Journal RPG Actual Plays

Actual play fiction from solo and journal RPGs.

693 words · ~3m read

As In a Mirror, Dimly

Short fiction set in the Legend of the Galactic Heroes universe.

145k words · ~9.7h read

Miscellaneous Fanfiction

Fanfiction across various fandoms.

53k words · ~3.5h read

Numberless Army of Cephalophores

Original short fiction.

12k words · ~47m read

Miscellaneous Short Stories

Original short stories.

6k words · ~23m read

Pictures of Decency

After Yang Wenli comes home from the incident at El Facil and finds himself an overnight hero, he struggles to cope with his newfound fame. Suddenly, he's hounded by the press, and everyone thinks that he's someone he's not. As Yang's professional image is polished to a mirror sheen, his personal life falls apart, and the distance between The Hero of El Facil and Yang Wenli only grows greater.

45k words · ~3h read

Last Gasp at Calama

When Thomas Barrow is medically discharged from the Imperial fleet, he has no desire to return to the backwater planet where his family lives. Running short on money and options, he is forced to ask his former employer, Lord Grantham, if he might return to service in his seasonal home in the capital planet of Odin. But things have changed since Thomas left service to go into the fleet, and he does not fit back easily into the old way of things. With a lesser position and new enemies, Thomas finds life on Odin difficult to bear. Newly awarded the title of count, Reinhard von Lohengramm finds returning to the capital after being out in space intolerable. He wants nothing more than to be on his flagship, fighting the next battle, with Kircheis by his side. In contrast to that, the court on Odin is a pit of serpents, especially for the formerly middle class Reinhard, who is disliked by the majority of the nobility. When one of his few allies in court, the Baroness Magdalena von Westpfale, demands that he play the social game for his sister's sake, Reinhard reluctantly agrees and tries to join the court life. The court season of 486 I.C., in the heart of the dying Galactic Empire, will be the last one of its kind.

83k words · ~5.6h read

The Children of This World Marry and Are Given in Marriage

Although the universe has been brought under Reinhard's heel, he lacks the one thing necessary for the continuation of his dynasty: an heir. As Reinhard grows weaker, the duty to produce one falls to his sister. When all it would take is one person's refusal to send the whole of the Neue Reich crumbling into a new civil war, the burden of choice weighs heavily on everyone.

42k words · ~2.8h read

Arcadis Park

Jonah is a college senior who can't seem to score an internship, so she's returned to the summer job that she's had every year since she was old enough to work: lifeguarding at the run down waterpark on the outskirts of her small town. Things take a turn for the worse when a dismembered body is discovered in the lake that feeds the park's attractions, and the whole staff becomes convinced that they are the murderer's next target.

67k words · ~4.5h read

A Funeral Shroud for Laertes

Part of A Wheel Inside a Wheel

Legend of the Galactic Heroes - Roleswap AU

Speaking in Tongues

Part of A Wheel Inside a Wheel

Legend of the Galactic Heroes - Roleswap AU

Talking Without Speaking

Part of A Wheel Inside a Wheel

Legend of the Galactic Heroes - Roleswap AU

Life Out of Balance

Part of A Wheel Inside a Wheel

Legend of the Galactic Heroes - Roleswap AU

Servants of the Pharaoh

Part of A Wheel Inside a Wheel

Legend of the Galactic Heroes - Roleswap AU

Whatever It Takes To Keep the Body Warm

Part of A Wheel Inside a Wheel

Legend of the Galactic Heroes - Roleswap AU

Keep the Home Fires (Burning)

Part of A Wheel Inside a Wheel

Legend of the Galactic Heroes - Roleswap AU

Lighting Out for the Territories

Part of A Wheel Inside a Wheel

Legend of the Galactic Heroes - Roleswap AU

Will the Real Mr. Bronner Please Stand Up?

