#class pairs

I really need to turn in for the night and I shall do so after I post this (which means if you want to discuss/refute/argue it will have to wait until morning) but I was thinking about the whole passive/active class pairing system and I think I might have finally come up with something that makes sense to me!

Maybe just to me but this is my blog and I will post what I want to

I think I may be really close to a Class breakthrough. I did some theorizing with Deepwyrm earlier today, and I think the genders are starting to work. I've made a bunch of charts (with color coding and everything!). I think I'm, like, thiiiis close to having a solid pairing table. There are just a few classes that are interchangeable still; I need to do some cross-referencing with other things (old theories, canon evidence, inversion, etc.) to figure out where they go.

So I probably won't be able to answer an ask tonight (I still have math homework, too XP), but if this works out, it will be worth it!

Thank you! I’m so glad that you like my blog :D

That’s my line of thinking, as well! 8D I think the Mage might facilitate manipulation of/through their Aspect, like how Sollux facilitates the trolls’ fates by adapting SGRUB. However, it does make other class pairs sort of difficult, what with genders and all. Like, Witch can’t be the most active class then, because the most passive class has to be male. Which means that Maid must be the most active, and it has to go with Heir or Page. Personally, I’m leaning towards Page at the moment. Partly because Heir doesn’t really go with Maid, and also Pages are the kind of important that implies the extreme end of the scale… But then Heir would probably have to go with Sylph, which doesn’t make much sense either. So then you get a couple of options… Heir might go with Knight, and Sylph with Seer? I don’t know; it’s hard to say.

I’m glad to hear you think the same way, though. It’s a good indicator that we’re on the right track. =)

Well, my thoughts go that an active/passive pair should be equally far from the center of the scale on either side, so that if you folded the scale over, they'd be on top of each other. I think that's part of what would make them a pair.

I agree, BE has put a lot of time into his theories, and he's got a lot of really good evidence for them. He's a REALLY good theorist. (Seriously, let's just all jump on the S.S. Dirk/Gamzee and call it a day.) But there are some things that I just don't agree with, like Mage/Seer. I really, really think that Mage is paired with Witch. I mean again, that whole class is difficult, but I think it's more manipulation-based than understanding-based, and passive rather than active. But I don't know. I need to do some re-reading. I think I also need a better definition for Heir, actually. I mean, everyone in SBURB has challenges. That's essentially what reaching God-tier is. XP

I've been thinking about classes more, and I think I have a more solid idea of pairs. Not in any particular order this time, as I haven't yet come up with the degree of activity/passivity for each pair.

Active-Passive

Prince-Bard Thief-Rogue Maid-Sylph Page-Heir (these two might be in the middle, neither active nor passive)

And, more shakily,

Knight-Seer Witch-Mage

I know, why can't I just freaking put Mage and Seer together and be done with it. BUT. First of all, that would leave Knight and Witch together, which I don't think works that well (and currently, Page-Heir works really well with my interpretation of those classes). And secondly, I just can't shake the feeling that that's not it. That means that Mage is an "understanding" class, but I think that the point of Mages is their lack of understanding. Sollux doesn't understand his role in their fate and, in trying to prevent it, ends up causing it. Meulin doesn't understand how dangerous her feelings for Kurloz are, and ends up being mind-controlled. In fact, if Seer-Witch inversion wasn't practically canon already, I'd say that Mages are the exact opposite of Seers. What I think we really need, though, is more canon information on Mages. If we got that, it would probably be a LOT easier to analyze them.

By the by, this new headcanon comes with some better explanations for Heir and Maid. For Maid, I'm pretty much going with Bladekindeyewear's interpretation: "made" of their aspect (because PUNS), they give it out like a wellspring - Aradia spamming timelines to make copies of herself, Jane (as Nannasprite) making boatloads of baked goods, and even Porrim's (how to put this politely) multiple flushed affairs.

My headcanon for Heirs, however, is, I think, fairly unique. I hold with the theory that Heirs "inherit [aspect]." However, I think there's a catch to this. Before reaching God Tier, Heirs are in a sort of test phase. they have the protection of their aspect, but little to no power over it. They are given a series of trials, and if they prove themselves worthy, they ascend to the God Tier and inherit power over their aspect, as John did. A big part of the Heir is purity of spirit - Dave goes on a good deal about John's "pure of heart bullshit" (to paraphrase). An Heir may be put through whatever tests Paradox Space pleases, but the ultimate deciding factor of their worthiness is, I believe, whether they can go through those trials and retain the purity of their core self. We see this a lot in John. We don't see it in Equius, but he's a vary undeveloped Heir. In fact, it could be argued that his obsession with lineage and the Hemospectrum - ignoring who people are (and who he is) and judging them instead on arbitrary genetic traits - are what cause him to fail in his role and subsequently be killed. This definition of Heirs makes them the perfect opposite to Pages - Heirs begin with themselves and, through that, inherit their aspect; Pages begin with their aspect and, through that, create themselves.

