Friends at the Table

Autumn in Hieron 00: We're Not Calling It Duckberg

Fri, 12 Sep 2014 23:22:57 +0000

In our first episode, Austin staples "post-" onto the front of genres he doesn't love to create new ones he maybe likes more. You know, genres like "post-fantasy" and "post-post-apocalypse." Meanwhile, Art struggles with what faith after looks like after the end of the world, Keith wants to burn the past down, Ali finally gets her talking ghost sword, Jack designs a culture devoted to warehouses and index cards, and Nick thinks a lot about Elven privilege.

Featuring: Ali Acampora (@ali_west), Keith Carberry (@KeithJCarberry), Jack de Quidt (@notquitereal), Nick Scratch (@drevilbones), Art Tebbel (@atebbel), and Austin Walker (@austin_walker)

Cover Art by Craig Sheldon (@shoddyrobot)

Intro 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!!

Autumn in Hieron 01: We Have Not Yet Begun To Be Pompous

Fri, 19 Sep 2014 03:49:47 +0000

Our Dungeon World campaign kicks off, as the party lands on a strange island, dominated by a giant tower. Austin makes a beach landing seem much harder than it needs to, causing Ali to wonder if her armor is too heavy. Keith learns about what birds eat and Art learns how they talk. Jack admires some paintings. Nick demonstrates how to disappear completely, and at the worst possible time

Featuring: Ali Acampora (@ali_west), Keith Carberry (@KeithJCarberry), Jack de Quidt (@notquitereal), Nick Scratch (@drevilbones), Art Tebbel (@atebbel), and Austin Walker (@austin_walker)
Cover Art by Craig Sheldon (@shoddyrobot)
Intro Music by Jack de Quidt
New Map Art by Janine Hawkins (@bleatingheart)

Autumn in Hieron 02: You Found Out What Was Magical

Thu, 25 Sep 2014 21:17:08 +0000

The party finally enters the mysterious tower on Eventide Island. Ali peaks through, hides behind, and struggles to open various doors. Jack and Art play a game of telephone with a very busy chef. Nick deals with lots of books. Austin wonders what knives think about.

Featuring: Ali Acampora (@ali_west), Keith Carberry (@somethingdumb), Jack de Quidt (@notquitereal), Nick Scratch (@drevilbones), Art Tebbel (@atebbel), and Austin Walker (@austin_walker)

Cover Art by Craig Sheldon (@shoddyrobot)

Intro Music by Jack de Quidt

Map Art by Janine Hawkins (@bleatingheart)

Autumn in Hieron 03: A Podcast About Listening

Fri, 03 Oct 2014 03:05:39 +0000

The party confronts a small group of strange. Art continues to invent new titles for his deity. Jack helps Ali be even better at sword-ing. Nick continues to show off how invisible he can be. Austin does a terrible accent. Keith is currently a couger.

Featuring: Ali Acampora (@ali_west), Keith Carberry (@somethingdumb), Jack de Quidt (@notquitereal), Nick Scratch (@drevilbones), Art Tebbel (@atebbel), and Austin Walker (@austin_walker)

Cover Art by Craig Sheldon (@shoddyrobot)

Intro Music by Jack de Quidt

Map Art by Janine Hawkins (@bleatingheart)

Autumn in Hieron 04: Is It Time Already?

Fri, 10 Oct 2014 05:20:29 +0000

A special double episode finale to our first adventure! The party continues its skirmish with the loyal servants of Good King Samot and then.... Art and Jack share a special moment with a beautiful man. Nick covets a book. Keith covets a knife. Ali has no patience for any of this.

Featuring: Ali Acampora (@ali_west), Keith Carberry (@somethingdumb), Jack de Quidt (@notquitereal), Nick Scratch (@drevilbones), Art Tebbel (@atebbel), and Austin Walker (@austin_walker)

Cover Art by Craig Sheldon (@shoddyrobot)

Intro Music by Jack de Quidt

Map Art by Janine Hawkins (@bleatingheart)

Autumn in Hieron 05: What's a Good Name For A Ship?

Fri, 17 Oct 2014 12:51:56 +0000

The start of our second Dungeon World adventure! Austin splits the party… permanently. Jack runs into an old friend. Ali plays it cool under pressure. Keith gets the group into a wicked boat party.

Featuring: Ali Acampora (@ali_west), Keith Carberry (@somethingdumb), Jack de Quidt (@notquitereal), and Austin Walker (@austin_walker)

Cover Art by Craig Sheldon (@shoddyrobot)

Intro Music by Jack de Quidt

Map Art by Janine Hawkins (@bleatingheart)

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Autumn in Hieron 06: A Bad Trip

Fri, 24 Oct 2014 17:27:56 +0000

The game shifts away from the Boat Party, and towards a group that's a little... colder. Andrew Lee Swan finally joins the battle. Nick's trademark spell goes a little wonky. Art leads the party astray.

Featuring Nick Scratch (@drevilbones), Andrew Swan (@andrewleeswan), Art Tebbel (@atebbel), and Austin Walker (@austin_walker)

Produced by Keith Carberry (@somethingdumb)

Cover Art by Craig Sheldon (@shoddyrobot)

Intro Music by Jack de Quidt (@notquitereal)

Map Art by Janine Hawkins (@bleatingheart)

Autumn in Hieron 07: Boat Party?

Fri, 31 Oct 2014 09:33:35 +0000

This week, Fero (Keith) stretches his sea wings, Lem (Jack) enters an oceanic battle of the bands, and Hella (Ali) decides that a boat full of hung over party guests is definitely a match for an Undead Pirate Lord's Galleon. Meanwhile, Austin considers the shaving habits of the undead.

Featuring: Ali Acampora (@ali_west), Keith Carberry (@somethingdumb), Jack de Quidt (@notquitereal), and Austin Walker (@austin_walker)

Produced by Keith Carberry

Cover Art by Craig Sheldon (@shoddyrobot)

Intro Music by Jack de Quidt

Map Art by Janine Hawkins (@bleatingheart)

Autumn in Hieron 08: On The Tip Of Your Tongue

Sat, 08 Nov 2014 04:40:58 +0000

Thorondir (Andrew) meets a cool new friend, the Great Fantasmo (Nick) makes a substantial effort to remain, well, substantial, and Hadrian (Art) says his prayers... or at least tries to.

Featuring Nick Scratch (@drevilbones), Andrew Swan (@andrewleeswan), Art Tebbel (@atebbel), and Austin Walker (@austin_walker)

Produced by Keith Carberry (@somethingdumb)

Cover Art by Craig Sheldon (@shoddyrobot)

Intro Music by Jack de Quidt (@notquitereal)

Map Art by Janine Hawkins (@bleatingheart)

Autumn in Hieron 09: I'm Not Happy With This Decision At All

Fri, 14 Nov 2014 03:33:43 +0000

This week, Fero (Keith) learns to swim, Lem (Jack) connects with an undead pastry chef, and Hella (Ali) makes a decision that will change the course of our adventure. Meanwhile, Austin develops a thing for chickens.

Featuring: Ali Acampora (@ali_west), Keith Carberry (@somethingdumb), Jack de Quidt (@notquitereal), and Austin Walker (@austin_walker)

Produced by Keith Carberry

Cover Art by Craig Sheldon (@shoddyrobot)

Intro Music by Jack de Quidt

Map Art by Janine Hawkins (@bleatingheart)

Autumn in Hieron 10: Chekhov's Torture Elf

Fri, 21 Nov 2014 04:18:00 +0000

Hadrian (Art) struggles with divine vocabulary, Thorondir (Andrew) shows off his fancy Ranger skills, and the Great Fantasmo (Nick) explains thee intricacies of magical air mattresses.

Featuring Nick Scratch (@drevilbones), Andrew Swan (@andrewleeswan), Art Tebbel (@atebbel), and Austin Walker (@austin_walker)

Produced by Keith Carberry (@somethingdumb)

Cover Art by Craig Sheldon (@shoddyrobot)

Intro Music by Jack de Quidt (@notquitereal)

Map Art by Janine Hawkins (@bleatingheart)

Autumn in Hieron 11: Like Sneaky Little Sneaks

Sun, 07 Dec 2014 05:53:34 +0000

The group comes upon a curious city. Hella (Ali) tries shush her sword, Lem (Jack) catalogues everything, and Fero (Keith) is as quiet as a mouse and also is a mouse.

Featuring: Ali Acampora (@ali_west), Keith Carberry (@somethingdumb), Jack de Quidt (@notquitereal), and Austin Walker (@austin_walker)

Produced by Keith Carberry & Nick Scratch (@drevilbones)

Cover Art by Craig Sheldon (@shoddyrobot)

Intro Music by Jack de Quidt

Map Art by Janine Hawkins (@bleatingheart)

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!!

Autumn in Hieron 12: Knowledge and Ignorance

Fri, 12 Dec 2014 08:48:13 +0000

Thorondir (Andrew) forgets what water is, Hadrian (Art) nearly sacrifices himself for his faith, and Fantasmo (Nick) finally proves that maybe he isn't completely worthless.

Featuring Nick Scratch (@drevilbones), Andrew Swan (@andrewleeswan), Art Tebbel (@atebbel), and Austin Walker (@austin_walker)

Produced by Nick Scratch

Cover Art by Craig Sheldon (@shoddyrobot)

Intro Music by Jack de Quidt (@notquitereal)

Map Art by Janine Hawkins (@bleatingheart)

Autumn in Hieron 13: What A Surprise

Fri, 19 Dec 2014 05:05:45 +0000

Lem (Jack) makes a new friend while Hella (Ali) and Fero (Keith) eavesdrop on all the city politics.

Featuring: Ali Acampora (@ali_west), Keith J Carberry (@KeithJCarberry), Jack de Quidt (@notquitereal), and Austin Walker (@austin_walker)

Produced by Keith J Carberry & Nick Scratch (@drevilbones)

Cover Art by Craig Sheldon (@shoddyrobot)

Intro Music by Jack de Quidt

Map Art by Janine Hawkins (@bleatingheart)

Autumn in Hieron: Holiday Special 01: I Don't Know What's in That Box

Wed, 24 Dec 2014 02:35:09 +0000

In the seaside port of Velas, it is Sun Day, the Long Day, the Day of High Sun, the most holy 20 hours of the year. Visitors from across the region have come to visit their families, to celebrate in the streets, and to sweat under the heat of Samothese's Gift. But when not everyone in town lives to see the sun rise, the party is recruited to investigate the murder... and the conspiracy behind it.

