Lusus

Lusus naturae are members of the Alternia's “diverse and terrifying subterranean monster population” which take the role and title of custodian to young trolls, acting as their guardians in place of the adults sent to fight throughout the galaxy in the name of the empire.

Lusii use scent to select a freshly-pupated troll of a matching blood color, and together the pair emerge from the brooding caverns and use “CARPENTER DROIDS” to build a hive for themselves. In their above-ground lives, “[t]rolls and their custodians have a peculiar arrangement of codependence. The lusus behaves as a lifelong bodyguard, caretaker, and visceral sort of mentor, while the young troll must learn to function as a sort of zookeeper.” The looking after of a lusus is highly important in troll society; the death of a lusus results in the culling of the young troll, and Andrew Hussie has suggested that a lusus remains with their troll for life, well into maturation and their job off Alternia, as indicated with the relationship between Redglare and Pyralspite.

Lusii are referred to with the same gendered language as their wards, though in most cases just how much meaning the concept of gender has when applied to such a monster isn't fully clear; for the most part lusii are incapable of communicating verbally with trolls outside of very special circumstances.

Concept and creation

Becquerel's relationship with Jade Harley influenced the development of the lusus idea to some degree, but "there wasn't the direct line of inspiration you might expect."

Etymology

The Latin lusus naturae means 'sport of nature', literally as in the playings of nature, sometimes translated to 'freak of nature' for clarity. In Latin, the plural of lusus is lusūs; in Homestuck the preferred plural is less clear, though "lusii" is used in the soundtrack ♫, authorial commentary, and throughout Hiveswap.^{[citation needed]}

History

Despite the vastly different relationship between trolls and their genetic forebears on Beforus, the pre-scratch trolls still had lusii, with Meenah Peixes' friends all seemingly chosen by the same monsters as their dancestors — with the likely exception of Meenah herself, G'bgolyb having been a gift to Alternia from Doc Scratch. Post-scratch, the same was true of at least some of the ancestors, the scent of their unique bloodlines likely owing to sharing their species of custodian with their descendants^{[citation needed]} - though the Handmaid was raised long after the extinction of Alternia by Doc Scratch himself, and the Signless' extremely unusual blood color left him with no lusus to bond with.

Thanks to a “curse unwittingly implemented” by the execution of the Mobius Double Reacharound Virus, all but one of the Hivebent trolls' lusii died, and were then used to prototype their respective trolls' kernelsprites. As such, their session's underlings and Black King shared characteristics with all of these lusii. These sprites, too, were seemingly all eventually destroyed.^{[citation needed]}

Various lusii depicted on Jake English's bedsheets.

After moving from the Reckoning-ravaged ruins of Alternia to Earth, the Condesce brought a population of “thousands of [lusus naturae]” with her. Many of these monsters made their home on an exotic Pacific Island before the Condesce would enact her full takeover and make attempts to replicate Alternia's custodial system by having young humans be raised by the beasts; ultimately, however, they had “no interest whatsoever in taking care of human babies [and] mostly just wound up eating them, or at best, just abandoning them”, so they, much like the drones also brought to Earth, were eventually replaced with a mechanized “lusidroid system” that mitigated the biological counterparts' issues.

Varieties

Ram lusus

Aradia Megido had a ram-like custodian with similar horns to her own. Having died well before Hivebent in a chain of events stemming from a “CERTAIN KIND OF ROLE PLAYING” accident, it is the only one of the twelve Heroes' lusii not to be prototyped.

Fairy bull

Fairy bulls are small fairy/bull hybrids that Tavros, Rufioh, and presumably the Summoner, had as lusii.

Tavros' fairy bull's name is Tinkerbull, a portmanteau of "Tinkerbell", the main fairy from Peter Pan — a movie that Tavros enjoys thoroughly as the Alternian version Pupa Pan — and "bull", the symbol of the Taurus zodiac sign. They seem to have a very good relationship, often playing Fiduspawn together, and accompanying him on his Flarp adventures.

