for instance, home to such demons as the Noble Circle of Horrorterrors and to the ghosts of the dreaming dead, appears to occupy a place similar to hell in their philosophy.

Social structure

Prospit and Derse each have both a King and a Queen. The former lead their armies against each other on the Battlefield, while the latter remain on their home planets seeing to affairs in their kingdoms, each augmented by the data in their prototyping spires through the use of the Queens' Rings and Kings' Scepters.

Archagent Jack Noir with Harlequin clothes, and his barcode tattoo

Ranking high in the kingdoms beneath the royal couples are the Agents, the Archagent foremost among them. An Agent's special status is denoted by a symbol on their clothing; while usually a simple pentagon akin to that depicted on each kingdom's battle standard,^{[citation needed]} Jack Noir and his close circle wear the four cards suits to identify themselves.

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.

Led by the Kings on the Battlefield are the Armies of Light and Darkness, composed mostly of pawns but with a wide variety of more specialised chess piece-like units.Also on the Battlefield and throughout the light and dark kingdoms can be found farmers, post officers and artists.

Exiles

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.

Representatives

• White Queen
• White King
• Black Queen
• Black King
• Wayward Vagabond
• Peregrine Mendicant
• Aimless Renegade
• Jack Noir (B2, C)
• Draconian Dignitary (B2)
• Hegemonic Brute
• Courtyard Droll
• Spades Slick
• Diamonds Droog
• Hearts Boxcars
• Clubs Deuce
• Snowman
• Ms. Paint