Part of A Wheel Inside a Wheel

Legend of the Galactic Heroes - Roleswap AU

The World in Its Circular Way

Part of A Wheel Inside a Wheel

Legend of the Galactic Heroes - Roleswap AU

First as Farce

Part of A Wheel Inside a Wheel

Legend of the Galactic Heroes - Roleswap AU

Serpent's Mouth, Serpent's Teeth

Part of A Wheel Inside a Wheel

Legend of the Galactic Heroes - Roleswap AU

Going to Denmark

Part of A Wheel Inside a Wheel

Legend of the Galactic Heroes - Roleswap AU

Running Dogs, Running Dogs

Part of A Wheel Inside a Wheel

Legend of the Galactic Heroes - Roleswap AU

And the Big Wheel Keep On Turning (Neon Burning up Above)

Part of A Wheel Inside a Wheel

Legend of the Galactic Heroes - Roleswap AU

Those Few Who've Slipped the Surly Bonds

Part of A Wheel Inside a Wheel

Legend of the Galactic Heroes - Roleswap AU

Every Link Was Freedom's Name

Part of A Wheel Inside a Wheel

Legend of the Galactic Heroes - Roleswap AU

Every Hateful Instrument

Part of In the Shadow of Heaven

In the Shadow of Heaven Original Version

Part of In the Shadow of Heaven

New Creatures With New Hearts

Part of In the Shadow of Heaven

A Machine that OBSERVES

In: Journal RPG Actual Plays

A machine that OBSERVES notices FLESH WHERE IT SHOULDN'T BE.

693 words · ~3m read

There Will Be No Divorce

In: As In a Mirror, Dimly

Mittermeyer tells Evangeline three secrets: one about his kaiser, one about his country, and one about himself. —————\\ “Do you want to talk about it?” “No,” Mittermeyer said. “I know you don’t like to talk to me about Fleet Admiral Reuenthal.” Mittermeyer’s hand twitched a little, involuntarily, at the sound of his name, and Eva took his hand in hers, rubbing her thumb along the back of his fingers. “I don’t know if you like to talk about him to anyone.”\r n “Who would I talk to?” Mittermeyer asked, trying to keep any emotion out of his voice. Eva drew in a breath, as though she were about to start listing conversation partners, then shook her head against Mittermeyer’s shoulder. “You know, you can talk to me. Even if I didn’t understand, I would listen.” “You’re too good for me, Eva.”

4k words · ~17m read

Towards the Tail-End of an Age That’s Almost Finished

In: As In a Mirror, Dimly

When Reinhard causes a stir by rescuing Mittermeyer from prison, the court is unused to dealing with such interruptions to the status quo. As usual, it’s up to the women to smooth things over. Magdalena decides to find out what exactly caused Rear Admiral Reuenthal to ask Reinhard for help, and why Reinhard decided to risk upsetting the delicate balance of the court over someone he barely knew.

9k words · ~37m read

Untouchable and Golden

In: As In a Mirror, Dimly

“If I asked you to do something for me—“ “Yes,” Magdalena said, without any hesitation. “Yes, absolutely, of course. Anything.” “Maggie!”\r n Magdalena smiled, but it was a serious smile, not one of her jokes. “You know I would.” “You haven’t even heard what I was going to ask.” “A favor. And I’m always willing to do you a favor.” “You won’t like it.” “But I like you, darling, and that will make it worth it.” Annerose smoothed her skirt out over her legs for a second. Magdalena waited for her to work up the nerve to say what she was going to say. “I need something.” “What?”\r n “Please don’t tell anyone this,” she said. “My lips are sealed,” Magdalena said. “I’m very good at keeping secrets.” “I need—“ Annerose began, and she found it hard to get the words out. “A poison.”

5k words · ~19m read

Flashes and Phosphenes

In: As In a Mirror, Dimly

“Thirty-three,” Mittermeyer said, raising his glass. “Prosit!” \r n“Don’t remind me,” Felix said, but he drank all the same. “If you’re complaining about getting old, I don’t know what you think that I’m doing,” Mittermeyer said. “Being twice your age and all.” “Well, it’s the duty of a father to grow old before their son, isn’t it?”

