ABOUT
ARBITER is a web serial about: – aliens finding some stuff – a game of missing information – what we leave behind – being trans “the wrong way” – bureaucratic incompetence – story worship
This work is 18+, despite not having any explicitly NSFW content at the current time of writing.
It's written by Tulips, who is questionably a person and always annoying. It started on January 1, 2024.
This is meant to be read on desktop. It probably looks worse if you don't have Courier New on your system, and it has things that you have to hover over for alt text.
Intro songs are available in this Spotify playlist.
CONTENT WARNINGS
Highlight to reveal. These do contain spoilers. If you think a CW is missing, see NOTES ON CONTENT WARNINGS.
PRELUDE: [unreality, age regression] ONE: [dissociation, electrocution (mild)] TWO: None. THREE: [vomit, dissociation, death, class imbalance, trauma response, r-slur, age regression] FOUR: [heavy unreality, flashback sequence, death, body horror, codependence, mind tampering, identity loss, class imbalance, transformation, age regression (mentioned)] ???: [heavy unreality, suicide, blood, overstimulation, manipulation]
FAQ
Is this a Homestuck fanwork? Does this take place in the same universe as Homestuck at all? Do I need to read Homestuck or any related works for context? No.
This work is entirely independent of Homestuck, and works paratextually to Homestuck: meaning, it is written in deliberate conversation with Homestuck as a work, but it is not strengthened or weakened by knowledge of Homestuck.
When is the next update? When it's done. At present I'm unemployed and doing this in my free time.
Wow, this is great! Here's fifty dollars. Thank you! Don't interrupt me again. (Ko-fi here.)
COLLABORATORS
spiralcomp: logo/sigil, art Jaina Heartles (@heartles@egirls.gay): extensive rubber-ducking and beta reading
MAJOR INSPIRATIONS
This work draws from the following works of fiction at length, and I strongly recommend them. – godfeels, by Sarah Zedig – Homestuck, by Andrew Hussie – The Homestuck Epilogues, by Andrew Hussie, Cephied_Variable, and ctset – corru.observer, by corru.works – SIGNALIS, by rose-engine – Pulse (2001), by Kiyoishi Kurosawa – There Is No Antimemetics Division, by qntm – Story of Your Life, by Ted Chiang – Ghost in the Shell (1995), by Mamoru Oshii
NOTES ON CONTENT WARNINGS
My official stance on content warnings as an author is that I tend to like art that has a ton of content warnings, as long as it portrays those topics with knowledge and care. Consequently, there's a solid chance that I'm going to incorporate a lot of topics that will have notable CWs into this work, and there's a solid chance that I miss them.
Content warnings as a concept are weirdly subjective, because reading them is itself a spoiler, but some people need them. Additionally, what you think needs a content warning I might not agree with, and I might omit something from the content warning list.
This is just part of making art to me. It's an unfortunate reality, despite content warnings being the best thing I can do as an author. If you desperately need to make sure something isn't discussed in ARBITER, it is probably best to ask someone who's read it.