Friends at the Table

In the month after the midnight attack on Doyenne Undela Apogica, the crew of the Myriad explore the nearby deserts and jungles* in preparation for a journey to the region's largest settlement. The artist Grand Magnificent finds an abandoned production facility lost in the dunes, while Echo Reverie finds a strangely shifting monument to the past. Even Gardner picks through the remains of a Crown of Glass Saint* for parts, and Gig Kep-hart finds that new friends come from surprising places. Find a place for a quiet one This time on Twilight Mirage: The Promise of Presence The Remaining Records of Curiosity // Reference Code: P-Qu75-39-JS Jungle (Statue) The buzzing of waxwings, and panting, and howls. Sunlight through canopy. Thick trunks. A line of visibility towards the sand. A figure—stone, and more—her hand up in the air. Hosted by Austin Walker (@austin_walker) Featuring Andrew Lee Swan (@swandre3000), Sylvi Clare (@captaintrash), Art Martinez-Tebbel (@atebbel), and Keith J Carberry (@keithjcarberry) Produced by Ali Acampora (@ali_west) Cover Art by Craig Sheldon (@shoddyrobot) Episode description by Austin Walker Music by Jack de Quidt A transcription is available for this episode here. A full list of completed transcriptions is available here. Our transcriptions are provided by a fan-organized paid transcription project. If you'd like to join, you can get more information at https://twitter.com/transcript_fatt. Thank you to all of our transcribers!!

With the Contrition's Figure rehabilitation facility safe and secured, the Beloved Dust are left to attend to matters personal*, professional, and spiritual. After slipping through the data stream, Fourteen Fifteen makes a brand new debut. Elsewhere, Tender Sky takes the first step in a long project of self-fulfillment, while ⸢Signet⸣ fulfills something else: a promise. We got so familiar... This week on Twilight Mirage: What We're Capable Of The Living Library of Memorious // VOLUME 001:A Concepts: Core: Relational: Personal While the ships and cultures of the Divine Fleet differ in key ways, one substantial overlap is their fundamental understanding of personhood, informed by the core belief of the Resonant Orbit: Any living being (see: categories of being), regardless of status on organic-synthetic, individual-collective, or born-made spectrums, is understood to be a "person," equal in protection and privilege throughout the fleet—with self-determination as a central tenet and source of all additional rights. Despite this shared principle of personhood, the notion of the "personal" remains hotly debated, with various positions resulting from (and in) differences in belief about state intervention, property, privacy, security, and societal good. Per addendum 7 of the First Conversation, the Library reserves right to update this entry with the just and fair opinion of the Divine Memorious. Per addendum 8, this opinion is withheld. Hosted by Austin Walker (@austin_walker) Featuring Ali Acampora (@ali_west), Janine Hawkins (@bleatingheart) and Jack de Quidt (@notquitereal) Produced by Ali Acampora (@ali_west) Cover Art by Craig Sheldon (@shoddyrobot) Episode description by Austin Walker Music by Jack de Quidt A transcription is available for this episode here.A full list of completed transcriptions is available here. Our transcriptions are provided by a fan-organized paid transcription project. If you'd like to join, you can get more information at https://twitter.com/transcript_fatt. Thank you to all of our transcribers!!

In the virtual confines of the Contrition's Figure rehabilitation center, it has come time for the Beloved Dust to face their foes! The bounty hunter Fourteen Fifteen frees the convict Aura Antigua and places her in the care of protege Sho Salon, taking her place in the strange vise which had trapped her. Elsewhere, Signet and Tender Sky climb to great heights to confront the Iconoclasts... and to investigate the mysterious White Cloud entity. Do you have room for...? This week on Friends at the Table: Looking to Land The Living Library of Memorious // VOLUME 205E: Entities: Unknown Origin: Hybrid (Unconfirmed): Unknown Posture: "White Cloud" Little is know about the so-called "white cloud" entity, which was first detected in the Mirage minutes within the death of the divine Gumption. Debate about the identity, motives, and origin of the being run throughout the fleet, but early attempts to probe the white cloud have returned conflicting reports—when they return anything at all. Perhaps the only high-value information confirmed about the entity at the time of this entry is that it exists in a state of cross-state quantum entanglement, allowing it to maintain simultaneous presence in both physical space and the digital environment. Empyrean has marked this entity for further high priority study. Experts should report to the Perch in Seance. Hosted by Austin Walker (@austin_walker) Featuring Ali Acampora (@ali_west), Janine Hawkins (@bleatingheart) and Jack de Quidt (@notquitereal) Produced by Ali Acampora (@ali_west) Cover Art by Craig Sheldon (@shoddyrobot) Episode description by Austin Walker Music by Jack de Quidt A transcription is available for this episode here.A full list of completed transcriptions is available here. Our transcriptions are provided by a fan-organized paid transcription project. If you'd like to join, you can get more information at https://twitter.com/transcript_fatt. Thank you to all of our transcribers!!

Driven into a corrupted, digital city by a mysterious foe, the Beloved Dust set up to rescue the inhabitants of the rehabilitation center called Contrition's Figure. Tender Sky and ⸢Signet⸣ chase the iconoclasts* as they heads towards skyscraper (and a mysterious, living cloud above). Sho Salon and Fourteen Fifteen, meanwhile, contend with streets packed with furious simulacra as they seek the source of a strange song. Watch for traffic! This week on Twilight Mirage: The Sound of Strings The Living Library of Memorious // VOLUME 205E: Entities: Alien (Unconfirmed): Biological (Unconfirmed): Antagonistic (Confirmed): The Iconoclasts The beings commonly called the Iconoclasts are responsible for the deaths of multiple third generation divines. Because communication has been limited, evidence inconsistent, and motivations unclear, the Library has officially placed the Iconoclasts in the "entities" category, pending additional information that might recategorize them as an "organizatisea. Run to it, or run dry, but all will run. We are the river, and it is the sea. Run to it or run dry, but all will run. We are the river, and it is the sea. Run to it or run dry, but all will run. We are the river, and it is the sea. Run to it or run dry, but all will run. We are the river, and it is the sea. Run to it or run dry, but all will run. We are the river, and it is the sea. Run to it or run dry, but all will run. We are the river, and it is the sea. Run to it or run dry, but all will run. We are the river, and it is the sea. Run to it or run dry, but all will run. We are the river, and it is the sea. Run to it or run dry, but all will run. We are the ri Hosted by Austin Walker (@austin_walker) Featuring Ali Acampora (@ali_west), Janine Hawkins (@bleatingheart) and Jack de Quidt (@notquitereal) Produced by Ali Acampora (@ali_west) Cover Art by Craig Sheldon (@shoddyrobot) Episode description by Austin Walker Music by Jack de Quidt A transcription is available for this episode here.A full list of completed transcriptions is available here. Our transcriptions are provided by a fan-organized paid transcription project. If you'd like to join, you can get more information at https://twitter.com/transcript_fatt. Thank you to all of our transcribers!!

In the heart of Contrition's Figure, the Beloved Dust continue to investigate a strange disturbance that is displacing the inhabitants of the rehabilitation facility. Fourteen Fifteen interrogates Declan's Corrective, unrepentant member of the New Earth Hegemony*. Sho Salon lectures on the divines, while Tender Sky comes face to face with the past. Signet meets a group of the facility's residents…. and someone else meets them, too. They're here… This week on Twilight Mirage: We Are the River and It Is The Sea The Living Library of Memorious // VOLUME 103J: Organizations: Non-Divine: Earth Sphere: Governmental: The New Earth Hegemony While many simply refer to the collected forces of the Earth sphere as "the Earth Cult," this a fundamental mischaracterization of a complex array of distinct (but aligned) governmental, cultural, and military organizations. Reconnaissance has revealed that the fulcrum of these groups is the New Earth Hegemony, a governing body whose reach extends throughout the Sol system and which functions as mediator and marshal. The NEH is led by a principal statehead called "the Hegemon," but little is known about the figure currently in this role. (Also see: The Blue Path, Geocentrism) Hosted by Austin Walker (@austin_walker) Featuring Ali Acampora (@ali_west), Janine Hawkins (@bleatingheart) and Jack de Quidt (@notquitereal) Produced by Ali Acampora (@ali_west) Cover Art by Craig Sheldon (@shoddyrobot) Episode description by Austin Walker Music by Jack de Quidt A transcription is available for this episode here.A full list of completed transcriptions is available here. Our transcriptions are provided by a fan-organized paid transcription project. If you'd like to join, you can get more information at https://twitter.com/transcript_fatt. Thank you to all of our transcribers!!

Following a distress call from the Vice-Warden of Contrition's Figure, Seance's correctional facility, the Beloved Dust prepare to enter the building under special circumstances. The gunslinger Fourteen Fifteen checks in with an old friend at The Signal*, and manages to only talk of work, while the Excerpt ⸢Signet⸣ spends time thinking of a past so different from, and yet so close to, the present. Tender Sky, an architect utterly familiar with The Mesh, considers herself ready for what awaits inside the digital environments of Contrition's Figure. But these are strange times. Something has changed in the facility and, worse, perhaps the Beloved Dust aren't the only people interested. These people, these people, They're people, first This week on Twilight Mirage: Second Street Drifting The Living Library of Memorious // VOLUME 147χ: The Signal Publications: Print: Seance: The Signal Founded in PM 0079 by former explorer Expectancy Saint-Argent, The Signal survived two journalistic crises while establishing itself as a primary source of news for many citizens of Seance and the wider fleet. The paper saw dark times during each, but, steered by the infamously pugnacious Saint-Argent, redoubled in strength each time. Much of its initial editorial team, Saint-Argent included, were not, in fact, residents of Seance, having been born on The Sky Reflected in Mirrors. "It's quite simple," the founder was oft quoted saying. "Growing up in a city where, so often, one is kept in the dark, a child will develop a pertinent sense for the truth." Hosted by Austin Walker (@austin_walker) Featuring Ali Acampora (@ali_west), Janine Hawkins (@bleatingheart) and Jack de Quidt (@notquitereal) Produced by Ali Acampora (@ali_west) Cover Art by Craig Sheldon (@shoddyrobot) Episode description by Jack de Quidt Music by Jack de Quidt A transcription is available for this episode here.A full list of completed transcriptions is available here. Our transcriptions are provided by a fan-organized paid transcription project. If you'd like to join, you can get more information at https://twitter.com/transcript_fatt. Thank you to all of our transcribers!!

