#nested iterations

[thewertsearch]

TT: We are like the emissaries to what lies beyond this small bubble in their unfathomable dark foam. TT: Derse skirts its edge, and during the lunar eclipse, we graze it, and that's when their intent for us becomes clear.

Is that it, then? You can only understand Horrorspeak when you're in the Furthest Ring?

If so, it must take nerves of steel to actually try and negotiate with them. We've seen what that place looks like without Bubble protection, and it is not pretty.

TG: what am i supposed to do [...] TT: They will teach you how to navigate the unnavigable. TT: The result should be a map. [...] TG: why TT: To plot a course through the Furthest Ring. TG: plot a course to what

Aradia said Rose would never find the Green Sun - and she was right.

But Rose isn't the only Derse-born Player in the session.

TG: whats the deal with this thing [...] TT: I don't know that there is a deal with it. [...] TT: It is what it sounds like. TT: A huge sun out in the literal middle of nowhere, and it is bright green. TT: It is simply, TT: The Green Sun.

I feel like Rose is being a little too flippant here. If you're planning on messing with one of the cores of reality, I don't think there's such a thing as too much caution.

The Sun is an enormous, intensely supernatural pseudostar of unknown, possibly unknowable origin. The game taps it to create First Guardians, but we don't know if that's its intended purpose, or if it even has an intended purpose. Unlike everything else in Sburb, it is not duplicated across sessions, doesn't feature in the game's storyline, and is only referenced in a cryptic stone monument buried hundreds of feet under LOLAR.

It's not even in the Medium! It's 'part of Sburb' only in the loosest possible sense, and feels more like something completely foreign to the game that Skaia is just using. Even the Horrorterrors feature more heavily in the game than the Sun.

Rose doesn't seem too curious, but I am. Just what the fuck is this thing? Is it the only one of its kind, or does Skaia draw its power from other enormous structures, hidden deep in oblivion?

TT: It is nearly twice the mass of our universe.

Scaled against every Sburb session, that's actually pretty small.

We know from Doc Scratch's introduction that every planet supporting intelligent life will have a First Guardian. Every universe will have at least one of these, since its creators will want somewhere to live. There are also universes with a surplus of intelligent species - the Alternian Empire has to be conquering someone.

In other words, this Sun is powering, at an absolute minimum, one First Guardian per universe. It's impossible to estimate how many universes there are - but if (as was implied) every intelligent species is destined to spawn sessions, and if even one session on a planet is successful every million years, the numbers get exponential really fast.

From a metaphysical standpoint, 10^50-ish kg just isn't that much. The First Guardians themselves probably have more collective mass than the Sun.

[mebis-reblogs]

Iterator superstructures are like honeycombs to me

Frames layered in an array, mounted over/inside a layer frame with legs

Idk when I'll have a chance to draw this so writing it out instead

[funkylittlebaldcharapoll]

FUNKY LITTLE BALD CHARACTER POLL ROUND FIVE: GROUP TWO

the union isn't the only team that's survived by banding together. four bald old men (okay, three old, one nebulously middle-aged) have persevered throughout the rounds where other old men have failed-- even narrowly evading defeat at the hands of old man mcgucket-- and forged a friendship so strong it's given them all BEAM ATTACKS. but their opponents are formidable in their own right. the iterators have swept every one of their polls by at least 17% of the votes, managing to thrash avatar aang himself, without having to use their special ability even once.

it may be their last chance. their SUPERSTRUCTURES are struggling to process five rounds' worth of data. if this poll, somehow, gets at least three hundred votes more than either of the other two in this round, and the iterators have lost the match, a tie will be called instead!

meanwhile, the BALD BEAM... hasn't grown any more powerful, because wallace's clay head isn't very shiny, but just like last round, if the old man brigade gets within 8% of the iterators, the dazzling display will overload the robots' optical sensors, also forcing a tie!