Inspired by Sherlock Holmes: Consulting Detective, by Raymond Edwards, Suzanne Goldberg, and Gary Grady.

Check out the investigation documents here!

And the map of Velas here!

Ali Acampora (@ali_west) as Hella Varal

Andrew Swan (@andrewleeswan) as Thorondir

Arthur Tebbel (@atebbel) as Hadrian

Keith J Carberry (@KeithJCarberry) as Fero Feritas

Jack de Quidt (@notquitereal) as Lem King

Austin Walker (@austin_walker) as the GM

Produced by Keith Carberry

Cover Art by Craig Sheldon (@shoddyrobot)

Music by Jack de Quidt

Map Art by Janine Hawkins (@bleatingheart)

Autumn in Hieron: Holiday Special 02: I've Killed Monsters

Mon, 12 Jan 2015 06:33:29 +0000

The party had just begun to piece together clues about the mysterious murder in the fields of Velas when a blizzard struck the city. Now, under terrible conditions (and with limited time), they must uncover the secret motivations and conspiracies behind the crime. Can they find justice? And if so, at what cost?

Inspired by Sherlock Holmes: Consulting Detective, by Raymond Edwards, Suzanne Goldberg, and Gary Grady.

Check out the investigation documents here!

And the map of Velas here!

Ali Acampora (@ali_west) as Hella Varal

Andrew Swan (@andrewleeswan) as Thorondir

Arthur Tebbel (@atebbel) as Hadrian

Keith J Carberry (@KeithJCarberry) as Fero Feritas

Jack de Quidt (@notquitereal) as Lem King

Austin Walker (@austin_walker) as the GM

Produced by Keith Carberry

Cover Art by Craig Sheldon (@shoddyrobot)

Music by Jack de Quidt

Autumn in Hieron 14: A Fire Hydrant of Divinity

Wed, 18 Feb 2015 01:34:04 +0000

Austin scrambles to come up with interesting loot, Fantasmo (Nick) tests the limit of his fame and presence, Hadrian (Art) puts his neck on the line for his friends, and Thorondir (Andrew) learns that you can't go home again.

Featuring Nick Scratch (@drevilbones), Andrew Swan (@andrewleeswan), Art Tebbel (@atebbel), and Austin Walker (@austin_walker)

Produced by Keith J Carberry (@KeithJCarberry)

Cover Art by Craig Sheldon (@shoddyrobot)

Intro Music by Jack de Quidt (@notquitereal)

A transcription is available for this episode here.

Autumn in Hieron 15: Have You Ever Swung A Sword At A Ghost Before?

Thu, 26 Feb 2015 05:01:00 +0000

Hella (Ali) tests the sharpness of her magic sword, Lem (Jack) tests the limits of a new friendship, Fero (Keith) tests the hardness of the floor, and Austin tests his ability to do a British voice.

Featuring: Ali Acampora (@ali_west), Keith J Carberry (@KeithJCarberry), Jack de Quidt (@notquitereal), and Austin Walker (@austin_walker)

Produced by Keith J Carberry

Cover Art by Craig Sheldon (@shoddyrobot)

Intro Music by Jack de Quidt

Autumn in Hieron 16: Those Woods You Chose

Fri, 06 Mar 2015 01:58:22 +0000

Fantasmo (Nick) and Hadrian (Art) find out what it's like inside of a Snow Elf prison. Thorondir (Andrew) discovers that, even after facing down a being of living ice, the coldest things in the world are made of flesh and blood.

Featuring Nick Scratch (@drevilbones), Andrew Swan (@andrewleeswan), Art Tebbel (@atebbel), and Austin Walker (@austin_walker)

Produced by Keith J Carberry (@KeithJCarberry)

Cover Art by Craig Sheldon (@shoddyrobot)

Intro Music by Jack de Quidt (@notquitereal)

Autumn in Hieron 17: As Death's Eyes Look Over The World

Fri, 13 Mar 2015 04:07:11 +0000

Hella (Ali) considers making a a fateful promise, Lem (Jack) receives a special gift, and Fero (Keith) makes new strides in the field of faux pas

Featuring: Ali Acampora (@ali_west), Keith J Carberry (@KeithJCarberry), Jack de Quidt (@notquitereal), and Austin Walker (@austin_walker)

Produced by Keith J Carberry

Cover Art by Craig Sheldon (@shoddyrobot)

Intro Music by Jack de Quidt

Autumn in Hieron 18: Magic (Or Something) Is All Around Us

Fri, 20 Mar 2015 04:26:38 +0000

Fantasmo (Nick), Thorondir (Andrew), and Hadrian (Art) finally arrive at the center of erasure. If you can overlook the strange figures moving in the distance, the imposing size of the tower, and the brutal weight of history, it's actually pretty nice!

Featuring Nick Scratch (@drevilbones), Andrew Swan (@andrewleeswan), Art Tebbel (@atebbel), and Austin Walker (@austin_walker)

Produced by Keith J Carberry (@KeithJCarberry)

Cover Art by Craig Sheldon (@shoddyrobot)

Intro Music by Jack de Quidt (@notquitereal)

Autumn in Hieron 19: Violence Mulligan Mulligan

Fri, 27 Mar 2015 04:15:05 +0000

Lem King (Jack) holds a dissenting opinion, Fero (Keith) visits the zoo to make a new friend, and Hella (Ali) meets up with an old one.

Featuring: Ali Acampora (@ali_west), Keith J Carberry (@KeithJCarberry), Jack de Quidt (@notquitereal), and Austin Walker (@austin_walker)

Produced by Keith J Carberry

Cover Art by Craig Sheldon (@shoddyrobot)

Intro Music by Jack de Quidt

Autumn in Hieron 20: Do I Feel Followed?

Sat, 04 Apr 2015 05:02:41 +0000

Phantasmo catches up with an old friend, Thorondir considers the past, and Hadrian decides to carry yet another burden for the party. Samot meets the God of Wolves.

Featuring Nick Scratch (@drevilbones), Andrew Swan (@andrewleeswan), Art Tebbel (@atebbel), and Austin Walker (@austin_walker)

Produced by Keith J Carberry (@KeithJCarberry)

Cover Art by Craig Sheldon (@shoddyrobot)

Intro Music by Jack de Quidt (@notquitereal)

Autumn in Hieron 21: The Storm Over Tristero

Sat, 11 Apr 2015 04:14:41 +0000

On the eve of a crisis in the seaside city of Nacre, Fero nominates himself for public service, Lem King finds himself surrounded and alone, and Hella... oh Hella.

Featuring: Ali Acampora (@ali_west), Keith J Carberry (@KeithJCarberry), Jack de Quidt (@notquitereal), and Austin Walker (@austin_walker)

Produced by Keith J Carberry

Cover Art by Craig Sheldon (@shoddyrobot)

Intro Music by Jack de Quidt

Autumn in Hieron 22: Closing the Window

Thu, 16 Apr 2015 19:24:59 +0000

Thorondir does a little shopping, Hadrian goes for a little jaunt, and the Great Fantasmo makes a little mistake. Austin launches a new podcast about door knobs.

Featuring Nick Scratch (@drevilbones), Andrew Swan (@andrewleeswan), Art Tebbel (@atebbel), and Austin Walker (@austin_walker)

Produced by Keith J Carberry (@KeithJCarberry)

Cover Art by Craig Sheldon (@shoddyrobot)

Intro Music by Jack de Quidt (@notquitereal)

Autumn in Hieron 23: Spinning Straw Out Of Gold

Fri, 24 Apr 2015 07:39:55 +0000

Hella receives words from the outside, Lem tries to play his part and Fero starts the show with a show stopper.

Featuring: Ali Acampora (@ali_west), Keith J Carberry (@KeithJCarberry), Jack de Quidt (@notquitereal), and Austin Walker (@austin_walker)

Produced by Keith J Carberry

Cover Art by Craig Sheldon (@shoddyrobot)

Intro Music by Jack de Quidt

Autumn in Hieron 24: A Paladin is a Tool

Sat, 02 May 2015 02:47:42 +0000

Hadrian learns it's a tough thing to be obliged, Thorondir waits patiently, and the Great Fantasmo won't turn down a free meal. And something about Sting

Featuring Nick Scratch (@drevilbones), Andrew Swan (@andrewleeswan), Art Tebbel (@atebbel), and Austin Walker (@austin_walker)

Produced by Keith J Carberry (@KeithJCarberry)

Cover Art by Craig Sheldon (@shoddyrobot)

Intro Music by Jack de Quidt (@notquitereal)

Autumn in Hieron 25: Work Off Your Sins

Fri, 08 May 2015 23:13:25 +0000

The court proceedings continue. Lem leans into conspiracy theory, Fero tries to save his friends by throwing them under the bus, and Hella takes the stand. The crowd reacts. The life of the case comes to a close.

Featuring: Ali Acampora (@ali_west), Keith J Carberry (@KeithJCarberry), Jack de Quidt (@notquitereal), and Austin Walker (@austin_walker)

Produced by Keith J Carberry

Cover Art by Craig Sheldon (@shoddyrobot)

Music by Jack de Quidt

Autumn in Hieron 26: Why Are You Here, Again?

Sat, 16 May 2015 14:09:42 +0000

Hadrian recommends splitting up, Thorondir grows uneasy, and the Great Fantasmo finally finds his voice.

Featuring Nick Scratch (@drevilbones), Andrew Swan (@andrewleeswan), Art Tebbel (@atebbel), and Austin Walker (@austin_walker)

Produced by Keith J Carberry (@KeithJCarberry)

Cover Art by Craig Sheldon (@shoddyrobot)

Intro Music by Jack de Quidt (@notquitereal)

Autumn in Hieron 27: The Shores of Ordenna

Sat, 23 May 2015 19:53:32 +0000

In this season finale of the "Boat Party" group, Lem is torn, Fero is frustrated, and Hella finds herself face to face with the last scion of the line of Tristero.

Featuring: Ali Acampora (@ali_west), Keith J Carberry (@KeithJCarberry), Jack de Quidt (@notquitereal), and Austin Walker (@austin_walker)

Produced by Keith J Carberry

Cover Art by Craig Sheldon (@shoddyrobot)

Music by Jack de Quidt

Autumn in Hieron 28: A Choice About What You Believe

Mon, 01 Jun 2015 03:04:51 +0000

In the season finale of Friends at the Table: Dungeon World, The Great Fantasmo (Nick Scratch) makes a new friend, Thorondir (Andrew Swan) tries to keep his friends safe, and Hadrian (Art Tebbel) finishes a chase he didn't realize he'd started.