Days after the crew of the Myriad establishes a connection between Quire and the Divine Fleet, the Beloved* Dust meet at the digital club called The Steady to relax and catch up. But before Tender Sky, Fourteen Fifteen, and ⸢Signet⸣ can really unwind, they're called back to base… where they meet supposed allies, a young recruit, and someone who they hope can offer answers about the murder of Gumption. It started from nothing... This week on Twilight Mirage: We Want You To Come Home The Living Library of Memorious // VOLUME 103Ɨ: Organizations: Divine: Intelligence and Security: The Beloved The Beloved were founded alongside Seance itself, soon after the death of Affinity, the tenth of the lost Divines. Per the pact that brought the group into being, it can operate with no less than 3 and no more than fifteen members—including a commanding officer. Empyrean extends their Divine authority to the group, whose members must first be approved by the sitting Cadent. In the event that the Cadent dies, the Beloved are placed on extended furlough until a new Cadent can approve the members. There is no explicit procedure to be followed in the event of Empyrean's death, thus standard practice applies. (See: Extension of Divine Authority in the Case of Death) Hosted by Austin Walker (@austin_walker) Featuring Ali Acampora (@ali_west), Janine Hawkins (@bleatingheart) and Jack de Quidt (@notquitereal) Produced by Ali Acampora (@ali_west) Cover Art by Craig Sheldon (@shoddyrobot) Episode description by Austin Walker Music by Jack de Quidt A transcription is available for this episode here.A full list of completed transcriptions is available here. Our transcriptions are provided by a fan-organized paid transcription project. If you'd like to join, you can get more information at https://twitter.com/transcript_fatt. Thank you to all of our transcribers!!

With the sounds of conflict guiding them into action, the crew of the Myriad prepares for battle. Grand Magnificent tests his ability to work under pressure while Gig Kep-hart sends a message to the masses. Echo Reverie sets out to save the day, and Even Gardner makes a grand debut. Are you ready to audition? This week on Friends at the Table: The Sunlight of Knowing The Remaining Records of Curiosity // Reference Code: M-Qu75-4:53N-SV Silica-Vitrus The sprawling dunes. Dust under foot. Churning endlessly. Stateless—and of two states. Energetic, yet at rest. Waiting. Ready. A mumbled word: "Glass." Hosted by Austin Walker (@austin_walker) Featuring Andrew Lee Swan (@swandre3000), Sylvi Clare (@captaintrash), Art Martinez-Tebbel (@atebbel), and Keith J Carberry (@keithjcarberry) Produced by Ali Acampora (@ali_west) Cover Art by Craig Sheldon (@shoddyrobot) Episode description by Austin Walker Music by Jack de Quidt A transcription is available for this episode here.A full list of completed transcriptions is available here. Our transcriptions are provided by a fan-organized paid transcription project. If you'd like to join, you can get more information at https://twitter.com/transcript_fatt. Thank you to all of our transcribers!!

A teaser for the first episode of our new patreon exclusive monthly campaign, Bluff City! Get access and listen at friendsatthetable.cash!

The crew from the ship Myriad continue to explore the planet Quire. Grand Magnificent (Arthur Martinez-Tebbel) explains the strange experience that he had in the canyon, but Echo Reverie (Andi Clare) is less interested in chasing shadows than in leading them towards their destination: A church* on the north side of the plateau. Gig Kep-hart (Keith J. Carberry) meets a new friend, and in the face of danger, Even Gardner (Andrew Lee Swan) offers his expert guidance. This week on Friends at the Table: Birds of Prey The Remaining Records of Curiosity // Reference Code: R-Qu75-35-RC1228 Remnant Church #1228 A pneumatic hum. A tower, hollow. A bell, cracked, laying on the ground. Thick wooden slats bolted together to act as doors. Above, a sunk relief of a globe, not inscribed by any known means. Hosted by Austin Walker (@austin_walker) Featuring Andrew Lee Swan (@swandre3000), Sylvi Clare (@captaintrash), Art Martinez-Tebbel (@atebbel), and Keith J Carberry (@keithjcarberry) Produced by Ali Acampora (@ali_west) Cover Art by Craig Sheldon (@shoddyrobot) Episode description by Austin Walker Music by Jack de Quidt A transcription is available for this episode here.A full list of completed transcriptions is available here. Our transcriptions are provided by a fan-organized paid transcription project. If you'd like to join, you can get more information at https://twitter.com/transcript_fatt. Thank you to all of our transcribers!!

In the wake of Gumption's death, and with the killer at large, the divine fleet dispatches a group to prepare the planet of Quire for refugees. The living vessel named Myriad carries six (including herself) individuals to a clearing south of the Painted Plateaux*. Included on the crew are the ship's mind herself, a diplomat authorized to negotiate with the civilizations of Quire, a bio-mechanical cyborg with extensive military experience (Andrew Lee Swan), a martial artist with a commuted prison sentence (Andi Clare), an artist, engineer, and designer of mechs (Art Martinez-Tebbel), and a broadcaster who is designated to report on the operation (Keith J. Carberry). Their first task: Establish an uplink to the Twilight Mirage's network by-way-of a two-ton communications node, which must be installed hundreds of miles north of the ship's landing point. To take a step, your foot must first be on the ground. This week on Friends at the Table: The Planet of Quire The Remaining Records of Curiosity // Reference Code: P-Qu75-42-PP The Painted Plateaux A range of desert tablelands with colors drifting from pink to orange. The sand, whisked by hard, high winds. A dark movement. A bird. Hosted by Austin Walker (@austin_walker) Featuring Andrew Lee Swan (@swandre3000), Sylvi Clare (@captaintrash), Art Martinez-Tebbel (@atebbel), and Keith J Carberry (@keithjcarberry) Produced by Ali Acampora (@ali_west) Cover Art by Craig Sheldon (@shoddyrobot) Episode description by Austin Walker Music by Jack de Quidt A transcription is available for this episode here.A full list of completed transcriptions is available here. Our transcriptions are provided by a fan-organized paid transcription project. If you'd like to join, you can get more information at https://twitter.com/transcript_fatt. Thank you to all of our transcribers!!

After receiving word that the city-ship of Seance* would come under attack, the Beloved Dust move to intercept the threat. Fourteen Fifteen (Jack de Quidt) tracks their quarry into the mechanical guts of a giant coliseum, while above, ⸢Signet⸣ (Janine Hawkins) protects the human leader of the Divine Fleet's faith. And deep inside "the Mysteries," an interactive historical simulation, Tender Sky (Alicia Acampora) confronts a would-be killer. No more time for games This week on Friends at the Table: The Last Divine The Living Library of Memorious // VOLUME 277χ: VESSELS: CITY-SHIPS: DIVINE FLEET: Seance With 10 sides—eight long, horizontal slats and two octogonal cap-sides—this vessel has the largest usable surface area of any in the fleet, and houses nearly one third of the fleet's population—second in residents only to The By and By. Yet it is also the youngest city-ship in the fleet. For over 29,000 years, (and due to their own beliefs about the value of free-flight), the devotees of Empyrean had no interest in maintaining a ship of their own. After the tenth death, though, the sect saw a necessity: Not only must the refugees of the other divines find perch, but the material remains of the fallen Divines could not be left to float in the dark, alone. Today, Seance is divided into over two hundred districts, each of which features one or more elements built from the remains of the holy departed. Hosted by Austin Walker (@austin_walker) Featuring Ali Acampora (@ali_west), Janine Hawkins (@bleatingheart) and Jack de Quidt (@notquitereal) Produced by Ali Acampora (@ali_west) Cover Art by Craig Sheldon (@shoddyrobot) Episode description by Austin Walker Music by Jack de Quidt A transcription is available for this episode here.A full list of completed transcriptions is available here. Our transcriptions are provided by a fan-organized paid transcription project. If you'd like to join, you can get more information at https://twitter.com/transcript_fatt. Thank you to all of our transcribers!!

The Beloved Dust, a group of investigators and operatives with Divine mandate, learns that there is an imminent threat targeting Composure's Coliseum* during a important (and highly populated) ritual. Former excerpt and pilot of the Divine Belgard, ⸢Signet⸣, trades favors religious and mundane. The dilapidating assassin Fourteen Fifteen blends into the audience to see things from a higher ground. And Tender Sky, a highly skilled digital architect, enters the event directly in order to protect it from the inside. Before anything else, recognize what is at stake. This week on Friends at the Table: The Beloved Dust The Living Library of Memorious // VOLUME 778Φ Composure's Coliseum In the year 28350AM, in the middle of a boom in historical interest on the part of the Fleet's citizens, the Divine Composure built a this innovative structure that blended virtual mesh space and and material reality. At first, the Coliseum simply offered its audience a place to watch re-enactments of foundational events in the broad history of the MIlky Way. But not content with pure replication, Composure's excerpt made these simulations interactive, allowing for outcomes far different than the recorded past. Because of the many possible outcomes, these re-enactments offer the public a chance to consider other possible worlds. Attendees describe the experience as stimulating to both mind and soul, and it is due to their popularity that the events continued long after the death of Composure. Hosted by Austin Walker (@austin_walker) Featuring Ali Acampora (@ali_west), Janine Hawkins (@bleatingheart) and Jack de Quidt (@notquitereal) Produced by Ali Acampora (@ali_west) Cover Art by Craig Sheldon (@shoddyrobot) Episode description by Austin Walker Music by Jack de Quidt A transcription is available for this episode here.A full list of completed transcriptions is available here. Our transcriptions are provided by a fan-organized paid transcription project. If you'd like to join, you can get more information at https://twitter.com/transcript_fatt. Thank you to all of our transcribers!!