Tinkerbull was killed by Tavros, who had inadvertently crushed him underneath his wheelchair in a particularly cruel twist of fate for poor Tavros. Later, Tinkerbull is prototyped into Tavros' kernelsprite, seen floating outside of his transported hive. Tavros has stated that, after Tinkerbull could talk as a result of his prototyping, he is “REALLY SMART” and he appears to consult him for advice.

Rufioh's fairy bull was crushed to death “when damara acc1dentally dropped a hunger trunk on h1m”. Rufioh states that he “always dreamed” he “ m1ght meet up w1th h1m aga1n 1n the afterl1fe”, suggesting that unlike Tinkerbull, Rufioh's lusus was not prototyped.

Fairy bulls were one of many lusii found on Jake's Island. One was mistakenly killed when Jake shot it in the head, and a swarm of them are later seen flying through the air. Unlike other lusii found on Jake's island, they are sweet and docile to him.

Bicyclops

The bicyclops (or biclops) is a large, horned, two-headed giant that serves as lusus to Sollux and Mituna Captor. Each head has a single eye — one red and one blue — and a mouth with two fangs.

Their species is a reference to a line from the film Yellow Submarine, the film's title also being a possible connection to the Captors' yellow blood color.

Sollux chains his lusus to the roof of his communal hive stem. He is fed mind honey harvested from Sollux's beehouse mainframes, which “helps him not be such a complete idiot all the time. Merely most of the time instead”. He is killed by a catastrophic release of psionic energy demolishing the upper levels of the stem as a result of Sollux as a result of inadvertently consuming mind honey. Later, Bicyclopsprite is seen staring at Sollux's bloody corpse.

The relation between Mituna and his biclops dad is the reverse, the biclops feeding Mituna mind honey to treat his brain damage.

Crab lusus

Karkat Vantas' lusus is a towering, bipedal crustacean. He is a “GRUMPY CUSTOMER” and he gets “pretty crabby”, causing Karkat to often engage in Strife with him over demands for his favorite food — “CHILLED ROE CUBES”. It seems Karkat cares very much for his lusus, at least enough to draw a picture of him and pin it to his fridge.

He was killed when Karkat's computer exploded as a result of running Sollux Captor's Mobius Double Reacharound Virus, thereby implementing the curse that possibly leads to the death of the other trolls' lusii as well.

He was the first lusus to be shown, seen at the end of the Midnight Crew Intermission. Some members of the community have affectionately named Karkat's Lusus "Crabdad".

A much larger version of its kind (which has a tail, a trait Karkat's lusus lacked) can be seen roaming the forest on Jake's Island, close to his home. Jake engages it in a Strife, in which Jake fires at the lusus with two pistols while flying through the air dramatically. After a few shots, the lusus staggers away with visible candy red bullet wounds, confirming its until then unknown blood color. Interestingly, during this Strife it was referred to as a “crabdad”, possibly indicating that this has become the official name for its species.

This species was created by the followers of The Sufferer, so that future mutantbloods would have a lusus to tend to them.

Pounce de Leon

Nepeta Leijon's lusus is a feline creature with two mouths, resembling a common housecat but similar in size to one of Earth's big cats. It is “pawssibly the cutest and purrhaps the bestest kitty you have ever s33n!” and lends this adorable face to Nepeta's quirk.

Pounce and Nepeta often took turns riding on each others' backs in search of the “FOUNTAIN OF CUTE”, a reference to the historical explorer Ponce de León who according to legend sought the Fountain of Youth.

Pounce de Leon was crushed when Nepeta's hive caved in, possibly thanks to a meteor strike.

Another of its kind accompanies Meulin Leijon and can be encountered in Openbound.^[image?]

Virgin mother grub

Kanaya Maryam's lusus is a virgin mother grub; one which has “Abdicate[d]” from brooding and become a custodian, “an event so rare as to elude documented precedent.” It has a skeletal face with feminine lips, and unlike other specimens, has a kink in one horn matching the horns of its charge; its likeness to a flying insect like a moth may allude to the light-feeding nature of jadebloods.