4k words · ~18m read

A House Made Out of Beds

In: As In a Mirror, Dimly

After Reinhard’s proposal, Hilde struggles to make sense of her place in Reinhard’s life.

7k words · ~30m read

Point/Counterpoint

In: As In a Mirror, Dimly

After the battle of Vermilion, everyone is anxious about the prospect of peace. For Julian and Schenkopp, it seems as though the bonds of war have been the only thing keeping them tied to Yang Wenli.

4k words · ~17m read

A White and Soundless Place

In: As In a Mirror, Dimly

Reinhard and Hilde go on their honeymoon, and are forced to confront the true nature of their relationship.

8k words · ~33m read

Untroubled by Comings and Goings of Men

In: As In a Mirror, Dimly

After a year of self-imposed solitude, Magdalena decides it's time to pay Annerose a visit.

8k words · ~34m read

To Love That Well Which Thou Must Leave Ere Long

In: As In a Mirror, Dimly

On board the Hässliche Entlein, during the long periods of boredom inherent to space travel, the soldiers amuse themselves by putting on plays. Kircheis is unlucky enough to get picked for the leading role.

7k words · ~27m read

I've Seen the Future (I Will Never Be Repatriated)

In: As In a Mirror, Dimly

A decade after Merkatz''s death, his daughter asks Schneider for help arranging his ashes'' interment in an Imperial fleet cemetery. Schneider reaches out to the only person he can think of who might be willing to help: the retired Goldenbaum fleet admiral, Gregor von Muckenburger.

3k words · ~14m read

Repairing the Ravages Made By Generosity Added to Love (Or: As In a Mirror, Dimly)

In: As In a Mirror, Dimly

After Reinhard returns to Phezzan (in e110), he and Annerose finally are able to talk-- but honesty is a difficult thing.

3k words · ~14m read

That Which Remains In the Absence of a Confession

In: As In a Mirror, Dimly

In his mind’s eye, Reuenthal circled that child of nine. The boy looked up at him coldly, uncowed. There were no threats that Reuenthal could make that could shake him, no matter how he menaced him, loomed over him, grabbed his chin in his broad, adult hand and forced their eyes to meet— black and blue. That was memory, Reuenthal thought. It always seemed to be happening to someone else, someone outside himself. He no longer could access whatever he might have been thinking in those moments— only the images of events remained, needing to be re-interpreted again and again. To remember is to interrogate the past.\r n But even if the boy had been someone that Reuenthal could touch and threaten across the space of years, he wouldn’t have divulged anything. That didn’t surprise Reuenthal. *You’ve always been good at staying silent, haven’t you?*

8k words · ~31m read

A War From Which There Is No Discharge

In: As In a Mirror, Dimly

“Why wouldn’t Admiral Yang want me to talk to you, sir? He trusted you a lot, when he gave the Rosenritter the chance to capture Iserlohn.” “Oh, the reasons he trusts me to do my duty are the same reasons he’d hate for me to speak with you.” “I’m afraid I don’t understand, sir.” “I’m a soldier by nature,” Schenkopp said. His smile showed teeth. “And the admiral wants you to live a peaceful life. I’d be a bad influence for you, and he knows that.”\r n Julian straightened his back. “I am a soldier, sir.” “The admiral’s trying to save your soul, boy.” Julian flushed at the address, all the way to the tips of his ears. Still, he said, “He needs me to protect him, not the other way around.”

6k words · ~24m read

The Words, Graven In the Wall With a Nail, Were Still Legible In 1848

In: As In a Mirror, Dimly

When the order to abandon Iserlohn Fortress is given, Poplan volunteers to be part of the squad that is laying the trap for the Imperial forces.

