Arcjec Voorat
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Arcjec Voorat, also known by his Skorpe handle animatedHumorist, is one of the trolls in Vast Error. His associated alchemic sigil is Magnesium, though a modified version of the symbol. They are a deconstruction of the "self insert" and "main character" fantroll archetypes.[1]
Their survival ability is being able to play dead by slowing their metabolism down.
He was the first troll to be introduced and enter the game.
Biography
Early life
Arcjec was much more outgoing and enthusiastic in their youth, if somewhat naïve. Raised together and initially sharing the same lusii as Ellsee Raines, the two viewed each other as siblings and part of the same family. During this period of time, Arcjec was interested in comic books, superheroes and pop culture, as well as drawing, cosplaying and scrapbooking.
After a series of cascading events involving his falling out with Taz Poemme and Ellsee's extended leave for training, Arcjec fell into a deep period of apathy and resentment, pushing all of his friends away and retreating into himself. They also forgot about their relationship with Ellsee entirely, which resulted in anger and confusion on their end when she came back from her training.
He seems to have been the "glue" holding their friend group together, having been depicted throughout the comic engaging in many different activities with the great majority of the main cast.
Act 1
Arcjec is first introduced in his respiteblock. As he goes over his possessions, he is interrupted by a rock hitting his block's window. Choosing to investigate the strange occurrence, the sight of a hooded troll lurking near his hive sends him into a panic, during which he is messaged by Laivan Ferroo. Laivan invites them to play a game of Anthropormuncipality with him and Murrit Turkin, but Arcjec refuses, brushing his friend off, and requests that he let Taz know that the mutilation fairy finally granted her long awaited wish in the event of their disappearance.
In an attempt to get a better look at the mysterious troll, Arcjec ends up falling out their second-floor window, landing on a mud puddle outside and passing out. They have a cryptic dream in which they stand in the middle of the Static, briefly glimpsing White Noise before they jolt awake.
During their short nap, Laivan's dream self visits Arcjec's own dream self, still asleep on Prospit. It glitches out, momentarily reverting to a happier, younger Arcjec when Laivan touches him.
After waking up, Arcjec finds himself back inside his room. Surrounding him are the many piles of scattered drawings he makes in his sleep, something that has been a regular occurrence for some time. The newest one has The Game's symbol drawn on it, along with a message: "It's the only way."
They are then accosted by an agitated Taz, who manages to convince Arcjec to collaborate by showing them Murrit's memo and the meteor hurtling towards their hive. After a few spats, Arcjec realizes that the symbols they've been writing in their sleep are connected to the game, which they encourage Taz to input on her end. This grants her access to a set of objects, and the duo has one final fraught conversation about their past before they decide it's better if they do not speak again once Arcjec's entry is complete.
During the events of [S] Arcjec: Enter. 
, Taz places a series of pillars and an archway around his hive, along with a mysterious chest inside his respiteblock. Arcjec opens the chest, unleashing a powerful gust of wind that sends him hurtling out of his room. He stops right in front of the archway, now activated into a portal. Taz then pushes Arcjec inside it with the Game cursor, sending him into the Medium and completing his entry process. The pillars around Arcjec's hive divert the oncoming meteor away and into Skaia's shield, preventing the hive's complete destruction.
Act 2
From the past perspective of Ellsee Raines, Arcjec is shown having a conversation with her moments before the start of Act 1. She worries that she is needy and unlikable, and he offers a half-hearted attempt at advice. Amused but nonetheless touched, Ellsee decides that they will finally introduce themself to Arcjec and explain their deeper connection. It's then revealed that she was the mysterious troll that threw a stone at Arcjec's window.
Back to the present, Arcjec lands on a gray platform inscribed with the Breath symbol, floating in a blank, stark white void. The powerful winds seen during Arcjec's entry then transform into the denizen of Breath, Zehanpuryu.
Zehanpuryu introduces Arcjec to the game and its purpose, pledging himself as their guide. He states that Arcjec is the Bard of Breath and urges them to find him again when they are stronger. He inserts himself within the Breath platform and changes the blank planet around them into the newly formed Land of Mirage and Monochrome.
