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THE CRUEL PALACE (Court Intrigue IF)

Being born into a noble family is a blessing to most. For you, it became a sentence.

When false accusations threaten to destroy your family, you're forced into a dangerous decision: enter the royal palace as a concubine to prove your family's loyalty and protect their name. But life behind palace walls is nothing like the noble life you knew. It’s a world ruled by secrets, schemes, and power plays—where trust is rare, and betrayal is everywhere.

As the child of a respected civil official, your fate was supposed to be different. Now, you're caught in the middle of court politics, royal jealousy, and the lingering scandal left behind by your mother. The only way to survive is to play the game and win.

Will you rise through the ranks and gain the Emperor’s favour? Or will you lose yourself in the cruelty of palace life?

Your choices will decide your future, your family's honour, and the legacy you leave behind.

Key Features:

Play as male or female, and shape how the world sees you—from your looks to your personality.

Make choices that matter—every decision affects your future and your family’s fate.

Explore life in the royal palace, filled with secrets, lies, and unexpected allies.

Build or break relationships with other concubines, servants, nobles, and even the Emperor.

Choose who you trust—and who you love—romance the Emperor, a fellow concubine, a sharp maidservant, or a rising military officer.

Balance duty and desire—stay loyal to your family, or chase your own path to power.

Uncover the truth behind your family's downfall and your mother's scandal.

DEMO Approx 11k words

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Ew i opened my heart and something crawled inside

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Pride Month Feature #2: Suevi

Game: Suevi (Play here)

Synopsis: Suevi is about finding love and surviving in Ancient Rome... as a Germanic slave.

Tags: romance, historical fiction, low fantasy, dark

Author: Bellamy

Hi! My name is Bellamy, I’m in my mid 30s, neurodivergent, pansexual and nonbinary. My pronouns are ey/em (alternatively they/them is totally fine). IRL I’m not out and I live in Eastern Germany, originally I’m from Southwestern Germany. English is my second language.

2. Can you tell me a bit about what you’re working on right now and your journey into interactive fiction? What inspired the game/story you’re currently writing?

The IF I currently work on is called ‘Suevi’, and it’s a story set in/around 14 CE. The MC is of Germanic origin and gets enslaved. They get bought by a rich, influential Roman patrician family and have to face the struggle of being thrown into a completely different culture, that has a language they don’t know, and they’re at the very bottom of the food chain.

My journey into interactive fiction is actually relatively short. Suevi is the first IF I’m writing, and the first major project that I write. Before I started on Suevi, I hadn’t written anything bigger since my school days, I haven’t done any creative writing at all actually. And even though Suevi is only a prologue and the first chapter now, it is already the largest project I have ever written.

I remembered ‘Choose your own Adventure’ books from my childhood, and I loved them back then already. I love RPGs, and had played visual novels before, but somehow only found out about interactive fiction around half a year before I started my own IF. I fell head over heels for the interactive format.

My story is inspired by different aspects: My brother is a big history nerd and is very interested in Germanic tribes throughout history. I grew up in an area where different tribes that are said to have been Suevi settled in, and I was able to visit remains of the Roman Limes wall and different related museums in the past. A big inspiration was also the IF Defiled Hearts: The Barbarian by Haley Mattos, an amazingly written IF that I can only recommend. I wanted to give back to the IF community, and that’s what ultimately started the project.

Read on for the full interview!

3. What are some of the most rewarding or challenging aspects of writing Interactive Fiction for you?

The most rewarding aspect is definitely the feedback. It’s great to see that people enjoy my story and care enough to let me know, or give me constructive criticism to help me improve my story.

4. What does your writing process look like? Any rituals or habits? Any tips, tricks, philosophies or approaches that have worked very well for you?

It helps a lot to have one designated area dedicated to writing/working. Also, be comfortable—wear comfortable clothes, put on some music that helps to immerse you into your story if you want, maybe have a few snacks nearby and a beverage of your liking.

