duskpeterson

If you are not visiting the palace in order to attend the Chara's court, then chances are that you are here to visit the council. As you enter the east doors of the palace, turn right, then left, then immediately right. The long corridor before you leads north to the council chamber and council quarters.

Upon reaching the end of the corridor, you will once again find yourself facing high doors, this time plated with copper. Unless you are actually attending a council meeting, the door you want is to either the left or the right of the council chamber. Enquire with the guards as to how to reach your destination. Mainland visitors are likely to be escorted, under guard, to the room they are seeking.

Attendance at meetings of the Great Council are by invitation only. If you are invited, arrive early. If you have been asked to speak with the council, you will be shown to a chair at the bottom of the council table. Do not be insulted. This is where the Chara himself sits, when he is invited to speak with the council.

Remember those high doors? They were designed to keep out the Chara and his guards, back in the days when animosity still simmered between the Chara and the Great Council. These days, the animosity takes less blatant forms, but the Chara is still not permitted to enter the council chamber except with permission of the Great Council's High Lord.

If you are not here to speak with the council but wish to attend a council meeting, you will be shown to a chair at the back of the room. (If you are not accustomed to sitting in chairs, it is best to practice beforehand.) As in the court, your job will be to stay as quiet and motionless as possible. At only two points in the meeting should you move: rise from your chair when the High Lord of the Great Council enters the chamber, and rise again when he leaves. A herald will announce when this is necessary.

After the council meeting, you may wish to visit the council library, just off the head of the chamber. This lovely, light-filled room was added during the reign of the Chara Purvis, at the beginning of this century. It is considered the finest law library in the world, containing hundreds of books of commentary on matters related to the law. Do not to touch the books unless you are here to do research. To Emorians, law books – even books of commentary – are sacred objects.

Northern mainlanders should be aware that stealing a law book can be punished by death. If you must steal something in the palace, confine yourself to objects unrelated to the law.

[Translator's note: In order to visit the Great Council in session, as well as its law library, read Law of Vengeance.]

jadelennox

So! Some people went around the moon! And are on their way back!

I know the live video feed was super compressed and low-res intentionally, but I hope there is high-res eclipse footage when they land.

Also I know returning to the moon is not necessarily the best use of limited resources from a science perspective, but (one) I want people to feel aspirational about people doing science in space again, so we're not just getting press about billionaire assholes who want to, I dunno, put a casino in orbit around venus; and (two) this was all a mission by and for The People. This isn't a damn SpaceX or Blue Origins launch, this is NASA (with an assist from ESA and CSA).

I am going to love good things when they happen and space is a good thing.

desecrets

the irregularly scheduled dropping off the face of dreamwidth got me again, although this time at least i had a pretty good excuse.

life exploded in ways which weren't much fun, so between work, classes and generalised stress i feel like i haven't had time to do anything in my spare time except listen desperately to audiobooks for distraction for the past month and a half. 

that said, my reading stats for this year are on track to be much better than last year. :'D

i read Heated Rivalry back in feb, alternating between audiobook and physical copy, mostly because i was curious and i can get books for cheap through work. the TL;DR of my thoughts on it is that its origins as a fanfic are very noticeable, and in some ways this is a positive, but overall it made it a little lackluster, imo.

then, for some mysterious reason known only to itself, my brain finally decided it was time i started reading Discworld properly, so i've spent march more or less marathoning the Watch novels from Men at Arms through Night Watch and now i'm giving Guards Guards a quick reread before i move onto Thud.

i'm trying to pace myself a smidgen now that i only have two books left; i'm not ready for the Watch series to be over!!