I'm not quite sure how exactly you've found this place considering that, as of the time of writing, there's literally nothing that could have brought you here.
And if you're from some point in the future, looking back to the start of this blog seeking answers as to what exactly it is about — look, I have no idea either.
Well, I have some idea.
Vague notions at best, really.
⬢ Who Are You?
I'm Gabriel Fonseca, but most anglophones I know just call me 'GAB'. I'm currently, as of writing this, an Astronomy undergrad student at UFRJ, the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (do not ask for how long), where my area of study is planetary systems and orbital mechanics.
From 2018 to about 2022 I was a member of UFRJ's rocketry team, Minerva Rockets, and around the same time I also started working for The Sojourn Audio Drama, at first as a Science Advisor and subsequently, after a convoluted and somewhat nebulous sequence of events neither I nor my boss are entirely sure about, ended up as one of its Associate Producers as well.
In the time left over between all that, I do a bunch of random stuff — I write code, bumble around in Blender, catalogue and compile information about fictional worlds, think about completely useless and impractical things that amuse me nonetheless... and I even write something useful every now and again, imagine that!
⬢ So What's This Place, After All?
The point I'm trying to make is: I'm all over the place — and I fully expect this blog will be as well, in best ADHD fashion. Only time will tell what it'll be about, though like I said before, I have some vague notions.
I've always been a big sci-fi buff (if my career choices weren't a dead giveaway). I love fiction, I love worldbuilding, RPGs; all that classic jazz — so you can very much expect to find that kind of stuff here.
As examples of the sort of thing you'll eventually find in this blog (probably), here are some of the posts ideas I currently have in mind:
⬢ A thought piece on the practical challenges of Astrogation that most of science fiction so far has failed (or deliberately neglected) to address.
⬢ An essay on the architecture of Dwarven mountain keeps, and the challenges that would need to be circumvented were they to be built in real life.
⬢ A full survey of all star systems and planets in the Mass Effect game trilogy, in Google Doc form, with calculated parameters based on given information to find out stats not given by the games, such as stellar mass, planetary density, etc.
⬢ A post series wherein I flesh out the Regina (Spin 1910) system from the Official Traveller Universe (OTU) — I'm a huge fan of Traveller — based on extant canon information and modern exoplanetary science.
⬢ An article about the unassuming nightmare that is timekeeping, the miracle that is the modern Gregorian Calendar, and specifically timekeeping in the OTU.
And beyond that, I have a bunch of personal projects that I intend to publish someday, including a fantasy tabletop RPG setting and a story I'd like to one day turn into a graphic novel. Posts related to those are most likely to show up. Eventually.
Speaking of 'eventually', with what regularity will posts be appearing, you ask? Why, without any semblance of regularity whatsoever! Odds are posts will appear as my free time allows me to write them, or whenever I happen to hyperfixate on something instead of working on the myriad things I should be doing instead.
Either/Or, really.
⬢ So The TL;DR...?
In this blog, expect a lot of posts about general aspects of Science Fiction and Fantasy, real-world celestial mechanics, planetology, and astrocartography; meticulously compiled lists of things, ruminations on fiction, writing, game design, and tabletop role playing games — particularly Traveller — and other miscellanea that make me go 'Ooh, shiny!' and want to share it with the world.
Hopefully, it'll be as fun for you as it'll be for me.
Good luck with all that!
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