Featuring Nick Scratch (@drevilbones), Andrew Swan (@andrewleeswan), Art Tebbel (@atebbel), and Austin Walker (@austin_walker)

Produced by Keith J Carberry (@KeithJCarberry)

Cover Art by Craig Sheldon (@shoddyrobot)

Intro Music by Jack de Quidt (@notquitereal)

Marielda 01: The City of Light Pt. 1

Thu, 14 Jul 2016 17:12:45 +0000

In the time of fraught paladins and wavering wizards, of contemptible fighters and indignant druids, of wide eyed rangers… and of bards, the people of the continent of Hieron recover and rebuild in the aftermath of a cataclysm.

But, after all, for every inside there is an outside—no disaster was the first of its kind, except, of course, for… well...

And so, in the years prior to the event that would come to be called the Erasure, in a time of civil conflict, the people of Hieron faced calamity, and they sought to recover and rebuild.

For a long while, blessed Samothes led His Somber Campaign against the heretical armies of the Boy-Traitor Samot, clashing steel in valleys and volleying arrows across plainlands. In time, though, your wise lord, the god-alive, recognized that there had been a stalemate, and that you, His people, were suffering.

And so, He returned to you, to His home, your city in the south, moving at fast pace, the dust of the Traitor Charioteers rolling like thunder behind him. And as they pursued, Samothes climbed the mountain of fire from which He forged our first tools, with which He built the first bridge, and He reached inside that mountain, and turned the ruddy summit just so.

And because He is Great, it bent to His will: Viscous fire erupted, rushing down the peak and into the riverways that separated the city of light from the continent. He pulled up on the blaze like a reined mare, and yanked the city and its surroundings further away from Hieron. The ground itself shook without mercy, ocean water filled the new gap in the land, and then fire fled into that self-same sea, creating an inseparable blend of liquid heat.

Now, Samothes has returned to the mountain to work on some new holy device, and we have been left to rebuild the city as His faithful disciples.

In the wake of this destruction we're left with this. One quiet year in a city we now call Marielda. Come Winter, the Frost Shepherds will arrive and we might not survive the encounter. But we don't know about that yet. What we know is that right now, in this moment, there is an opportunity to build something.

This week on Marielda: The City of Light Pt. 1

In some ways, I guess you could say that that this is where it all started.

Hosted by Austin Walker (@austin_walker)

Featuring Keith J Carberry (@KeithJCarberry), Janine Hawkins (@bleatingheart), Nick Scratch (@drevilbones), and Art Tebbel (@atebbel)

Produced by Ali Acampora (@ali_west)

Cover Art by Craig Sheldon (@shoddyrobot)

Music by Jack de Quidt (@notquitereal)

Marielda 02: The City of Light Pt. 2

Thu, 21 Jul 2016 19:17:52 +0000

For a while, everything was going just fine in Marielda. Sure, there was some dissent among the citizens—but what city is free of that? In general, people were coming together, rebuilding, taking care of each other. Canopy Row wasn't thriving, but it was definitely surviving. Knowledge was spreading throughout the city. Even them Cobbins had begun to find their place. And then, sometime in the middle of the year, everything seemed to turn. First, the marble-faced pala-din came marching from the sea, half-alive extensions of Samothes' personal brand of justice. Then... well, as we'd soon learn, the pala-din weren't even the half of it.

This week on Marielda: The City of Light Pt. 2

I wonder what ever happened to her...

Hosted by Austin Walker (@austin_walker)

Featuring Keith J Carberry (@KeithJCarberry), Janine Hawkins (@bleatingheart), Nick Scratch (@drevilbones), and Art Tebbel (@atebbel)

Produced by Ali Acampora (@ali_west)

Cover Art by Craig Sheldon (@shoddyrobot)

Music by Jack de Quidt (@notquitereal)

Marielda 03: The Crosstown Job Pt. 1

Fri, 29 Jul 2016 02:05:47 +0000

Marielda is a city filled with scoundrels. Bakers lean on the scales as they count loaves of bread. Men and women in pubs shoot loaded dice. Art dealers swear, solemnly swear, that this is a genuine Sabbatini, just look at the brushstrokes. No, scoundrels in Marielda are ten-a-penny. But sometimes, the sun smiles, and its light shines upon those who have something… particular about them. Look, there they are now. A strongman, binding up his fists in front of a mirror. A dancing master, marking time with a dagger. A little alchemist emerging from a cloud of something purplish. And an alabaster figure, face covered by the wide brim of a hat. Step forward into the light, my friends.

This Week on Marielda: The Crosstown Job Pt. 1

When I see your face, it's like lookin' into a mirror.

Hosted by Austin Walker (@austin_walker)

Featuring Ali Acampora (@ali_west), Sylvi Clare (@captaintrash), Jack de Quidt (@notquitereal) and Andrew Lee Swan (@swandre3000)

Produced by Ali Acampora (@ali_west)

Cover Art by Craig Sheldon (@shoddyrobot)

Music by Jack de Quidt (@notquitereal)

Marielda 04: The Crosstown Job Pt. 2

Sat, 06 Aug 2016 00:44:39 +0000

To look at a city from above changes it irrecoverably, and so it was for the passengers on Train Day. And say what you like, but the windows in the carriages seemed each to show a different city, a different nest of streets. Those in the engine room saw the smoke from the factories and furnaces, and Marielda hissed and smouldered. Those in the rear carriages looked down upon Canopy Row and wondered whether Chrysanthemum Parish had always been so close. Passengers in the dining carriage looked down onto the parks and boulevards and Marielda smiled back in cypress trees and laurel bushes. No windows lit the pala-din's carriage as they waited in the dark, and for them, in that moment, Marielda barely existed at all, as if a dream recounted long ago. There is a word for all of this, my friends, taking many meanings across our wide city, and the word is reconfiguration.

This week on Marielda: The Crosstown Job, Pt. 2

Just for a moment, you felt safe...

Hosted by Austin Walker (@austin_walker)

Featuring Ali Acampora (@ali_west), Sylvi Clare (@captaintrash), Jack de Quidt (@notquitereal) and Andrew Lee Swan (@swandre3000)

Produced by Ali Acampora (@ali_west)

Cover Art by Craig Sheldon (@shoddyrobot)

Music by Jack de Quidt (@notquitereal)

Marielda 05: War and Azaleas

Fri, 12 Aug 2016 03:51:51 +0000

For the baker, news of a brewing turf war is a good sign. Hungry fighters are mouths to feed, and so they tend to their ovens and wipe flour from their brows. For the smiths and armorers too, business goes up as neighbors and governesses double up on weapons kept behind doors and under desks, just in case, just in case. Fewer people play on the streets, but the music in pubs and cafes is louder than ever—a good fight deserves a little accompaniment. Flag-makers and seamstresses see a brief upturn in trade as symbols of gangs and factions are hastily embroidered onto collars and lapels. In Marielda's language of flowers, the azalea has come to symbolise the moment where, just before entering the water, the diver takes one final, deep breath. They are blossoming early this year.

This week on Marielda: War and Azaleas

You better watch your step.

Hosted by Austin Walker (@austin_walker)

Featuring Ali Acampora (@ali_west), Sylvi Clare (@captaintrash), Jack de Quidt (@notquitereal) and Andrew Lee Swan (@swandre3000)

Produced by Ali Acampora (@ali_west)

Cover Art by Craig Sheldon (@shoddyrobot)
Episode description by Jack de Quidt (@notquitereal)

Music by Jack de Quidt (@notquitereal)

Marielda 06: The Valentine Affair Pt. 1

Fri, 19 Aug 2016 07:21:00 +0000

Memoriam College only wears flowers for one week a year. On Sunday morning of that week, they send a man called Alexander to fetch them from the florists on Today-And-Tomorrow Street. He carries them back to the building and, balanced on a ladder, arms full of blooms, fixes the arrangements above the balconies. As he works, butchers and chefs down in the kitchens peer at yellowed recipe cards, trying to remember just how they made these dishes last year. In the empty refectory, Prelate Silas practices the grace he knows so well, looking at himself in the mirror. You're getting old, he thinks. He sounds out the prayer's vowels and its consonants carefully. He practices a smile. With eyes closed, he imagines exactly the day that lay ahead. Across town, five scoundrels do exactly the same.

This week on Marielda: The Valentine Affair Pt. 1

You did remember to study, right?

Hosted by Austin Walker (@austin_walker)

Featuring Ali Acampora (@ali_west), Sylvi Clare (@captaintrash), Jack de Quidt (@notquitereal) and Andrew Lee Swan (@swandre3000)

Produced by Ali Acampora (@ali_west)

Cover Art by Craig Sheldon (@shoddyrobot)
Episode description by Jack de Quidt (@notquitereal)

Music by Jack de Quidt (@notquitereal)

Marielda 07: The Valentine Affair Pt. 2

Thu, 25 Aug 2016 21:41:37 +0000

The bells of Memoriam College ring out from high in the tower. At the top of the hour, The Diligent Peal marks the start and end of classes, ushering students from room to room. At half past, The Indolent Peal chimes, waking students who have slept in, letting them know exactly how long they have to get to class. The bells don't ring cleanly; the first note is pitched differently to the third, for example. The fifth sounds as thought it belongs to an entirely different tower. There is a rumour that, on the foundation of the college and the building of the tower, one bell was taken from the spires of each of Marielda's parishes and installed in Memoriam. Perhaps it is untrue. Who could say. Climb the bell tower and look out at the other churches in the distance, hear their distant notes. What a beautiful view. What a beautiful city.

This week on Marielda: The Valentine Affair Pt. 2

Shh! Quiet in the library!

Hosted by Austin Walker (@austin_walker)

Featuring Ali Acampora (@ali_west), Sylvi Clare (@captaintrash), Jack de Quidt (@notquitereal) and Andrew Lee Swan (@swandre3000)

Produced by Ali Acampora (@ali_west)

Cover Art by Craig Sheldon (@shoddyrobot)
Episode description by Jack de Quidt (@notquitereal)

Music by Jack de Quidt

Marielda 08: The Valentine Affair Pt. 3

Fri, 02 Sep 2016 03:21:53 +0000

The citizens of Marielda close their eyes and dream of fire and water. On some nights in Canopy Row, people dream of crisp leaves, and residents of Emberboro wake suddenly with the taste of smoke in their mouths. Some years ago, a pamphlet was distributed in the city that purported to identify the difference between dreams and visions. Sceptics passed it between themselves and scoffed, others pinned it up in the windows of shops and apartment buildings. It described the difference between a lake and an ocean. The details are unclear in the memory, more than that is hard to say. There was a lake. There was a wide, black sea through which no lava flowed.