As Arcjec looks around their new surroundings, they are approached by one of the planet's consorts: a bright, vibrant snake who directs them to a newly formed terminal by their denizen platform. The terminal allows Arcjec to access his game UI and Skorpe, where he finds messages from Taz and Ellsee both. He only answers the latter, and the two catch up. Ellsee admits that she knows more than she's previously let on, having seen the Game codes in a book that she has had her whole life. Arcjec closes the conversation by telling Ellsee to meet up with him when things are less hectic.
He then speaks with the multicolored snake consort, accidentally naming him "Guy". Guy tells Arcjec to prepare a weapon, as he is bound to face monsters on his journey, and Arcjec equips his scythe before taking the first steps of his journey on LOMAM.
After following the path for a while, Arcjec and Guy find a consort village up in flames, being ravaged by a powerful shape-shifting monster known as a Shifter. Two other consorts, Lady and Person, beg Arcjec to stop the monster before it burns down the entire town.
Overwhelmed, Arcjec freezes in place. He then finds himself in a featureless "mind space", greeted by younger version of himself: Kidjec. He tells Arcjec that it's okay to leave, that it isn't fair of the snakes to expect him to solve their problems. Arcjec, in turn, worries about his past choices and wishes they could do something for the people around them, since saving people was all they ever wanted to do when they were young.
Kidjec argues that acting on those impulses will only make him and those around him miserable, growing increasingly aggravated. He says that Arcjec should just leave!!! and that every single time he tries to help someone, all he does is hurt them. Arcjec falls to their knees, their nose bleeding profusely as the mindspace seems to fall apart at the seams.
Guy then snaps Arcjec back into reality by calling out to him, the troll having gone into a trance for the duration of his conversation with Kidjec. Finding his conviction renewed, Arcjec promises to protect his consorts and prepares for battle.
During [S] Engage. , Arcjec is shown battling the Shifter, managing to defeat it with the usage of his survival ability and the help of his planet's Winds. Their consorts are elated, gifting them with a variety of crafting resources and directing them to their checkpoint near the town square.
On Prospit, Arcjec, Laivan and Albion's dream selves meet up and chat, Arcjec's dream self having woken up off-screen since the last time they were shown. The trio flies over the buildings as Dream!Laivan explains the concept behind their existence and what they're supposed to do for their players. After the discussion, he offers a grand tour of the dream moon, which Dream!Arcjec and Dream!Albion accept with varying levels of excitement.
Back on LOMAM, Arcjec arrives at the town square, where he is greeted by Metatron. As the built-in player guide to the Game, he explains several mechanics that will be vital to their progress, including the crafting system, the checkpoints and the gates that connect all of their planets together. He also gives Arcjec a welcome gift: a portable communicator they can use to keep in touch with the rest of their session. Metatron then coaches Arcjec through their first item creation: the Beats Taking The Subway scythe.
Further into their conversation, Metatron tells Arcjec that he needs to connect to the hero of life, Ellsee. Metatron comments on the two's relationship saying that they seem close, but Arcjec quickly brushes it off and changes the subject again. Metatron moves on saying that everything he's done with Arcjec is all he needs from him and that once the planets align then the initial stretch of Arcjec's journey will be complete. Metatron finally leaves in a puff of smoke, but not before he tells Arcjec that they're doing amazing so far.
Arcjec decides to open a new memo to make sure the rest of his friends are up to speed. He tells them that his DMs are now open, and that everyone should share their game progress so far, letting them know that he's already made it to his first checkpoint.
Taz is the first one to respond. They bicker for a short while, before she tells him that she's stuck and can't make any more progress without going over to his planet. This leads to the two having a conversation of reconciliation, in which Arcjec apologizes for ignoring her messages, saying that he wasn't trying to make her upset and only needed some breathing room. She accepts their apology, and they agree to work together from this point on.