(old man art by @rats2 i am SO sorry for forgetting to credit you last round. there are so many steps to this thing)

[sundowngroup]

// did I ever post these (jonesy)

[littleruffian]

assorted kitties and the wierd tall pup they found in an unused part of the nest

[infoanalysishub]

PHP for Loop

Learn how to use the PHP for loop with syntax, detailed examples, and best practices. Understand initialization, conditions, nested loops, and real-life use cases to master PHP loops. PHP for Loop Guide: Syntax, Examples, and Best Practices Loops are an essential part of any programming language, and PHP provides multiple ways to repeat code, including for, while, do...while, and foreach. In…

[nidoskull]

am i the only person who's not a fan of canon-iterator region mods or

[trendingnow3-blog]

Day-5: Mastering Python Loops

Python Boot Camp-2023: Day-5

Python Loop: A Powerful Tool for Iterative Tasks Python, one of the most popular programming languages, offers a wide range of features and functionalities. Among these, loops stand out as a powerful tool for performing repetitive tasks. In this article, we’ll explore Python loops, their types, usage, and best practices to optimize your code. 1. Introduction to Python Loops Loops are essential…

[flickering-nightfall]

Playing with some ideas mostly regarding gender/reproduction in RW, and slugcat colonies.

Full transcript under the cut!

Creatures in Rain World are typically simultaneous hermaphrodites but require partners to reproduce, with either individual capable of being a genetic donor or carrier. Alongside what we are familiar with, this has lead to interesting reproductive strategies such as rotating donor/carrier roles, or dual/simultaneous genetic swaps.

Rotating donor/carrier roles - A K-selection reproductive strategy. One partner carries the first child, the other partner carries the next child, and so forth. Allows each partner to recover from the demands of childbearing.

Rain Deer aren't quite monogamous, but they tend to choose the same breeding partner whenever mating season rolls around. They serve as a donor one season, then bear and raise a child the next. Calves are raised away from the rain and worm grass, in places that have less food but more safety. Calf wool is softer, not yet gunked up by the dirty rainfall. Their legs are sturdier as children, allowing them to run for cover while the parent wards off threats.

Dual/simultaneous genetic swap - An r-selection reproductive strategy. Parents fulfill the donor and carrier role for each other. The more children you make, the more likely some are to survive!

Multiple batflies lay thousands of eggs in a single "blue fruit." Several eggs congeal and become nutrient paste for the surviving eggs (and for hungry slugcats). Like some plant seeds, batfly eggs that are consumed before pupating can survive passing through the digestive system. Ew.

Ancients also fell under this umbrella. Their genders (and the genders of iterators by extension, who have no sex anyways) could have been determined by a variety of other factors, such as societal role, donor/carrier preference, or simply different categorizations of personal expression.

It's difficult to say how well their common pronouns would translate to ours, but it seems they can translate to an extent, given what Moon and Pebbles use canonically.

Slugcats, like real slugs, can have children with a partner or self-fertilize. Unlike real slugs, they are often known to adopt.

In the case of self-fertilization: children who are born from one parent may display a large amount of genetic diversity despite the circumstances. Maybe slugcats have some sort of... genetic reservoir independent of their own genetic code?

Slugcats live 20-30 years on average... if they manage to reach adulthood. Their mortality rate is sadly rather high, especially in pups. If they were to develop as a civilization, it's likely their lifespan would increase dramatically.

Slugcats in a colony are more likely to have more children, and to successfully rear those children to adulthood, than those who wander alone or in small groups. The safety and stability of a colony cannot be understated.

Colonies either have a set, cycling migration path, or wander continuously. Survivor and Monk's tree home was a nesting site that their colony frequents about once a year. So it's likely that they'll see their family again!

...also, the strength of large colonies are why scavengers are likely to become the dominant species. In the time of Saint's era, continuous migration has become more of a risk, and it has become more difficult to support large populations. Slugcat populations have shrunk back to the more forgiving equatorial zones.

Saint's tongue is pretty unusual and probably unique to them, or to a small population that they hail from. Fur (of varying thickness) is much more common.

Meanwhile, scavengers are bulkier and covered in thicker insulating fur. They:

have seemingly massive populations

have a burgeoning society (the existence of merchants, tolls, bartering, elites and leaders)

are adept at communicating (non-verbally)

manipulate their environment

can build structures (scavenger-made structures were a scrapped idea from Saint's campaign)

can create complex weapons and tools

may have agriculture behind the scenes (unsure if scout parties prioritize exploration or hunting)

I would wager on scavengers developing more quickly than slugcats, but it would be nice if there was a future where both could co-exist.

[revelboo]

Could you do more of your story for TFP Sound wave? He is my favorite iteration of him and your writing is so good. I love your blog

Sure!