This week on Marielda: The Valentine Affair Pt. 3

Hey... pinch me. Am I dreamin'?

Hosted by Austin Walker (@austin_walker)

Featuring Ali Acampora (@ali_west), Sylvi Clare (@captaintrash), Jack de Quidt (@notquitereal) 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

Marielda 09: The Valentine Affair Pt. 4

Fri, 09 Sep 2016 06:30:54 +0000

The nearest pub to Memoriam College is called The Blue Boar and, on the night of the Valentine Affair, the publican leaned out of the door and wondered if she smelled smoke. She ducked back inside and picked up a broom, swept the floor absentmindedly. Customers would be arriving soon, she could ask them if anything was burning. Inside The Gardeners, just down the road, two regulars were engaged in an argument about whether or not a rank of pala-din marching past the window were headed for Memoriam, nonsense, no, it's a legitimate patrol. It is! By the end of the night, you could smell the soot from The Lamplighter's Rest, a mediocre coaching inn on the far side of town. In cramped rooms on the third floor, people pressed up against windows to see the red glow on the horizon. The distant sound of gunfire.

This week on Marielda: The Valentine Affair Pt. 4

Dark smoke fills the air

Hosted by Austin Walker (@austin_walker)

Featuring Ali Acampora (@ali_west), Sylvi Clare (@captaintrash), Jack de Quidt (@notquitereal) 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

Marielda 10: Four Conversations

Fri, 16 Sep 2016 03:43:34 +0000

According to the scholars at the Sonorous Academy, there are three important songs in Marielda. The first, "High Pyre Adagio," has its origins in songs of performative devotion, and emulates the distant, yet deep affection of the God-King Samothes with a temperate piano. The second is "The Last Eve of Summer," a chamber sonata composed by the so-called traitor Samot during his stay in the City of Light—allegedly written for a particularly talented clarinetist, though no records support this claim. The third, "The Autumn (Lasts A Long Time Here)," predates both Marielda and the City of Light. Built around a memorable guitar melody, it has no clear origin—both the elves of the Western Wood and the refugee population of Emberboro independently claim that it has been in their respective cultures for centuries.

These, say the scholars of the Sonorous Academy, are the three songs that matter in Marielda. But the people in that city by the sea don't care what the scholars say. They're too busy dancing to a tune that hasn't yet left the island.

This week on Marielda: Four Conversations

Is it time already?

Hosted by Austin Walker (@austin_walker)

Featuring Ali Acampora (@ali_west), Sylvi Clare (@captaintrash), Jack de Quidt (@notquitereal) 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

Marielda 11: The Killing of the King-God Samothes By The Traitor Prince Maelgwyn Pt. 1

Thu, 22 Sep 2016 18:49:21 +0000

Today is Sunday, and not just any Sunday, it is the Sun Day, the Long Day, the Day of High Sun.

Once a year, sometime in the final month of the calendar, the sun offers its light to us for 20 full hours. Each year, this event comes on a different day, and it takes the applied knowledge of scholars and mystics to narrow down its arrival.

But the moment that the particular day is known, people across Marielda prepare for the festival. Special dishes are made: fig-and-fishtail pies; huge, communal bowls of pasta; slow roasted pork cooked for weeks over the heat of the sea. Adults set aside holiday outfits, and children begin building their bracelets of iron ring—ready to be shook in arhythmic joy at the arrival of the warm glow on the eastern horizon.

On the day of High Sun, Marielda celebrates life, safety, and contentedness. The city gives praise to Samothes for providing them protection and sustenance, even in grim times. In Chrysanthemum, people celebrate the day privately, among close kin and kind, sitting on roofs with a glass of cold cocktails. In Helianthus, they march down the street in parades and challenge one another to holy, ritualistic competition. And everywhere throughout the city, whatever is drab becomes bright. It is the one day in the year that Black Slacks, with their garish shirts, do not stand out.

(And all of that says nothing about the hats. Oh! The hats!)

And then, when The Long Day, the Day of High Sun, finally ends, the year turns over. That day—whatever it was before—becomes the first of the year, and Marielda moves forward. The days get shorter from there, but only by a bit—for the months that follow, the world glows with heat and energy.

The Day of High Sun is a promise: The light of Samothes will continue burning eternally, and under its light Marielda will flourish.

This week on Marielda: The Killing of the King-God Samothes By The Traitor Prince Maelgwyn Pt. 1

Enemies gather to dance with me

Hosted by Austin Walker (@austin_walker)

Featuring Ali Acampora (@ali_west), Sylvi Clare (@captaintrash), Jack de Quidt (@notquitereal) 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

Marielda 12: The Killing of the King-God Samothes By The Traitor Prince Maelgwyn Pt. 2

Fri, 30 Sep 2016 04:19:54 +0000

In one way or another, High Sun Day is celebrated all across Hieron. After all, there is a day each year on which the sun hangs in the sky, resplendent, for what feels like an impossibly long time. After all, there is a day each year on which the heat gets so strong, the weight of the summer becomes so much, that a celebration must be thrown. On the perimeters of encampments on the plains and forests, light dances brilliantly, impossibly. The orcs have called up thousands of reflective objects, shields, mirrored boxes, from their collections and positioned them along the tops of the walls. From a distance, the settlements appear ringed by flame. The sun does not reach the dwarven cities, deep underground, but the stone feels warm to the touch. They close the heavy doors and snuff out the light and in the darkness hear the sound of the stone cooling. In Marielda, there is a train. There is a train and a volcano and dancing in the streets. A god beloved and feared, a populace, for once, at ease. It is High Sun Day again.

This week on Marielda: The Killing of the King-God Samothes By The Traitor Prince Maelgwyn Pt. 2

My light is flickering

Hosted by Austin Walker (@austin_walker)

Featuring Ali Acampora (@ali_west), Sylvi Clare (@captaintrash), Jack de Quidt (@notquitereal) 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

Marielda 13: The Killing of the King-God Samothes By The Traitor Prince Maelgwyn Pt. 3

Thu, 06 Oct 2016 22:37:41 +0000

It was strange. Every morning you'd see The Black Slacks walking to work. By this point, the air would crackle around them, thick with rumours of another potential strike, another march. They'd walk in groups, or in pairs, or alone. Hands in pockets. They whistled. But not that morning. At first, it was as if they'd vanished. District management began to panic, sending runners to nearby factories to confirm reports: The Black Slacks had disappeared. No. Not disappeared. In The Southern Bucket, a woman in plain clothes finished her drink and stood up, and, with the brilliant rush of the sound of the chairs on stone, the rest of the pub stood up with her. They poured out into the street and mingled with the other citizens and on the other side of town a storehouse containing sleeping pala-din exploded. Men and women dessed like anybody else stepped out of the crowd and moved quickly to barricade Maddermarket Street. Another pala-din storehouse became flame, and the flow of foot traffic in the city suddenly became a march. The Black Slacks were everywhere, and the high sun pressed down, and today was the day. Today was the day.

This week on Friends at the Table: The Killing of the King-God Samothes By The Traitor Prince Maelgwyn Pt. 3

Don't let me doubt you

Hosted by Austin Walker (@austin_walker)

Featuring Ali Acampora (@ali_west), Sylvi Clare (@captaintrash), Jack de Quidt (@notquitereal) 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

Marielda 14: The Killing of the King-God Samothes By The Traitor Prince Maelgwyn Pt. 4

Fri, 14 Oct 2016 03:19:13 +0000

FOREWORD to
The Illustrated Concordance of Marielda, Second Printing

No chronology will be observed here, nor could one ever be observed—Marielda resists sequential arrangement. Where other atlases and dictionaries seek to duplicate the facts of a culture, treat this text instead as a replica of Marielda's constant reconfiguration.

Thus, the reader should use this concordance as if they were wandering through a city street on the afternoon of an empty day. Follow the the capricious arcs of the written characters from one entry to the next, like the scent of an unseen cafe in the distance. Or, move from entry to entry with the speed and purpose of a busy hour of errands.

But understand that neither of these methods will bring you to more truth than any other. As with a mirror, you will get out of this text only as much as you put into it.

But if I may make one recommendation: Begin with the entry on dreams. Though there may be no worse place to begin than the reveries of those poor citizens, there is neither any better.

-Semiotician Emeritus Uklan Tel, Ed.

Hosted by Austin Walker (@austin_walker)

Featuring Ali Acampora (@ali_west), Sylvi Clare (@captaintrash), Jack de Quidt (@notquitereal) 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

Winter in Hieron 01: An Arrow Let Loose

Fri, 18 Nov 2016 04:45:26 +0000

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

Winter in Hieron 02: A Museum in the Distance

Mon, 28 Nov 2016 03:06:54 +0000

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

Winter in Hieron 03: You Haven't Kept Up, Have You?

Thu, 01 Dec 2016 22:43:10 +0000

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

Winter in Hieron 04: A Combination of Notes

Fri, 09 Dec 2016 04:15:50 +0000

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

Winter in Hieron 05: Blood Doesn't Run

Thu, 15 Dec 2016 22:43:02 +0000

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

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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

Winter in Hieron 06: All Violence, All Brains

Sun, 25 Dec 2016 02:19:00 +0000

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

Winter In Hieron: Holiday Special 01: Homes and Promises

Sun, 01 Jan 2017 03:47:06 +0000

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

Winter In Hieron: Holiday Special 02: Pits and Ladders

Fri, 06 Jan 2017 13:10:46 +0000

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.

Winter in Hieron 07: Two Hands

Fri, 13 Jan 2017 02:00:52 +0000

~~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

Winter in Hieron 08: The Meeting House

Fri, 20 Jan 2017 07:51:41 +0000

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

Winter in Hieron 09: Warm Assurances

Fri, 27 Jan 2017 05:52:58 +0000

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

Winter in Hieron 10: Fire and Blood

Sat, 04 Feb 2017 21:27:41 +0000

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

Winter in Hieron 11: The Importance of Names

Thu, 16 Feb 2017 14:20:19 +0000

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

Winter in Hieron 12: A Chaotic Cataloging

Fri, 24 Feb 2017 10:23:58 +0000

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)

Produced by Ali Acampora (@ali_west)

Cover Art by Craig Sheldon (@shoddyrobot)

Episode description by Austin Walker

Music by Jack de Quidt

Winter in Hieron 13: Rosemerrow, Oh My Rosemerrow

Fri, 03 Mar 2017 09:34:35 +0000

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)

Produced by Ali Acampora (@ali_west)

Cover Art by Craig Sheldon (@shoddyrobot)

Episode description by Austin Walker

Music by Jack de Quidt

Winter in Hieron 14: What Do You Want Here?

