Gaudior's Colossal Homestuck Recs, Part One: AUs
"But Gaudior," you may say, "even with that helpful recap, I still don't want to read thousands of pages of webcomics and animations just to read fic with those attributes!"
Fortunately, in this most perfect universe of ours, you don't have to. A lot of the great Homestuck fics are AUs, which therefore require minimal knowledge of the canon to enjoy.
Try these-- I've arranged them in order to give you an introduction to and grounding in the fandom and characters. But feel free to read them however you like.
Battlefield Terra by Asuka Kureru (Askerian). A mecha fighting AU, where all the human characters are mecha pilots. When they capture an alien pilot, Karkat Vantas(arguably the leader of the trolls in canon), one of them (John Egbert, arguably the "friendleader" of the human kids) gets closer to his enemy than he would have expected. This is a good introduction to all the human kids, and gives you a pretty good sense of what Karkat's like. WIP, but still being updated.
General Vantas Gets Hitched, or, The Limits Of Bilateral Diplomacy: A Black Powder Romance by JumpingJackFlash. Also John/Karkat, but done as a charming regency romance. It also introduces the concepts of troll romances, or quadrants,* which remains one of the most interesting things about the fandom (look, a word for relationships based around hatesex! And other things!). 31,347 words, complete.
Seam by Seam by sunbreaksdown. Slavery fic, but with a really good and complicated look at what being a slave does to an intelligent, self-determined person. Rose/Kanaya, dark and complex, hurt-comfort that makes you work for the comfort. A good introduction to troll culture in general. 51,301 words, complete.
Midnight on the Demon Patrol by Asuka Kureru (Askerian). AU with cops and demon-hunters. This introduces a bunch of the Beforan trolls (just to keep things interesting, Homestuck has at least two versions of the main cast, from different universes. John, Rose, Dave, and Jade are the kids from the Beta universe; Karkat and his friends are from Alternia. But there are also Jane, Roxy, Dirk, and Jake from the Alpha universe, and a different twelve trolls from Beforus), iin a somewhat altered forms. Dave/Karkat. WIP, but continues to update.
(There should really be an AU here centering around Jade, but I don't know of one I like as much. Suggestions?)
Close Encounters of the Third Kind by Scedasticity. In which the twelve Alternian trolls and four Beta kids are all kidnapped by another group of aliens. It's got great world-building, and updates slowly but surely. It's a good, thorough introduction to the trolls-- actually, possibly too good an introduction, because it addresses most of what happens in canon in a different form, so it is chock-full of spoilers. But if you don't care about spoilers at all, or you actually have read Homestuck, I highly recommend it a lot. WIP.
Cultstuck! by elanor_pam. So, if two universes' worth of trolls weren't enough to keep track of, they also each have an ancestor-- a genetically identical troll who lived some centuries before they were hatched. Karkat's ancestor in particular, the Signless (or the Sufferer) had some interesting things to teach, and this fic imagines what would happen if his followers had had more to do with Karkat than they did in canon. Like with the previous fic, this one'll spoil you for things even though they happen differently in this universe, but it's a lot of fun-- and it's fascinating to look at what the twelve player-trolls might have done if they'd had a shared goal besides the game. Five parts, some quite long, of which only the last is a WIP.
Hemostuck by roachpatrol, urbanAnchorite. Glorious AU, focusing on the trolls, in an Alternia where the hemospectrum (the way troll society is ranked by blood color) is turned upside down, so that the characters we're used to seeing as royalty are down and out. Great world-building, wrenching characterization, interesting plots. 128,677 words, three complete stories, but there could be more at some point.
The Rule of Transformation by JumpingJackFlash. Technically, this is a crossover with The Black Company, but what that really means is just that the author has swiped the world-building and put Homestuck characters in it. The combination is great, and it's a veeeerrrryyy slowly updating WIP, but worth it. Sollux/Eridan.
The previous two fics may leave you under the misapprehension that Eridan Ampora is not entirely made of terrible. This should fix that little problem: Rise and Shine, by roachpatrol. Vriska/Rose. Dark, wonderful. 14,277 words, complete.
And... that should about start you off. To be continued with my list of favorite authors!
--R
*While this fic is not, strictly speaking, an AU, it does do a good job of defining and exploring the different quadrants, which may be helpful:
Love Song no. 31 by cest_what. Rose and Karkat, discussing Rose/Kanaya, and mostly talking about what quadrants are and how they work.
