Bright Eclipsis is a two player, play-by-post game about two alien pilots crashing into the same derelict rock and needing each other in order to survive. It is a game about communication, and building a connection with someone who doesn’t speak your language. It is a game about learning to understand each other anyways.
It's also a hack of There is a Light at the Edge of the World by momatoes and was inspired by media like Void Rivals, Scavengers Reign, Star Trek, and Project Hail Mary!
You can grab it for pwyw here: https://the-horned-sphinx.itch.io/bright-eclipsis
Buuuut if you want a little something extra you can pay $2.22 and get Appendices X, a 18+ supplement that contains six alternative gameplay prompts inspired by fanfic tropes!
A play-by-post game about two alien pilots who crash into the same empty rock and must learn to communicate to survive.
When Elizabeth enters the parlor, it has been utterly transformed.
All the curtains are drawn, and the room cast in a warm, cozy glow by all manner of lanterns and candles (all placed and/or protected to mitigate fire hazards, naturally). Mirrors of various sizes and shapes have been commandeered from around the castle, all strategically angled to maximize the effect of the light. (Leander will, of course, return them all to their proper places. As he will the linens, mattresses, cushions, pillows, furniture, and some kind of sphere covered in mirrored mosaic tiles he found.)
He has somehow managed to suspend a tented canopy of sheets overhead, draped over furniture at the extremes to form a large enclosed space and with that mirror-sphere hung from the center. The candlelight has been specifically angled to catch its surface, casting dappled reflections across the entire interior.
The floor of the fort has been entirely covered (save for the low table in the center, laden with cakes, cookies, and all manner of sweets) with mattresses and plush cushions, creating a soft surface almost two feet deep. Further pillows and cushions are piled around the perimeter for back support and lounging purposes, and even more stand ready for hugging or otherwise arranging for maximum comfort.
To the right side of the fort’s entrance is a cart stocked with most every drink one could think of, with a teapot already steeping and a few teacups and saucers beside it.
Leander stands to the left of the entrance, clad in a pajama set of deep blue silk with gold piping. He smiles, warm and barely nervous at all, and his eyes are kind. He gestures to the fort.
“I know it’s rather large for just the two of us, but once I got going I couldn’t seem to stop!”
After wandering the halls and grounds hoping to stumble across Harley, Leander settles for leaving a note tucked between the door and frame to their rooms.
Harlequin,
Greetings!
I have had no luck finding you in-person, so I am leaving this message where I hope you will find it.
It occurs to me that we are both recent arrivals, and that perhaps you might like to go for a walk about the gardens sometime? I know very few people here, and I find myself feeling a bit… adrift, I suppose.
Which is not to say I’m not happy to be here! Goodness, I am more grateful and content to be here than I can express. Still, I figured you might be feeling similarly untethered, and I should love to spend time in your company. Besides, as members of Queen Elizabeth’s retinue, would it not be beneficial to get to know one another?
If we continue to pass as ships in the night, my rooms are off the west hall, third door down. Feel free to stop by, or leave a note of your own if you’d prefer!
6 screenshots / Detective Tim Rockford x fem!reader
Summary: Tim falls victim to another TikTok trend.
Warnings: None! All fluff, established relationship, nicknames.
A/N: GUYS. I'm experiencing writers' block on my Pero fic 😭😭😭 so to try and get past it, I'm falling back on two of my favourite things to write: Our The Rockford Portfolio couple + epistolary fics 😊 This one is just silly and short, Shutterbug tries out another couples trend on Tim (see Wrong Number and Macarons for some of her other pranks 🤭), and as always, can be read standalone. This trend is all over my fyp but kind of hard to describe? If you're curious, just search 'Isopod' on Tiktok - I feel like it's the sequel to "Would you still love me if I were a worm?" 🤣🤣
Dividers by @saradika-graphics / Series Masterlist
<Tip for reading: click on the first screenshot, and swipe/tap to go to the next 🥰>
Vampyric Review #73: The Citizen of the World (15)
And now to catch up (and perhaps go even a bit further) from my sick day on this one too
Letter XXI. Same address as before: Lien Chi Altangi (London) -> Fum Hoam (Pekin/Beijing).
Lien writes of plays. The differences between European & Chinese plays include indoor vs outdoor and <4 hours vs multi-day affairs. A footnote gives more details about Chinese theatre, like that in China female roles would be played by boys; that would seem to have been the usual practice in England until ~a century prior to this work (Folger Shakespeare Library).
Lien needs to give a name to his black-wearing companion if he's going to keep bringing him up. For simplicity's sake I'm just going to call him Mr. Black. Lien & Black go to the theatre together.
Seat placements are from closest to stage to furthest/highest rich to impoverished. From back to front, we have the rambunctious bunch, the orange eaters and those on dates, and in the front the ones who fashion themselves critics but don't have the expertise to say anything worthwhile, just the wealth to pretend to.
I have little to say about the plot of the play itself. Between the second and third act is a man balancing a straw on his nose, which apparently was a real thing people loved in England at the time? Additionally, due to a child dancing in the play, it comes up how well-regarded dancing is in England (and a lucrative profession for those good at it) as opposed to being a "contemptible" trade in China.
Lien's main complaint about the play would seem to be that it has no sense of the need for sections of rest to contrast the tension.
Letter XXII. Same address as before. This one is, however, one of the ones that says from the same instead of to the same. Such a thing has so far appeared to be a distinction without a difference, but this letter seems to not be written to Fum Hoam; instead, he seems to write to one of the intermediaries (the Amsterdammer probably?).
Lien is finally unhappy about what happened to some member of his family; specifically, his son tried to make his way to Lien, but was taken prisoner and enslaved by Tartars before being purchased by a Persian. Honestly, I think Lien's only truly unhappy because his son's masters have been unrefined and would have easily shrugged it off just as he did his wife & daughter's imprisonment had they been forcing his son to philosophize and look pretty.
Lien goes on to insult Hindus, Christians, Jews, and Muslims and call all of humanity irrational. In any case, Lien is actually upset here.
Letter XXIII. Same address as before.
The English are charitable, and sensible with how to enact their charity too. The English are so charitable that (as was mentioned in a previous letter) they did a collection for the French prisoners of war despite that political and private interest would tend to conflict with the idea of caring for the French.
Included because title-drop: I am particularly struck with one who writes these words upon the paper that enclosed his benefaction: "The mite of an Englishman, a Citizen of the World, to Frenchmen, prisoners of war, and naked."
This letter ends with a parable about the Emperor Hamti, who celebrated a victory in war by supplying those such as the maimed with new clothes and enough money to last a year. The moral: making one person's life better is better than having a thousand captives.
End Letter XXIII.
I may wind up putting reading this on hiatus for a bit to prioritize writing for a short story competition I entered.