Fri, 10 Mar 2017 06:23:45 +0000

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)

Produced by Ali Acampora (@ali_west)

Cover Art by Craig Sheldon (@shoddyrobot)

Episode description by Austin Walker

Music by Jack de Quidt

Winter in Hieron 15: Settle Your Matters

Thu, 16 Mar 2017 23:30:58 +0000

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)

Produced by Ali Acampora (@ali_west)

Cover Art by Craig Sheldon (@shoddyrobot)

Episode description by Jack de Quidt

Music by Jack de Quidt

Winter in Hieron 16: Is There Anyone Else?

Fri, 24 Mar 2017 23:07:00 +0000

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

Winter in Hieron 17: Undelivered Resignations

Fri, 31 Mar 2017 20:24:48 +0000

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*

*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/).

Winter in Hieron 18: Try to Live Normally

Thu, 06 Apr 2017 23:44:21 +0000

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

Winter in Hieron 19: Make The Spring Last Forever

Fri, 14 Apr 2017 05:01:03 +0000

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

Winter in Hieron 20: Pulling You Further Down

Thu, 20 Apr 2017 23:23:36 +0000

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

Winter in Hieron 21: The Shield of Our Will

Thu, 27 Apr 2017 20:05:51 +0000

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

Winter in Hieron 22: A Holy Place

Fri, 05 May 2017 06:45:03 +0000

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.

Winter in Hieron 23: Make the Library Smile

Fri, 12 May 2017 04:44:00 +0000

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

Winter in Hieron 24: An Open Mind

Fri, 19 May 2017 00:45:31 +0000

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

Winter in Hieron 25: Twenty Two Brown Birds

Thu, 25 May 2017 07:52:48 +0000

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

Winter in Hieron 26: A Shattering Note

Thu, 01 Jun 2017 07:07:54 +0000

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

Winter in Hieron 27: A Good Metaphor

Thu, 08 Jun 2017 22:27:06 +0000

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

Winter in Hieron 28: What Life Looks Like

Thu, 15 Jun 2017 05:32:36 +0000

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

Winter in Hieron 29: Slow Justice

Thu, 22 Jun 2017 15:57:56 +0000

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

Spring in Hieron 00: What Came Before

Wed, 10 Oct 2018 02:28:19 +0000

Join us as we recap Hieron and get ready for Spring!! Today's plan is to go over Hieron, check out some old maps, and fill in a lot of gaps. Think of this as a combination of recap and world building: If there are questions about the world and how it works or things that are "true," now is the time for us to address them.

This episode was originally live streamed and you can catch that stream here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qi02xwXMeGs

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 time stamps won't match up exactly but you can skim through to check out all the maps that were mentioned there. For now, here's the important ones:

Along with the character bios (in case they're hard to read on the stream!):

Our current Dungeon World campaign takes place in the world of Hieron, a land still healing from a great calamity that struck centuries ago. Our characters only know this event as "The Erasure" but no one knows quite what happened, or just how long ago but the land carries the scars--both figuratively and literally.

Fero Feritas comes from the Halfling farms inland of the south western coast of the continent. Running from the bitterness of barely remembered nostalgia for the old ways, whatever those were, Fero cloaks himself in new wilderness of his land, wandering and learning. Walking in shadow and step with the beasts of the woods and mountains for so long Fero hardly noticed when he became one himself. This new world may look like the old one, but Fero will not go back. He bears this new wilderness upon him.

The Great Fantasmo, the elfish wizard will have a bio soon.

Hadrian, Sword of Samothes, Defender of the Undying Fire, Officer of the Order of Eternal Princes, the human paladin will have a bio soon.

Hella Varal is a human fighter from the magicless island of Ordena, the land spared from the Erasure, or so they say. She grew up with simple means but her role as a hired hand and conveyor lead her to gain respect and the attention of the government of Ordena, the reason for her frequent visits to Velas. Armed with a beautiful, mysterious sword, a lack of patience, and wariness of her people, Hella is a useful but unpredictable companion.

Lem King is an orc bard, born and raised in The New Archives, a vast orc city carved into the side of a mountain. The archivists, and Lem, prize collection and categorization of histories and objects and whistled songs; the Archives resemble a warehouse or museum more than a city. Recent events, however, have led Lem to flee the archives, clutching an old violin, and he's arrived in Velas looking for adventure and excitement and (perhaps) somewhere to hide.

Throndir, the Elfish Ranger, hails from the secluded settlement of Auniq deep within the Mark of Erasure. After seeing something he was never meant to, Throndir fled the only home he had ever known and began to rebuild his life in Velas. Alongside his loyal dog, Kodiak, Throndir's sharpened survival skills has earned him a spot on the team, but his naïve nature and clouded past leave more questions than answers about what's in it for him.

Hosted by Austin Walker (@austin_walker)

Featuring Andrew Lee Swan (@swandre3000), Slyvi 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

Spring in Hieron 01: The Touch of Others

Thu, 11 Oct 2018 17:33:00 +0000

It is still winter, yet.

Months ago, the heat and the dark emerged from the long sands of Rosemerrow, bringing terror and destruction to Hieron. And though the sun has returned, and though the vicious blizzard that battered the North West has weakened, and though Adelaide's so called curse has vanished--the warmth of spring has not yet arrived. The people of Hieron have faced calamity, and now they look to their leaders--to you--in hopes that they may recover and rebuild.

Ephrim, Prophet of the Unwavering Flame. Golden Lance Throndir, the Ranger--you two joined the traveler of worlds, Red Jack, and Corsica Neue, Queen of the Unstill, in leading thousands of refugees and survivors towards a new home: The ruins of the Last University.

Besides your motley collection of loyal friends and allies--like Devar van der Dawes, Uklan Tel, Emanuel LaSalle, and Ephrim's loyal Kobbin, Highwater--you bring with you ten distinct groups, each with their own leaders to this new settlement in the center of Hieron.

Corsica Neue's own Unstill come along, of course--now equals in unlife with everyone else, just one fatal error away from annihilation.
Joining them are those who Red Jack called his companions: Rosette, and the moths of Old Man's Chin have arrived along with their weaver companions, and the remaining Oni boys who once sprouted from Red Jack side.
Mee Kosh, the Goblin Elder, and the Snow Elves of Auniq--joined in temporary and precarious alliance came too.
And Balion Wythe, the once romantic hero of Rosemerrow, and on-again-off-again lover of the late Chancellor Gilbert Lutz, has come with those halflings who were willing to leave their supposed ancestral home after it was hit so badly by the Heat and the Dark's arrival.
They arrived soon after Chatterchin and the Gnolls--those who Fero left behind in the woods outside of Rosemerrow.
Morbash came with you, too, just behind, along with those archivists who understood that sometimes, in the face of chaos, maintaining the pattern requires movement, not complacency.
An old ally of yours, Throndir: Carrot the squirrel, arrived too, along with entire ecosystems behind them. With the north west devastated, the many animals who lived in the environs of twinbrook, the woods between Velas and Auniq, and the forests surrounding Rosemerrow all need a new place to forage and flock, somewhere less threatened by the heat, the dark, and the stars. They live now in the wilds on the outskirts of the university.
Keeping within the walls of the school's campus, but still on the edges of society is the professional scoundrel Blake Bromley, along with their loose guild of people who knew how to find things… and how to get things done, often in the shadows where others were too precious to travel.
Surprisingly, perhaps, was the arrival of Jerod Shiraz--the leader of the Ordennan Dissent, nearly one third of what once made up the nation's war machine, now turned open objectors to the imperial ambitions of the Impetus. Though she once traveled along with the living star, Obelus, as well as with Stornras Glasseye and Sunder Havelton--who were given the Blade in the Dark by Samol--when she arrives, Shiraz is flanked only by everyday Ordennan citizens and soldiers. And she makes no mention of the sword… or her absent companions.
Finally, there is Rosana, who has become the lay-leader of the Creed of Samothes in this part of Hieron. Though given no specific title, she has become the de facto head and heart of the group in this dark moment--providing counsel, concern, and condemnation, when appropriate. Neither she, nor her son Benjamin, know what has happened to their beloved Hadrian--yet both live on with strength in his memory.

With these groups, you've built the first workings of a real community here in the shadow of the college's towers and in the depths of the neglected ruins of the Last University. And, as is often the case in moments of dire need, some have already risen and found basic solutions to the most critical of problems.

Perhaps most importantly, those with academic and magical acumen--the semiotician Uklan Tel, increasingly obsessed with his dangerous studies; Jerod Shiraz, living blood of sea and smoke; you, King Ephrim, and a handful of others--spent weeks scouring the Book of Life that Throndir brought, as well as the other magical texts of the University in an effort to establish the shimmering shield of starstuff that the--now undead--wizard Arrell once proposed.

And with the power of the book of life, you succeeded, enveloping not only the University's campus but also the wilds around it in a scintillating gleam, a translucent sphere which ripples and waves in the wind. And which--for now, at least--protects the entire settlement from the ever encroaching flames of the heat and the dark.

And with this existential threat held back, many other needs could be addressed as well:

Rosana and the refugees of Velas immediately set to rebuilding the dorms, kitchens, and other necessary structures of the university, while Blake's moonlighters and and Morbash's archivists scoured the the school's remaining stores for food, fuel, and medicine enough to last at least a year. All while in the campus' courtyards, Rosette's mothkin have begun the agricultural processes necessary to at least subsist, if not to thrive, in this new home.

Balion Wythe and Corsica Neue have risen as military leaders, the queen of the unstill and the uncrowned leader of the halflings each bringing their tactical strength to bear, Offeringthose who wish to defend the encampment a role and a duty appropriate to their skills.

Throndir you are joined by Chatterchin's gnolls, Mee Kosh's goblins and snow elves, and the wild animals who have pledged their coy loyalty to Carrot, in an effort to map out the still-snow covered forests, hills, valleys, and wastes surrounding the University.