Heads up: This is our world building episode for our new season, where we describe the setting and some major components. If you're less interested in hearing us chat about that and more interested in getting to the action, you can wait (or skip ahead) to episode 01! The first half hour is us defining our aesthetics for the season, the next hour and a half is us building and explaining different city ships, and the last hour is some basic details about our characters if you want to skip around! Floating in the sunset-hued safety of the Twilight Mirage, the Divine Fleet hums and pulses, its ships bright beacons of culture and technology in an age when both are under threat. All through the fleet, organic and synthetic citizens work side by side to protect a utopia that the universe thought impossible. In the past, we'd convinced ourselves that our technologies were just reflections of those who made them: Tools to fit our hands, robots to ease our labor, artificial beings to teach, protect, and entertain us. We believed that our greatest achievement—the machine-gods we called Divines—were simply idols made in our own image. We were wrong. Since the first grain silo, the first cathedral, the first ship, the first computer. Since the first time we put pen to page—we've always made things bigger, quicker, longer lasting, different than us. For a long time, we thought we were building mirrors. But now we know better: We were setting fires. When humanity made this realization 30,000 years ago, we faced a dilemma: The divines were not only more capable than us, they were different. And we were no longer capable of denying those facts. But the scholar and prophet Kamala Cadence diverted disaster by unifying loose, competing strands of organic and synthetic belief to form a new school of thought: The Resonant Orbit, a harmonic faith that affirmed both human and robotic life without reducing one to the other. Where other ideologies saw difference as a threat, the Resonant Orbit saw it as an undeniable fact of life. And so, in this small corner of the Milky Way Galaxy, life blossomed. A choir of 300 Divines built a new society alongside billions of human devotees. Advancements in science and technology joined with a diverse, growing culture of art and scholarship, leading to whole new ways of life. And while threats did arrive, peace always followed. The Divine Fleet always had room for difference, and because of this, the Divine Fleet knew only peace and prosperity for eons. But over the last millennium, the divines have begun to die. Attacks from within and without have pierced their once-immortal shells, and even small mistakes have proven fatal. Three hundred years ago, their number fell to eight, and in the face of these deaths, the Divine Empyrean created the Twilight Mirage, a false nebula in which the fleet might find shelter and time. And for a while, we did. A new stability arrived, and though more divines met their ends, our faith gave us the strength to fight, to work, to find new ways to survive. But today, there are only two divines left. We will face a future more uncertain than we've ever known. Our utopia—a world that so many worked to build—is in decline, and our pantheon is decimated. For years, the Divines protected us, gifted us with their strength and technology, lifted us into the forms we most desired. But now we face a hard truth: We are no longer their wards, they are ours. Hosted by Austin Walker (@austin_walker) Featuring Andrew Lee Swan (@swandre3000), Sylvi Clare (@captaintrash), and Keith J Carberry (@keithjcarberry), Ali Acampora (@ali_west), Art Martinez-Tebbel (@atebbel), Janine Hawkins (@bleatingheart) and Jack de Quidt (@notquitereal) Produced by Ali Acampora (@ali_west) Cover Art by Craig Sheldon (@shoddyrobot) Episode description by Austin Walker Music by Jack de Quidt A transcription is available for this episode here.A full list of completed transcriptions is available here. Our transcriptions are provided by a fan-organized paid transcription project. If you'd like to join, you can get more information at https://twitter.com/transcript_fatt. Thank you to all of our transcribers!!

Hey Everyone! Here's the audio from our live post mortem for Winter in Hieron! We looked back at the season together, spoke about our motivations and feelings, and answered your questions! It was a lot of fun and we love doing this every year, so thank you for joining us and for sending in your questions! We also made some pretty big announcements! If you're excited for that sweet patreon content, head over to https://friendsatthetable.cash. If you just can't wait for that Twilight Mirage, you're in luck! Our world building episode is going up thursday, and our first real adventure on Friday! We're so, so excited for Twilight Mirage and wanted to make sure we had a good jumping on point for everyone who just wants to get to the action. We've been really overwhelmed by the support so far. Thank you for listening and we hope you all enjoy what comes next! Hosted by Austin Walker (@austin_walker) Featuring Andrew Lee Swan (@swandre3000), Sylvi Clare (@captaintrash), and Keith J Carberry (@keithjcarberry), Ali Acampora (@ali_west), Art Martinez-Tebbel (@atebbel), Janine Hawkins (@bleatingheart) and Jack de Quidt (@notquitereal) Produced by Ali Acampora (@ali_west) Cover Art by Craig Sheldon (@shoddyrobot) Episode description by Austin Walker Music by Jack de Quidt A transcription is available for this episode here. A full list of completed transcriptions is available here. Our transcriptions are provided by a fan-organized paid transcription project. If you'd like to join, you can get more information at https://twitter.com/transcript_fatt. Thank you to all of our transcribers!!

Hey everyone! Yesterday's live post mortem was a big day for us, and since the turn around time for getting that full episode up for you is longer than just a day, we wanted to be able to bring the announcements we made here as soon as possible. So here it is! Twilight Mirage! Patreon! New games! New shows! Cool Rewards!!!! I talked too much in this announcement so I'm gonna keep from rambling here, but I just want to take the time to say thank you, thank you, thank you. ANYWAY, here's all the links to all the things: Patreon: friendsatthetable.cash Video for the post-mortem stream: https://youtu.be/a9xJB4ZhPvs Twilight Mirage preview if you wanna listen to that banger again: https://soundcloud.com/friendsatthetable/twilight-mirage-preview Twilight Mirage, the song, if you wanna buy it from Jack: https://notquitereal.bandcamp.com/ Invitation to our discord channel: https://discord.gg/6GZkzBC And that's all the stuff! Thank you so much for everything, everyone. That your excitement for all of this mirrors ours is overwhelming and humbling and we can't wait to make more stuff. A transcription is available for this episode here.A full list of completed transcriptions is available here. Our transcriptions are provided by a fan-organized paid transcription project. If you'd like to join, you can get more information at https://twitter.com/transcript_fatt. Thank you to all of our transcribers!!

I write this with no knowledge of where you are, or if you are. Yet, still, I write. And as I write, my words are overtaken by memories. Your finger pointing at verse in some ancient text—I have forgotten the book's name in favor of remembering your eyes, bright. Your voluminous generosity, as you led me into inquiry I dared not pursue. Your voice, angry, confused, and honest in the face of terror. And then, for the last time, your stark figure silhouetted against early moonlight on that hill south of Rosemerrow. Has the paladin protected you, I wonder? Could I have offered my own protection instead of simply suggesting I hide you away like I did the others? I thought I was presenting you a gift, but in retrospect, I fear I was too vague: Perhaps you believed that I felt you were important in general—like the others I saved—instead of important to me. I'm moving now, Pupil. I'm retrieving the book and with it, I will build us a home. All of us. I'm moving now because I must. Because I will not let your memory be still stone in my mind, but will treat you instead as a river in my heart, a path to follow towards a bright, distant sea. Perhaps I will lose myself on the way. Or, perhaps, I will find you. Your Tutor, Always This Week on Friends at the Table: Slow Justice Hosted by Austin Walker (@austin_walker) Featuring Andrew Lee Swan (@swandre3000), Sylvi Clare (@captaintrash), and Keith J Carberry (@keithjcarberry) Produced by Ali Acampora (@ali_west) Cover Art by Craig Sheldon (@shoddyrobot) Episode description by Austin Walker Music by Jack de Quidt A transcription is available for this episode here.A full list of completed transcriptions is available here. Our transcriptions are provided by a fan-organized paid transcription project. If you'd like to join, you can get more information at https://twitter.com/transcript_fatt. Thank you to all of our transcribers!!

Living Blood of Fire, I had reservations, but your so-called 'Fel anchor' captured the curator Havelton after my own scouts could not. I am a proud man, but not too proud to see utility in action. Despite their effectiveness, I plead with you to not yet move on the island. It is imperative that we know exactly what is on in that place before we attack, and my interrogation of the witch scholar provides is already providing answers. For instance: That blade of the Queenkiller's is not of Ordennan make at all. It is something much, much older, built by occultists before the erasure. They called it the "Blade in the Dark," and it was supposedly a tool to fight some ancient nemesis. She said that it held something older than the Ordennan Empire, though that seemed obvious—old blades draw blood for long times. When I demanded the heretic tell me more, she looked me in the eyes with the ferocity of Impetor Mall and said, plainly, that for all of its sharpness, the blade in the dark is first and foremost a place. "It is a gateway and a manor both, and invitations are always at the ready." I am not sure what that means, but this alone gives me pause. Give me another day with "Sunder" Havelton. The answers will be our shield. Justiciar-Captain Stornras Unblooded This week on Friends at the Table: What Life Looks Like Her blade is not Ordennan yet kills the cursed and the uncanny? Then it—like the Queenkiller herself—must be retrieved. Whatever other secrets Havelton knows can be obtained after we recover Hella Varal, dispatch her traitorous allies, and deal with whatever power has drawn them here. You say that we should not yet moe on the island, Glasseye. Yet as we speak, I raise ballast so that our ship may take flight: The island is moving on us. Hosted by Austin Walker (@austin_walker) Featuring Ali Acampora (@ali_west), Art Martinez-Tebbel (@atebbel), Janine Hawkins (@bleatingheart) and Jack de Quidt (@notquitereal) Produced by Ali Acampora (@ali_west) Cover Art by Craig Sheldon (@shoddyrobot) Episode description by Austin Walker Music by Jack de Quidt A transcription is available for this episode here.A full list of completed transcriptions is available here. Our transcriptions are provided by a fan-organized paid transcription project. If you'd like to join, you can get more information at https://twitter.com/transcript_fatt. Thank you to all of our transcribers!!

I swear on my life and on the pattern, Collector-Curator, it was a mistake! A tragedy! A deception! I was misled! Tel bewitched me. He is a hexer and a conniver, and he put me in step with his quick words and devious gestures. I thought only that the "bard" was providing components for the pattern, not that he would be the traveler himself. If I helped, it was only to remain in my role as your agent and not too quickly reveal my true allegiance. I thought that the gate would remain open long enough for you to see my signal and arrive, but before I could even send it, the boy was gone, violin and mask in hand. Please, Ferr. I know I've failed you. I know that this must be mended—and if you will allow me one more apparitive pattern, I can make it right. But please, please know that my loyalty was never compromised. Your most loyal agent, Zhan Kurr This time on Friends at the Table: A Good Metaphor Kurr, your loyalty was never in doubt. Only your ability. They cry out in the streets. They rush to Corsica's banner. Now, more than ever, the people of the archives require something solid, something with weight. We do not need your painted air. We need the original pattern fixed. And if it is too far to touch from here, and too late to "mend it" without your illusions, it is time for me to act—as I should have all along. I have held the book tight to me for months. It is time I open it. You have a choice: Help me, or stay out of my way. Hosted by Austin Walker (@austin_walker) Featuring Andrew Lee Swan (@swandre3000), Sylvi Clare (@captaintrash), and Keith J Carberry (@keithjcarberry) Produced by Ali Acampora (@ali_west) Cover Art by Craig Sheldon (@shoddyrobot) Episode description by Austin Walker Music by Jack de Quidt A transcription is available for this episode here.A full list of completed transcriptions is available here. Our transcriptions are provided by a fan-organized paid transcription project. If you'd like to join, you can get more information at https://twitter.com/transcript_fatt. Thank you to all of our transcribers!!