I tried to reblog Tostajesus to explain this, but it wouldn't let me reblog. =P

Anyway. Like I said, my class theories are a work in progress. There are a LOT of class relationships, more than just active-passive pairs. The problem is, I'm not sure what the other relationships would be.

See, Classes are fundamentally different from aspects. Aspects are universal constants, representations of the things that make up reality. Players are heroes of an aspect. When Paradox Space prepares to have a session, it chooses players based on the aspects it wants in that session. If it wants heroes of Time, Void, Rage, and Space in a session, it will ensure that the people paradoxically created in that session are heroes of Time, Void, Rage, and Space. But classes are classes of a player. Paradox Space may demand heroes of Time, Void, Rage, and Space, but it doesn't care if its Hero of Space happens to be a Sylph or a Bard. That depends on the person.

...Which is all a very confusing mess that I don't actually have much canon evidence for; it just makes sense. But I think that's why the trolls share a class with their Dancestor, but not an aspect. Trolls and their Dancestors are genetically identical - Paradox Space would ensure that they were the same aspect. But their class depends on who they individually are. Nurture, not nature. Of course, classes are predestined just as much as aspects, but they're predestined to be what they would have been anyway to best fit the player's personality ( see this post).

All of the above was just a very long, rambling way to get to this point: aspects are universal concepts that can have relationships in and of themselves. But classes are tricky and very dependent on the player in question. Basically, I think there are relationships between classes (other than active/passive), but I don't really know what they are.

Now, on to the actual point.

Class being so dependent on player, I looked at relationships between various players in order to determine class relationships. I'll start with the Knight/Seer pair, as that is rather the crux of the controversy here.

Knights and Seers are very much related. My argument for the active/passive pair there is that both use their aspect in battle, but Knights do so actively (weaponizing their aspect to fight with) and Seers do so passively (using the knowledge gained by way of their aspect to strategize and direct their friends). The reason I came to this conclusion, though, is by looking at who was which class in canon. Dave is a Knight and Rose is a Seer. The two are related by ectobiology. But more important in this situation are the trolls. Karkat is a Knight and Terezi is a Seer. And, tellingly, their Dancestors are just the opposite: Kankri is a Seer and Latula is a Knight. It struck me that Hussie wouldn't make such a clear parallel unless there was a connection between the two classes (as he did with the Princes and Bards, or Amporas and  Makaras).

Now, the relationship between Seer and Knight could very well be something other than active/passive. But as I've stated before, I don't know what that might be, and there are way too many parallels to just ignore it. Far more parallels than Mage has with just about anything.

As for Mage/Heir, I didn't really base that in any parallels (though Mituna-Sollux could hint at something... It probably doesn't, though). It was more a leftover pairing. See, for the longest time, I had trouble figuring out the active/passive pairs for Knights, Maids, Pages, and Heirs. Then it hit me - Maids and Pages were paired up. Mages supply themselves with their aspect (yeah, Maid might "serve with aspect." Maids are hard because there's basically NO CANON DESCRIPTION OF WHAT THEY DO.) and Pages build themselves from their aspect.This also makes sense because Page/Maid is a male-female pair. That way, we've got one male extreme (Lord), one female extreme (Muse), one male in the middle (Page), and one female in the middle (Maid). I decided that Heir and Knight went together by default, because Heir is protected by aspect and Knight protects with Aspect. But I had some qualms about this.I didn't know which one was active and which passive. On the one hand, Knights do more action. On the other, though, they act for their friends, and the protection on an Heir is for the Heir himself.

But when I paired Knights with Seers, everything fell into place. Heir is passive to Mage. Heirs are protected by their aspect; Mages must protect themselves from their Aspect.

I have a decent idea for active/passive pairs, but it contradicts a lot of well-established fanon (it states that Mages go with Heirs, for example). And there are some pretty obvious relationships that it doesn't explain. I'll post it here, but it's very, very much a work in progress.

(From most to least extreme in activity/passivity)

Active-Passive