And some--like Red Jack, Victoria Solomon, and Dr. Gloria Lake--travel even further, exploring beyond the university's protective cloak of stars, deep into the ongoing cataclysm of Hieron, all in hopes of finding other survivors. Partly, they seek to offer shelter to any who lived through the winter, and partly, they seek the most important thing of all: An answer to survive the impending collapse--a swift breeze, a cooling shade--anything to hold back… the summer.

This week on Spring in Hieron: The Touch of Others

Hosted by Austin Walker (@austin_walker)

Featuring Janine Hawkins (@bleatingheart) Sylvi Clare (@captaintrash), Ali Acampora (@ali_west), Art Martinez-Tebbel (@atebbel), Jack de Quidt (@notquitereal), Keith J Carberry (@keithjcarberry) and Andrew Lee Swan (@swandre3000)

Produced by Ali Acampora (@ali_west)

Cover Art by Craig Sheldon (@shoddyrobot)

Spring in Hieron 02: Why Are You Here?

Sat, 20 Oct 2018 02:25:43 +0000

The community at the Lost University continues to survive the harsh winter as sickness and conflict strain their growth. As Ephrim and Throndir struggle with their new roles, and Benjamin develops his budding skills, the arrival of Sunder Havelton, Stornras Glasseye brings an sliver of hope, even if it is split in two. Elsewhere, Fero continues to create new life, working with caution and purpose and a little bit of spite. And within the blade, cut off from the efforts of their old companions, Lem and Hadrian study their temporary home as Adaire and Hella try to find their place.

This week on Spring in Hieron: Why Are You Here?

Hosted by Austin Walker (@austin_walker)

Produced by Ali Acampora (@ali_west)

Cover Art by Craig Sheldon (@shoddyrobot)

Spring in Hieron 03: Hospitable to You

Fri, 26 Oct 2018 23:07:53 +0000

It has been four years since the body of Hieron was ravaged by the swift arrival of the heat and the dark, and the wound grows deeper every day. Fero Feritas knows this first hand, as he watches Hieron Himself falter and fade in the cool shade of his son Samot's toppled tower. And while there are new signs of life, both in the Mark of the Erasure and in the environs of the Last University, it is unclear whether novelty means beneficence. For Ephrim and Throndir, they can count only on each other and the community they've built... and, hopefully, an old ally. Meanwhile, on the paradise island of Aubade, Hella, Adaire, Lem, and Hadrian are also adapting to a new sort of life: Their own.

This week on Spring in Hieron: Hospitable to You

Hosted by Austin Walker (@austin_walker)

Produced by Ali Acampora (@ali_west)

Cover Art by Craig Sheldon (@shoddyrobot)

Spring in Hieron 04: Material Effort

Fri, 02 Nov 2018 05:01:45 +0000

The fifth year of the settlement at the Last University begins with a reunion of old friends, as the Druid Fero reunites with Throndir, Eprhim, and the many who call the grand halls, hidden alcoves, and open air Campus yards home. However warm this homecoming is, though, it can not fend off the effects of unpredictable climate, unstable architecture, and unhealed wounds of the past. And while those who run this burgeoning town pray that the blade in the dark may offer them hope, the rare echo heard from within the city inside bears gloomy tidings: Distraction, confusion, disruption, and regret.

This week on Spring in Hieron: Material Effort

Hosted by Austin Walker (@austin_walker)

Featuring Janine Hawkins (@bleatingheart) Andi Clare (@captaintrash), Ali Acampora (@ali_west), Art Martinez-Tebbel (@atebbel), Jack de Quidt (@notquitereal), Keith J Carberry (@keithjcarberry) and Andrew Lee Swan (@swandre3000)

Produced by Ali Acampora (@ali_west)

Cover Art by Craig Sheldon (@shoddyrobot)

Spring in Hieron 05: Try To Live a Good Life

Fri, 09 Nov 2018 07:19:05 +0000

With each strike of the hammer, each flash of magical heat, the Blade in the Dark grows closer and closer to restoration. Those living on the isle of Aubade, trapped inside the sword, say their final goodbyes and prepare to set sail home. But outside, as the smiths work their craft, time passes... and time brings new concerns: Resources draw low. Community members die or leave. A new threat breaches the scintillating shield of magic. The burgeoning town's leadership begins to doubt their role. An offer is made.

This week on Spring in Hieron: Try To Live a Good Life

Hosted by Austin Walker (@austin_walker)

Produced by Ali Acampora (@ali_west)

Cover Art by Craig Sheldon (@shoddyrobot)

Spring in Hieron 06: Something You've Practiced

Fri, 16 Nov 2018 04:36:34 +0000

The Boundless Fate, the handmade vessel captained by Hella Varal, rests upon the shore of the unnamed river which glides through the forest west of the Last University. It is an appropriate resting point for a boat named such: Just a decade prior, before the bard Lem King opened an invisible valve, this river simply didn't exist. But as the pattern workers of the archives know well: When action is taken, consequences follow. Now, the travelers from Aubade depart the boat and head east towards not only family and friends, but to the consequential present. Are they--is anyone--ready for what comes next?

This Week on Spring in Hieron: Something You've Practiced

IDENTITY is the first component, this is beyond debate. Before we may refer to this reagent or that somatic expression, we must first conceptualize a "this" or a "that," things made whole by their boundaries. This staff is distinct from this floor, which is distinct from me, though I touch both. What is, is itself.

Where there is argument, though, is whether such a quality is the PRIMARY component in matters arcane. The so-called semioticians argue that SYNTHESIS is more important than identity. Though they dress it up in words like "god" and "faith," priests rely on PROXIMITY to some original source of magic as the key component.

They are all wrong, of course: If identity is first, then RELATION is principal in the magical arts. What is, is itself. And nothing else.

-An Excerpt from the Crystalized Lectures of the Wizard Fantasmo

Hosted by Austin Walker (@austin_walker)

Produced by Ali Acampora (@ali_west)

Cover Art by Craig Sheldon (@shoddyrobot)

Spring in Hieron 07: Structure and Purpose

Thu, 22 Nov 2018 04:19:52 +0000

As the weeks move on, the Last University's new arrivals acclimate to their new shelter. And as the campus' empty spaces slowly become more and more filled in, it becomes more and more like a home--and for some, like Fero and Hadrian, that isn't a metaphor at all. Hella and Throndir, meanwhile, give structure and training to the burgeoning town's militia. Others, like Adaire, Ephrim, and Lem, find ways to return to their old habits… at least until the arrival of a pair of old allies brings news of danger and opportunity.

This week on Spring in Hieron: Structure and Purpose

"'HOME' is a myth, an invention told by the idle and mediocre, who paper over their lethargy with a facade of comfort." My mentor… He taught me these words when I was… It doesn't matter when, but, when I was much younger, I suppose. The TRUE MAGE, he told me, should have no home because KNOWLEDGE knows no geographical center. It is all around us. And yet, in my studies, I have come to know a different truth: That in my armchair, with my tea cup, and the soft, familiar sound of the cypress branches brushing my window in the wind, I learn things I could not discover in some distant library or in the muck of a field laboratory.
-An Excerpt from the Crystalized Lectures of the Wizard Fantasmo

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!!

Spring in Hieron 08: Sympathetic Objects

Thu, 29 Nov 2018 20:48:25 +0000

It weights on everyone: The end is not far from here, but the golden Golden Lance has brought word that somewhere to the north, are are those who dream of leaving the end behind. And so, Lem King, Hella Varal, and Fero Feritas set off together once again, headed north towards the Isles of Flight... and the Moons which hang above it. There are, however, two lingering questions: How should they get there, and who will they be leaving behind?

This week on Spring in Hieron: Sympathetic Objects

I hold little respect for the charlatans from the Archives, whose parlor tricks are simply wax dripping from the torch of TRUE MAGIC. Yet they understand this much: COINCIDENCES do not exist, yet FATE is a myth. No action is unmoored from causality--there is always a reason for RECURRANCE. But that reason need not be PREDETERMINATION. Indeed, repetition is often caused by the most mundane of causes, and a good scholar DEDUCES their origin. So, young student, know this: If it always rains on your day of birth, dismiss the fear that you are cursed, open your notebook, and begin to record an almanac.

-An Excerpt from the Crystalized Lectures of the Wizard Fantasmo

Hosted by Austin Walker (@austin_walker)

Featuring Ali Acampora (@ali_west), Jack de Quidt (@notquitereal), and Keith J Carberry (@keithjcarberry)

Produced by Ali Acampora (@ali_west)

Cover Art by Craig Sheldon (@shoddyrobot)

Spring in Hieron 09: A Certain Way

Thu, 06 Dec 2018 19:59:06 +0000

All across the yet unnamed settlement growing in the reclaimed ruins of the Last University, small possibilities begin to reverberate from the potential future into the present moment. A caravan detained at the border, heading north. A fleeting scout in Ordennan armor. The theft of candy… and books unnamed. The slow, parade-approach of a Prince. And tree growing with worrying speed. Lord Ephrim looks these over, and must decide where his priorities lie.
And he is not the only one who concerns himself today with things that grow quickly. Hadrian, no longer a Paladin, takes on his role of father with haste and pride--words that a companion reminds him are oft forgotten flaws. Throndir, meanwhile, offers advice to his protege that he needed once learn on his own. And while Adaire does not set out to be a teacher, even crooks may find themselves sharing old tricks with the impressive young.

This week on Spring in Hieron: A Certain Way

Among the many important practical device a neophyte mage must learn, the CYNOSURE is most necessary. Whether in school ALCHEMICAL or CONJUROUS, WILD or INCORPORATED, EFFERVESCENT or NECROTIC, the first step of any spell is finding its elusive center, the aspect around which every other component must RELATE. Perhaps it is in the material ingredients--the mushroom shavings or recovered kestrel claw--or in the vocal and somatic terms--the right syllable to press, the uncomfortable shape of your hand. But as is true in SOCIETY is true in magic: the center of your spells must ATTRACT and DEFINE all that is around them. The periphery may falter, the margins may surprise you, but if the center holds, magic will follow.
-An Excerpt from the Crystalized Lectures of the Wizard Fantasmo

Hosted by Austin Walker (@austin_walker)

Featuring Janine Hawkins (@bleatingheart), Andi Clare (@captaintrash), Art Martinez-Tebbel (@atebbel), and Andrew Lee Swan (@swandre3000)

Produced by Ali Acampora (@ali_west)

Cover Art by Craig Sheldon (@shoddyrobot)

Spring in Hieron 10: Who Vouches?

