The Palace of the Keys

This Palace has CLOSED. New one is OPEN. See Friday, September 22, 2006 for details

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As you enter the halls, the Palace is cold. Dust covers everything; all life has left the building. Yet something of interest catches your eye-there, on the ground is a small, dainty footstep. Like that of a lost child, you can trace the path it took all over the room.

Then you finally realize that there is at least one other person left, by the fact that they pop up in front of you like a jack in a box.

"Did I scare you? So sorry." The gender and age of the figure is hard to discern; they are small, with colorful clothing and a mask covering most of their face. With elegant flourish, they bow to you, light on their feet.

"I am the Harlequin, here to inform the weary traveler than they-" A slight pause, and the 'Harlequin' presses a single finger over their mouth. "Must travel to yet another location, as the Palace has a new home." They grin at you playfully, golden bells ringing from their gestures. "Never fear, I will be your guide. follow me..."

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Updates

September 22, 2006

Hello, ducklings!

Again, I have some good news and some bad ones. The Palace site had to go down again and then move, and the Marchioness has permanently left the Palace Staff, leaving me completely in charge.

Now the good news. While the Palace is not up yet (I'm still working on recoding the archives) the new domain for it is up, which is at Key-Games.net. Yes, that's right-a whole domain dedicated to the Palace and the newly reborn The Albany, which is the official Key Games forum, maintained by me, the Harlequin.
The Palace will reopen sometime early October and to celebrate, a new Game. The theme has not been chosen yet, but you can go join the The Albany and see the themes we've been discussing.

Ever fondly,
The Harlequin

May 26, 2006

Hello! The Scribe and The Seneschal have passed on the torch to new moderators. The Key Games will continue, and we hope you all will find the changes to be for the better.

I am the Harlequin, most likely you will be seeing quite a bit of me on the communities (although we are planning something to make it easier for Key fans to unite and share ideas) and I'm pleased to say that the Marchioness has taken her new job as owner of the Palace seriously. She has created a new home for the Palace, to be found here. The website is not done yet and is still under construction, so please be aware that anything posted will be deleted, as we are in the testing phase to make sure everything works.

I cannot say when we will open a new Key Game, as that has not been discussed yet. However, we did want you all to know that the game is in good hands and that we are dedicating much time and thought to the new Palace.

We as of the moment have no moderator rights to either the LJ community nor the Keyfic ML, but we do invite you to look around the website. Again, the system is being tested and anything posted will be deleted before we officially open the Palace again.

If you have any further questions, the Marchioness is receiving E-mails at the.marchioness@yaoiville.org and will reply when she can. Please be patient, we are getting things done.

- The Harlequin

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May 10, 2006

THE PALACE OF THE KEYS IS OFFICIALLY ON A HIATUS. NO LOST KEY REQUESTS OR SUBMISSIONS WILL BE ANSWERED FOR THE TIME BEING.

I think my and The Scribe's reign of irresponsibility with this site had best finally be put to an end. The site got a great new makeover that we worked hard on, yes, but the ensuing updates after that have been sporadic at best (non-existant at worst), and rules we said we were going to stick to regarding time limits for Keys have not been followed at all. Also, the inbox has been piling up for weeks while the two of us have been getting busier and busier with our own lives. I can't speak for the Scribe, but I personally have been losing interest in this site and its content. And someone who doesn't care anymore doesn't deserve to run a huge site such as this - that's not fair to all the talented creators who have contributed and will continue to contribute work here.

So, long story short - the Palace is on hiatus until I can find a suitable replacement(s) to run the site. If you are interested, send an e-mail to key.palace[at]gmail[dot]com and explain why you think you are a good candidate. Again, I am very sorry.

~ The Seneschal

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January 31,2006

Please for the love of everything you hold dear, give the Scribe a big hug, pat on the back, and pile of praises. If it weren't for her mad HTMLing, the Palace would be dead. Long wait periods between updates are worth it, trust me. :-)

Though, just to assure you all, I haven't just been sitting on my arse letting her do all the work. Oh no no no no no no. Just most of it. I've been fielding Key requests and filing new submissions in the Palace inbox for several months now. Though there have been no updates to the main page since fall of last year, I have been keeping the Availabilities Bulletin very current. So, if you've been wanting a particular Owner-less Key from the Lost or Independents list but weren't sure if he'd been taken yet, the answer is that no, he isn't taken. By all means, adopt said Key and make us happy with more new submissions. ^_^

~The Seneschal

I'm sure none of you will be interested in a long spiel about what exactly happened during those four months I disappeared. Too bad, you're getting it anways. ... Just Kidding! Anyways, the Weather Keys are now all HTMLed up and the links should all be working, so go check it out! Exceptions being: The Skiff Key, which had a bit of troubleshooting to go through, and also the Lightning Key, which neither the Seneschal or I seem to be able to find/discern the status of.

I can only say that you have the Seneschal to thank for being able to adopt those Lost Keys and submit all your work. While gmail ensures that we won't lose all the files, if it weren't for her, we'd have stagnated. (Give her strawberries... from... Quebec. And a hug!)

Now, I still have quite a few things to update and HTML, so for tonight, this is the Scribe, signing out.

~The Scribe

Stories/Pictures Updates:

The Weather Keys

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October 9, 2005

Not a real update, just a mini-update to let you folks know that there are some new Keys up for grabs. The Aurora, Indian Summer and Zephyr Keys from the Weather game have been reclaimed from their original Owners and are now on the Lost Keys list, available to anyone who wants to give them homes. As well, we have five (!) new Independent descriptions from Jackal. And don't forget, all the rest of the Lost Keys are still waiting for homes as well. I hope to see more of them adopted in the near future.