Bad Idea Pt 8

TFP Soundwave x Reader

• Ignoring Lazerbeak’s annoyance sitting at the back of his processor like a dark cloud, he turns his attention away from his screens to the small form enshrouded in a nest of blankets on his desk caged between his arms and uses a tendril to adjust one of your blankets, letting the graspers on the end linger against your neck so your emotions spark intoxicatingly through him. Reassuring him that all’s well as he watches over you and helping drown out the mental distress he can feel from the other end of the ship from Megatron’s little pet and the human that Shockwave has taken for reasons he’s trying very hard not to think about. It shouldn’t matter to him one way or the other, but after you? There’s a vague sense of guilt for those others even knowing there’s nothing he can do for them. You he can protect, though. And he will.

• Sleepily peering up at him as he works, he somehow knows the second you’re awake, head tipping down to stare at you as one of his tendrils slides against, then coils about your ankle to make you smile. For being a giant, spiky horror, he’s surprisingly sweet and clingy. “Anything exciting?” You ask, and his head tilts before lifting back to the bank of screens and then down to you in what you guess is a ‘no.’ From what you’ve seen of the feeds throughout the Nemesis, it’s normally pretty boring unless his big, even scarier boss is on a rampage.

• Your little head tilts up to watch the screens with him and he wonders if you’re trying to help or just bored. Running his graspers through your hair, he likes to think you enjoy his company, like to be with him. Remembering that you’re there waiting for him makes his tasks a bit more tolerable, even if leaving you unsupervised makes him uneasy. Old worries like raw wounds still hurting him even though he tries to bury them. Tries to forget and move on. You’re just so fragile.

• The steady slide of those graspers through your hair is almost hypnotic, every bit of tension easing under his attention. You’re never quite sure what’s going on in that pointy head of his, but his actions? Always trying to take care of you, worrying. It’s a pity he’s not a human guy, because you’d grab on and refuse to let go. He’s not human and you already feel that way as silly it is. It’s likely some weird combination of Stockholm’s and stress, but you enjoy being around him. Love how affectionate he is. Venting softly, one of his graspers slides over the shell of your ear, before he just curls the tendril about you, gently squeezing to make you laugh.

• Lowering his head when you tip your own up to look at him, he very carefully bumps his helm to your forehead, spark warming as you reach up to lay a soft palm on him. His affectionate, little songbird. The quick brush of your soft mouth against him sparks electric through him, freezing him in place, before you duck your head. Hiding how red your face now is from him.

Previous

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[meanbossart]

I have another intense ask about bhaalist AU drow...

Would drow be “forced” to procreate? And how would Asatrion take that information? If Astarion is his consort, would he be jealous of concubines? Would this also contribute to his overall dissatisfaction during his time trapped at the bhaal temple? Or Would he be happy that his lover has distractions, so he can have time alone - maybe plotting his escape?

I’m overall curious about how drow and Astarion’s relationship falls apart in your AU

I don't think so! Not that I care about biblically following canon or anything like that, but there was nothing throughout the story that made me think procreation was a requirement in Bhaal's plan. If you take the scrapped ending into consideration, it seems to be more of a punishment first and foremost.

Not to say I don't believe it to be a part of the man-made gospel in some form or another. Sarevok seems fairly invested in this idea of generating bhaalspawn that are pure of blood, and this is an agenda that he subtly pushes onto DU drow throughout their years operating the temple: that said, like it often is, Bhaal is silent on the matter.

There seems to be a lot of conflict within the cult about what Bhaal wants and how he wants it, and I choose to interpret his failure to clarify as part of the Murder God's nature, as well as a fun nod at the (dys)functionality of real-life cults where you have several people claiming to have a direct connection to a god.

But back on topic, there IS the heavily implied Dark Urge To Multiply. A few instances where durge or someone around them suggests that, eventually, having children will be an irresistible biological necessity. There are a few ways to interpret this! But I can't help but notice that this theme is absent in a route where you do willingly become Bhaal's chosen - maybe its a failsafe Bhaal cooked into The Dark Urge in case his child became a weenie? To possess them with the need to spread their seed around until SOMEONE down the family tree stepped up to the role?

This definitely turns out to be the case in DU drow's redemned route, where he is plagued with bouts of breeding-related mania and depressive episodes that come and go as a result of a nest remaining empty, But I hadn't really considered this for his Bhaal-embracing self He definitely harbors an obsession with procreating in that AU - but... I'm not sure that's Bhaal's doing anymore. I think he just wants for there to: A) Be more of him around. B) Create a tangible, undeniable connection between himself and Astarion that cannot be severed.