Albion and Ellsee quickly follow in their responses, the latter informing the others of the purple-eyed demons that have started interfering with their entries. Albion believes that they're under someone's control, and that she briefly spoke to the man behind it. When Murrit and Calder join the conversation, it devolves into an argument about Murrit's attempted assassination of Ellsee through his boobdrones. Everyone is appalled by their actions, and Calder's further needling drives Murrit to drop their persona, withdrawing from the memo after telling everyone that they >([don't know what you just brought in with you.]. Albion asks if they should keep an eye on her, but Arcjec says that they already have their hands full as it is. He warns them that things are about to get messy and closes the memo.
Immediately afterward, Arcjec messages Ellsee, concerned about her apparent alliance with Calder. The conversation quickly devolves into lighthearted bickering as she brushes him off, and the two decide to get on with her entry by opening the Game's tutorial. On Arcjec's end, it has been updated with new information to reflect Ellsee's unique entry process: their job is to bring Repiton into The Medium by activating a series of pillars they are to place around the planet.
Through some nudging, Arcjec manages to get Ellsee to explain the most outlandish aspects of their past, including the supernatural qualities of their staff, their talking lusii and the magical book inherited from their ancestor. They're skeptical but curious, and Ellsee asks them to just trust her. He concedes, going back to their entry preparations before noticing that Possumdad is safe and sound by Ellsee's tent.
Arcjec asks if things are ready after Ellsee activates the portal leading to the first location. Arcjec informs her that he's going to go in order of what's closest to her, however, he also informs her that he doesn't know the exact coordinates and that there's no zoom option on his application. Ellsee voices her concerns on not wanting to go to Stronghold 21 due to the risk of becoming a walking target, most likely due to her blood color. Arcjec attempts to gives her advice, telling Ellsee to take a deep breath and move forward anyways. Arcjec ends up messing up the coordinates and Ellsee walks directly into the Stronghold square. which leads to Arcjec figuratively and literally beginning to beat himself up about being terrible at lying. Arcjec begins to ramble to himself in nervousness and annoyance as Ellsee panics, but quickly begins to focus again working with what he's got. Ellsee preforms magic tricks with her staff to keep the crowd distracted as Arcjec and drops the first pillar in the middle of the plaza. She quickly dives out of the way of the massive pillar before activating it and leaving rapidly. Ellsee tumbles back through the portal to her hive, exhausted. She decides to dance out her frustrations and Arcjec joins in with her. He tells her to pretend that never happened and to not mention it ever again. Ellsee asks if he had fun listening to her music which he reluctantly confirms that he did. They tell Ellsee that they'll make up for what they did with the last pillar.
Arcjec goes back to check on his hive, which is now a wreck with a hole going through the wall of his room and demons all around it. They move their cursor to go inside their messy hive, collectibles strewn all over the place. They grab a replica of their replica fetch modus to give Ellsee, in which she captchalogues her book, which unbeknownst to her results in a revised and corrupted version. She gets back to work with Arcjec after resting, with him promising to try his best to be there for her through the whole thing. Ellsee again repeats her nervousness, wondering everything was going to be okay, and Arcjec tells her that she's going to have to trust him.
During the events of [S] Ellsee: Enter. , Arcjec and Ellsee continue to work together with him placing down the pillars and her going through the portals and activating them. The portals take her to the Northern Wastes, Kenede Spaceport, Bizkantine Ruins, and the Black Depths. All but one of the planets connect and Repiton makes the jump as the pillars activate and Arcjec sighs in relief as Ellsee's Denizen is released and she enters the Medium.
Post-EOA2
As Taz makes her first foray into Arcjec's planet, she stumbles across a scene from her youth, brought to life through LOMAM's mechanics: her, Ellsee, Laivan and Arcjec, back when they were children, on the day when Arcjec asked Taz if she thought they were going to be friends forever.
After she spends some time reminiscing, Arcjec finds Taz, snapping her out of the flashback. He greets her with a smile and reassures her that he's right there, and the two of them walk off together.
