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Furthestring
It is t)(e infinite space w)(ic)( divides all sessions, completely unnavigable and unfat)(omable, untouc)(ed by t)(e time or space of any universe in existence.HS

The Furthest Ring is an infinite void that exists outside of all universes and Incipispheres, separated from Derse's orbit within the Medium by the Veil.

Concept and creation[]

While the Furthest Ring is first named in Homestuck, some of the artifacts of its existence first appeared in Problem Sleuth.

The name "Furthest Ring" itself may be a reference to synonymous terms used in other works of science fiction, such as "Outer Rim", used to refer to the furthest reaches of a cosmic setting. In the work of Lovecraft and the Cthulhu Mythos, "Outer Gods" - a name used within Homestuck itselfHS at least once - are eldritch creatures who dwell in such outer regions or dimensions of space.

Description[]

As described by an Alternate Calliope, all Aspects are interwoven in the Furthest Ring to such an extent that they are barely separable.HS One major way in which this phenomenon manifests is that time and space are both unreliable there; the further one ventures spatially, the stranger time acts, and the longer one stays the more dubious your position becomes.[citation needed] While some ancient eldritch chucklefuckHS was once able to map the Furthest Ring, they appeared at first as merely black sheets of paper.

The vast expanse of the Furthest Ring is home to several computer servers, possibly responsible for the fact that a Hero's [i]nternet connection remains stableHS even after the destruction of their home planet; in at least one case, Rose Lalonde was able to preserve a webpage by [ripping it] from Earth's decaying networks and moving it to a Derse-marked serverHS, which could be accessed fromHS Alternia. Sollux Captor was also able to access a billiards-marked server containing the ~ATH code that would summon Lord English upon his universe's death.HS This particular server also acted as a doorway from Alternia's green moon to the Furthest Ring through a magic timepiece.HS

Anyone who travels between two broken fenestrated planes will also briefly travel through the Furthest Ring; while the light of the two active windows is able to stabilize the Furthest Ring long enough for the traveller to make the journey, if the power to one of the windows is cut off mid-journeyHS, the traveller may instead find themselves strandedHS in the Furthest Ring unless they can abscondHS back the way they came. The imaginary universe seemingly follows similar principles, with anyone standing outside an unpowered windowPS icon becoming vulnerable to wandering frightening beastsPS icon (see #Habitation); what this says about any possible relationship between the Furthest Ring and the imaginary universe is not clear.

History[]

One can only idly speculate as to the origins of the beasts that inhabit the Furthest Ring; if obscure theories about the origin of the Noble Circle of Horrorterrors are correct, the Heroes of an ancient Sburb session may have been prevented from claiming their prize and left to rule over the infinite void for all eternity instead. Possibly excluding this theory, Andrew Hussie's Homestuck book commentary suggests that all of reality, including the Incipispheres in which Sburb is played, consists of bubbles blown in the Furthest Ring by these Horrorterrors,[1] and that "this godawful abyss and its gruesome inhabitants are the default reality."[2]

In any case, the apparent grim eternity of the Furthest Ring came under threat when an instance of Lord English fled the confines of the dying troll universe and began to terrorize the void. When his attacks started to injure and kill the Ring's inhabitants,[citation needed] the gods contacted Rose Lalonde and Dave Strider, two of their representatives among the dreamers of Derse.[citation needed] While Rose and Dave initially believed their mission was to destroy the Green sun link, robbing demons like Lord English and Jack Noir of their power,[citation needed] when they travelled into the Furthest Ring to deploy the Tumor its detonation in truth caused the Green Sun's birth.

