



Teams are filled on a first-come, first-serve basis. The first thirteen people to sign up for a ship team are on that team. (More information on the sign up page.) You can see the current team roster here.

In addition to the main ship teams, there are also Team Abstrata, Themed Teams, and Team Noir.




How Friendleaders Are Selected (during sign ups)


If a team reaches at least five members by the end of the sign up period but no one has volunteered to become FL, the mods will e-mail all teammates asking for someone to step forward. If no one volunteers within 24 hours of receiving the e-mail, the first person to sign up for that team automatically becomes FL. If they don't want the position, they will be responsible for finding another FL for the team and e-mailing the mods with the new FL's contact information before they can step down. If a definitive FL cannot be confirmed by the end of the switching period, the team will be disbanded and (probably) sorted into other teams.

Friendleader Responsibilities

A team’s Friendleader is responsible for:

  1. Creating/maintaining the team DW community

  2. Submitting the entry for each main/collab round
  3. Organizing the collaborative round
  5. Checking in with the mods when asked


We will be contacting friendleaders on May 9, a few days before rosters are announced, in order to confirm their friendleadership and to give them time to prepare. Once friendleadership has been definitively confirmed, each friendleader should email the mods at with their DW username, their team's ship, their vice-FL's DW username, and the name of their team's DW community so that we can add it to the team roster and the team comm list.

FLs can create their team communities before May 9 if they're feeling particularly gung ho, though you shouldn't invite team members to the comm until the roster is finalized. You can also inherit a team comm from the previous year's friendleader. You'll have to do the legwork to get in contact with that FL yourself, though. Last year's comms are listed at the 2013 HSWC Team Roster.


We strongly recommend that the friendleader choose a vice-friendleader. This vice-friendleader can have individual jobs (for example, the art or writing team coordinator) or they might just serve as friendleader when the main friendleader is away. Should a team’s friendleader be unreachable for any reason, the vice-friendleader would be contacted by the mods.


Team Communities




Team Abstrata



Themed Teams

Similar to Team Abstrata, Themed Teams are not limited to a single ship. Instead, these teams produce work around a central theme in Homestuck: for example, "Team Intermission," "Team Moirallegiance," "Team Ancestors," etc.

These teams are required to use themes that encompass more than four characters (for example, Team Beta Kids would not be acceptable). They're also intended to give representation to rarer aspects of the fandom that may not get work about them in the HSWC otherwise, so while "Team Beta Trolls" has more than four characters, it is still not suitable for a Themed Team. All Themed Teams must be cleared by the mods and assigned a standardized name before being added to the roster, so please e-mail the mods at before creating a new Themed Team.

During main/collab rounds, these teams can create entries that demonstrate their theme using any ship, as long as it fits the theme and is not already represented by another ship team. For example, Team Auspisticism could submit Diamonds Droog c3< Psiioniic c3< WV, but only if there was not already a Diamonds Droog c3< Psiioniic c3< WV team, and Team Guardians could submit Alpha!Rose <3 Nanna if there was not already an Alpha!Rose <3 Nanna team. As usual, different quadrants = different ships.

Like normal teams, Themed Teams have a minimum of 5 members and a maximum of 13. There cannot be more than one team about the same theme (there can't be two Team Moiraillegiances, for example). During sign ups, participants can join a themed team by writing the team name in the write-in slot.

Team Noir


There is a one-week period after each Main Round closes where Team Noir participants can "switch in" to the other competing teams and replace team members who have vanished or dropped from the competition. These periods will be announced on noirvelous when they open, so please keep an eye on that comm for posts!

You should join Team Noir if:

Team Switches, Drops, Hiatuses

Switching Teams

All participants will be able to freely switch their team membership throughout the sign up period. If sign ups close and your team is too small to participate in the HSWC, you will have a few additional days in which you can switch to another team (for more information, see the Schedule.)

After the official team roster is published, switching will be allowed only under extreme circumstances, i.e., when there is severe interpersonal stress within the team, severe conflict with the team's friendleader, or the team has been severely crippled by Vanished Participant Syndrome (though VPS cases follow disbanding protocols instead).

If this is the case:

  1. Contact the team's mod liaison. You can see who your team's mod liaison is on the Big Kahuna spreadsheet, and e-mail with their name in the subject of your e-mail so that they'll see it. Give your mod a brief overview of the situation and list what teams you would like to be switched to (including Team Noir, the Themed Teams, and Team Abstrata).

  4. Assuming you successfully switched teams, your new friendleader will contact you, and you will leave your old team’s DW comm and join the new one.


Team Noir members can switch in to all other open teams for a one week period after each Main Round. The mods will mostly handle this for your team, so don't worry about it. Switch periods will be announced on Team Noir's comm.

Dropping from the HSWC

All you have to do is submit another sign up form with your team name as REMOVE, and you will be dropped from the roster. It's also polite to send your team or at least your friendleader a note telling them of your drop so they know what's going on. If you don't want to contact your team yourself, you can message the mod team at—please mention your DW username and your team—and we'll contact your FL for you.







Disbanding a Team


  2. Wait/discuss for the next 72 hours.
  3. If there is a consensus among the members who have spoken up, please contact your team's mod liaison with your team name and decision. To find your team's mod liaison, check the Big Kahuna spreadsheet and the e-mail with your liaison's name in the subject.

    1. If no one responds to the community post, what happens to the team is your decision.
    2. Please mention which team(s) you and your teammates would like to switch to (including Abstrata, Themed Teams, and Noir), or if you would like to drop from the HSWC instead. You can go to different teams or stay together, as you choose. Your liaison will contact those teams' FLs so they know you're coming.
  4. Members of the disbanded team will then have 72 hours to transfer to other teams via the team roster. At the end of the 72 hour period, they will be automatically placed in Team Noir.

Vanished Participant Syndrome



For friendleaders



For members

If your friendleader has vanished, contact your mod liaison; look for their name on the Big Kahuna spreadsheet and then e-mail with the mod's name in the subject. Please mention your DW username and your team name in your e-mail. If there is someone within the team who is willing to take over as friendleader, please also mention that in your e-mail. A reminder that a team cannot participate in the HSWC without a friendleader. If no one on your team is willing to step up, consider offering to become the friendleader yourself.


If you can't find any of your other teammates and you think your team might be dead, e-mail your mod liaison (see the first paragraph). They'll try to help you locate the rest of your team.

Teams also always have the option to merge with other existing teams (assuming the second team has room). If no one wants to be Friendleader, you may also consider merging. In this case, please follow the procedure to disband your team.

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