A theme with DU drow is that he is aggressively monogamous. This remains constant in every possible iteration of him and it's a pillar of the character - he is devout to a partner until the end whether they want him or not, and so, Bhaalist DU drow would be violently opposed to the idea of being sexually involved with anyone besides Astarion. If Sceleritas or members of the temple insisted otherwise, he would balk and them push them off into a Chasm. If Bhaal demanded him do it, he would jerk off into a vial and hand it to whoever he deemed pretty enough to mix up with, and then probably kill the child as soon as it was born, anyway - because it's not right.

DU drow (again, in all iterations) almost believes there to be a magical component to true love that affects a person's life beyond just their choice in long-term partners. Just like he once decided that Orin was his forever-mate, he's now decided him and Astarion are intrinsically linked, that they are stronger together than they will ever be apart again. And It is particularly romantic to him (a matter of ironic fate, really) that the Murder Prince's true love would be undead. In DU drow's mind, and SPECIALLY in his Bhaal-embracing version, this is simply the universe's plan for him, and to divert from it in any way (by, for example, procreating with someone else) would be blasphemous.

Now, obviously him and Astarion can't have biological children for a plethora of reasons. But this is fantasy. Bhaalist DU drow would simply not stop until he found the best way to create someone that could be, spiritually and physically, considered their functional blood-offspring. Through Alchemy, magic, ritual, whatever it may be - as long as it works and works according to his high-standards. I suspect he would have specialists shipped in from wherever they may be in the realms to look into the issue, and probably someone who's sole job is to research the matter, though I'm not sure he would ever be satisfied with the results.

I think Astarion would be utterly checked out of the matter.

[owololcat]

Slugcat Dashboard Sim 2 because the last one did some fuckin numbers

🏴‍☠️ yohohomosexual

i think i’m being adopted/hired????????

🏴‍☠️ yohohomosexual

ok to elaborate for the scugs losing their shit in the reblogs, an overseer is following me and pointing arrows with an iterator symbol, it also showed me some pics of the iterator in question and what i think is a whole ass leviathan nest.

but ofc ya know me im the nosiest bitch this side of the distant lakeside, and my fam’s bunch of asshats, so im gonna go help an iterator with an infestation problem seeya in a few cycles bitches

🏴‍☠️ yohohomosexual

foumd fanily

ok but on a serious note hi i’m The Pirate, Seven Seas is my dad now, and if anyone asks i’m a purposed organism

💥 scavslayingchieftain

welcome to the “unexpectedly grew attached to an iterator they helped on a whim” club, sharkboy

👁️ ripples-and-reflections

I was today cycles old when I found out “Spinning Top’s Folly” was based on the life of an actual ancient forced to ascend as a child

anyways I also met the actual echo Spinning Top and I think we're homies now

🪡 slash-srs

Tell her she’s famous!

👁️ ripples-and-reflections

her response…

“OA?! As if I need anything more keeping me here! I get attached to fans easily! Say something embarrassing so they don't like me as much, like that one question I asked about whether or not you excrete!”

🐟 moons-secret-lovechild

nobody:

fucking Spinning Top apparently: do you even shit bro?

👹 iterhater

would it be in bad taste for me to make a ‘born to die world is a fuck’ meme about my creator issues?

⦻ vultureculture-deactivated119023

nah id like and reblog

🌀 ur-getting-eepy

I feel like i’m the only slugcat i know who can do cool shit without being a purposed organism. All I did was make a thingy out of batgrass and a rock and now I can tame lizards without any food by swaying it infront of them.

🐟 moons-secret-lovechild

this is 'descended from a purposed organism gone rogue’ erasure but ur tricks do sound useful so go off ig

🦎 da-littlest-lizor

chat how do I get my iterator to stop making jokes about the time I got so angry I started speaking in lizard

👁️ ripples-and-reflections

ascend them /j

🧿 evil-ripples-and-reflections

ascend them /srs

👁️ ripples-and-reflections

Saint ghostwrote this

🌿 the-saint-official

Normally, I prefer not to stoop to the low of profanity, but I feel it's warranted here. no the fuck i did not

🦎 da-littlest-lizor

there is no way THE Saint found this post this has to be a parody account

🌿 the-saint-official

Does this image convince you otherwise?