Act 3 Act 1
On the day following the Players' entry into the Medium, Arcjec reopens their old memo in order to keep the group up to date on their individual progress on their planets. Albion is the first to respond, claiming they met on Prospit not too long ago, but Arcjec doesn't seem remember it very clearly. Eventually, the group discusses the current situation on Repiton, the Harbingers and Mirthamaniacs storming Stronghold 21 and the state of chaos the planet's entry into the Game has caused. Throughout the memo, Arcjec tags Murrit multiple times, who only responds to fall back into the same deflective patterns. They then ban themself from it, much to Arcjec's exasperation.
Later, Ellsee is seen falling asleep in the snow on her planet after the exhausting task of entering the game. She appears to have a flashback of her and Arcjec in his hive, dancing around together. Arcjec bumps into Ellsee which leads to both of them falling on the floor laughing together. Arcjec says he's hungry which leads to Ellsee and him into the kitchen. Both Arcjec and Ellsee are seen talking about Ayala and Ari, two heads of Ellsee's lusus. Arcjec compliments Ellsee on how her new look is coming along and saying that she seems happier. The conversation turns into Ellsee complaining about how she can't go out and do things like how Arcjec can. Arcjec offers to try and find a way to sneak her out, but she refuses. Ellsee questions Arcjec about how he seems content with what is happening to the both of them. He pauses to think, but overall reassures her that everything is okay and that he'll always be here for her because they're family.
When Ellsee talks to White Noise, they discuss that in the past Arcjec acted differently towards everyone including Ellsee after her training. People tried getting to him, but he wouldn't budge. He was scared and angry, yelled and refused to listen to anything. However, Arcjec never changed his trolltag when they moved over to Skorp, so Ellsee found their Skorp attempted to act like a different person in order to contact him. White Noise has also attempted to speak to him, but it seems all Arcjec does is mumble to something and draw symbols. He doesn't know what's happened to Arcjec, but believes that something has gotten inside their head.
Personality and traits
At the start of the comic, Arcjec is a closed off and isolated person. They display a sardonic, irritable attitude toward most people, having little patience when dealing with others, and generally seeing things from a bleak perspective. They place a great deal of importance on the way things "should" be and how they work in the "real world", holding a jaded, disaffected philosophy on life. Paradoxically, he still is heavily invested in certain conversations, as evidenced by the amount of effort put into his responses whenever his friends try to contact him and the very fact that he leaves these channels of contact open.
This mindset is later shown to mask Arcjec's genuine attachment and care for his old life and friends. As the story progresses, they start being more open with the rest of the cast, apologizing for their unkind behavior and being more honest about their emotions. He makes an effort to reconnected with all of his friends, even taking charge in an unofficial "friendleader" capacity if the situation calls for it, and sharing moments of lighthearted banter with many of them in a sharp contrast to his biting interactions from before.
A good part of Arcjec's struggles are related to his mental health. The way other characters have described his falling out with the group, along with his own conversation about his emotional state with Kidjec, seem to indicate symptoms of a depressive disorder. Their habit of indulging in cans of Code Red - a strong antidepressant[2] on Repiton - is further confirmation of the fact, having even been labelled an addiction in the comic's text.
Arcjec's past interests include the collection of pop culture memorabilia, such as Funko Pops and action figures of comic characters, playing SBVRPRPG's with his friends, and drawing. They also used to do cosplay, being depicted going to a Repitonian comic con with Taz in one of the photos in their album,
His blood is of a unique "corn syrup" color, a result of combination of normal Repitonian bronze blood and lime blood. This blood type and Arcjec's sigil were passed down to them by their ancestor, Thesal Voorat, after his attempted suicide and subsequent revival by Zekura Raines during The Renaissance.
Relationships
Taz Poemme
Arcjec and Taz have had a difficult relationship since the comic started. Stemming from their largely difficult past and supposedly unrealized romantic entanglements. There are many indications that their relationship was at one point unhealthy or unrequited, mutually or otherwise. After some kind of relationship-ending incident, Arcjec has since vehemently avoided any interaction with Taz for over two sweeps while Taz has since repeatedly tried to reach out to Arcjec. The resulting fallout deeply affected Arcjec, resulting a drastic change in personality and demeanor, while Taz felt abandoned by Arcjec.