Fortunately, in this most perfect universe of ours, you don't have to. A lot of the great Homestuck fics are AUs, which therefore require minimal knowledge of the canon to enjoy.
Try these-- I've arranged them in order to give you an introduction to and grounding in the fandom and characters. But feel free to read them however you like.
Battlefield Terra by Asuka Kureru (Askerian). A mecha fighting AU, where all the human characters are mecha pilots. When they capture an alien pilot, Karkat Vantas(arguably the leader of the trolls in canon), one of them (John Egbert, arguably the "friendleader" of the human kids) gets closer to his enemy than he would have expected. This is a good introduction to all the human kids, and gives you a pretty good sense of what Karkat's like. WIP, but still being updated.
General Vantas Gets Hitched, or, The Limits Of Bilateral Diplomacy: A Black Powder Romance by JumpingJackFlash. Also John/Karkat, but done as a charming regency romance. It also introduces the concepts of troll romances, or quadrants,* which remains one of the most interesting things about the fandom (look, a word for relationships based around hatesex! And other things!). 31,347 words, complete.
Seam by Seam by sunbreaksdown. Slavery fic, but with a really good and complicated look at what being a slave does to an intelligent, self-determined person. Rose/Kanaya, dark and complex, hurt-comfort that makes you work for the comfort. A good introduction to troll culture in general. 51,301 words, complete.
Midnight on the Demon Patrol by Asuka Kureru (Askerian). AU with cops and demon-hunters. This introduces a bunch of the Beforan trolls (just to keep things interesting, Homestuck has at least two versions of the main cast, from different universes. John, Rose, Dave, and Jade are the kids from the Beta universe; Karkat and his friends are from Alternia. But there are also Jane, Roxy, Dirk, and Jake from the Alpha universe, and a different twelve trolls from Beforus), iin a somewhat altered forms. Dave/Karkat. WIP, but continues to update.
(There should really be an AU here centering around Jade, but I don't know of one I like as much. Suggestions?)
Close Encounters of the Third Kind by Scedasticity. In which the twelve Alternian trolls and four Beta kids are all kidnapped by another group of aliens. It's got great world-building, and updates slowly but surely. It's a good, thorough introduction to the trolls-- actually, possibly too good an introduction, because it addresses most of what happens in canon in a different form, so it is chock-full of spoilers. But if you don't care about spoilers at all, or you actually have read Homestuck, I highly recommend it a lot. WIP.
Cultstuck! by elanor_pam. So, if two universes' worth of trolls weren't enough to keep track of, they also each have an ancestor-- a genetically identical troll who lived some centuries before they were hatched. Karkat's ancestor in particular, the Signless (or the Sufferer) had some interesting things to teach, and this fic imagines what would happen if his followers had had more to do with Karkat than they did in canon. Like with the previous fic, this one'll spoil you for things even though they happen differently in this universe, but it's a lot of fun-- and it's fascinating to look at what the twelve player-trolls might have done if they'd had a shared goal besides the game. Five parts, some quite long, of which only the last is a WIP.
Hemostuck by roachpatrol, urbanAnchorite. Glorious AU, focusing on the trolls, in an Alternia where the hemospectrum (the way troll society is ranked by blood color) is turned upside down, so that the characters we're used to seeing as royalty are down and out. Great world-building, wrenching characterization, interesting plots. 128,677 words, three complete stories, but there could be more at some point.
The Rule of Transformation by JumpingJackFlash. Technically, this is a crossover with The Black Company, but what that really means is just that the author has swiped the world-building and put Homestuck characters in it. The combination is great, and it's a veeeerrrryyy slowly updating WIP, but worth it. Sollux/Eridan.
The previous two fics may leave you under the misapprehension that Eridan Ampora is not entirely made of terrible. This should fix that little problem: Rise and Shine, by roachpatrol. Vriska/Rose. Dark, wonderful. 14,277 words, complete.
And... that should about start you off. To be continued with my list of favorite authors!
--R
*While this fic is not, strictly speaking, an AU, it does do a good job of defining and exploring the different quadrants, which may be helpful:
Love Song no. 31 by cest_what. Rose and Karkat, discussing Rose/Kanaya, and mostly talking about what quadrants are and how they work.