🦎 da-littlest-lizor

well yeet my ass into rot and call me pebbles that is the real Saint

👁️ ripples-and-reflections

but then who tf is this doppelganger???????

🧿 evil-ripples-and-reflections

oaoaoaoaoaoaoaoaoaoaoaoaoaoaoaoaoaoaoaoaoaoaoaoaoa

🥚heyechoesitsyaboi

every time I see someone unwittingly summon saint onto their posts I can't help but laugh my tail off hes like pm seymour but instead of making you famous he just fucking ascends you

🐁 the-johndoe

Who tf is pm seymour? Is he an iterator or something?

🎮 mav-the-scav

I KNOW the eye-boggle is a display of fear in scavengers but I love sneaking up on my gf just to see her boggle in surprise at me. She says she's fine with me doing it so long as it isn't around her tribemates but she's plotting her revenge against me I can tell

🎮 mav-the-scav

I swear on my MAMA if I didn't love this woman she’d be in the void rn this dumb quillball just dumped a basket of popped bubblefruit on me and my pelt’s all slimy now and she's giving me the smuggest look ever grrr

🌼 fren2all

Normally this is the part where I'd go off on a tangent about why interspecies relationships can be unhealthy, especially with language barriers or intelligence gaps, but this is actually a prime example of a healthy interspecies relationship! Boundaries, lightheartedness, and emotional vulnerability judging by some of op’s previous posts. Good job, you two!

🏴‍☠️ yohohomosexual

liveblogging my messenger mission to the scavs in my iterator’s territory

🏴‍☠️ yohohomosexual

orange lizards

🏴‍☠️ yohohomosexual

poleplant

🏴‍☠️ yohohomosexual

noodlefly i should probably exterminate on my way back up to avoid a repeat of the pebbles incident

🏴‍☠️ yohohomosexual

finally down from the wall!

🏴‍☠️ yohohomosexual

eel lizor

🏴‍☠️ yohohomosexual

lol some idiot dropped a pearl with a pic of an iterator in a fox costume. were they tryna be catboy pebbs 2.0?

🏴‍☠️ yohohomosexual

a lotta lotls holy guac theres like 5 of em

🏴‍☠️ yohohomosexual

o hey @da-littlest-lizor I heard ur iterator was in the local group but didn't think we'd run into eachother

🦎 da-littlest-lizor

hiiii! btw which pebbles incident were u talking bout earlier?

🏴‍☠️ yohohomosexual

Noot mama and a whole bunch of babies got into his chamber once, some iterator even made an edit of the overseer footage adding an arrangement of "Hall of The Scavenger King" but made from noodlefly noises

🦎 da-littlest-lizor

lmao why does literally everything happen to this guy?

[elumish]

The next iteration of The Book Tagging Database Project is online!

Here you can find the beta version of a (hopefully) more user-friendly iteration of my database of books. This is meant to help people filter at a fairly tactical level to find new books to read and/or comp titles.

My ask to you: please tell me what works, what doesn't work, and what you'd like to see more of by replying to this post, sending me an ask, or DMing me. This is meant to be useful to people, so the more I know about what people want/need from it, the better I can make it.

Current status/functionality (as of June 6, 2025):

294 books

Primarily adult romance, with some fantasy, sci fi, and horror, as well as a small amount of YA

Current filter options are: genre/subgenre, series type, romantic relationship structure, queer, general setting, fantasy information, mythology/folklore, disability, relationship tropes, key plot points, story structure, female MC, target age, and comp eligibility

Filtering within a group is an OR filter (e.g., if you click on both fantasy and romance in the genre filter, you will get books that are fantasy and/or romance)

Filtering between groups is an AND filter (e.g., if you click on fantasy in the genre filter and demisexual in the queer filter, you will get fantasy books with a demisexual MC)

You can filter by author by clicking on their name under the book title

Book title links go to Goodreads (I don't currently have individual pages for books)

Hover text is a placeholder--please tell me what would be useful here!