3k words · ~13m read

And This Is How You Can Be Walking and Falling at the Same Time

In: As In a Mirror, Dimly

“Did Cazerne tell you where I was?” Yang asked again. “No, Julian.”\r n Yang sighed and looked down at the tablet on his lap. It was displaying some kind of academic monograph about the Earth-Sirius War. He turned it off, leaving just the cover image on the screen, then pulled his blanket more tightly around his shoulders. “You’ll have to tell your ward about what loose lips do to ships, if he’s going to be a soldier.” “He’s well aware,” Yang said. “But he likes to think he has a good sense of who I want to talk to.” “And is he right?” “You’re here and Schenkopp isn’t,” Yang said, as if that answered the question. “It’s good to know that I’m on the list of those allowed to bother my betters, and not just Cazerne.”

5k words · ~19m read

Unstable Mass of Blood and Foam

In: As In a Mirror, Dimly

After inheriting her father’s title, Magdalena is forced to confront the expectations placed on her as a member of the nobility. Meeting Annerose does not clarify things for her at all.

4k words · ~18m read

In That Rich Earth a Richer Dust Concealed

In: As In a Mirror, Dimly

Captain Keffenheller dies in an airport before making it to Heinessen. Yang and Patrichev have the unhappy duty of burying the body.

6k words · ~23m read

An Antidote for Strychnine

In: As In a Mirror, Dimly

Before Oberstein meets Reinhard, he's stationed on Iserlohn. Alone, and without any real power, he spends his time thinking of ways to bring down the Empire that shaped him.

5k words · ~21m read

Attempting to Do Away With It Entirely, But Through Its Absence, Referring to It Indirectly

In: As In a Mirror, Dimly

As Reinhard moves his capital to Phezzan, Reuenthal tries, and fails, to embrace the change in the air.

7k words · ~27m read

A Cathedral (In a Dream (of the Future))

In: As In a Mirror, Dimly

Or; The Difference Between "With" and "For" Julian and Machungo on Earth-- what he writes about later, and what he does not.

11k words · ~46m read

The Other Side of the Looking Glass

In: As In a Mirror, Dimly

After thirteen years, Emil returns to serve the royal family, now as the Royal Physician.

4k words · ~17m read

You Who Come Demanding Proof: Let Your God Rebuild This Roof

In: As In a Mirror, Dimly

After Baron Kummel’s attempted assassination of Kaiser Reinhard, Admiral Kessler is sent to interrogate the Mariendorf family about their relationship to him.

9k words · ~37m read

Euphonia Hotel Sutra

In: As In a Mirror, Dimly

Reuenthal’s eyes were fixed over Bergengrun’s shoulders, looking into the glass. “Siegfried Kircheis was a better man than I am,” he said. “If I had died first, you wouldn’t need to be here.” “I don’t believe that’s true.”\r n Reuenthal’s lips twitched, almost amused. “Which part?” “Sir—” \r n“Forget it,” he said.

2k words · ~9m read

There Is a Snake In Swans

In: As In a Mirror, Dimly

“Come here, Felix. Let me brush your hair,” Eva said. He rushed past her legs, the frantic run of a kid still figuring out how fast he could coordinate his legs moving underneath him. She leaned down to grab him as he sped, laughing, past the bathroom door, and she managed to get her hands around his waist and pick him up. He felt strangely light, like he had when he was very, very young, like she could toss him up into the air, like he might simply fly away.\r n She stood him on the bathroom counter like a doll, looking over his shoulder into the wide mirror. Elfriede von Kohlrausch stared back at her from the glass, disheveled and hungry, and Felix smiled and reached out towards her reflection.\r n “You don’t look anything like your mama, do you?” she said.

13k words · ~51m read

One Might Almost Say: There Will Be No More Events

In: Miscellaneous Fanfiction

In which Enjolras and Combeferre are techies, of a sort, on the eve of Y2K.