Kanaya was chosen by her lusus on account of her rare “JADE GREEN BLOOD”, and together the two made a home in the inhospitable desert, planting a hive seed in the underlying volcanic rock using the mother grub's “remarkable burrowing skills”. For a virgin mother grub “Time Will Be Relatively Short”; in exchange for ensuring the grub's future progeny via the Matriorb within, however, the mother grub protects Kanaya from the various threats local to the sandy wasteland.

Post-mortem, as with most of the other lusii, the mother grub becomes Mothersprite, who comforts her charge through her complex teenage romantic problems.

Dragon lusii

The trolls of the Pyrope bloodline were associated with a “rare species of dragon which remains blind until maturity”, a custodian their caste superior Mindfang found deeply unfitting of “such middling 8lood”, and whose realness even appears to be questionable in some circles.

Pyralspite

Redglare's dragon was named Pyralspite, and was seemingly large enough to not only block the moonlight from a whole fleet of ships, but swallow other trolls' lusii (see spider lusus below) whole. Pyralspite served as Redglare's mount and assisted her in her legislacerator's duties, particularly in her crusade against the gamblignants. After Redglare's death, Mindfang became obsessed with taming the powerful lusus, and sought a cavalreaper with powerful animal communion to assist her in this goal. What became of this plan, especially after Mindfang and the Summoner's deaths, is not known; however, Hussie has suggested that it may have at some point laid an egg which became a lusus to Redglare's descendant.

Terezi Pyrope's lusus, meanwhile, remained an egg for most of her life on Alternia, unable to hatch until doomsday - however, seemingly unique among the lusii, it was able to communicate with its charge psychically instead, teaching Terezi the strange method by which she 'sees' through smell and taste. This psychic communication also included various prophecies of the future or other worlds, including “MYTH1C4L L1TTL3 P1NK MONK3Y[S]” called babies which the young dragon had dreamed about. When the end of the world finally comes and the egg hatches, the young still-blind dragon is almost immediately struck dead by a meteor, and eventually becomes the sniff-happy Dragonsprite.

Befitting their mythical status, these dragons possess a variety of powers. In addition to their psychic, prophetic nature, their mastery of the senses is seemingly absolute, with the Beforan Latula Pyrope's lusus having taught her “new ways to smell” involving both sight and sound after she became nasally impaired. Likely in place of the fiery breath associated with dragons on Earth, these Alternian dragons are also able to burn with their powerful glares; like the sun,^[image?] merely glancing into the eyes of a fully-grown dragon can cause blindness (especially in the more sensitive eyes of a psychic with higher sight), and applied deliberately the dragon can even cause explosions with a mere look. This dangerous ability may explain why the creatures keep their eyes closed for the first years of their lives.

The Condesce brought at least one specimen of this species to Earth on board her battleship, which soared the skies above Jake English's Pacific island where the other lusii lived. Her artificial mastery over animal communion also allowed her to use a dragon, potentially the same specimen, in her battle with the rebels Strider and Lalonde.

Spider lusus

Vriska Serket's spidermom lusus resembles a gargantuan arachnid, though with three distinct body segments in contrast to the spiders of Earth, which have a fused head and thorax.

Dwelling in the canyons surrounding Vriska's hive surrounded by suitably immense webbing, this spider lusus feeds on young trolls, and is constantly hungry, forcing Vriska to use her Flarp sessions to procure more food for the beast.^{[citation needed]} This led to a strained and unhealthy relationship between the two, with Vriska's description of her lusus simply being that it “sucks!”

Spidermom was killed when a failed premature activation of the Catenative Doomsday Dice Cascader caused a rock slide, crushing both blue blooded neighbours' custodians; though the immense creature was able to struggle to survive this, Vriska decided it best to put it out of its misery with her enchanted dice.