Thu, 13 Dec 2018 23:22:01 +0000

In the ruins of the ancient orcish Stoneworks, Lem King, Fero Feritas, and Hella Varal find themselves snared by by botanical beasts. But what lies beyond, to the north, may be even more dangerous: The soaring ambition of the Mistral, the birdkin who seek to leave faltering Hieron behind in search for a more stable home above. But as is always the case in journeys made, some are called riders and others mules.

This week on Spring in Hieron: Who Vouches?

PARTNERSHIP is a difficult prospect for all mages, as the IMAGE-IDEAL of any spell differs between all who cast. Even a trifling CANTRIP like the summoning of a sphere of light is soiled by the projection of a mage's SELF. The color, the shape, the intensity: All shift due to bias and experience. And so to perform even such a simple glamour as this with a partner is to court disaster. This is why in all but the most troubling of endeavors, the wise mage works alone.
-An Excerpt from the Crystalized Lectures of the Wizard Fantasmo

Hosted by Austin Walker (@austin_walker)

Featuring Ali Acampora (@ali_west), Jack de Quidt (@notquitereal), and Keith J Carberry (@keithjcarberry)

Produced by Ali Acampora (@ali_west)

Cover Art by Craig Sheldon (@shoddyrobot)

Spring in Hieron 11: Cut Off the Head

Fri, 21 Dec 2018 05:27:22 +0000

For some, it is just another week: Ephrim and Hadrian explore an untouched quarter of the University, Adaire digs into the mysterious connections of the Moonlighters Guild, and Throndir continues to tutor the young Blue J. But at the furthest stretches of the Last University settlement, there is an energy in the air. Maybe it is the echo of caravan wheels hurrying across dirt and stone. It could be the rumors of Ordennan scouts whispered from villager to soldier, from soldier to lord, from lord to father. Or perhaps it is the sound of a young Ranger snapping twigs beneath their neophyte steps. Benjamin attempts to pierce the fog and offer clarity, but reading the lines of time is not easy work. Samot approaches.

This week on Spring in Hieron: Cut Off the Head

PROPHECY is, perhaps, the most fraudulent school of magic, all the more for its broad popularity in the minds of the masses. It is not those who peddle PALMISTRY or auction AUGURY are incorrect in their predictions: No, oracular pursuits are as often accurate as the aim of any magic missile. But they are sold on a fabulous foundation. The soothsayer? The leaf reader? The blood drinker? The visionary? They all claim they can see what comes next. But they are not in touch with the FUTURE at all. They are only especially aware of the PRESENT. And it is keen evidence that the world is filled with fools that so many cannot tell the difference.
-An Excerpt from the Crystalized Lectures of the Wizard Fantasmo

Hosted by Austin Walker (@austin_walker)

Featuring Janine Hawkins (@bleatingheart), Andi Clare (@captaintrash), Art Martinez-Tebbel (@atebbel), and Andrew Lee Swan (@swandre3000)

Produced by Ali Acampora (@ali_west)

Cover Art by Craig Sheldon (@shoddyrobot)

Spring in Hieron 12: Long Promises

Fri, 04 Jan 2019 02:59:45 +0000

On the smallest of the Isles of Flight, Deya, Lem King finds himself cornered in a bookstore. But, he is, after all, Lem King, and conflict is to the orc bard no more than running water under a sturdy boat: whatever danger it poses others, for him it is merely a way forward. Once reconnected with his compatriots, Fero Feritas and Hella Varal, the three decide to speak rather than act, working to gain the confidence of Deya's chief officer of the law. But as they learn more about the Isles, their inhabitants, and their cruel leader others do what they must. They take dramatic, and final, action. As the saying goes: Clocks tick.

This week on Spring in Hieron: Long Promises

No. The history the DEL and BRI, twin MOONS of Hieron are not covered in this course, nor ought they be covered in any. Such CELESTIAL beings only inspire the most distracting flights of foolish imagination. To be a mage is to walk the line between unleashed creativity and utter mundanity. And to dream of above is to lose anchor to the ground that gives SHAPE and MOMENTUM to all arcane works

Hosted by Austin Walker (@austin_walker)

Featuring Ali Acampora (@ali_west), Jack de Quidt (@notquitereal), and Keith J Carberry (@keithjcarberry)

Produced by Ali Acampora (@ali_west)

Cover Art by Craig Sheldon (@shoddyrobot)

Spring in Hieron 13: The Time of Gods

Fri, 11 Jan 2019 04:40:33 +0000

Content Warnings: Descriptions of death and injuries, descriptions of corpses, descriptions of surgery

It is some time after noon in the unnamed University settlement. A tree has grown too tall, too wide. Measures must be taken. To the south, debris falls into water, black and red and pale, and a river rushes to wash away the past. Measures must be taken. In the council hall of the school's tallest tower, worry clambers out of mouths and onto faces. Measures must be taken. Warmth is laid out on cold slate, a once vast and deadly patience dripping away all too quickly. Measures must be taken. Hidden experiments. Strained words. Gold and threats in the rubble. Finally, he arrives to take measure.

This week on Spring in Hieron: The Time of Gods

LIFE is no more an immutable characteristic than SCALE or TEMPERATURE. Whether leaping from branch to canopy, or constrained to coughs and carriages, each is life. But do not let those words secure your pride. Because just as some structures are too large to stand AND some heats are beyond the notion of relief, true DEATH is a finality that even the most powerful magic cannot undo.

Hosted by Austin Walker (@austin_walker)

Featuring Janine Hawkins (@bleatingheart), Sylvi Clare (@captaintrash), Art Martinez-Tebbel (@atebbel), and Andrew Lee Swan (@swandre3000)

Produced by Ali Acampora (@ali_west)

Cover Art by Craig Sheldon (@shoddyrobot)

Spring in Hieron 14: Neighbors To Be Made

Fri, 18 Jan 2019 01:57:49 +0000

High above the Isles of Flight, Severea's Gift, the moon named Del, begins its descent. Below, a strange mix of chaos and quiet as the Mistral react: Some rush towards escape, but others seem all together poised and controlled. Caught in the middle are Hella Varal, Lem King, and Fero Feritas, whose own role in the matter is up for debate. Are they heroes, meant to save the isles from catastrophe? Or simply witnesses to a rebellion in full swing? And how, if at all, can they plant the seeds for future friendship in a moment like this...

This week on Spring in Hieron: Neighbors To Be Made

PROTECTIVE spells take many forms. Defensive WARDS shift the nature of possibility, prohibiting actions of a forbidden category to create sanctuary spaces, while MIRROR spells reflect back anything--material or otherwise--that attempts to pass it. LATTICES are complex, magical apparati, checking conditional statements against numerous variables and facts apparent before apply some effect. But none of these are effective as a simple BARRIER: Trust me, students, a sturdy wall will keep anything, and anyone, out. -An Excerpt from the Crystalized Lectures of the Wizard Fantasmo

Hosted by Austin Walker (@austin_walker)

Featuring Ali Acampora (@ali_west), Jack de Quidt (@notquitereal), and Keith J Carberry (@keithjcarberry)

Produced by Ali Acampora (@ali_west)

Cover Art by Craig Sheldon (@shoddyrobot)

Spring in Hieron 15: The Breath of Hieron

Fri, 25 Jan 2019 05:32:18 +0000

Content Warnings: Descriptions of death, descriptions of medical care

His presence can be felt by those who do not even lay eyes on the dragon's body. Samol has arrived at the last university. And why should it not be felt? All presence, after all, is Samol, Hieron Himself, the first god, the one-who-spoke-words-alive, the universal origin, breathing. And as he breathes life into this too-quiet campus, the others hurriedly look for solutions to a variation on a problem they've known they had for a long time: How do you save a dying god?

This week on Spring in Hieron: The Breath of Hieron

"GODS" are not what you imagine. Despite the fables, these are not beings of infinite POWER or unshakable WILL, nor are they models of noble VIRTUE. Those preaching sermons in churches and scribbling songs in hymnals would have you believe that the world is a laboratory and the "gods" are its alchemists. Yet in fact, on the chemist's table of Hieron, they, like us are simply glass beakers filled with the physical STUFF of life. Perhaps their content shimmers more when stirred--and to that end, we ought understand their sheen and thus duplicate it--but remember, in the end, all glass shatters.
-An Excerpt from the Crystalized Lectures of the Wizard Fantasmo

Hosted by Austin Walker (@austin_walker)

Featuring Janine Hawkins (@bleatingheart), Sylvi Clare (@captaintrash), Art Martinez-Tebbel (@atebbel), and Andrew Lee Swan (@swandre3000)

Produced by Ali Acampora (@ali_west)

Cover Art by Craig Sheldon (@shoddyrobot)

Music by Jack de Quidt (@notquitereal)

Text written by Austin Walker and Nick Scratch

Spring in Hieron 16: Music Through A Wall

Fri, 01 Feb 2019 05:11:48 +0000

As Del continues to descend towards the surface, Hella, Fero, and Lem head towards the ruins of the New Archives in search of a Cartwright Wren, a peculiar bird with properties that may help the druid with the creation of new sorts of creatures. But when they come to an abrupt landing in a dilapidated and overgrown aviary, the group learns that they are, unsurprisingly, not the only ones who've come to the Archives in search of valuable things. What is surprising, though, is who they find...

This week on Spring in Hieron: Music Through A Wall

If there is one fact that neophytes fail to grasp, it is this: Every SPELL has two COSTS, not one. The first, pupils always remember: The component parts of whatever is being cast: REAGENTS, SOMATIC EXPRESSIONS, RITUAL PREPARATIONS. These are, of course, easily counted: Strands of wolf's hair, the motions of a hand, the dust of rough chalk. But the second cost is missed: The cost on the self. And this cost is vital to consider. As many young magic workers learn through repercussion alone: You may have the material needed for a spell, but if you begin to work it without the will or the vigor necessary, it will cost you greatly. Which is why I say, with great care and seriousness: It is of utmost importance that you learn to REST.