596 words · ~3m read

a friend is a friend (and we both know how this will end)

In: Miscellaneous Fanfiction

In the very early hours of December 17, Wolfgang Mittermeyer has a dream.

2k words · ~7m read

A City With No Children In It

In: Miscellaneous Fanfiction

Lenny chooses a different way to deal with Archbishop Kurtwell during episode 10.

2k words · ~8m read

Morituri Te Salutant

In: Miscellaneous Fanfiction

Two men prefer to remember fate, while everyone else prefers to forget.\r n On the day before destiny, Reuenthal and Kircheis share their secrets.

5k words · ~19m read

Can You See That Young Star Overhead? That's the One That Designed My Undoing

In: Miscellaneous Fanfiction

During a dream visit to Timeheart, Nita meets the Lone Power-- before he fell.

7k words · ~28m read

A Somewhat Larger Death, Indeed

In: Miscellaneous Fanfiction

When Lady Mary's horse spooks while jumping during the hunt, breaking her arm, Mr. Pamuk finds a different way to entertain himself during his stay at Downton.

3k words · ~14m read

The Body Without Organs

In: Miscellaneous Fanfiction

He hooked his finger around the offending wire’s connection point and tugged, just a little, not enough to pull it loose. He wasn’t sure what made him hesitate, and even less sure what made him ask his next question. “You can’t feel this, can you?” “When you have replaced the cable, I will be able to run an end-to-end continuity check,” Hal said. “That requires power in the panel.”\r n That was not what Dave had asked.

2k words · ~9m read

The Difference Between Grasping and Holding

In: Miscellaneous Fanfiction

As Sybil and Tom struggle to adjust to their new life in Dublin, they wonder if what they want for themselves is in conflict with what they already have in each other.

3k words · ~12m read

To Love the Stars More Fondly (And Not Be Fearful of the Night)

In: Miscellaneous Fanfiction

Faro and Yimot decide to construct their test chamber for viewing the stars to inoculate themselves against the experience. In the darkness, complicated feelings come more easily to light.

4k words · ~15m read

That Which Resembles the Grave— But Isn't

In: Miscellaneous Fanfiction

Ralph goes to visit Tom in the hospital and discovers that he is no longer there.

2k words · ~7m read

The Difference Between Giving and Taking

In: Miscellaneous Fanfiction

Amanda is released from prison after seventeen years. The world has moved on; she has not. Crucially, neither has Lily.

10k words · ~39m read

When I Was a Child, I Talked Like a Child, I Thought Like a Child, I Reasoned Like a Child.

In: Miscellaneous Fanfiction

“It’s the one thing I can’t really imagine, really imagine— myself as all grown up. When I think about it— getting married, having children, getting old— well, I know you’re supposed to see yourself doing these things, but I don’t know. Can you imagine it?” “Sure,” Diana said. “Oh, see!” “But it’s not like imagining like you think— about being a mermaid, or the dryads, or the Haunted Wood. It’s more like— hoping for something.” And her cheeks turned bright red with some thought that Anne couldn’t read. “And what are you hoping for?” “I don’t know,” Diana said. “I wish you could imagine it, Anne. Then you could tell me if it will be nice or not.”

3k words · ~14m read

Where Did the Future Go? Parts Unknown

In: Miscellaneous Fanfiction

“Are you glad to be going home?” Somehow, on the ship, it was easier to ask these things. She laughed. “Home? I’m leaving it. I’ve spent more time on Gethen than I have on Terra. I feel like I’ve forgotten my own native language. Nusuth, I suppose. I’ll be back more than two hundred years after I left— things change enough in that time that I’ll have to relearn ways of speaking anyway, if I don’t want to sound like what I am.” “And what are you?”\r n “A stranger in a strange land,” Genry said. She switched to the Terran language, the one she had taught me to speak. Though if I was to go to Terra, I should start trying to think of *Genly* as what *he* was.