The inclusion of a book isn't a recommendation to read it, though I do like many of the books included here

Future status/functionality goals (as of May 10, 2025):

Adding more books, especially fantasy and YA! I will update with new books in batches, but as of right now I need to add each book individually, so it's pretty time consuming

Additional filter options, including potentially character information, specific setting information, time period, and triggers

AND filter option within groups (e.g., if you click on both fantasy and romance in the genre filter, you will get books that are both fantasy and romance)

Tag exclusion filtering option

Nested/collapsible filtering to save space

A way to see book meta data/all tags for a book

A series database

Individual book pages

Similar books suggestions

Making sure it's accessible and is functional on mobile

Functionality that I don't plan to include:

Filtering by author information

Filtering by character race/ethnicity (I just don't have this info recorded for the vast majority of books, and it would be a huge level of effort to do it)

Direct user submissions/additions to the database (at some point I may set up a form so people can submit books that I could add manually)

Direct purchasing or affiliate links

[existentialterror]

ARG notes: ZampanioSim

Okay, a work this metafictional and also that (I think) responds to audience interaction is going to need a high-caliber gimmick. Hang on.

...

Alright. Hey guys, catfishAnabasis (Light) here, taking a moment out of my surprisingly busy day tell you about a weird thing on the internet.

ZampanioSim is an intricate and brainbending ARG. It takes direct inspiration from Homestuck, The Magnus Archives, and House of Leaves, as well as the creator (JR, jadedResearcher/justifiedRecursion)'s previous canon of Homestuck fan-work and games. A major theme is "unreality".

HERE IS YOUR TRAILHEAD.

Feel free to ignore the rest of the writeup and check it out now.

I know very little about JR's other work, right now. However, among my many INTERESTS, I am something of a TMA ENJOYER and an AMATEUR INTERNET INVESTIGATOR, and if I were in a HOUSE I like to think I could LEAVE it pretty easily.

So, yeah. I figured I'd just describe my experience of this rabbithole and maybe you'll want to check it out too. I'm sure this will only scratch the surface.

ZampanioSim is structured as a nested labyrinth. In the same way that:

Homestuck is a webcomic framed as an interactive adventure game about an account of kids playing a video game (Sgrub) that doesn't exist, and

House of Leaves is a novel framed as a found scholarly discussion about a documentary (The Navidson Record) that doesn't exist about a house that doesn't exist,

ZampanioSim is a game-based ARG framed as an attempt to simulate a game (Zampanio) that doesn't exist based on a found FAQ of the game (that only sort of exists).

More concretely, ZampanioSim features a lot of nested browser games, as well as audio, narrative, an actual audience-interactive narrative game (the way Homestuck was originally), external websites, and more.

The starting point is, of course, the House:

ZampanioSim takes full advantage of the browser as medium. There is content accessible via the address bar, developer tools, cookies (I think), the developer console, and probably more that I haven't realized.

Like, to give you a sense of the kind of rabbithole we're dealing with: Here's a map I made of the House outset page today:

...And I say today because the House does change over time. Today (a friday) when I clicked on the EastEast route, for instance, I was greeted by this grotesquely distorted version of Rebecca Black's "Friday":

Okay, let's talk about what we have going on in the House map, starting from the doors and working out. (I've given some of these my own names for clarity.)

North

The Classpect Menu Game:

This, I think, is the main titular "ZampanioSim". It's the part that's intended to recreate the experience of a supposed old computer game, but by and large, you only experience the menu screen, not the rest of the gameplay. You can select attributes (based on Homestuck's Classpecting system + the Magnus Archives fears) gain points and select skills and (depending on your seed) eventually "beat the game". It's glitchy, it's a hellscape, there's an entity or two in the menu system that are trying to talk to you. It's great fun. Contains links to a rabbithole (which you can plug passwords into for more secrets) and + some secrets to you in the credits.

(While mostly the aspects seem to add flavor to the menu options, there's a special class called "Waste". This appears in neither TMA nor Homestuck, but comes from a fan or meta-joke that Andrew Hussie and Toby Fox, the writer and a major composer for Homestuck, are classpected* as the "Waste of Space" and "Waste of Time". By telling it you're a "Waste"you're more likely to get weird glitches and new options in your Classpect Menu game run - there's a fun recurring element in some of these games about the game changing depending on who you tell it is playing. I learned about the Waste trick from JR's youtube channel. Also, setting your birthday as Halloween might also do something.)

I have no idea if the different iterations of games here are substantially different. I haven't checked. There's a lot going on. "There's a lot going on" is a good summary of ZampanioSim overall.

*( Uh, classpecting is this in-Homestuck personality system where game players are a [Role] of [Element].)