When the two are forced to interact with one another during the events of the game, the two are constantly at each other's throats, barely being able to stay civil with one another, even for the sake of their mutual survival. Despite this, even though it is very slight, they did have a couple moments of levity and have been shown to complete their goals as a team rather efficiently all things considered.
During Post-EOA2 and Act 3 Act 1, they reconnect and bonded with each other once Taz arrives on Arcjec's planet, resulting in better communication and none of the hatred and lashing out from before. Any jabs or insults they throw at each other overall seem lighthearted banter typical of their contrasting personalities. Austin has also stated on Tumblr that they have "extremely red" feelings for each other[3], "miss each other but are too upset and stubborn to admit it"[4], and "are in love and very upset at themselves all the time"[5].
Laivan Ferroo
Despite Arcjec's base unfriendly demeanor, him and Laivan appear to have a pleasant friendship. They seem to have mutually requited yet unrealized pale crushes on each other. The two, along with Calder, used to play together as kids, but this appears to have ended or become rare as Arcjec grew distant and depressed.
After speaking in the newest memo in Act 3 Act 1, they still seem close in some sort of way, with Laivan remembering Arcjec's wriggling day (or as Laivan called it, a birthday) and asking him about it.
Ellsee Raines
Arcjec and Ellsee have a unclear relationship. Ellsee seems to value and trust him a great deal. One of her goals at the beginning of the comic was to finally meet him and introduce herself personally, though she is never able to bolster up the courage to actually do it, even when she's already at his hive.
Ellsee appears to care for Arcjec and worries for his wellbeing, even dropping all of her fear to run back to him in order to try and rescue him once she notices the meteor heading towards his hive. Despite this, Arcjec doesn't appear to know much about Ellsee at all; though he does seem to have an easier time speaking to her than the other trolls in his chat fodder. When Ellsee asks if she was likeable, Arcjec does actually try to give her advice (albeit poorly). In Act 3 Act 1 Arcjec and Ellsee are seen sharing a hive and call each other a family.
Biologically, Ellsee and Arcjec's relationship are the equivalent of human siblings, while their ancestors were in a matespritship. This would make their relationship closest to siblings, with their ancestors as their parents.
Murrit Turkin
Arcjec does not appear to be a big fan of Murrit. After reading through her memo, he believes that the game is a prank set up by him and the others to make fun of him and later notes during a conversation that he is a "slam jockey with more exposed RGB wires than common decency". When telling Zehanpuryu about what he believes should have happened post-entry, he admits that Murrit is a "friend" and that he is "actually way worse at explaining things than you or this game."
Arcjec seems to have known Murrit since he was six sweeps old, as seen in a flashback. They have talked enough for Arcjec to notice Murrit's tendencies, such as commenting that they "hate when they do that" after Murrit bans themself from a memo.
Jentha Briati
Arcjec mentioned Jentha during a conversation with Taz as they were working towards his entry. They seem to be relatively aware of each other's interests, and share some in the form of Funkos, but otherwise there is little information on their relationship.
Calder Kerian
Calder and Arcjec were once friends in their youth, but that doesn't appear to be the case anymore.
In the memo in Act 3 Act 1, their interactions are tense and curt, though Arcjec attempts to be courteous as with the rest of the cast. Arcjec comments that Calder sounds "different now" and that "it feels like I don't know who I'm talking to." Arcjec also states that he has no qualms in banning Calder from the memo after telling him to knock it off when overstepping Taz's boundaries.
Serpaz Helilo
Serpaz and Arcjec seem to have been friends in their youth. There is not much information on their current relationship, but Serpaz seems to think of Arcjec as silly. They seem to not have any problems or tension with each other. When Arcjec cuts Serpaz off from rambling about her entry in the Act 3 Act 1 memo, he reassures her that he's taking her seriously and that she can talk later.