7k words · ~29m read

The Train Sets Off; The Platform Remains Behind

In: Miscellaneous Fanfiction

As spring arrives, Ippolit writes a letter to Nadya in Moscow.

1k words · ~6m read

The Anachronism of the Marmoset

In: Miscellaneous Fanfiction

“Why do you want to bet on a thing like that?” Claudius finally asked. “I thought you J-jews didn’t like to bet on a man’s life.” Herod recovered some of his verve, and nudged Claudius’s shoulder with his own. “Ah, but it wouldn’t be a man’s life— it would be a god’s.” “Which you don’t believe in, yes.”\r n “Of course!” He tipped his head, hushed his voice, and said, “But for you, Clau-clau, an exception.” The joke was close enough to blasphemy that even Claudius said, “Don’t let your G-god hear you say that. You’ll be out of His favor.”\r n “He’ll do me the favor of not listening,” Herod said.

3k words · ~11m read

Vampires of the Sun or: Sudden Oak Death

In: Numberless Army of Cephalophores

Original short fiction.

4k words · ~15m read

The Intestine of the Basilisk

In: Numberless Army of Cephalophores

A robot is sent to investigate the reason for a sudden communications failure on board a mining vessel.

5k words · ~20m read

The Trouble With Desire; Or, Protect Me From What I Want

In: Numberless Army of Cephalophores

On a planet still in the process of being terraformed, a household robot begins exhibiting strange desires.

3k words · ~13m read

MOLON LABE; Or, Come And Take Them

In: Miscellaneous Short Stories

When the governor gives the order to evacuate Fort Lauderdale for a hundred-year hurricane, it's the perfect opportunity for two cousins to make a quick buck-- by stealing the guns out of undefended houses.

6k words · ~23m read

Pictures of Decency

After Yang Wenli comes home from the incident at El Facil and finds himself an overnight hero, he struggles to cope with his newfound fame. Suddenly, he's hounded by the press, and everyone thinks that he's someone he's not. As Yang's professional image is polished to a mirror sheen, his personal life falls apart, and the distance between The Hero of El Facil and Yang Wenli only grows greater.

45k words · ~3h read

Last Gasp at Calama

When Thomas Barrow is medically discharged from the Imperial fleet, he has no desire to return to the backwater planet where his family lives. Running short on money and options, he is forced to ask his former employer, Lord Grantham, if he might return to service in his seasonal home in the capital planet of Odin. But things have changed since Thomas left service to go into the fleet, and he does not fit back easily into the old way of things. With a lesser position and new enemies, Thomas finds life on Odin difficult to bear. Newly awarded the title of count, Reinhard von Lohengramm finds returning to the capital after being out in space intolerable. He wants nothing more than to be on his flagship, fighting the next battle, with Kircheis by his side. In contrast to that, the court on Odin is a pit of serpents, especially for the formerly middle class Reinhard, who is disliked by the majority of the nobility. When one of his few allies in court, the Baroness Magdalena von Westpfale, demands that he play the social game for his sister's sake, Reinhard reluctantly agrees and tries to join the court life. The court season of 486 I.C., in the heart of the dying Galactic Empire, will be the last one of its kind.

83k words · ~5.6h read

The Children of This World Marry and Are Given in Marriage

Although the universe has been brought under Reinhard's heel, he lacks the one thing necessary for the continuation of his dynasty: an heir. As Reinhard grows weaker, the duty to produce one falls to his sister. When all it would take is one person's refusal to send the whole of the Neue Reich crumbling into a new civil war, the burden of choice weighs heavily on everyone.

42k words · ~2.8h read

Arcadis Park

Jonah is a college senior who can't seem to score an internship, so she's returned to the summer job that she's had every year since she was old enough to work: lifeguarding at the run down waterpark on the outskirts of her small town. Things take a turn for the worse when a dismembered body is discovered in the lake that feeds the park's attractions, and the whole staff becomes convinced that they are the murderer's next target.

67k words · ~4.5h read