I've been playing Galaxy Princess Zorana on both desktop and laptop, so I've managed about 5-6 complete(-ish) games, with another one in progress. At some point, I started keeping lists and tables of the various Electors and how to win their votes.

Since there's not yet a wiki (the full game isn't out yet, just the beta), I figured I might as well share my findings.

I'm posting this tonight, although it's incomplete, so that I can revise it later with updated info. I'd rather do that than try to rush through every planet, trying every possible combination of logothetes.

( Electors organized by sector/planet )

Apparently, the last time I tried to access my old Hotmail account was in April of 2018, or thereabouts.

Which is much *later* than I'd have thought, considering that until recently, I was convinced that it had disappeared off the face of the Earth.

But, no. It's still there, replete with 6-700 "update" emails about things I cared very strongly about, a decade or more ago.

This afternoon, I was so tired, and I couldn't tell whether it was ( the heat. )

I'm working on an early draft of my justmarriedexchange fic, while still also working on my multi-chapter Palia WIP. This is in between drafts of a still-secret origfic project. I had toyed with the idea of submitting to IFComp (despite my first foray being, uh, less than ideal), but the truth is, I have plenty on my plate, right now.

In reading news, ( I am still reading. )

I've also been rewatching Spy x Family on Netflix, and I went back and watched Code: White, too. Weirdly, the dub for that seems to have different voice actors. Netflix doesn't have that big of a library, and sometimes I'm tempted to reactivate my Crunchyroll account.

Caught up on Murderbot!

Time to go back and read some plot recaps, reviews, etc. I read the books long enough ago that I don't quite remember enough to be sure of what they changed for the show.

I thought about doing it before, I don't remember who recommended it to me and when, and I've definitely run into it multiple times in my browsing, but... yesterday I finally sat down and started reading Trash of the Count's Family.

Now, first of all, the very first chapter features a fairly lengthy (PG-13) bath scene of the male lead. Some of the fan websites feature gaggles of straight dudes gently losing their marbles over this (largely positive). As a first impression, it definitely gives the vibe that "this one is for the girls and the gays", and I can understand why the fic fandom for this book is huge.

Second. No one warned me? Clyde Trashcount or whatever his name is? Is a fucking princess. Like, this character is a princess who just happens to be of the male gender but yeah, otherwise, a princess. No, I can't really explain it any better than that.

Third or whatever, cats and dragons, so yeah, those are both good reasons to read a book, for sure. Cats and dragons. Catlike dragons, also.

A minor quibble is that, as far as I can tell, every single character has eyes the exact same shade of gray-black. To the point that I briefly entertained the idea that the hero is the bastard half-brother of the protagonist. But no, this appears to be simply a stylistic art choice.

I obviously had a bad couple of nights in terms of sleep etc., but I'm coping mainly by trying to distract myself.

Distractions I've indulged in:

1. Palia. Still very heavily playing this, especially this weekend, making up for the fact that I didn't play much over the week.

2. Reading the tagset/request summary for justmarriedexchange. Probably gonna sign up today or tomorrow, and yes, I did nom Palia, too.

3. Over the last week, I've watched enough Kruggsmash Dwarf Fortress videos that I had to talk myself down from getting the game (for reasons).

4. Finally watched the last season of Community. It sure is a bunch of television episodes.

5. Also catching up on the most recent season of Leverage: Redemption, and yes, there was a moment that made me scream at a pitch audible only to dogs.

6. When I fail to do these things, I read the news, which depresses me.

I formulated this post originally for the lore channel of the official Palia Discord server. It got a pretty positive response, so I decided to post a backup copy to Dreamwidth.

I know there's been a lot of chatter about the connection between ancient humans, Flow, and the emergence of Majiri people. I haven't read all the threads (so many!), so I probably missed a bunch of important stuff, but it's made me think. Especially in the context of Subira's temple quests, the consoles, and the "protocols" that they mention.

IIRC, two protocols are mentioned: the "Cosmos" protocol (here) and the "Mirror" protocol (which apparently predated it). Mudan personally enacted the Mirror Protocol, as per his letter to his wife (here). We have reason to believe that both protocols were attempts to fight whatever mysterious "shadow(s)" brought about the downfall of Mudan's golden age.

( More lore and speculation )

Alternatively, I could be full of it. That's always a distinct possibility.

I realize that I've been mostly radio silent on here for a while.

Alas, now is not a time when I can fix that, because my tendinitis is flaring up, and I promised myself that I would do zero typing for at least a week.

For various reasons, I spent (almost) the entire weekend playing Palia. Normally, I'm not an MMO person, but the cozy vibes reeled me in.