5. What’s the one thing you’re really proud of that you’ve written so far?

I’m not that far into writing the story just yet, but I’m rather proud of the intimate fling scenes I’ve written in chapter 1. It was a first for me, and at the beginning I really struggled to find the right words, but I know it’ll become easier with time.

6. Do you have favourite interactive fiction games, characters, scenes or authors that you’d like to recommend?

Too many! There are lots of great authors out there that deserve some spotlight, but I fear I don’t have enough time and space to name all of them. I already mentioned Defiled Hearts: The Barbarian (@defiledheartblog on tumblr), which has a very similar theme to my own IF. An amazing IF with a nonbinary RO and a trans RO is Blood Moon by Barbara Truelove (@barbwritesstuff on tumblr). A WIP IF that is completely underrated imo is Party of Four (@partyof4game on tumblr), which has an asexual RO and a nonbinary RO. Zo, the author of Party of Four, is also ace! Lastly, an author that I really look up to is C.C. Hill (@when-life-gives-you-lemons-if on tumblr). She is amazing, I love her writing, she’s incredibly inclusive and a pleasure to interact with.

7. If you were to say one thing to your readers, other authors, and/or the interactive fiction community: what would it be?

To readers: Please be kind to others. Lately there has been a massive wave of hate and harassment in the community, and it drives away kind and talented people who just want to share the stories they write. Support the works and authors you want to see more of. If you like an IF, send the author a nice message. It makes us smile and gives us the energy to continue writing.

To authors: Be kind to yourself. Take breaks. If you don't take breaks, your writing probably will be subpar, because you need a break sometimes, and you will have to fix everything you write after you actually do end up taking a break. It will also save you from feeling burnt out from writing. Don’t forget to hydrate. Only write a story if it makes you happy. You don’t owe it to anybody to continue writing a story you are fed up with; and if you don’t enjoy your own story, it will show.

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People definitely don't realize that I'm nice by choice, not by nature

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Sex Positive vs. Sex Favorable

They’re not the same thing.  Sex positive, neutral, and negative describes someone’s opinion on the morality of sex in general and its place in society.  Sex favorable, indifferent, averse, and repulsed have to do with your own interactions with sex.

Favorable, indifferent, averse, and repulsed is mostly used for asexual-spectrum people, and a lot of aromantic-spectrum people use the same scale to describe their feelings towards romance.  But allosexual (non-asexual) people might also find it helpful.  Like, there are people who feel attraction towards other people but are sex averse and don’t want to have sex with anyone they’re attracted to.  (There are also people fitting the same description who do identify as aspec, and that’s valid, too.)

Here’s the chart that’s commonly used used to explain the two scales.  I’m going to add an image description afterwards, but I’m not really familiar with doing them so it may not be great.

[Image description: A picture divided vertically into two halves.  The left half is white with black text and the right half is black with white text.  Each half has several terms written in bold with a smaller description under each one.  The text is in a handwriting-style font.

On the left side, it says, “Sex-positive: To have a positive attitude towards sex in general.  Not necessarily for yourself, but any safe sex between consenting people. Sex-neutral: to have no opinion on sex in general, neither positive nor negative. Sex-negative: to have a negative attitude towards sex in general.  To think sex is bad/wrong, even safe and between consenting people.”

On the right side, it says, “Sex-favorable: to have a positive attitude towards sex for yourself.  To desire sex.  Sex-indifferent: To have no opinion on sex for yourself, neither positive not negative.  Sex-averse: to have a negative attitude toward sex for yourself.  To not desire sex.  Sex-repulsed: To be repulsed by the thought of sex.”

End description.]

People get these two scales mixed up constantly, and/or leave out words.  Y’all, I know it’s hard.  I have to go through both of them in my head before I mention either one to make sure I’m saying the right thing.  But we can do better.  Please!  Like, one of my friends was angry at me when I came out as asexual to her because she thought I was attacking her sexuality.  And yeah, I’m sex averse, but that has no bearing on what I think of her.  It’s actually a common myth that the concept of asexuality is inherently sex negative, and we don’t need to encourage that by conflating sex negativity with being sex averse or repulsed.