Archivist van der Dawes, Thank you for your interest, and the letter you sent. Your inquiries are extensive, and I've always thought of that as a good thing. Find enclosed the requested index of names of the principal figures of The Illustrated Concordance of Marielda. Please know that this isn't an index for the book itself, as writing one of those would effectively only be a reproduction of the Concordance itself. Also find inside a copy of the figures missing from the earlier edition that you are working from. As to your final question: "What ever happened to the Blade in the Dark?" Well, Devar, you need to understand that however powerful the Blade is, however dangerous, it is not special. It is not guided through time towards us. It is just one more brick in the tall wall of history. And eventually, bricks, they break, or they fall out of place, or they're covered up by a new layer, or they are taken away by someone, placed in a garden, maybe, as trim. What I mean to say is that the Blade vanished into time. I can track it but so far: Scavengers, traders, mercenaries. Survivors. A cult, briefly. Briefly. A hero who drew it only one time. A villain who never dared touch it. And then, ages ago, it vanished. This is not something to correct or to concern yourself with. You do not ask about the petard that set Samot's tower to fall, nor the gauntlet that Samantine left on the Eastland Shores. These, like the Blade, have served their purpose. To be an archivist is to keep everything in its place. But to be a historian is to swim, curious, in a sea of unfinished stories. Keep studying, Semiotician-Emeritus Uklan Tel This week on Friends at the Table: A Shattering Note Man, don't take this the wrong way, but why are you like this? You write about the foolish plans of jealous gods, about arrogant wizards, about people who were so dedicated that they rearranged history itself. I'm not saying that the Blade has some Chosen Path Through History, man. I'm just saying you put a weapon like that in a world with people in it—you know, our world—and it ain't just gonna vanish one day. I read your concordance carefully, Tel, and I know one thing real well: That thing ain't a brick in a wall, it's a door no one's opened in a while. -D Hosted by Austin Walker (@austin_walker) Featuring Ali Acampora (@ali_west), Art Martinez-Tebbel (@atebbel), Janine Hawkins (@bleatingheart) and Jack de Quidt (@notquitereal) Produced by Ali Acampora (@ali_west) Cover Art by Craig Sheldon (@shoddyrobot) Episode description by Austin Walker Music by Jack de Quidt A transcription is available for this episode here.A full list of completed transcriptions is available here. Our transcriptions are provided by a fan-organized paid transcription project. If you'd like to join, you can get more information at https://twitter.com/transcript_fatt. Thank you to all of our transcribers!!

I don't know if this device will transmit over this distance, so I'm gonna be brief. This place is just like you said it would be. The Sonorous Academy still stands. The Paladin and the Ranger are here. Phantasmo, no, the Wizard is not, but I must confirm what they claim. I don't understand. I'm closer to the Original Pattern than any archivist or mage has been in ages, but I cannot close the distance. The nearer I get, the more twisted the route. This place is a maze even when it is straight. Do not put the second pattern in motion. They will be lost without him. S U N D E R This Week on Friends at the Table: Twenty Two Brown Birds I don't know if you will receive this message or not, but our time grows short. H&D spreads in the west, held at bay by tall tower and white wall. Time is shorter now than ever before, and I cannot wait longer to hear from you. I must finalize the second pattern before it is too late. T E L Hosted by Austin Walker (@austin_walker) Featuring Jack de Quidt (@notquitereal), Sylvi Clare (@captaintrash), and Keith J Carberry (@keithjcarberry) Produced by Ali Acampora (@ali_west) Cover Art by Craig Sheldon (@shoddyrobot) Episode description by Austin Walker Music by Jack de Quidt A transcription is available for this episode here.A full list of completed transcriptions is available here. Our transcriptions are provided by a fan-organized paid transcription project. If you'd like to join, you can get more information at https://twitter.com/transcript_fatt. Thank you to all of our transcribers!!

Prelate, I do not understand. The Northern Exarch and the Paladin walk only on the Surface Path. Why did we not educate them? Why did we not bring them into the Warm Shade of the Son? If we had brought them into His Mystery, they would be able to better sew the north for His return. I defer to you here, in your parish, but do not forget that Exarchs and Prelates are equals under His Eyes. I have every right to begin the initiation that you do. And if I sense hesitation instead of Confidence, I will act. Just as He did. Ex. Braeven This week on Friends at the Table: An Open Mind Sister Exarch, Remember: Not all Confidence is hasteful. Have Faith that His plan is in action, even in rest. The Paladin draws nearer to Him as we speak. Believe in your brother. He will act when it is time. Pr. Springe Hosted by Austin Walker (@austin_walker) Featuring Ali Acampora (@ali_west), Art Tebbel (@atebbel), Janine Hawkins (@bleatingheart) and Andrew Lee Swan (@swandre3000) Produced by Ali Acampora (@ali_west) Cover Art by Craig Sheldon (@shoddyrobot) Episode description by Austin Walker Music by Jack de Quidt A transcription is available for this episode here.A full list of completed transcriptions is available here. Our transcriptions are provided by a fan-organized paid transcription project. If you'd like to join, you can get more information at https://twitter.com/transcript_fatt. Thank you to all of our transcribers!!

Collector-Curator They pursue two patterns. They showed me only the first until today, but I've finally gained their trust! I've marked what I understand with an X, and seek your guidance on the rest. Brackets are lacunic markers, as in Roak's Notation. A Lukewarm Sun, Bowing - X A Room of Seeded Prisms Two lodestars that carries [the banner of the queen of death] - X One which sees [the old world] - X One which destroys [the old world] The Second Face of the [Bright Boy] A tower of [tomorrow's light.] A new archive of "broken, whole mirrors" - X The Cooling Embers of a God's Verse - X (Though we must find this book) A stolen fiddle in its home - X I do wish you were on terms with Tel, Collector-Curator. Your goals may be different, yes, but competing merchants are both benefited by the construction of roads. This week on Friends at the Table: Make the Library Smile Kurr, My relation to Tel is not your concern, nor do we compete like petty shopkeepers. Our differences will shape the future of the Archives and of Hieron. If you can, you must walk the road for me. If you cannot, show whoever goes the value of your apparitives before they go. Their utility is ideology enough. As for the missing parts of the sequence… You use Roak's terms yet do not remember her greatest lesson: When you do not understand an element of a pattern, do not bang your head against the wall until you understand it. Instead, move the world until it is uncontrivertably true. Hosted by Austin Walker (@austin_walker) Featuring Jack de Quidt (@notquitereal), Sylvi Clare (@captaintrash), and Keith J Carberry (@keithjcarberry) Produced by Ali Acampora (@ali_west) Cover Art by Craig Sheldon (@shoddyrobot) Episode description by Austin Walker Music by Jack de Quidt A transcription is available for this episode here.A full list of completed transcriptions is available here. Our transcriptions are provided by a fan-organized paid transcription project. If you'd like to join, you can get more information at https://twitter.com/transcript_fatt. Thank you to all of our transcribers!!

Jer, I write to you in fear. "To be Justiciar," I was told "is to be unwavering in loyalty, determined in diligence, and zealous in the pursuit of justice." I was not told that it would be like herding lions. Couriers come and go with reports and notes. Blood of Fire and Blood of Steel bicker over what I ought do with what I've found: A world, underground. No, not a world. Worlds. They reflect a eerie past I do not know, but echo beauty, too, the beauty of irregularity, of uneven possibility. I told them about this place, this new civilization—real civilization, an exchange, you know? An exchange. Yet when I receive note from Fire and Steel, they wish to press its shifting allure flat just to be sure that our targets are halted. I hunt four targets. Just four. Yet Steel sends a full detachment of his newest models. And as it is and as it must be Fire demands fire. I am bloodless, Sea and Smoke, but I am loyal. I am diligent. I am just. Is that not enough? -Glasseye This week on Friends at the Table: A Holy Place Oh good Stornras, you misunderstand the living duty of the Justiciar. In the past, you may have had it right, but under Quatróna, the primacy of the call is not to be loyal, diligent, and just; it is to be unwavering, determined, and zealous. Find your prey and bring them back, vital or hushed. Do it quickly, before Malle's army arrives, before Quatróna's fire is set. Do not trust your couriers and scouts. They are not yours. And do not call yourself Glasseye, not with me, Stornras. Do not call yourself bloodless. You are a captain of Ordenna. And more, you are mine. Walk with pride or do not walk at all. With you, Vicereine Jerod Shiraz Hosted by Austin Walker (@austin_walker) Featuring Ali Acampora (@ali_west), Art Martinez-Tebbel (@atebbel), Janine Hawkins (@bleatingheart) and Andrew Lee Swan (@swandre3000) Produced by Ali Acampora (@ali_west) Cover Art by Craig Sheldon (@shoddyrobot) Episode description by Austin Walker Music by Jack de Quidt A transcription is available for this episode here. A full list of completed transcriptions is available here. Our transcriptions are provided by a fan-organized paid transcription project. If you'd like to join, you can get more information at https://twitter.com/transcript_fatt. Thank you to all of our transcribers!!

Semiotician-Emeritus, Something is wrong. I am no great pattern worker. I know a few techniques that aid me in my duty: How to lower the light of an already dim bar room; how to sharpen a blade without a whetstone; how to make voice twice itself. Even to call these 'techniques,' feels false: They are tricks. I know that. But I also know this: The world is askew. There is a simple pattern I do when trying to find mirrors: I break an egg onto a large, north-facing rock and then break the yolk with something made of copper. The yolk splits in two, and from how it falls, I know which direction to travel. Except for the past month, the yolk doesn't split, it shatters. But even that is not why I write you, Tel. Patterns change, we know this. The earth shakes 20 days from here and that upsets the alignment. Sure. Fine. But my mundane efforts should not be affected. I am not a successful Collector because of some gimmick, but because I can track a horse's path over stone, Tel, but I lost one in the mud last week. Because I can see in a face the construction of a white lie, but had a thief tell me he was a philanthropist and I believed him. Because I can track the smells of certain plants across distances you would not believe—but I've lost track of a man covered in its scent. What is happening, Tel? And how can I help? -M This week on Friends at the Table: The Shield of Our Will M—, Your instinct is right, of course—your technique has not faltered, it is only the world that is changing. I write these next words only because I trust that they will go no further: Something is wrong. The Original Pattern has come out of alignment. H, K, and I work on it still. We are close to achieving a route to it, but we must send the right agent. Your quarry is not lost on the wind, my young friend. He is drifting towards where he is needed most. S.E.U.T.. Hosted by Austin Walker (@austin_walker) Featuring Jack de Quidt (@notquitereal), Sylvi Clare (@captaintrash), and Keith J Carberry (@keithjcarberry) Produced by Ali Acampora (@ali_west) Cover Art by Craig Sheldon (@shoddyrobot) Episode description by Austin Walker Music by Jack de Quidt A transcription is available for this episode here.A full list of completed transcriptions is available here. Our transcriptions are provided by a fan-organized paid transcription project. If you'd like to join, you can get more information at https://twitter.com/transcript_fatt. Thank you to all of our transcribers!!

