Exbent Kanaya grew up in the caverns so she’s had more cultural assimilation drilled into her
I’ve been playing it sort of as a joke sort of serious but her “acts of rebellion” that she keeps fondly referring to as a phase were like
Sneaking out of the caverns to go to cerulean parties or visit a public bookhive (normally only frequented by teals)
Reading romance novels
Having a crush. At all
And ppl are like aw haha. So rebellious
But for her, and the expectations of her upbringing,
That’s a lot
In HS proper Kanaya tends to be self sacrificial and committed to holding people together even if it’s not a particularly happy fun time
She’s one of the only people who puts up with eridans bs even when he calls her a slut. And then she friendzones herself by being vriska’s moirail bc vriska needs a moirail
Etc etc I feel like a Kanaya actually raised in this much more demanding environment would probably take the responsibility reasonably well
Like she wouldn’t fight it as much as other jades might
But I’d view the Cloister as probably even more of an assimilation machine
I’ve been personally thinking of it as one of those cult “therapy” places like straight inc., where they’d give you privileges over newer folks if you treated them cruelly
A lot more stepford wives than like. Violence or anything
Sorry dude I’m talking SO much

levToday at 4:13 PM
its ok!! this is helpful information
im just wondering like whats the point of having space nuns

AbsylpheToday at 4:13 PM
I have opinions on that
Gimme a sec
alright so
imo
and this may not jive w/ everyone's opinions
the dolorosa was singlehandedly responsible for the two rebellions that fractured the heirarchy of alternia
the first major rebellion was just her, leaving her duties in the caverns with a mutant she was supposed to kill, and then that grub growing up and becoming a major icon and orator preaching against the caste system
and then the summoner's rebellion came in the wake of that, probably centuries later, supported by mindfang, who had personally profited off of the quashing of the first rebellion
i've always headcanoned that there would have been EXTREME repercussions on the jade caste because of how much trouble one rebellious jadeblood caused them
in abby's tl, jades were systemically blinded so they couldn't see mutant hues or the way out of the caverns and they'd have to learn the hue of eggs by temperature
in the friendsims, we have a very like... xenophobic, almost, society underground, in charge of reproduction and early care
jades aren't allowed to leave, though they sneak out anyway (and often enough that it's common knowledge that jades are immune to the sun). they aren't allowed to fall in love, so they have all these frantic and ill-conceived romances young
bronya's route is very "big brother is watching you"
she maintains like, a secret nursery for sick grubs, where she takes them to heal from illnesses so they can pupate and survive to adulthood
it's NOT ILLEGAL for her to do this
but she's also terrified of any drones finding out because genuinely empathetic behavior is suspect
she makes a big deal about feeling "neutral" regarding the empire
she is pretty much their star student, compared to the other jades, but even she is sneaking around trying to live her life before it gets ripped away from her

AbsylpheToday at 4:29 PM
in both the canon route and the fake route, lanque mentions smth about like,
in the canon route, smth about his boyfriend flaking on him or something
but in the fake route, he says this poem that read (to me) like he had a jade boyfriend. and his jade boyfriend had recently gone off planet and he was feeling really lost and angry about it
lanque's behavior in his sim was gross, but also i feel like i could have dealt with it if the narration itself didn't feel so condescending toward the reader
like, i can take the behavior, surgically removed from the game, and construct motivations for lanque
if that makes sense?
and i'm fine with those
anyway. in both routes it's like, implied he had a falling out with his SO or something and so this party is kind of like, a rebound thing?
he's literally only here to get laid, he makes it very obvious
he sluts around, buys drugs, tries to get YOU to do drugs
and then immediately hides when bronya shows up to drag him home
like again. his behaviors are Gross but also it reeks of Terrified Teen In Denial Tries To Escape Problems By Drowning In Illicit Substances
i think he's supposed to be the oldest jadeblood, probably destined for the cloister very soon, so he's just desperately trying to experience everything he can before he has to go to space church for the rest of his life
god i really just said all this and didn't talk to you about why i think jade cloisters are a thing huh
bonehead of the year award

lev Today at 4:51 PM
o yeah u did say u were going to explain that lol but i had forgotten

Absylphe Today at 4:51 PM
anyway i have a social reasoning and a functional reasoning for cloisters being a thing
keep in mind these aren't actually canon. we're just supposed to believe jades go to space church forever and uhh.... that's the only reason we're given
socially, i think the way jades raise each other in an insular, controlled environment is living evidence that trolls don't need lusi, they don't need to be violent, and they can function, thrive, and be healthy in large family-type systems
for this reason. i feel that they could easily just be branded by propaganda as a caste that is defective because they have "natural" empathy (which honestly is more nurture than nature because they're all hand-raised by other young girls in the caverns and never leave)
so! they're branded as defective and banned from procreating, to artificially keep their caste "rare"
they're necessary. but they don't die as fast as other castes because they're not exposed to the way life is outside of the caverns
so then when they reach adulthood, obviously they can't stay on planet, bc then their empathy might balloon up and cause them to kidnap the next signless
so they're cloistered. in space. to keep them away from the rest of the culture, at large
functionally i think they could probably serve as like. a really weird... alien motel
like if their duty is still to the propagation of the species maybe they're just like. bucket ubers
im here 2 collect ur bucket
i forgot to take a right turn at sigma 5 smh
be there in 2  hours

levToday at 5:32 PM
ohhh
that makes a lot of sense

AbsylpheToday at 5:33 PM
Idk I have 2 hcs on that front
Either trolls only reproduce once, right before they go off planet for their trials or whatever
(So they have to get their quads in order in time)
Or only deployed trolls reproduce and space nuns gotta bring that nasty sludge back to alternia

levToday at 5:36 PM
ewww

AbsylpheToday at 5:36 PM
It’s goo!