Actually, most people fit somewhere on both scales.  So I made a chart of my own that shows how they fit together.  Personally, I’m in the top right corner, sex averse and (doing my best to be) sex positive.

[Image description: A three-by-three chart, similar to an alignment chart.  The left column is labeled “sex favorable”, the middle column is labeled “sex indifferent”, and the right column is labeled “sex averse/repulsed”.  The top row is labeled “sex positive”, the middle row is labeled “sex neutral”, and the bottom row is labeled “sex negative”.

The box in the top left of the chart reads, “I don’t think there’s anything wrong with people having consensual sex, and I personally like to have sex.”  The box in the top middle reads, “I don’t think there’s anything wrong with people having consensual sex, and I personally don’t mind having sex.”  The box in the top right reads, “I don’t think there’s anything wrong with people having consensual sex, but I personally don’t want to have sex.”

The middle-left box reads, “I think it’s sometimes all right for people to have sex, and I personally like to have sex.”  The center box reads, “I think it’s sometimes all right for people to have sex, and I personally don’t mind having sex.”  The middle-right box says, “I think it’s sometimes all right for people to have sex, but I personally don’t want to have sex.”

The box in the bottom left says, “I think sex is immoral, but I personally like to have sex.”  The bottom middle box says, “I think sex is immoral, but I personally don’t mind having sex.”  The bottom right box says, “I think sex is immoral, and I personally don’t want to have sex.”

End description.]

So yeah, you can be sex positive and sex repulsed, or sex neutral and sex averse, or whatever!  I’d say that a lot of American politicians are both sex negative and sex favorable.  If you need more information, I added my own descriptions of the seven terms below the cut.

(I really wish I hadn’t made this so long, LOL.  It took me way too long.  Please reblog so it’s worth it?)

Keep reading

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I think a lot of authors have noticed this lately: Likes, comments, reblogs with reviews... everything seems to be getting quieter. Stories go on, chapters come out, but all too often, it's a great silent nothingness that greets them.

Are we at fault, or is it something else? Yet you're there, we can see you raising the view counters on our demos.

I'm not here to lecture or beg for anything. I'd just like to understand, as many other authors do, why ? Because this statement is the result of a growing concern? Depression?among our ranks. To the degree that some of us have come to say: What's the point?

I'd just like to remind you of one thing: a story is alive, yes, but ! It's alive thanks to you, not just to us.

Every word you read, every emotion you feel, every theory you silently formulate: it's all part of the magic of a story, and it needs to be shared. When you share it all, a comment, a reblog with a fews words, even a brief reaction, that's when it really comes together, you're blowing on the story's flame! You fuel it, make it tangible. You give it a life that an author, alone in front of their screen, can't always sustain over time. Believe me, we try... Some are more gifted than others, but I'm all for helping each other.

Because yes, we write out of passion, out of desire, out of need. Yes, we love our worlds. But the impetus, the joy, the motivation, the feeling of really being read, all that is also born from exchange.

So here it is, just a quick note to say that if you like or don't like something, please say so. No need for a big dissertation but there's nothing worse than silence, it's the great reaper of our aspirations and I don't want to let it win.

And to my author friends: you're not alone. 💙

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daily affirmations

I know why i am like this and i will never do anything about it

Psychologists could never help meee

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STOP SCATTERING MY ASHES IM STILL ALIVE

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i'm sort of between graves right now

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"Confess. Repent. Suffer"

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Thank god I saved this from gayporntattoos before it got deleted

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gives you a badjob. a weirdjob. doing some unusual shit to your penis.

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i want to talk about my ocs but im literally this image. i got nothing

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DW I added notes for crushing on Adam too, BCS I know one person who DOES already. And I'm judging. Who else do we need to add

DW, I'm planning more milfs into the game

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And dilfs. Actually.

General Isko? I need to know if there's interest so I can make mc pathetic crushing on him too if needed

DW, I'm planning more milfs into the game