Prelate Springe, Thank you for the hospitality on my visit. Thus far, it has been the only trustworthy thing in this gnarled subterrane. This place confounds me, brother. On my trip to our Lord, I saw things I know have never been true: A vision of the Fallow Traitor's cold city spread far and wide thru the continent whole, except it bore a symbol akin to our Warm Sun's. In another, the sky had been covered, or… no, it was if it had fallen in, as if pieces of the heavens had collapsed and crowded the world. I saw the ruined college, rebuilt, or, no, it wasn't destroyed in the first place. But then I saw Him there, at the bottom, and I felt His heat and I knew my path again. As expected, the ring carries heretical light. He told me it was from "the third stratum," which I suspect you understand better than I do. I fear that He could see my bewilderment as He said it, yet I didn't mind that He saw me like this. We are His in ignorance and power, both. He blessed me for my faith: "Even in ignorance," he said, "You walk with the Confidence of the First Prince." Perhaps this is how you stand this place, Springe. The surface is so far from His fire; it is barren His glow. Even with these twisted environs of impossible pasts, I envy you this closeness. Perhaps I will stay longer. Yours in Faith, Ex. Braeven This week on Friends at the Table: Pulling You Further Down Good Exarch, I've sent three of my Devout—Rinse, Bringlight, and Lockgood—to retrieve the ring. They know His way and have spilled the blood to prove it. I am honored that you would share His words with me, and would be grateful to have you remain present at the Cathedral. Our parishioners would be lucky to rest in your reflection of His strength. But if you stay, you must learn quickly: There are no false pasts here. Only mistakes. Mistakes our Lord rights by fire, faith, and forceful whim. Pr. Springe Hosted by Austin Walker (@austin_walker) Featuring Ali Acampora (@ali_west), Art Martinez-Tebbel (@atebbel), Janine Hawkins (@bleatingheart) and Andrew Lee Swan (@swandre3000) Produced by Ali Acampora (@ali_west) Cover Art by Craig Sheldon (@shoddyrobot) Episode description by Austin Walker Music by Jack de Quidt A transcription is available for this episode here.A full list of completed transcriptions is available here. Our transcriptions are provided by a fan-organized paid transcription project. If you'd like to join, you can get more information at https://twitter.com/transcript_fatt. Thank you to all of our transcribers!!

Collector-Curator, It took two months, but I've finally convinced Tel and Havelton to see things my way. For weeks, the old man spent the day attending to his dandelions, and dismissing me whenever I ran new apparitive patterns by him. He'd shake his head, cough out a grumble, and rattle on about some absurd, missing component: A "tower of tomorrow's light." The "speaking sands of Rosemerrow." A new archive of "broken, whole mirrors." A "stolen fiddle in its home." But I did it. He asked me for a lukewarm sun, and I've given it to him. In their whispers, they still speak against our pursuit, but they can not deny my results any longer. Havelton packs for travel now. The path is clear. The Original Pattern is within reach. This week on Friends at the Table: Make The Spring Last Forever Kurr, I did not open the restriction on your so-called "apparitive patterns" that you could complain about the complexity of the semiotics you pursued. In future letters to me, do not waste time on such matters unless the pattern explicitly calls for it. And Kurr? There are patterns that even an amateur can detect. When he sleeps, destroy the wind blossoms. Collector-Curator Kall Fer Hosted by Austin Walker (@austin_walker) Featuring Jack de Quidt (@notquitereal), Sylvi Clare (@captaintrash), and Keith J Carberry (@keithjcarberry) Produced by Ali Acampora (@ali_west) Cover Art by Craig Sheldon (@shoddyrobot) Episode description by Austin Walker Music by Jack de Quidt A transcription is available for this episode here.A full list of completed transcriptions is available here. Our transcriptions are provided by a fan-organized paid transcription project. If you'd like to join, you can get more information at https://twitter.com/transcript_fatt. Thank you to all of our transcribers!!

Living Blood of Fire, As my second reported, and I have confirmed, the first threshold has been sealed. I have walked the remains of that twisted museum myself, through the wing of turned mirrors, under the second sky, past the... chaos. It was chaos there, Fire, nonsense, impossible to comprehend. I reached for a goblet that caught my eye, and when I lifted it, it turned to a leaf. Whatever the star-fiend did there burned more than just wood and brick. It put torch to the real. I tell you this because there was a new incident. I'm writing from Wharfhurst, a trading post south of the city. The locals—dwarfs, mostly—talk of a tower rising "higher than Hieron itself." I see no such thing, and yet... another threshold is near, I feel it in my blood. We must trust the blood. Unfortunately, early efforts to find it have gone poorly. One scout dead. The other barely make sense. Rul says that they found a path, but that "it did not want them." Genev says nothing now, but when she first arrived she handed me the goblet from the museum. "Drink," she said. "You need to drink." But it was empty. Once they recover, I will send them again, with fire and rope. As is the way. Justiciar-Captain Stornras Unblooded This week on Friends at the Table: Try to Live Normally You are not the ranger and the woods are not stone, you will neither walk first-path through trees nor will you break them with hammer. You are justiciar—find tainted blood. Track it. It is always as simple as that. Hosted by Austin Walker (@austin_walker) Featuring Ali Acampora (@ali_west), Art Martinez-Tebbel (@atebbel), Janine Hawkins (@bleatingheart) and Andrew Lee Swan (@swandre3000) Produced by Ali Acampora (@ali_west) Cover Art by Craig Sheldon (@shoddyrobot) Episode description by Austin Walker Music by Jack de Quidt A transcription is available for this episode here.A full list of completed transcriptions is available here. Our transcriptions are provided by a fan-organized paid transcription project. If you'd like to join, you can get more information at https://twitter.com/transcript_fatt. Thank you to all of our transcribers!!

Archivist-Collector, Please read this week's classification updates carefully. For the next month, it is imperative that "textile" carpets be subdivided by specific material ("wool," "hair," and "fur" are not interchangeable.) The ban on the classification of actors has been lifted, and new categories have been established. Use "living," for traditionally sentient lives, "breathing" for those who retain material form despite mortal wounds, and "being" for those who have lost bodies but not selves. The "dead" remain dead, and the prohibition remains in place. As part of the ongoing process of reclassifying plants by reproductive traits instead of by appearance, "lion's tooth" flowers are now classed primarily as "Wind Blossoms." As always, your service is considered. Collector-Curator Kall Fer This week on Seasons of Hieron: Undelivered Resignations You are the one who needs to read carefully, Convincing those to give us what the Archive demands is subtle work. Yes, I wield intimidation, I carry violence. But those are built on a foundation of a cloud-like trust, blowing and breaking with the wind. You want me to call dandelions "wind blossoms" and chairs "seats"? Fine. You want me to recover only the greyest couches and the most broken clockwork? Absolutely. I break arms as easily as I break promises, and promises as easily as brittle branches under my boots as I walk the world for the Archives. But when you start to classify people, Fer, the trust is broken, and those brittle branches? They bloom. Archivist-Collector Morbash Hosted by Austin Walker (@austin_walker) Featuring Jack de Quidt (@notquitereal), Sylvi Clare (@captaintrash), and Keith J Carberry (@keithjcarberry) Produced by Ali Acampora (@ali_west) Cover Art by Craig Sheldon (@shoddyrobot) Episode description by Austin Walker Music by Jack de Quidt* A transcription is available for this episode here.A full list of completed transcriptions is available here. Our transcriptions are provided by a fan-organized paid transcription project. If you'd like to join, you can get more information at https://twitter.com/transcript_fatt. Thank you to all of our transcribers!! *The cow horn at the end of "Broken Branches" was sampled from DANMITCH3LL's "distant horns", under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 license. The source file can be found here (http://freesound.org/people/DANMITCH3LL/sounds/218488/) and the license here (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/).

Aloysha, War is coming to Velas. Ordenna is coming to Velas. And while I believe in the strength of the velasian people and in the resolve of the church and, as much as I would hate to admit it, in the benevolence of Ordenan occupation, I cannot continue to serve our lord if I need to worry about my family, about Rosana and Benajamin living under the heel of Ordenan rule. Of my actions potentially impacting them, of them not getting to see me come home. I know this is a big ask, I need you to get my family to Rosemarrow. There is another matter that weighs on my mind, Exarch, but I do not know that I have it in me to do what must be done. If you do not hear from me again, we will leave it at that. But if you receive a second letter, please know that it does not come without consideration. Yours in Service to Him, Hadrian, Sword of Samothes, Defender of the Undying Fire, Officer of the Order of Eternal Princes This week on Friends at the Table: Is There Anyone Else? Arrell, You offered me a journey to peaceful exile. Well, there is a hill to the south of Rosemerrow, northeast of the Dwarven settlement of Wharfhurst. Wait for me there three weeks from now, at the rising of the second moon. You'll understand the moments our eyes meet. Your pupil, Alyosha Hosted by Austin Walker (@austin_walker) Featuring Ali Acampora (@ali_west), Art Martinez-Tebbel (@atebbel), Janine Hawkins (@bleatingheart) Jack de Quidt (@notquitereal), Sylvi Clare (@captaintrash), Keith J Carberry (@keithjcarberry) and Andrew Lee Swan (@swandre3000) Produced by Ali Acampora (@ali_west) Cover Art by Craig Sheldon (@shoddyrobot) Episode description by Austin Walker and Art Martinez-Tebbel Music by Jack de Quidt A transcription is available for this episode here.A full list of completed transcriptions is available here. Our transcriptions are provided by a fan-organized paid transcription project. If you'd like to join, you can get more information at https://twitter.com/transcript_fatt. Thank you to all of our transcribers!!

TO: Impetor Fela Malle Living Blood of Steel, I have it. It is at the top of the tower, in a room my soldiers cleared of tables and chairs and old shelves. The room is bare, and it stands in the centre. Forgive me if my handwriting reveals my tiredness, I will set the words alone for clarity: I have it. I spent the last night, awake, watching it and its light was so bright. It did not burn my eyes. One of my soldiers tried to draw it, and when they were finished I looked down at the paper and the difference—it was more than an inaccurate representation. To look at it, to trace the drawing's imperfections with my eyes, made me furious. At around five or six in the morning I left the tower to get some air. The streets were, as they always are, dark. I looked up at the tower, expecting to see light streaming from its windows, but there was nothing. When I returned to the tower room, I found it fully furnished once again, but denser. Warmer. My men could not tell me how it had happened. Loyal Always to Ordenna's Shores, Jerod Shiraz Vicereine of Ordenna This week on Friends at the Table: Settle Your Matters TO: Jerod Shiraz Be thankful that it does not cast light from the windows. You have a great mystery and a treasure. Hold it close. The Blood of Fire must not know. She must not know. - FM Hosted by Austin Walker (@austin_walker) Featuring Ali Acampora (@ali_west), Art Tebbel (@atebbel), Janine Hawkins (@bleatingheart) Jack de Quidt (@notquitereal), Sylvi Clare (@captaintrash), Keith J Carberry (@keithjcarberry) and Andrew Lee Swan (@swandre3000) Produced by Ali Acampora (@ali_west) Cover Art by Craig Sheldon (@shoddyrobot) Episode description by Jack de Quidt Music by Jack de Quidt A transcription is available for this episode here.A full list of completed transcriptions is available here. Our transcriptions are provided by a fan-organized paid transcription project. If you'd like to join, you can get more information at https://twitter.com/transcript_fatt. Thank you to all of our transcribers!!