From the Green Sun, Rose, Dave and the assembled Karkat Vantas, Kanaya Maryam, Terezi Pyrope and Gamzee Makara travelled to the B2 session, taking them on a three year meteor journey through the Furthest Ring; meanwhile Aradia Megido and Sollux Captor stayed behind to shepherd the ghosts of the Furthest Ring's dream bubbles.[citation needed]

All the while, Lord English's attacks continued to damage the very fabric of the Furthest Ring itself, manifesting as a great web of shatter marks throughout the void, revealing the white space beneath Homestuck's very canon. When an Alternate Calliope initiated the Rapture by pulling the mass of the Green Sun into a black hole, these shattered pieces of the Furthest Ring also began to be pulled in by the hole's gravitational well, further revealing the nothingness underneath.

Habitation[]

Horrorterror1

One of the many beings that reside in the Furthest Ring.

The Noble Circle of Horrorterrors, the omnipotent rulers of all outer gods, demons and beasts, are forever cloaked in the darkness of the FURTHEST RINGHS; though none of the names of the Noble Circle are known, their whims are catered to by such smaller gods as Oglogoth the Deep One.

Barring the existence of a dream self, the dream bubbles blown into the Furthest Ring by these outer gods are also home to all sleeping and dead consciousnesses, though it may be that the Furthest Ring itself is uninhabitable to such psychic constructs outside of these bubbles, with some of them fadingHS when they leave a bubble's confines.

References[]

  1. Andrew Hussie. "So this is establishing the foundational basis for the afterlife in Paradox Space—not an eternal continuum like heaven or hell, but a purgatory of a more dubious nature, one that is actively maintained by vast, ancient monsters through a network of trillions of relatively small ephemeral bubbles. They pop, they get blown again, ghosts can drift freely from one to another. When we understand the broader cosmology of Paradox Space in this way, it starts to seem reasonable to begin thinking in terms of "bubble-based reality structures," which means that Sburb sessions freely floating through the abyss could also be seen as a kind of bubble. But a very special kind, which has the nucleus of Skaia in the middle, and thus is endowed with this all-knowing spark that can beget a stable, physical existence contained within a universe the players create inside of it. Do horrorterrors blow these bubbles too? IT IS UNCLEAR." Homestuck: Book 5: Act 5 Act 2 Part 1, p.292. October 22, 2019.
  2. Andrew Hussie. "It's implied, as I mentioned a few notes ago, that all comprehensible realities to us (such as dream bubble illusions, or Sburb sessions containing entire universes) actually are confined by little bubbles that these beasts whimsically blow, probably for no humanly comprehensible reason. This suggests that this godawful abyss and its gruesome inhabitants are the default reality. And the much more stable, relatable realms we enjoy, such as "a universe," are actually the rare exceptions: totally anomalous, dreamlike fields of experience that exist only briefly relative to the lifespan of these monsters, as the confining bubbles swell and pop." Homestuck: Book 5: Act 5 Act 2 Part 1, p.301. October 22, 2019.


Homestuck locations
Frog Temple Command stations
Earth
Egbert & Crocker home
John's bedroom
Jane's bedroom
Lalonde home
Rose's room
Roxy's room
Skaianet Laboratory
Strider home
Dave's room
Dirk's room
Pacific island
Jade's room
Jake's room
Calliope & Caliborn's room
Alternia
Aradia's hive Tavros's hive Sollux's hive Karkat's hive
Nepeta's hive Kanaya's hive Terezi's hive Vriska's hive
Equius's hive Gamzee's hive Eridan's hive Feferi's hive
Incipisphere
Skaia
The Battlefield
Prospit The Medium Derse
The Veil
Ectobiology lab
Trolls' meteor
The Furthest Ring
Dream bubbles
Heroes' Lands
Wind and Shade Light and Rain Heat and Clockwork Frost and Frogs
Crypts and Helium Pyramids and Neon Tombs and Krypton Mounds and Xenon
Quartz and Melody Sand and Zephyr Brains and Fire Pulse and Haze
Little Cubes and Tea Rays and Frogs Thought and Flow Maps and Treasure
Caves and Silence Tents and Mirth Wrath and Angels Dew and Glass
Caliborn's planets
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