So check out the Availabilities Bulletin and see if there's something you like! :)

~The Seneschal

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September 29, 2005

Yes, my darlings, you're probably wondering, "What the hell happened to those two?" Well, basically, we actually have been running The Palace, but through the inner workings of that thing called e-mail. In short, we've been fielding requests to train for the new game and some Lost Keys and some Independent Keys. We've been receiving artwork and fiction alike as well as requests for change of online aliases, e-mail and/or website addresses. (Which if you've requested and I haven't done, please remind me!)

Which reminds me to point out that if you wish to contact us about a change you'd like done for your contact information, feel free to drop us a line. But please state your old info, your new info, and in what works (descriptions, fictions, and artwork) your info is shown. I mean, after HTMLing the whole Palace over, I have a general gist, but I can't remember everything...

Basically, I have been a busy bee (*shudders* Have I told anyone that I have a case of apiphobia that keeps getting tested?) and done even some more HTMLing, especially in the Chromatic Keys section in order to get all the stories archived on this site, and also of the new submissions that keep coming in. But... to make up for all that floating in-between time, I bring you lots of updates! So please, don't fire me, your darling Scribe, yet. I'm good, you'll see.

Now, I think I'll wait for the next update to bring you the Weather Keys. The deadline for the stories was around September 20 for most. Six of you have been very good with your deadlines (love you darlings~!) while a couple of you were dears and asked for extensions. As for the rest, I have no idea what happened to you! But rest assured, we'll be contacting you soon. (Just in case you wish to know if you're on the list, 'I don't know what happened to you', the Owners of the: Zephyr, Rain, Acid Rain, Lightning, Khamsin, Typhoon, Snow, Blizzard, Gale, and Indian Summer Keys are. Please contact us at key.palace[at]gmail[dot]com or we'll contact you.)

And finally, just a reminder, we still have quite a lot of Lost keys who are looking for owners. I added the Goblin, Gypsy, Intoxication, and Vengeful Keys to the list as I do not know how I left them out in the first place. Just go to the Availabilities Bulletin and then e-mail us if one catches your fancy.

~The Scribe

Um, what she said? ^_^; Yes, I still work here, much as it might not seem like it compared to all the work that our lovely Scribe is doing for us. Everyone, I demand you go give here a big cyber-pat-on-the-back and possibly a cyberhug right now to let her know how much we love her. ...Nothing too dirty now. We're a sometimes explicit slavefiction site, not pornographers.

Anyway, I have mostly been in the business of fielding requests, questions, extensions, reminders, and other e-mails that come into and out of our inbox, as described by the Scribe (heheh-- scribe; de-scribe; aren't I a riot?) You could say that I have become Palace PR Coordinator and the Scribe is our Head of Grunt Work. So, neither of us is "higher" than the other now, unlike what seemed to be the case before, and I am glad to say I like it better this way.

Okay, that was a completely pointless blurb from moi. I'm getting too fond of the sight of my own writing, methinks. Enjoy the update, and watch out in the future for the posting of Weather Key submissions!

~The Seneschal

Stories/Pictures Updates:

Weather Keys next update!

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June 12, 2005

Hard as it is to believe, we haven't been asleep for six months. ^^; Here's a quick rundown of what we've been up to here aside from the story and art updates listed below. The new layout is the most obvious thing, and I very much hope you all like it. The Scribe (Miika) and I put a lot of effort into it... well, mostly the Scribe, who can HTML like nobody's business, but you get the point. X3; We've also updated the information pages and MADE CHANGES TO THE KEY GAME RULES. This is very important, so I suggest you head straight for the new Palace guidebook and check out everything new.

The reason this is very important is because the moment you've all be waiting for is here. Yes... THE NEWEST KEY GAME IS NOW OPEN! After reading the new rules in the guidebook, head on over to the Availabilities Bulletin and check out the Weather Keys game, which is now accepting new Trainers/Owners (that little slash mark is explained in the guidebook). I hope to see lots of new and familiar faces flocking to participate for the first game in... wow, must surely be a couple of years now. ^^;

You should also note that on the same bulletin page is a rather long list of what are called "Lost Keys." These are Keys which have been Owned in the past, but were abandoned either purposefully or through neglection. If you're not up to the dual responsibility of participating in the Weather Keys game, why not take one of these cuties instead and give him the short story or pic he deserves after the loneliness he has endured?

~The Seneschal

Well, since the Seneschal (Tenchi) has given a rundown of the important matters, I'm just here to goof off and have fun. June 12! It's my birthday! Now both the people who are running the site are of legal age! Basically, this whole redesign and frantic HTMLing is how I show my love for all of you on my birthday.

Oh, and I would now like to take the time to state something of dire importance. THE PALACE HAS A NEW E-MAIL ADDRESS. It is key.palace[at]gmail[dot]com. Yes, the Palace has one of those newfangled gmailthingymajiggys. XD. This way, you can be rest assured that nothing you send us will ever get deleted because someone didn't check the e-mail for a while.

I wanted to end off my little spiel by stating that you are in absolutely great hands! I can proudly state that the Seneschal has read around 95% to 99% of all the keyfiction on this site. As for me, I can only tell you that I will try to make sure that the Palace gets updated regularly and that the e-mail is checked at least once per week. (I check my e-mail accounts quite a lot for someone who's supposedly so busy.)

~The Scribe

Stories/Pictures Updates:

And there's more coming! The Scribe is currently busy trying to HTML some of the stories that have been archived on various sites. Expect another update soon!

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