Eyedlr: Eyedol Games is the company that supposedly made the original game Zampanio. Eyedlr is their spambot-filled tumblr clone, which also has secrets in it. (Actually, just assume everything has secrets out.)

East

The House Exploration game: It has the same setup screen as the Classpect Menu game, but this one drops you into a game with visuals: An infinite(?) procedural house you navigate with imagery derived from your choices.

Peewee's exploration game: When it's not blasting Rebecca Black's Friday But Weird into your ears, the EastEast route is another procedural infinite(?) maze, except that you type directions to Peewee, a snake guy with goggles who also moves around on his own. This one also introduces named characters we learn more about elsewhere.

Bathroom text: Procredural bathroom maze, unless it's just some text telling you to take a break. ZampanioSim really likes telling you to take breaks and hydrate, so that you can better appreciate and spread Zampanio.

Absolutely not. Also, I'm a busy woman. I have to finish this writing summary first.

South

The Train Game: a game - notably not a maze - where JR walks down a series of train corridors and monologues to you about the game and the "reality" behind it.

The mazecrawler game: You tell a little guy how to navigate an infinite(?) maze - and if you choose right and open up your browser's Console menu, you can learn a great deal more about

West

The only West route is AdventureSimWest, which is an actual text narrative game where readers submit commands that the author incorporates into updates - just like early Homestuck. It's still going. The logs are extensive but it's mostly about the antics of a new employee at Eyedol Games, which is stuck in a time loop.

Other

Then there's some other scattered clickable text -

The truth about alt: An exchange between two shapeshifters.

A transcript: A dialogue between two people who apparently work for Eyedol Games.

The lower left leads you to an apparently rotating selection of other Zampanio-related games. I particularly liked NagaGirlfriend.

None of this is even the stuff you can reach this page exclusively through the Console menu.

And much more

And there's a lot of stuff that's NOT branching directly off of the house. There's other things you find buried in links or by searching - a discord and a wiki that both straddle the line between in-character and -out, Archive of Our Own content, a youtube channel, the Eyedol website...

Is there a "story" to ZampanioSim?

Yes.

Like I said, there's a lot I haven't seen yet. But what's going on is something like this:

JR is attempting to recreate this game, Zampanio, of course, and tap into its fanbase. The game Zampanio is an infectious meme. Eyedol Games is a transdimensional company that is perhaps both trying to spread the meme and contain it, by removing its spores, e.g. the Zampanio FAQ - the thing that inspired JR to make ZampanioSim - from the internet.

Various parts of the game recognize that they are fictional and may identify you the reader/player as "Observers".

There are a few recurring characters who have gotten swept up into the meme, either working for Eyedol or trapped in ZampanioSim or both, and have followed it from variant to transdimensional variant.

(this is an image from homestuck. it's a reference.)

Japes aside, this is a brain-bending, very cool, and completely ludicrous unfiction project which I believe is made mostly by one person with an unparalleled hand for web sorcery, whimsy, and vibes. The vibes are so good.

The host website, Farrago Fiction (which AFAICT is a multi-person project), hosts a number of often-homestuck-inspired weird games and simulators.

I know ZampanioSim is now a few years old and is still actively updating. Consider checking it out.

2024-08-24 edit: Part 2!

[dualogical]

Quiet remembers things in MoC. He remembers everything else, that is.

"Shit! Shit! What the hell was that? Who are we? What are we doing?" That was Paranoid, too tense to the point of looping back into distracted. He had heard all that before. When?

"There was a Princess, I think. It’s all so fuzzy. It hurts when I try to remember." Broken, living up to his name, even though there was another way, even though it didn't have to be like this-

'Not a Princess. The Shifting Mound.' He corrected, mind starting to reel with the information.

Collective confusion for half a second, shattered by the Narrator, of all things.

'Where have you heard that name?!'

He -- Quiet, he remembered that now -- tried to ignore the echo in his head.

'You jump to one of the floating trees and make yourself comfortable in the exposed base-- Really?! I don’t know how you came across that name, but you're here to slay the Princess who will end the world!'

"She can wait a few more minutes,' his voices needed, deserved the break, even without the memories threatening to overwhelm him. 'How about we rest here for a bit when nothing's chasing us?'

"Decider, we’re supposed to let her out. It’s really the only way this works out for us, if you think about it. She’s the one with power here. Nobody else can do much of anything," and that was Opportunist, beaten down by one of the cruelest iterations of Her.