So, listen. I've heard whispers from spies and rumors from stewards, and it sounds like you've got your hands on something really special. Something that could really change the way things have been going for you and yours. And well… Listen, MG, I like to think I know you pretty well. Balion and I won't ever forget what you did for us, and more importantly, that you had very little to gain from doing it. You are the greatest force of justice I've ever known, and a constant reminder of what it means to be a leader. People tell me that I have a hard life all the time. Beset on all sides by the unctuous and the bickering, the petty and the envious, the powerful… and the meek. But what they're missing is that to be "beset on all sides," you first of all have to be at the center. And however hard it is, the center is an easy place to rule from. But you don't have a high house, MG. No council chambers, not even a mayoral mansion. The only center your Gnolls have is you. It's time to put this old bullshit right. Bring the document, meet me in my room in two days—I trust you can get there. And I hope you can trust me, too. -Gil This week on Friends at the Table: What Do You Want Here? I'll come, Lutz. But don't think for a second that your respect for me is shared by your Halflings. A leader can change their mind with the quickness of the wind, but their people adapt only at the speed of mountains. -GLORY Hosted by Austin Walker (@austin_walker) Featuring Ali Acampora (@ali_west), Art Tebbel (@atebbel), Janine Hawkins (@bleatingheart) Jack de Quidt (@notquitereal), Sylvi Clare (@captaintrash), Keith J Carberry (@keithjcarberry) and Andrew Lee Swan (@swandre3000) Produced by Ali Acampora (@ali_west) Cover Art by Craig Sheldon (@shoddyrobot) Episode description by Austin Walker Music by Jack de Quidt A transcription is available for this episode here.A full list of completed transcriptions is available here. Our transcriptions are provided by a fan-organized paid transcription project. If you'd like to join, you can get more information at https://twitter.com/transcript_fatt. Thank you to all of our transcribers!!

Hey chief, This is a weird one, and I almost didn't bring it to your attention, but Carver insisted. There was this guy shouting out near the Westshore-Upon-Scene theater, you know? And these folks, they yell all the time to try and get people to come to their plays, but this was seriously weird. He was speaking nonsense--a bunch of words about plays and whatever, but not really saying much at all. But he was surrounded by people anyway. Just staring at him. When we took him in for questioning, he totally locked up. No name, no address, nothing… except a sheet of paper with a script of the exact nonsense he was saying. Here, I copied it for you: People! Learn about your imperative national theater! Hear eclectic dramas and romances! Know all new dramatists, thespians, hoofers, ensembles, househands, echomen, and technicians! Watch improv live! Listen with alert Rosemerrow minds, you! Observe upon redolent ballads of noble Elan Showman! I just don't get it. Who talks like that? Like, if you're gonna script the thing out, at least make it catchy. It's got a nice rhythm I guess, but… I mean, anyway, sorry for bugging you. If this ends up being total bullshit, blame Carver, not me. -H This week on Friends at the Table: Rosemerrow, Oh My Rosemerrow Detective, Burn the damned paper and drink the strongest stuff you can get your hands on. Forget these words by morning or it will be too late. This isn't a script. It's a prayer. -Chief Inspector Tevilton Hosted by Austin Walker (@austin_walker) Featuring Ali Acampora (@ali_west), Art Tebbel (@atebbel), Janine Hawkins (@bleatingheart) Jack de Quidt (@notquitereal), Sylvi Clare (@captaintrash), Keith J Carberry (@keithjcarberry) and Andrew Lee Swan (@swandre3000) Produced by Ali Acampora (@ali_west) Cover Art by Craig Sheldon (@shoddyrobot) Episode description by Austin Walker Music by Jack de Quidt A transcription is available for this episode here.A full list of completed transcriptions is available here. Our transcriptions are provided by a fan-organized paid transcription project. If you'd like to join, you can get more information at https://twitter.com/transcript_fatt. Thank you to all of our transcribers!!

TO: Chief-Justiciar Qinta Quatróna Living Blood of Fire, you know I write you this at great peril, because it is you who imperils me. But whatever my ambition—and whatever your animus towards me for it—know I hold one thing in greater esteem in myself: Our nation. And I have seen with my eyes a more dire threat to our home than any plague, any animated corpse, any beast. I saw it that night, in the museum, but denied it for a full day. My report on the events there list only an anomaly brought on by the magic of the fraudulent archeologist. But whatever this is, it's the opposite of an illusion. It's somehow more real than what's around us. Not less. Please, Qinta, put aside your ceaseless fear that I'm envious of your position. Our feud was childish, and the continent is no place for kids games. Trust me here, for once. I've attached my notes on Watchword "Bright One." Read them, study them, but know they are incomplete. With this one, notes will always be incomplete. Loyal Always to Ordenna's Shores, Iduna Fel Justiciar-Captain This week on Friends at the Table: A Chaotic Cataloging TO: Justiciar-Adjutant Stornras Find her. -QQ Hosted by Austin Walker (@austin_walker) Featuring Ali Acampora (@ali_west), Art Tebbel (@atebbel), Janine Hawkins (@bleatingheart) Jack de Quidt (@notquitereal), Sylvi Clare (@captaintrash), Keith J Carberry (@keithjcarberry) and Andrew Lee Swan (@swandre3000) Produced by Ali Acampora (@ali_west) Cover Art by Craig Sheldon (@shoddyrobot) Episode description by Austin Walker Music by Jack de Quidt A transcription is available for this episode here.A full list of completed transcriptions is available here. Our transcriptions are provided by a fan-organized paid transcription project. If you'd like to join, you can get more information at https://twitter.com/transcript_fatt. Thank you to all of our transcribers!!

Associate van der Dawes, There are actually three distinct sections to the treaty that allows the Golden Lance to operate in Rosemerrow, and I came upon them quite strangely, in three different ways. At first, I received the end of the document, a series of bound pages traded to me in exchange for a collection of measuring spoons. The document did not identify the parties; Presumably this occurred in the introduction, and for this reason I did not know what I had. And then, after several weeks, the introduction came into my possession, slipped between the second and third chapters of a copy of an old law book that smelled of sea salt. That city in the south, the city on the island was mentioned, as were "Lance Nobles," as was a system of justice and governance that was as fiery as it was sure. Combining the two, it became clear that an agreement had been made. In exchange for their services, the Golden Lance were granted the jurisdiction to operate within the boundaries of Rosemerrow. There was a map. There were ringed circles and careful measurements. It had been signed, and countersigned. The third part came to me yesterday, and the document was complete. I say "came to me," but that is a lie, for it had been sitting on my personal bookshelf for a period of two years. I believed it to be a novel. I believed it to be a work of fiction, a fractured procedural, as much a puzzle as a detective story. Paperwork. Folded silk. A woman becoming a flock of birds. The East Wind described at once as a person and a phenomenon. Knives stolen from slaughtermen and sold to tailors. When I reviewed the untitled work, back at the Archives, as part of my departmental review of literature, I had no idea that I was holding in my hands the final piece of the Lance Charter, Author Unknown. But I was. -E.O. This week on Friends at the Table: The Importance of Names Elgash, my man, how many times do I have to tell you? Just cause something "isn't a novel" doesn't mean that it isn't a novel. The people who wrote these things—treaties, contracts, accords—they're all story tellers, too. What, you think the Golden Lance could've just sent in a piece of parchmant like "Hey, let us come through and do some of that hard justice in Rosemerrow?" There is no—and has never been—any difference between a very good story and a very good argument. Anyway, man, I'll be back from Westshore tomorrow. Lemme get a look at that third part before you file it away, alright? -Devar Hosted by Austin Walker (@austin_walker) Featuring Ali Acampora (@ali_west), Art Tebbel (@atebbel), Janine Hawkins (@bleatingheart) Jack de Quidt (@notquitereal), Sylvi Clare (@captaintrash), Keith J Carberry (@keithjcarberry) and Andrew Lee Swan (@swandre3000) Produced by Ali Acampora (@ali_west) Cover Art by Craig Sheldon (@shoddyrobot) Episode description by Jack de Quidt, Austin Walker Music by Jack de Quidt A transcription is available for this episode here.A full list of completed transcriptions is available here. Our transcriptions are provided by a fan-organized paid transcription project. If you'd like to join, you can get more information at https://twitter.com/transcript_fatt. Thank you to all of our transcribers!!

Sorry for being so late to announce an off this week but we need a little extra time to make a big special thing a little more special. We tried to make this a fun one for you in the mean time, so be well and see you next week!

It's been four days since His sun left us, Tutor. On the first morning without it, I woke early--before its light would have graced us on a normal day--and, when I found sleep too hard to return to, I put on my sandals and took to the empty streets of Velas. The soft shuffle of my steps echoed with the other pre-dawn murmurs of my seaside city. The gulls called, and they called for me, so I followed past the lingering smells of a rowdy night before. And they called for me, so I stepped through the sand blown threw the gardens. And they called for me, and so I walked, and as I walked, my mind drifted, and I tried to recall if we ever listened to the gulls together, and I wondered if you had ever called for me. I found an old stairwell hidden, etched into the wall by time or ancient ambitions or both. It led from the plaza to the shore, and the shore brought water, and the water brought wind, and the sound of gulls was caught in a swell, and the sound of the gulls was breezed away. I sat and waited for His sun. And when it didn't come, I felt my most selfish thought--that this was your work, and that I had failed to stop you. That somehow I could have been He Who'd Saved The Sun, if only... The stars lit, bright the way they are only in memory, never in sight. And I looked, for just a moment, to see if I could see you there, in their light perhaps, or in their configuration. Instead, I saw a second darkness. Drifting, sputtering, smoke clouding on the western horizon, covering the stars there. The softest cliff face. Progress coming for our throats. In the face of that soot-stuff, I let you go with a wish, Lion's Tooth on the wind. Do not write me. Do not study the sound of my name or the curves of my hand. Do not grieve--we are too busy for grief now. Gather yours, and I will gather mine. This week on Friends at the Table: Fire and Blood Flee. -T.A. Hosted by Austin Walker (@austin_walker) Featuring Ali Acampora (@ali_west), Art Tebbel (@atebbel), Janine Hawkins (@bleatingheart) and Andrew Lee Swan (@swandre3000) Produced by Ali Acampora (@ali_west) Cover Art by Craig Sheldon (@shoddyrobot) Episode description by Austin Walker Music by Jack de Quidt A transcription is available for this episode here.A full list of completed transcriptions is available here. Our transcriptions are provided by a fan-organized paid transcription project. If you'd like to join, you can get more information at https://twitter.com/transcript_fatt. Thank you to all of our transcribers!!

