>>150887648
Four teenaged internet friends, John, Rose, Dave and Jade, play a game called Sburb together. It triggers an apocalypse on Earth and transports them into the Incipisphere, where they must complete quests on their personal planets to create a new universe.
They are talked to ('trolled') by a group of aliens from another universe - Aradia, Tavros, Sollux, Nepeta, Karkat, Kanaya, Terezi, Vriska, Equius, Gamzee, Eridan, and Feferi - who also played their version of the game that failed ("Sgrub"). These 12 trolls come from a hierarchical world divided by blood color (left to right - lowest to highest on the hemospectrum) called Alternia. Frendships form across timelines and species. The trolls' session of the game becomes entwined with the humans’ success.
Sburb is not just a game but a cosmic mechanism that seeds universes and sustains a cycle of destruction and rebirth. Time travel, alternate selves, and doomed timelines are major elements. Characters like Dave must repeatedly loop through time to ensure events unfold correctly.
The story introduces an alternate version of the original kids from a "post-scratch" universe, reborn with new backgrounds. This includes new characters - Jane (Nanna), Roxy (Mom), Jake (Grandpa), and Dirk (Bro) - as well as a second group of trolls ("Dancestors"), who are teenaged versions of the trolls' ancestors.
Central to this plot is Lord English, a time-traveling, nearly unstoppable villain who is a fusion of several characters, but mainly Caliborn, a cherub who has a sister named Calliope he shared a body with, but they eventually grew into seperate people. The goal becomes not just to beat the game but also to defeat Lord English.
The characters work across universes, timelines, and death to build a new universe and escape the game. Terezi forces John to 'retcon' her decision to kill Vriska, which works to rewrite the story and create a "perfect timeline" wherein Vriska can sacrifice herself to let her friends escape.