Whether Vriska's ancestor shared the same lusus is not explicitly clear; though Hussie's commentary posits that "she [had] to guillotine her own spider mom too", Mindfang's lusus was actually consumed whole by Redglare's - indicating that whatever it was, a fully grown dragon totally dwarfed it in size.

Aurthour

Equius Zahhak's lusus, Aurthour, looks like a centaur, but with an udder and a mustache. He resembles a creature from one of Andrew Hussie's older works, Humanimals. In addition to being a guardian, Aurthour is Equius' butler, providing him with his own Lusus Milk. Equius cares for and/or respects Aurthour on a certain level, and refers to him as “simply the best [butler] there is”.

Aurthour's species is said to be one of the strongest kinds of lusus, which is why he became Equius' custodian; no other lusus could handle Equius' ridiculous strength. However, Aurthour bruises incredibly often, even as a result of a grateful pat on the head.

He was killed when the Catenative Doomsday Dice Cascader malfunctioned and blew up part of the rockface that supported a section of Equius' hive. He was in the part of the house that crumbled, and he plummeted to the ground below. His corpse was then later retrieved from the rubble to be deposited into Equius' kernelsprite. Aurthoursprite was later seen floating around Equius's hive. In Alterniabound Equius states that Aurthour's “ghost” is dead, suggesting that the sprite was destroyed.

Several members of this species roam Jake's Island, appearing in a variety of sizes. Some are several stories tall, dropping manure and milk onto those unfortunate enough to stand below.

Aurthour or an identical musclebeast was spotted at Andrew Hussie's study, having supplied the milk for Spades Slick while Hussie nursed him back to health. There is no plausible reason why he would be there, besides the fact that Hussie wills it. Although this musclebeast was seen serving milk to Spades Slick after Ms. Paint discovers him in "[S] DD: Ascend more casually", he is not present the next time we revisit that scene. It is unknown if this is related to the retcons, which happened shortly before the later scene.

He is apparently part of a “butler genus”, if Arquiusprite's statement can be taken seriously.

Goat lusus

Gamzee Makara's, and likely Kurloz's, lusus is a giant goat-like sea creature. He had apparently often been out to sea instead of caring for Gamzee as a custodian is supposed to. Despite this, Gamzee appears to care enough about him to go keep a look out for him, suggesting that he trusts him. He was speared by what appears to be a harpoon or something similar, and died while Gamzee comforted him.

Like other lusii, at least one member of this species lives in the water on or around Jake's island. Jake says that the creature "doesn't back down", and its wild, angry eyes suggest that its own nature reflects that of Gamzee's darker sides.

He is based on Capricornus, the mythical aquatic-goat creature represented in Capricorn's constellation. The community has taken to affectionately referring to him as Goatdad.

Seahorse lusus

Eridan and Cronus Ampora's lusii are flying seahorses. Called seahorsedad by the fandom,^{[citation needed]} "seahorse dad" came to be used as the monster's name in Openbound.^{[citation needed]}

Eridan rides upon his lusus' back, as a noble steed, floating through the air as he hunts other lusii to feed to his moirail's. He is the only troll to accessorize his lusus, equipping it with a violet saddle and reins when riding.

Gl'bgolyb

Gl'bgolyb, otherwise known as "The Rift's Carbuncle", "Emissary to the Horrorterrors", or in more hushed tones, "Speaker of the Vast Glub", is a colossal, squid-like abomination that serves as the shared lusus of Feferi Peixes, the Condesce, and other fuchsia bloods on Alternia. It is implied that her existence was brought about by Doc Scratch and Lord English. Given this information, it is unknown what variety of lusus raised Meenah, only that it may not have been Gl'bgolyb.

Gl'bgolyb dwarfs all other lusii (as well as most architecture) by a massive degree – Karkat describes her as “AN OUTER FUCKING GOD THE SIZE OF A CITY”. Upon close examination, it can be seen that she has two mouths, one on each end of her body, similar to Fluthlu.