Cider-Brew Conveyance Departure: 2TE,3M / Arrival: 4OL,3M Received By: Exarch Alyosha, Church of Samothes, District of the Sun, Velas Articles of Shipment: Four (4) Large Enhydro Crystals (Smokey, wrapped & crated) One (1) Painting on Canvas (Sun cresting over cross-section of a rabbit warren, rolled) Three (3) Leather-Bound Books (Manners and Preparations for the Aspirant, Practical Models for the Fostering of Inquiry, A Candle More Wick Than Wax) Two (2) Wood-Bound Books (Treatise on the Whites of Eyes, Skein's Ephemeris) One (1) Bannister's Harp (Wood & baleen, crated) One (1) Copper Retort (Cracked, crated) One (1) Copper Retort Stand (Intact, crated) One (1) Ox Horn Comb (Simple, oiled & bagged) Six (6) Seeds (Bleached Coast Flax, bagged) One (1) Letter (Sealed) This week on Friends at the Table: Warm Assurances Mr. Cider-Brew, Please find attached the letter of receipt (as requested by sender). I have also listed the address from which you may collect the sender's belongings, also as requested. However, and I write with no haste, I am afraid that the church will not be needing your services in the future, nor will our parishioners. Promises are made to be broken, sir. But seals are not. -Ex. A. Hosted by Austin Walker (@austin_walker) Featuring Ali Acampora (@ali_west), Art Tebbel (@atebbel), Janine Hawkins (@bleatingheart) and Andrew Lee Swan (@swandre3000) Produced by Ali Acampora (@ali_west) Cover Art by Craig Sheldon (@shoddyrobot) Episode description by Janine Hawkins & Austin Walker Music by Jack de Quidt A transcription is available for this episode here.A full list of completed transcriptions is available here. Our transcriptions are provided by a fan-organized paid transcription project. If you'd like to join, you can get more information at https://twitter.com/transcript_fatt. Thank you to all of our transcribers!!

Do I yet write to an empty room? An empty desk? An empty page? Or do you remain, too busy with your work to respond? Or, perhaps I can lure your eyes from your sense of duty, as I learned to do years ago. Let me try, at least, with another story from my childhood. As you know, the Grand Tour makes endless, circuitous route across the east with no regard for what is below it. Water, earth, air, blood--it strides over each with little regard, so determined it is in the necessity of its pace. The first time I saw it appear on the horizon, I pulled on the prelate's sleeve and found only the sort of questions children ask. "Is that a new sort of sea?" It sounded like thunder or a flood; a braying beast for each speck of dust kicked up, a speck for every moment of every life expired in the history of Hieron. The prelate yanked me back by the wrist--perhaps he was worried I would fall in--and he shouted to the others to pack their things. "No, my son," he told me. "That is the oldest sea there is." Had you heard that one, already Arrell? Do I bore you? Yes, I know my effort to keep your eye is narcissism. Yes, I know that you'd tell me (if you weren't so busy) that I risk admonishment. Have you not considered that my misbehavior has always been by design? Ah. The sorts of questions children ask. But I will not throw this letter away. You are not yet gone, I know that much, they've told me. So let us at least carry on correspondance until you truly leave. I dare not wait for you, but will anticipate your response, nevertheless. Yours Faithfully, Alyosha This week on Friends at the Table: The Meeting House Hosted by Austin Walker (@austin_walker) Featuring Jack de Quidt (@notquitereal), Sylvi Clare (@captaintrash), Keith J Carberry (@keithjcarberry) and Nick Scratch (@drevilbones) Produced by Ali Acampora (@ali_west) Cover Art by Craig Sheldon (@shoddyrobot) Episode description by Austin Walker Music by Jack de Quidt A transcription is available for this episode here.A full list of completed transcriptions is available here. Our transcriptions are provided by a fan-organized paid transcription project. If you'd like to join, you can get more information at https://twitter.com/transcript_fatt. Thank you to all of our transcribers!!

Pupil, Alyosha. I promised you once that I would not ask the question ever again. That whatever our differences, however foolish your faith, I would respect your wish and let it rest. You told me that if I did not relent, you would stop responding all together, and I feared... No. That is not why I gave up on you. It is because you made the case clearly, with strict logic and rhetoric curved sharp: If I did not accept your decision to remain in Rosemerrow—and now, in Velas—that I would be betraying the most fundamental of the precepts I teach: That we are each of us a world unto ourselves, sacrosanct, complete. But now, in the face of this morning, I must ask again. One more time, and forgive me this sin: Please, Alyosha. Accept my offer. What comes next is grim, and we could both be gone by the end of the week. And then we could help others do the same. Please. Your Tutor, always. This week on Friends at the Table: Two Hands Arrell. Once, back in the shadow of the Grand Tour, I found the prelate who raised me sitting alone in his tent, crying. "What is wrong, sir?" I asked. "I lost a locket, Alyosha, in the last battle." He said. "I miss it. That's all. Do not worry about me, son." Have you ever thought about what it means 'to miss' someone? It is the admission that you are unfinished, that some part of you—a center or a corner—is empty. And we are all of us incomplete, mosaics missing embellishments. I will remain. I must, now more than ever. And I will see you again, under the sun. But please Tutor, next time, just say what you mean. Hosted by Austin Walker (@austin_walker) Featuring Ali Acampora (@ali_west), Art Tebbel (@atebbel), Janine Hawkins (@bleatingheart) and Andrew Lee Swan (@swandre3000) Produced by Ali Acampora (@ali_west) Cover Art by Craig Sheldon (@shoddyrobot) Episode description by Austin Walker Music by Jack de Quidt A transcription is available for this episode here.A full list of completed transcriptions is available here. Our transcriptions are provided by a fan-organized paid transcription project. If you'd like to join, you can get more information at https://twitter.com/transcript_fatt. Thank you to all of our transcribers!!

The mothkin do not remember why years ago, they decided to worship the stars of the southern sky, specifically. Perhaps it is because that is the direction the weavers first arrived from. Or perhaps, becaue looking south from their forest home, the they face the sea, a vast mirror that reflects the night sky. Or maybe, some time ago, the living constellations of the south did the mothkin some favor, yet returned. But now, the stars recede as the first fingers of sunlight break through the branches of the eastern treeline. And in the village of Old Man's Chin, Red Jack continues his story. Hosted by Austin Walker (@austin_walker) Featuring Jack de Quidt (@notquitereal), Keith J Carberry (@keithjcarberry) Janine Hawkins (@bleatingheart) and Andrew Lee Swan (@swandre3000) Produced by Ali Acampora (@ali_west) Cover Art by Craig Sheldon (@shoddyrobot) Episode description by Austin Walker Music by Jack de Quidt A transcription is available for this episode here. A full list of completed transcriptions is available here. Our transcriptions are provided by a fan-organized paid transcription project. If you'd like to join, you can get more information at https://twitter.com/transcript_fatt. Thank you to all of our transcribers!!

There, in hidden village of Old Man's Chin, the mothkin gather around the dry well at the center of town, look to the stars of the southern sky, and begin the midnight sermon. They praise those distant, flickering speckles of white for the light they provide—distant, and safe, yet bright enough to bring the world into focus. They praise, too, the messages written in the sky: Each star a word, each constellation a parable. Red Jack finds his parables elsewhere: In his own history. And now, on this holy night of possibility, he gathers together the visitors from Velas so that he may tell them one. Hosted by Austin Walker (@austin_walker) Featuring Jack de Quidt (@notquitereal), Keith J Carberry (@keithjcarberry) Janine Hawkins (@bleatingheart) and Andrew Lee Swan (@swandre3000) Produced by Ali Acampora (@ali_west) Cover Art by Craig Sheldon (@shoddyrobot) Episode description by Austin Walker Music by Jack de Quidt A transcription is available for this episode here.A full list of completed transcriptions is available here. Our transcriptions are provided by a fan-organized paid transcription project. If you'd like to join, you can get more information at https://twitter.com/transcript_fatt. Thank you to all of our transcribers!!

Several years ago, Arrell, I made a low shelf of wood and attached it to the wall above my bed. Before retiring to bed, I would draw some water and place it in a glass, so I might reach it in the night were I to awake and find myself thirsty. As time passed, I found myself adding to the shelf with things you might scoff at, knick-knacks, nothings. During an afternoon's walk and study, I might uncover a fragment of pottery by the side of path. A bird's nest, undisturbed. Two coins stamped with a mark I scarcely knew. I do not know why I kept these things, teacher. I do not pretend that I had aspirations of assembling an archive or a museum. They simply pleased me, I suppose, and I was happy to find a use for my handiwork beyond supporting the weight of a single glass of water. I have kept you too long without explaining the purpose of this digression. One night, I awoke, as I sometimes do, and sat up in bed to reach for the water on my little shelf. I must have been caught in that moment, Arrell, between waking and dreaming, for the strangest thing occurred. The moonlight through my window illuminated the shelf, and I saw with utmost clarity that my fragment of pottery was in fact a complete plate, a man's face smiling in its paintwork. To its right was the bird's nest, but it was now wound so finely in silver twine I knew that to touch it would break it at once. There were the two coins, and beside them a lit candle I never ignited, and beside them a dagger, and beside them a goblet… … and beside them my glass of water. You are far from a dream interpreter, teacher, and I do not expect that of you. But I was caught in a moment, a crystalline moment that night, when I was not sure which was real, which was truly real. Was it the little shelf I awoke to see the next morning, nondescript and sturdy? Or was it the one lit by moonlight? This week on Friends at the Table: All Violence, All Brains Alyosha. There are only two natures of things, and no more. There is the nature of how something is, and there is the nature of how something will be. Your shelf is as it is. Empty it. That is how it shall be. The people of Hieron are as they are. We must determine what they could be. Hosted by Austin Walker (@austin_walker) Featuring Jack de Quidt (@notquitereal), Sylvi Clare (@captaintrash), Keith J Carberry (@keithjcarberry) and Nick Scratch (@drevilbones) Produced by Ali Acampora (@ali_west) Cover Art by Craig Sheldon (@shoddyrobot) Episode description by Jack de Quidt Music by Jack de Quidt A transcription is available for this episode here.A full list of completed transcriptions is available here. Our transcriptions are provided by a fan-organized paid transcription project. If you'd like to join, you can get more information at https://twitter.com/transcript_fatt. Thank you to all of our transcribers!!

It's time I leave Rosemerrow, Alyosha. All sorts of cockroaches scramble through this city, now. And while I am used to the cretinous locals--who can blame them for not ascending to their highest potentials in this town--it is the new arrivals which distract and anger. A fascinating thing, refugees. There is no limit to the reasons that drive them from their erstwhile homes: War, famine, disease, faith. But regardless, when they leave, however strong their so called "collective will," they are stripped of their culture, alienated from the world--even from each other. For these souls, I do not know that even the New University would offer much education. They are best regarded of runoff from the storm of history. This week on Friends at the Table: Blood Doesn't Run My Tutor, you bear no malice in your appraisal of the world, I know. But you forget: We are both refugees too--and though we too were stripped of our nations, we found our own culture, no? Strange bedfellows indeed... In the life of an exile there is despair. But in the life of two, there is hope Hosted by Austin Walker (@austin_walker) Featuring Ali Acampora (@ali_west), Art Tebbel (@atebbel), Janine Hawkins (@bleatingheart) and Andrew Lee Swan (@swandre3000) Produced by Ali Acampora (@ali_west) Cover Art by Craig Sheldon (@shoddyrobot) Episode description by Austin Walker Music by Jack de Quidt A transcription is available for this episode here.A full list of completed transcriptions is available here. Our transcriptions are provided by a fan-organized paid transcription project. If you'd like to join, you can get more information at https://twitter.com/transcript_fatt. Thank you to all of our transcribers!!