They went quiet. Maybe they were seeing everything too.

This was far less one-way than it seemed. If he focused inward, if he let his eyes drift shut and dreamed, he could feel the tiny jerks and tugs of his Voices acting on him, and...

Even Cold, too regular to be noticed unless he actually focused, lost to sensory fatigue. Creeping up on him like ice.

A wave of memories assaulted him. His actual identity, the Princess', the one path when it seemed like Cold, not Hero, had nested close to his heart.

"So you did listen to me," Cold’s voice was usually monotone and deceptive in its softness, but approval was something Quiet had never expected from him.

"And he was miserable for it!" Smitten seemed to have regained life at the novelty, at the realization that the eternity of torture that they had suffered could pass. "Whatever vision that was, please don't let it come to pass!"

"How could you call that being unfeeling?" Hunted asked, "There was so much fear."

"You wrestled control away from everyone. Impressive," Opportunist said. "Good thing I've always been on your side. We can turn this around, aren’t we a God?"

As if karma had decided to fuck that voice over in particular, what they saw next was betrayal, in different ways.

Opportunist, Broken, Smitten. With more or less intent, but still.

"Are Icy, Loudmouth and I the only ones who didn't think the decider was a puppet out of the blue?! What's wrong with all of you?!" Stubborn, coming to his defense.

They kept coming. Eating and being eaten. Betrayal and being betrayed in turn. Submission and rebellion. Love turning sour. Pain for the sake of it. A cycle of pain that he kept perpetuating by choosing to go back go the beginning. But this construct had cracks, in the end. All those memories were a consequence of it.

It was his fault. It was his mistakes and failures that destroyed everything again.

And then the visions that, he knew, could come to pass someday.

Hero getting him to the Heart and they left as mortals, with him choosing to stay behind.

Killing Transformation and exploring a world with his Voices, always together. Or reaping the consequences of his actions. Hero was the most disturbed by that one, for some reason.

Quiet accepting Her request to leave as Gods and-

They reeled as the vision simply stopped being something their minds could interpret. Quiet felt a part of what he called his sanity crumble. Paranoid seemed fine.

'Enough data for you, detective?' he couldn’t help but ask, memories too fresh considering Skeptic’s metaphorical flinch.

"You've been doing this for a long time, haven't you?" Contrarian was uncharacteristically subdued, but having several lifetimes' worth of memories would make anyone slow down and process.

The question remained, now that they knew, what would they do with that information?

[mebis-rain-world-corner]

I fucking love boxworms and fire sprites

they might as well be the closest extant cousin of iterators

a photoplasmic brain with a steam producing body/nest, the similarities to overseers (and even neurons to an extent) is undeniable

(thank you @iteratorsex for the overseer gif, all other gifs in this post are from the wiki)

you can see them gathering resources (dust (for food? definetively for growing the boxworm) and potentially water or at least hydrogen and oxygen) like a jellyfish or perhaps a sponge (the way it opens and closes its mouth is very cute too)

Here we have a schematic for a refuse reclamation automaton. It's an early design, but the long tubular body and single eye-mouth are quite similar to the later models.

mmm, interesting

btw the way the tendrils unfurl into conveyor fans here remind me of a theory ive had that overseers deploy a thin membrane in order to project holograms to

the boxworm is a body actioned through pneumatics and also a host for the eggs to grow in

the activation animation is very fun (are those glass windows in the box "eyes"?)

is the water gathered by the fire sprite? or is it created by combining hydrogen and oxygen? if the latter, would these gasses be collected or synthesized through organic processes? either way it serves the same function as hemolymph in spider legs, even if the shape is worm-like

soft robotics comes to mind (here's another example)

talking about the eggs, i wonder what's the lifecycle like? do the fire sprites grow their own boxworm from zero? slowly from gathered dust? or is this an intestinal worm situation, and each boxworm segment eventually separates once its corresponding fire sprite matures?

now, the structure of the boxworm and the fire sprite larva situation has made me realize a possibility that would have me reconsider and in a way complete my iterator biota lifecycle theory:

coral stems are segmented with little balls/openings, kinda like the boxworm in a way

while coral stems are bundles of mycelia and a number of small flashing cores sheathed on self-grown shells, it is possible neuronflies and overseers are grown from these flashing dots

after all, coral neurons already grow out of these stems