Albion Shukra
Albion and Arcjec seem to get along well. The two speak about their relationship when they were younger in the memo in Act 3 Act 1. Albion comments on how Arcjec was "one of the few people" who believed in her position when they were younger as well. Arcjec tells her that he thought it was an elaborate backstory she made for a character. Arcjec comments on how he would consistently tell her when they were younger that she would always be good at the game he played, and that she unfortunately never joined. She tells Arcjec how she was on Prospit with him but he doesn't remember, having had issues with his dreamself at the time.
Sova Amalie
There is little information on their relationship for the most part, however it is implied that they've talked in the past, with Sova bringing up in Act 3 Act 1 that she's read weirder from Arcjec after a particularly bizarre comment from him. She's also mentioned that as "(snide as he may be at times... at the end of the night, ARCJEC has been nothing but genuinely "real" with [her].)"[6] They don't seem to have any problems with each other.
Occeus Coliad
There seems to be something going on between the two but there's not much information about their relationship. Occeus comments in Act 3 Act 1 that their past interactions have been more "charitable" and what Arcjec is doing is "weird". There seems to be some sort of tension between the two but not that much.
Trivia
- Arcjec's chat handle, animatedHumorist, is a holdover from when they were younger, meaning "energetic comedian". "Animated" could also refer to cartoons, an interest Arcjec had in his youth.
- Arcjec is often compared to Karkat Vantas
, due to their similarly cantankerous demeanors, penchants for tirades and roles as "the first troll" in their respective comics. This has made shipping the two characters to become a running joke in the fandom, which was brought to a head during April Fool's Day in 2017, when a short four-page bonus comic dedicated to the concept was published on the site - Arcjec has a canonical voice, that of which belonging to Paul Henderson, who also happens to be the voice of Karkat Vantas in the Voxus dub of Homestuck. Examples of his part being played include the Yulepassing PSA, and Arcalicious.
- The fake names given to Arcjec on pages 3 and 4 of the comic are "hypocritical asshat" and "little shit".
- Arcjec has a habit of saying whatever he happens to be typing out loud.
- Being a Prospit dreamer, (technically) a bronzeblood and a Hero of Breath, Arcjec's would-be extended zodiac sign is Taurus, Sign of the Unfledged.
- Arcjec has a figurine of John Egbert in his room.
- He runs a Filler account under the username NextIssue.
- This username may be a reference to the Next Issue Project.
- It is the only abandoned account out of the cast.
Gallery
Kidjec
Arcjec as a child - Soul Evans cosplay
Dreamself Arcjec
Arcjec pre-game
Arcjec in-game
Arcjec wearing a mask
Dreamself Arcjec
Arcjec's Filler account
Arcjec meeting with Taz on his planet
Arcjec's trollodex card
Arcjec's Pure Self as shown in the Magnum Opus cover art
References
- ↑ https://vasterror.tumblr.com/faq
- ↑ Now, if it had been a Mountain Dew: Code Red, then you’d be a little worried. That stuff is a real potent antidepressant. - Snowbound Blood: Volume Eight
- ↑ @VastError on Tumblr on May 20, 2019."[Ask: do taz and arcjec have black feelings for eachother?] if by black you mean extremely red then yes" https://vasterror.tumblr.com/post/185008621064/do-taz-and-arcjec-have-black-feelings-for
- ↑ @VastError on Tumblr on an unknown date."[Ask: whats the deal with taz and arcjec and their relationship?] they miss each other but are too upset and stubborn to admit it" https://vasterror.tumblr.com/post/174870026574/whats-the-deal-with-taz-and-arcjec-and-their
- ↑ @VastError on Tumblr on Apr 11, 2019."[Ask: what is up with arcjec and taz] they are in love and very upset at themselves all the time" https://vasterror.tumblr.com/post/184094908769/what-is-up-with-arcjec-and-taz
- ↑ https://www.deconreconstruction.com/bonus/ama1/1 Sova's portion of the Cast AMA
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