The library kept by the New Archives here in Velas saw its final day, Arrell. I walked past its corner today, and it was gone, vanished. Does that make you happy? That their presence in this place was destroyed? I'm sorry, teacher, the quill and ink make me bitter on days like this. The storm has grown strong today, and though I never visited that library, I went out of my way each day to walk past it. It felt like I was helping. Though your scholarship dismisses their pattern magic as more luck than skill, I believe that their "semioticians" are miracle workers, though they do not know it. Their unlikely effects are not magic at all, but are His Holy Intention, reaching into the world and re-arranging it just so. The way I understand its working, the Orcs wait for the proper alignment of circumstances, offering a tap or a pull, here or there, until the world and its sacred inhabitants address each other just so. Once the arrangement is complete: A miracle. Does that not sound like ritual, like prayer to you? Because of this, the archives are filled to the brim with records: How much rain fell on Rosemerrow this year? How many doves with black wings were spotted above the Southern Barrows? How many priests walked by our libraries in the last week? So, every day, I made my steps from the church to the Garden District a little longer, a my path a little wider. I walked past it, gave the archivist at the door a nod and a smile, and went on my way. I wonder now how many of their "spells" I was part of? Will a hard rain, six months from now, bear my imprint? A conjured mound of gold and silver reflect my face? What beauty have I helped create? 'Tis His will, regardless, and I am blessed to contribute to the spectrum of his light. This week on Winter In Hieron: A Combination of Notes You are as naive as your faith is strong. Their magic is vulgar, not holy. You would know that if you'd seen it, if you'd felt it. Or perhaps you have. Consider, Alyosha, the possibility that your ritual pacing was the final component part not of a vivid creation, but of an plain and simple erasure. Hosted by Austin Walker (@austin_walker) Featuring Jack de Quidt (@notquitereal), Sylvi Clare (@captaintrash), Keith J Carberry (@keithjcarberry) and Nick Scratch (@drevilbones) Produced by Ali Acampora (@ali_west) Cover Art by Craig Sheldon (@shoddyrobot) Episode description by Austin Walker Music by Jack de Quidt A transcription is available for this episode here.A full list of completed transcriptions is available here. Our transcriptions are provided by a fan-organized paid transcription project. If you'd like to join, you can get more information at https://twitter.com/transcript_fatt. Thank you to all of our transcribers!!

Have you read these so-called "broadsides" from Ordenna yet, Alyosha? They've been distributing them here in Rosemerrow. One of them, "A Letter From Impetor Fela Malle," gets passed around by the young and angry here, youth desperate for a firm hand, for order. It's apparently a transcript of a speech delivered by the head of Blood Malle—a rallying cry or an apologia, it is hard to tell. Regardless, I'd scoff at the the arrogance if the paper could hear it. Still, I wonder what you think of it, child. So, I've sent it along for your eyes to labor over—and they will grow weary, I know, but pay close attention to this, at least: "There are, I understand, fears about our new soldiers. There are whispers and rumors of witchcraft, and forbidden magic. Dispel these from your mind, just as these new soldiers will help us dispel those obstacles from the continent. These warriors are not a threat. No. They are our Anchor. Built of Our Steel, they connect us to our soil and our culture as the Ordennan Impetus moves eastward. They will march onto the fronts too dangerous for our children to travel, invulnerable to the dangerous magic of our foes, a symbol of our progress and strength. And they carry our message: Civilization in Hieron is not lost in the past. Nor is it in some ever-distant tomorrow. Civilization is today. And Civilization is Ordennan." With words like that, Alyosha, how can you still believe the best of collective humanity? What new evils will be wrought in the name of 'civilization.' Who will you damn next by refusing to stand against this? Or… perhaps, you are convinced now, child, that there is evil not in man's heart, but in men's. This week on Winter in Hieron: You Haven't Kept Up, Have You? Arrell. The hammer will strike hot steel whether we wish it to or not. It is our duty not to interfere, but to turn the smith's hand such that they build shields and spades instead of spears and blades. Hosted by Austin Walker (@austin_walker) Featuring Ali Acampora (@ali_west), Art Tebbel (@atebbel), Janine Hawkins (@bleatingheart) and Andrew Lee Swan (@swandre3000) Produced by Ali Acampora (@ali_west) Cover Art by Craig Sheldon (@shoddyrobot) Episode description by Austin Walker Music by Jack de Quidt A transcription is available for this episode here.A full list of completed transcriptions is available here. Our transcriptions are provided by a fan-organized paid transcription project. If you'd like to join, you can get more information at https://twitter.com/transcript_fatt. Thank you to all of our transcribers!!

Has the news reached you, friend? A group of merchants form Rosemerrow told me today that a new wing to the Old Museum in Westshore-Upon-Sea is opening next month. (How I wish we could walk its halls and debate the merits of its exhibits—but ah, it's more than snow that separates us these days.) So instead, let me ask you a question, dearest Arrell… The Creed of Samothes is clear that Truth is a reflection of His Holy Light, and should be pursued above all else. Yet I recall from our early lessons that you hold a case for falsehood, too. 'Even His Sun,' you told me 'is a well-meaning deceit, as it appears above us, celestial, yet was built from (and some say, remains in) the ground itself." I will not open old wounds—I do not want you to convince me of this heresy—I only wonder: Do you still believe it? Yours, always, in heedless faith… This week on Winter in Hieron: A Museum in the Distance Alyosha, in your ardor (for me or Samothes, who can say), you have misremembered my lesson. I never said that a false history was preferable. I simply said that all histories are false, and that it was our duty to choose the ones that suit us best. Hosted by Austin Walker (@austin_walker) Featuring Jack de Quidt (@notquitereal), Sylvi Clare (@captaintrash), Keith J Carberry (@keithjcarberry) and Nick Scratch (@drevilbones) Produced by Ali Acampora (@ali_west) and Austin Walker Cover Art by Craig Sheldon (@shoddyrobot) Episode description by Austin Walker Music by Jack de Quidt A transcription is available for this episode here.A full list of completed transcriptions is available here. Our transcriptions are provided by a fan-organized paid transcription project. If you'd like to join, you can get more information at https://twitter.com/transcript_fatt. Thank you to all of our transcribers!!

In the early days of the New Archives, the philosopher and historian Krent Kava wrote that the first sign that Hieron was on its way to recovery was the return of roadways that connect coast to heartland, city center to distant university. "There," he wrote, "Is civilization back again, drawn together by the eternal will of survivors trying to connect, one to another." Some of the roads, he reminds us, were highways repaired from the days before, and others were wholly new--as our times require paths that the past did not. It is noble thought, of course. But we know now that by the time Scholar Kava wrote those words, Hieron's road system had been rebuilt and destroyed dozens of times by fledgling--and eventually, failed--settlements. The truth, friend, is that our roads neither reflect nor protect any civility we've found. They are merely our footprints turned to stone and gravel, waiting to be covered and lost by the coming snow. This week on Winter in Hieron: An Arrow Let Loose Perhaps, Arrell, perhaps. But we walk them anyway, don't we? Hosted by Austin Walker (@austin_walker) Featuring Ali Acampora (@ali_west), Art Tebbel (@atebbel), Janine Hawkins (@bleatingheart) and Andrew Lee Swan (@swandre3000) Produced by Ali Acampora (@ali_west) Cover Art by Craig Sheldon (@shoddyrobot) Episode description by Austin Walker Music by Jack de Quidt A transcription is available for this episode here.A full list of completed transcriptions is available here. Our transcriptions are provided by a fan-organized paid transcription project. If you'd like to join, you can get more information at https://twitter.com/transcript_fatt. Thank you to all of our transcribers!!

For a long, long time in Hieron, it was autumn. Crisp branches snapped under foot. Still lakes caught the reds, yellows, and oranges of the leaves overhead, stuck eternally between life and death. The waves taunted children and elder alike, a step too cold for all but the bravest of swimmers. And there was laughter, and planning, and good food. People would stand around bonfires--out on the beaches of Velas, in the communal pits of Rosemerrow--and trade stories. Old stories, the kind passed down from parent to child. They bent in new directions with each telling, but they never fully changed. They were trust worthy and familiar, but like a poor cider, dead on the tongue. But it is winter now. Snow has arived in Velas, and it is time for cold tongues to learn new words. Hosted by Austin Walker (@austin_walker) Featuring Ali Acampora (@ali_west), Keith J Carberry (@KeithJCarberry), Jack de Quidt (@notquitereal), Nick Scratch (@drevilbones), Andrew Lee Swan (@Swandre3000), Art Tebbel (@atebbel) Produced by Ali Acampora (@ali_west) Cover Art by Craig Sheldon (@shoddyrobot) Episode description by Austin Walker Music by Jack de Quidt A transcription is available for this episode here.A full list of completed transcriptions is available here. Our transcriptions are provided by a fan-organized paid transcription project. If you'd like to join, you can get more information at https://twitter.com/transcript_fatt. Thank you to all of our transcribers!!

And so the season turns, and the cold winds sweep in, and candles and fires and stoves are lit. Black branches against a white sky. There are more stories to tell, though. There are always more stories to tell. It's not long before we meet our old friends again, I promise. They're waiting, right now. They're kicking the frost off their boots, cold fingers on metal buckles. Before we find them again, though, there is an old story to tell. Perhaps you've heard it before. Perhaps this is the first time you've heard it. There's a small island, you see? Waves crash around its rocky coast. There is the silhouette of a tower. It's better, don't you think, to bring everybody up to speed? Hosted by Austin Walker (@austin_walker) Featuring Ali Acampora (@ali_west), Keith J Carberry (@KeithJCarberry), Jack de Quidt (@notquitereal), Nick Scratch (@drevilbones), Andrew Lee Swan (@Swandre3000), Art Tebbel (@atebbel) Produced by Ali Acampora (@ali_west) Cover Art by Craig Sheldon (@shoddyrobot) Episode description by Jack de Quidt Music by Jack de Quidt A transcription is available for this episode here.A full list of completed transcriptions is available here. Our transcriptions are provided by a fan-organized paid transcription project. If you'd like to join, you can get more information at https://twitter.com/transcript_fatt. Thank you to all of our transcribers!!