SPACE: the aspect of the concrete

Includes: Jade, Kanaya, Calliope, Porrim, Grandma English, the Dolorosa

Space is defined by a very specific duality: being adept and skilled at manipulation of the physical while being aggrieved and oppressed by something very not physical. It is the aspect that is practical if not rigorously objective. Theory is dumb, what can be done with hands is real. Why can’t everything be manipulated so easily?

Space players are going to be almost inevitably into a craft of some kind. Building things that can be touched is their greatest joy. They may try many different things, but will have a hobbyist or enthusiast’s level of skill in something. If not, they are still looking for that something so they can hone in on it. They prioritize their projects very highly, and out of everyone have the much trouble dealing with a lack of work-life balance. If there’s no time for their stuff, they will be very stressed.

The flipside is, of course, things that do not fall under their handicraft. Space players are not naive; they often know about the forces constraining them. They know we Live In A Society. But more than anything they… struggle with how to handle that, to either affect change or come to peace. From the outside its very interesting; people watch the Space player fix their car or build a machine or do a complicated bit of embroidery and cannot imagine how that’s done. But that’s the easy stuff! How do you learn to Live In A Society? That’s the hard part.

And frankly, having to deal with all that stuff is annoying at best and actively depressing at worse.

The duality is carried through each Space player. Porrim and Kanaya share a love of sewing, of creating things, of using tools, but struggle with genuinely very complicated feelings about their roles as Jade-bloods and with sexism and quadranted romance respectively. Jade is an effusive engineer and lover of physics, but doesn’t understand the forces that keep her isolated and lonely (as narrative law falls well outside the purview of Space). We can only assume from the Dolorosa’s incredibly cool outfit she shared the other Maryams’ love of textile craft, but her eternal struggle was with the role of the Jade-bloods and of adult trolls themselves. And poor Calliope wants to create, wants to share her creations, wants to nail down the objective language of Sburb, but is literally shackled to esoteric obligations.

All this to say, when something falls within the borders of a Space player’s influence, they are ready and raring to take direct, physical action. But if something is even a few inches beyond their domain, it’s impossible for them to touch. Limited extreme potency is the name of their game.

Talismans: Building things, collecting stuff, acing the homework but failing the test, an overflowing craft drawer, self-satisfaction, simmering frustration, smiling even though you want to slap someone silly.

You may be Space if… you’ve gotten obsessed with watching/reading the news, trying to understand some complicated current event, only to burn out and blacklist it on every site you use because you can’t deal with it and not being able to affect change makes you fucking batty.