Castelocked

Castelocked is a Homestuck fanfic by Thunder Reign, written as an Interactive Comic fan adventure on the MSPA Forums. It draws inspiration from Red Dead Virgo (amongst others) and follows a similar theme with a different approach. It updates with new panels every two days. Or, well, it did, before the proliferation of other popular bloodswaps led the creator to abandon the venture.

However, the author started the adventure back up again on the 24th of March 2012. The new thread for the adventure can be found here. The mirrored version of the adventure can also be found here.

It follows the adventures of twelve trolls, all who seem rather familiar. To be more specific: It's an Alternate Universe Fic, a bloodswap where Sollux is now an anonymous-blooded hacker and Tavros is the Emperor-To-Be. The title refers to the overarching theme of the adventure, namely the impact the caste system has on the trolls, and the social isolation produced from that.


 * All Love Is Unrequited: Vriska for Kanaya.
 * All Take and No Give: Eridan and Tavros' relationship, with Eridan as the taker and Tavros as the giver.
 * Ambiguously Evil: Vriska, emphasis on "Ambiguously". Yes, she has convinced herself that is simply trolls being trolls, but she never actually does anything malevolent herself, apart from stalking Kanaya. Plus, it should also be noted that she's portrayed as having a dependent personality, so it's more likely she possesses Selective Obliviousness when it comes to his utterly selfish personality.
 * Ambiguous Gender: Equius, despite being as muscled as his canon counterpart.
 * Alternate Universe Fic: Of the "bloodswap" subgenre prevalent in the Homestuck fanfic world.
 * Badass Cape: Tavros and Karkat.
 * Cape Swish: Somewhere, an eyeless redblood is very upset that Karkat has pinched his cape.
 * Bold Inflation: As in Homestuck.
 * Break the Cutie: Poor Nepeta...
 * Covered with Scars: Feferi, thanks to her robots. She doesn't think the scars are bad, but Eridan does...
 * Empty Shell: Aradia is a shade of her former self, barely able to interact with the world.
 * Every Troll Is Cuter With Horn Decs: Vriska used to wear brown-orange bows on her horns, while Kanaya had a green ribbon tied to one.
 * The Faceless: The cast, prior to introduction, were shown as silhouettes in the author's signature.
 * Flash Back
 * Flat What: Eridan, twice, when Vriska proposes her plan to sneakily become Kanaya's server.
 * Hypnotic Eyes: Eridan can mind control anyone, regardless of blood caste, so long as he's looking you in the eyes.
 * Interactive Comic
 * It's All My Fault: Karkat blames himself for Aradia's death because.
 * Long-Haired Pretty Boy: Equius.
 * Karma Houdini: As of now, Eridan. Lampshaded in his bio post, as his ability to weasel out of bad situations has convinced him he's invincible.
 * Kick the Dog: More like Kick The Cat.
 * Knight Templar: Gamzee. Donk donk.
 * Manipulative Bastard: Eridan, who just so he could have a kismesis. Also 'flushed' with with Tavros for the sole purpose of Gold Digging, and strings along his moirail knowing she has a flushcrush on him.
 * Meaningful Rename
 * Nepeta changed her trolltag from adorableCritters to abaddonCatalyst.
 * Kanaya changed her trolltag from gracefulAdmirer to guardianArmstice.
 * Mood Whiplash: Nepeta's come-down.
 * Morality Chain: Karkat functions as this to Gamzee.
 * Murder the Hypotenuse: Eridan to Nepeta.
 * Present Tense Narrative
 * Pungeon Master: Equius fills his speech with every sort of plant-related pun possible.
 * Second Person Narration
 * Sickeningly Sweethearts: Kanaya and Vriska, before The Nepeta Incident.
 * Skeletons in the Coat Closet: Nepeta's skull hat.
 * Super Strength: Equius and Feferi.
 * The Fourth Wall Will Not Protect You: Eridan mindcontrols the audience into deciding to switch to another character, rather than nosing around in his business.
 * Unstoppable Rage: Suppressed, in Feferi's case - but it comes out in the programming of her robots.
 * What the Hell, Hero?: Kanaya was not pleased by Vriska, and calls her out on it.