Have you done an analysis of a Mage of Heart yet? If not, could you?

(Psst, you guys can check the tags first.)

However, it looks like I have not. This is a tricky one. Mage is still vague, and Heart will always be vague by its very nature. But I will do my best to try to get this finished before work.

Interests/Traits

Yeah, when you throw Heart in here this can be basically anything. Relationships seem to come into play (even Dirk mentions shipping equations and draws smut for Caliborn), and roleplaying/identity games are definitely a component. However, Heart is really whatever the person considers a valued interest and part of their identity. Since they are a Mage, they are probably very into whatever they like, so much so that they might be defined or consumed by their hobbies. These hobbies are also more likely to be plot-relevant. They may take a more instinctive and/or systematic approach to their interests. They’re naturally skilled at it or they developed traits that coincide nicely, but they also like to study, organize, and dig deep into their passions. They may have a strong sense of their Self and/or micromanage their identity to prune themselves into an acceptable shape. Hopefully they don’t unleash that kind of self-help program on anyone else.

Game Powers

Again, Heart can go in a LOT of different directions. In general, though, a Mage of Heart would have a natural understanding of Self and Identity. Much like a Seer of Heart, they would not be fooled by lies or illusions, and they would know when someone has been influenced or corrupted. They probably always Know Themselves, which could help them unlock their powers faster and resist influence (although knowing your true self can be a burden sometimes). Perhaps they have always dreamed in the bubbles instead of on a moon, giving them a thorough understanding of the spirits of the dead. Again, this is mostly repeating the Seer stuff, but they might be able to gauge enemy stats or motivations with a glance.

Mages also seem to be able to alter and manipulate to an extent. Maybe Mages can warp people’s souls a little bit, just enough to bend an enemy’s allegiance or fool the game into accepting a doomed double as a different person. Considering Heart’s connection to roleplay, maybe they could disguise themselves or others to slip past enemies that are programmed to detect certain kinds of players… just by altering their identity a tiny bit to fall through the program’s net. This is particularly likely if they’re on good terms with a Rogue or Rage player (Rage as performance).

Arc/Development

Mages’ arcs are characterized by loss. Something important is taken away from them. They usually lose touch with their aspect at some point (often after it has consumed them) but they can lose other stuff too (friends, eyesight, matesprits, their free will). A Mage of Heart may be extremely self-centered and then realize they don’t know themselves as well as they thought they did. Or maybe they do get influenced/corrupted somehow, maybe as a result of another loss they experience. Eventually they have to move beyond their grief and find a way to balance their relationship with their role. You can’t let your absences define you. You have to assert who you are.

Sorry that this was weak. Heart is tricky and we haven’t been given loads on Mages yet.

personal classpect stuff

so i think im a mage/seer of heart

i think more mage than seer, but we already have a canon mage of heart in meulin leijon though she barely gets any screentime

but here’s how it is:

none of the aspects really fit me. like i bet im a mage/seer but i could see myself as a hero of time, doom, mind, heart, light, or void and thats…too many aspects. if it was one or two i could see being uncertain but those are half of all aspects we know of. that just…doesnt work.

but as very cool homestuck theorists deliverusfromsburb and zenosanalytic have said, heart is a class that is both very narrow and very broad, being linked to a person’s self, which can be inherently contradictory – and since the self is individual what “heart” is can be different for each person, hence the both narrow and broadness of it.

and i feel like heart can encompass me and all that i am or could be.

heart is about what is, and i am very into what things are. what they actually are. The Truth (and What Is) are concepts that i strive to understand and learn.

im into history and psychology, which are all about the Self and What Is (or Has Been in the case of history). the way we talk about the past influences the present and the future. and unfortunately, there is no objective measure of rightness someone is about history, theres all these subjective ideas about how things go, bc people are different and have different views…

im rambling. and that junk about people all being different seems very Heart-y.

anyway, the fact that im so concerned about imagining for myself the right classpect rather than the one i want most seems Heart-y to me.

two problems: i feel like that since theres a canon mage of heart i dont want that class even though i think mage fits me better than seer, and i dont like the color of Heart at all. too pink, and i dont like pink. i know, i know, but thats how i feel.

anyway, with everything ive said it feels weird not to go with what feels right and seems right intellectually over something so petty as canonness and color.

so anyway, if i had to give myself a classpect, it would probably be mage of heart.

Would you mind doing Mage of Heart?

zenosanalytic:

As I was writing this it very rapidly became an in-depth examination of the Mage Class(hence the delay, anon) Since I feel like that subject deserves it’s own post, and that hijacking this ask with such a lengthy tangent would be a bit unfair to Sir/Madam Greyorb Sunshades up there, I put all that stuff into its own draft, to be worked through later, and tried to keep general Class arguments summarized below 🙂

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