Being the only fuchsia blood troll on Alternia, Feferi was automatically assigned to her, however Gl'bgolyb continued to serve as the lusus of Feferi's ancestor, who was Empress during the events of Hivebent. When heiresses came of age they were expected to challenge the current Empress for the throne due to the demands of Gl'bgolyb and troll society. However, by the time of the events of Hivebent, Her Imperious Condescension had piloted her flagship to such a distance as to weaken her bond to Gl'bgolyb, causing its allegiance to sway to Feferi who was thus protected from any assassination attempts by the Condesce. According to Feferi, Gl'bgolyb frequently whispers to her. Some of what she says are prophecies, including that of the "world's end" and of uniting the two races.

She loves her lusus very much, although she has expressed that "keeping her voice down" is a burden to her. She does this by feeding her the dead lusii of other trolls with Eridan's help. This is necessary due to the fact that if Gl'bgolyb's voice is ever raised above a whisper, trolls would start dying. The psychically susceptible lower castes would die first, and if the horrorterror raised her voice to a shout, every troll on the planet sans the fuschiabloods would perish. Worst of all, if she were to ever get "really upset", she might release "the Vast Glub", a psychic shockwave that would exterminate every single troll in the galaxy sans the fuschiabloods. The Condesce was apparently in her time able to curb this threat through concentration alone, but her new distances of conquest weakened that bond - this is likely why Feferi was required to deal with it herself through feeding the lusus.

Gl'bgolyb eventually unleashed the Vast Glub while Karkat was attempting to get Sollux into The Medium, killing him. Doc Scratch stated that the Vast Glub was Gl'bgolyb's "swan song", implying that after releasing the Vast Glub it would die, implied to be via meteor.

Feferi states that her lusus “fell into” the kernelsprite, and the effects of this prototyping can be seen on one of the underlings here. Prototyping Feferi's kernelsprite with Gl'bgolyb gave the Black King the ability to also release the Vast Glub. Aradia was able to counter this ability with the assistance of an army of alternate future selves from doomed timelines.

Though only one existed on Alternia, it appears that at least somewhere there is another, similar creature. The pronunciation of Gl'bgolyb's name is a pun on "glub glub".

Other lusii

Dead miscellaneous lusii, fed to Gl'bgolyb by Eridan and Feferi.

Among the lusii killed by Eridan to feed Feferi's gargantuan custodian were a flying, cloud-dwelling whale with purple blood which the fanbase often calls the "Sky Whale" (it has also been seen around Jake's Island), and various other reptilian or serpentine lusii with varying blood colors. These lusii are shown briefly, and don't have much relevance in the overall plotline – although, interestingly, one of them appears to have the same blood color as Gl'bgolyb.

Although technically not one, Jade Harley's first guardian dog Becquerel is considered her lusus by the trolls. In all practical sense, he does essentially serve the same purpose as one, being a white beast raising Jade.

Mindfang's journal mentions “sluggish choler8ear”s and “8rainless squawking spleenfowl” as examples of typical tealblood lusus species.

Of the Beforan trolls, Rufioh, Mituna, Meulin and Cronus are confirmed to have lusii of the same species as their Alternian dancestors. Since Gl'bgolyb was exclusive to post-scratch Alternia, Meenah was probably raised by a member of some other fuchsia-blooded lusus species, like the one seen in Hivebent.

The horrorterror-like lusus surrounding the flooded Frog Temple.

Many species of lusii exist on Jake's island, most notably a Horrorterror-like lusus that appears in [S] Jane: Enter which likely serves as the Condesce's replacement for Gl'bgolyb. Dirk stated that this creature is “As much in her service as it is calling the shots”, and also that “Every time she tried to resurrect her race, it would slaughter them all psychically. As if it was keeping her ambition in check.” It is unknown where she obtained it from, but it is possible that the creature is one of multiple members of a subspecies of Horrorterrors, possibly given as a second "gift" from Lord English or cloned in a similar manner to the trolls that it kept killing.

In the dubiously canon paradox space comics Equius shows Karkat and Terezi a Yeti like lusus frozen in a giant cube of sweat.

In Hiveswap

Cuspidated Grimalkin

“The Cuspidated Grimalkin is a chimerical union of predator and prey, with the strengths of both: long retractable claws and razor-sharp teeth alongside a defensive crown of stabbing horns, the speed for lightning-quick dashes and the endurance to run entire nights without tiring.”

— Dammek's handbook on lusii, when used on his Cuspidated Grimalkin.

The Cuspidated Grimalkin, colloquially known as a deercat, is known to take on bronze blooded trolls such as Dammek with strong leadership skills. On the occasion that it outlives its ward, it seeks out a troll of similar temperament; this process, however, is mysterious, unusual and even illegal on Alternia.

In Act 2, Dammek's Cuspidated Grimalkin carries Joey Claire and Xefros Tritoh to the train station, where they're attacked by elite drones. During the attack, the Grimalkin drags Joey and Xefros to safety, near the cave hive. Once they return to the train station, the custodian enters the lusus caboosus and remains there. The lusus' state after the train derailment is unknown.

Glacial Treetrudger

The rust blooded Xefros Tritoh's Glacial Treetrudger lusus resembles a giant sloth, slow-moving and sleeping regularly, typically in a tree.^{[citation needed]} Xefros' lusus is also a picky eater.

In Act 2

Folykl Darane's isopod-like lusus.

A wasp-like monster found in a beekeeper's hive.

A large insect found amongst debris outside a cave hive.

The train from Outglut to Jeevik Island includes a "lusus caboosus" for the passengers' custodians.

In Hiveswap Friendship Simulator (Dubiously Canon)

Unlike trolls, lusii can venture out into Alternia's harsh sun for short periods of time because “"their coats reflect light, or somethin' to that effect."”

Though meant to be left on Alternia when their charges are sent into space, because they are “valued for their strength” and obedience, lusii are sometimes kidnapped and sold on the galaxy's black market across the galaxy. The heiress does nothing about this, and in fact takes a cut of the money exchanged.

Ardata's tick lusus from her route in Volume 1 , which feeds on the blood of captured trolls.

Skylla's lusus, known as Ladyy, from her route in Volume 3 . An oversized Rough Collie.

A non-herbivorous bison lusus from Bronya's route in Volume 3 , described as having "nasty teeth" and hellish screams.

Tagora's ferret lusus from his route in Volume 4 .

Zebruh's zebra lusus from his route in Volume 5 .

Tegiri's lusus, known as Tabashi Inu, from his route in Volume 10 . Has the traits of both a shiba inu and a monkey.

Galekh's goat lusus from his route in Volume 12 .

A cholerbear lusus from Wanshi's route in Volume 15 .

A mustang lusus.^{[citation needed]}

Vikare Ratite's lusus is named "Canary", though contrary to its name the player assumes the lusus is an emu based on a picture.

Polypa Goezee's lusus was killed when her hive was raided.

Mallek Adalov's lusus is a snake.

Wanshi Adyata takes the player to a convention at which some lusii appear to be competing with each other.

Unseen lusii

Though Diemen Xicali's deceased lusus is not described in Volume 1 , it was originally conceived as a wiener dog, from whence his hot dog motif originated.

Marvus Xoloto's lusus has been called a land dolphin by a writer, and Stelsa Sezyat's a purse dog.

Lusus Gallery

Homestuck lusii

Dead Crabdad about to be prototyped.

Kanaya preparing to remove the Matriorb from the remains of her Virgin Mother Grub lusus.

Gl'bgolyb, eating the lusus killed by Eridan.

Eridan hunts a flying Whale lusus, belonging to an unknown, purple-blooded troll.

When you see it you'll shit bricks.

Even the stoniest of hearts would be scared shitless by this.

It's like Jurassic Park all over again.

Redglare's dragon lusus attacking Mindfang's fleet

Terezi's lusus in her egg