-An excerpt from the Crystalized Lectures of the Wizard Fantasmo

Hosted by Austin Walker (@austin_walker)

Featuring Ali Acampora (@ali_west), Jack de Quidt (@notquitereal), and Keith J Carberry (@keithjcarberry)

Produced by Ali Acampora (@ali_west)

Music by Jack de Quidt (@notquitereal)

Text by Austin Walker (@austin_walker)

Cover Art by Craig Sheldon (@shoddyrobot)

Spring in Hieron 17: A Desire to Live

Fri, 15 Feb 2019 09:29:32 +0000

From their home in the Last University, Adaire, Ephrim, Hadrian, and Throndir watch as refugees arrive from every direction as war and disaster spreads throughout the vastness of Hieron. From the north, where flood waters drive communities down into the continent. From the south, where Ordennan warships displace families with mechanical fire and thunder. And even from below the earth itself, where roots have taken too firm a hold. And there is one more new arrival too: With the events of the past week behind them, Lem, Fero, and Hella return to the Last University, and they travel with an illusionist with a penchant for betrayal….

This week on Spring in Hieron: A Desire to Live

In common speech, CONDUITS of power are said to extend a mage's REACH and PERCEPTION to such a degree that they may work their craft at great distances. But this is a grand understatement. It is not simply that the spellcaster's senses are duplicated at the point of the conduit. The sheer presence of such an artifact of power extends the very NATURE of reach and perception. With a conduit in place, a mage's vision spreads over an entire area, their ability to weave magic expands beyond what they might even do in person. For this reason, understand, there is no such thing as building a conduit for peaceful ends.

-An excerpt from the Crystalized Lectures of the Wizard Fantasmo

Hosted by Austin Walker (@austin_walker)

Produced by Ali Acampora (@ali_west)

Music by Jack de Quidt (@notquitereal)

Text by Austin Walker (@austin_walker)

Cover Art by Craig Sheldon (@shoddyrobot)

Spring in Hieron 18: A Simple Answer

Sat, 23 Feb 2019 06:42:31 +0000

Across the campus and beyond the walls of the Last University, the gathering masses are holding their breath and asking themselves questions: What does the Wizard Arrell's conduit mean for Hadrian and his family, and how can Throndir help to protect them? How can Lem ease his Emmanuel's concern for an adventurer like him? How, wonders Fero, might a god grieve for his father? What money should a career thief like Adaire… or Blake Bromley not take? Who yet moves in that old Forge, which Ephrim knows too well? Who or what is stirring under starlight, and will Hella's blade be sharp enough for it? But these are questions of the few. The many voice other fears: How can the University serve the needs of the many when its own resources are so paltry? And if they cannot serve them, to whom will the people turn? An absent god? His wounded son? Who?

This week on Spring in Hieron: A Simple Answer

True TELEPORTATION is, without measure, the most dangerous and trying spell not explicitly created for violent ends and is thus the small purview of only the most advanced mages of the University… and reportedly some who study the so-called SEMIOTIC practices of the New Archives. Thankfully, there are other, safer, and more efficient means of completing tasks over long distances: ALCHEMIC DELIVERY, SYNCHRONOUS TRANSMISSION, and STRATUMINAL LINKAGE, depending on the distance traveled and, of course, the degree to which co-presence is required...

-An excerpt from the Crystalized Lectures of the Wizard Fantasmo

Hosted by Austin Walker (@austin_walker)

Produced by Ali Acampora (@ali_west)

Music by Jack de Quidt (@notquitereal)

Text by Austin Walker (@austin_walker)

Cover Art by Craig Sheldon (@shoddyrobot)

Spring in Hieron 19: A Night Like Tonight

Fri, 01 Mar 2019 01:43:36 +0000

The Creed of Samothes has, for countless years, spread its reach throughout society across Hieron. For many, it has provided strength, structure, and safety from the dangers of the wild world. But at its heart--not distinct from it, not a subversion or corruption--is a cynical ideology rooted in the fatalism of their first god: The world is ending. Limit the suffering of those still alive, so that they may pass easily. Tonight, Hella, Lem, and Adaire will learn the that "easing" suffering may take many forms…

Today on Spring in Hieron: A Night Like Tonight

It is common pastime across this University to debate DRACONIC classification. Fourth years lecture firsts about the distinction between DRAGONS and DRAKES, while research assistants struggle to place WYVERNS is clear category? "What of WYRMS," asked a colleague, recently, as if any answer to this or any other similar question mattered. No. LIVING or UNDEAD, aloft by WING or by AIR-SPIRIT, wielding FLAME or FOULNESS, the only relevant question is: How quickly will it kill you?
-An excerpt from the Crystalized Lectures of the Wizard Fantasmo

Hosted by Austin Walker (@austin_walker)

Featuring Janine Hawkins (@bleatingheart), Ali Acampora (@ali_west), Jack de Quidt (@notquitereal)

Produced by Ali Acampora (@ali_west)

Music by Jack de Quidt (@notquitereal)

Text by Austin Walker (@austin_walker)

Cover Art by Craig Sheldon (@shoddyrobot)

Spring in Hieron 20: Passing of Voices

Fri, 08 Mar 2019 08:49:03 +0000

Some journeys have many purposes. For Ephrim, Lord of the Last University, the trip to the isles of Alcyon offers an opportunity to retrieve the special plate required to build pala-din, the autonomous stone soldiers which once patrolled the streets of ancient Marielda. For the druid Fero, the trip will lead him to a place where Samol's magic does not yet fade. With Arrell's conduit identified, Hadrian and his family must flee their home or else put thousands in danger. And as is often the case, for Throndir and Kodiak, the trip is an opportunity to shoulder the many burdens his friends carry, and to provide guidance and justice in a world that increasingly offers less of each.

This week on Friends at the Table: Passing of Voices

I have taught you the value of a HOME for the neophyte MAGE, but in the instance that an EXCURSION is unavoidable, take heed my words: Never travel ALONE. Whether friend or hired hand, secure your safety behind the bodies of others. And remember: A mage is never truly alone.
-An excerpt from the Crystalized Lectures of the Wizard Fantasmo

Hosted by Austin Walker (@austin_walker)

Featuring Andrew Lee Swan (@swandre3000), Slyvi 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

Spring in Hieron 21: A Fountain of Information

Fri, 15 Mar 2019 19:40:34 +0000

In light of recent events in New Zealand, please know this episode includes description of the aftermath of an attack on a community and conversations about death. To those affected directly and indirectly, please know you are in our hearts during this tragedy.

The Creed of Samothes' arcane attack comes to a close, but not before bringing new dilemmas to bear. Lem King, curious as ever, seeks out a new ally to help locate the cult's headquarters. Adaire attends to those she most cares for in the wake of this troubling violence. And Hella confronts the value of her life—and is as ever grateful that such confrontations need not be made alone.

This week on Spring in Hieron: A Fountain of Information

The greatest ARCANE MASTERS of course have… contingencies in place for DEATH. It must be understood, though, that these are not REVERSALS of the act, but SAFEGUARDS designed to intercede against or re-route naturally occurring events. But even these have their limits: Once the ESSENCE of life is consigned to the NOTHING, there is simply no return.
-An excerpt from the Crystalized Lectures of the Wizard Fantasmo

Hosted by Austin Walker (@austin_walker)

Featuring Janine Hawkins (@bleatingheart), Ali Acampora (@ali_west), Jack de Quidt (@notquitereal)

Produced by Ali Acampora (@ali_west)

Music by Jack de Quidt (@notquitereal)

Text by Austin Walker (@austin_walker)

Cover Art by Craig Sheldon (@shoddyrobot)

Spring in Hieron 22: Better Every Time

Fri, 22 Mar 2019 07:03:53 +0000

In the dense forest that covers the northeast of Hieron, a battle between old and new continues. Hadrian, Ephrim, Fero, and Throndir face down the creatures of Alyosha's spring, and for the first time, Benjamin enters the fray and shows off what he has learned from his magical schooling--for better and worst. But even as one challenge fades, new questions emerge as Alcyon comes into view...

This week on Spring in Hieron: Better Every Time

Eventually, your studies will bring you into CONFLICT with forces MUNDANE and ARCANE both. In these circumstances, the foremost lesson a young MAGE must remember is this: You are neither mystical FIGHTER nor scholarly PALADIN. Though you study natural philosophy as a RANGER does, you are much more than they. Yet in the center of a melee, much less. As such, you must first and foremost ensure your own safety. And in the case of unavoidable conflict, seek simply this: To end the fight as quickly as possible.
-An excerpt from the Crystalized Lectures of the Wizard Fantasmo

Hosted by Austin Walker (@austin_walker)

Featuring Andrew Lee Swan (@swandre3000), Slyvi 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

Spring in Hieron 23: The Heat Will Warm Your Bones

Fri, 05 Apr 2019 06:47:31 +0000

It is said that in the land of Hieron, there are two types of dreams: the first, an undirected working-over of one's recent whims and toils, with, perhaps, a magical twist added by any arcane source nearby. The second kind of dream, though, are those sent by Hieron itself as reminder, prompt, or premonition. Which raises a question that Hella, Adaire, and Lem now face: Who, or what, reigns over dreams in the wake of Samol's death? And what, by day's light, can they do before their nightmares come to pass?

This week on Spring in Hieron: The Heat Will Warm Your Bones

Across the course of your STUDIES, you will learn of KNOWLEDGE locked beyond gates built not of metal but of SOCIAL MORE. And as the THIEF in the night would slip through their bars, as the BARON would order them open, you must find your way past. Disregard taboo, scorn prohibition, and boycott boycott. You are a SCHOLAR. First, learn which knowledge is too dangerous to know, and second, learn EVERYTHING else.
-An excerpt from the Crystalized Lectures of the Wizard Fantasmo

Spring in Hieron 24: Closer to Kin

Fri, 12 Apr 2019 06:22:17 +0000

Far to the north east of their home at the Last University, a party of nine has arrived on the shores of Alcyon. Here, they hope to find much: Lord Ephrim, the plans to create the ancient protectors which guarded the streets of Marielda; Fero, the source of this peninsula's magical stability; Hadrian, distance from the danger stalking his son; Throndir, further opportunity to bring justice. But a warm welcome, and the sound of bells ringing, brings confusion to their purpose…

This week on Spring in Hieron:

VAMPIRES! These monstrous beings are not UNDEAD in the traditional sense. They are a distant echo of the ancient magical school of RECONFIGURATION, each vampiric body rebuilt, unique strengths augmented, not by ENCHANTMENT, but by a real shift in the nature of their being. Such strength carries a cost: The "semioticians" are frauds, of course, but the unpredictable fragility of the vampire, just as soon harmed by the lapping of a cat's tongue as a serrated golden dagger, is the closest thing to their so-called "pattern magic"...
-An excerpt from the Crystalized Lectures of the Wizard Fantasmo

Hosted by Austin Walker (@austin_walker)

Featuring ndi Clare (@captaintrash), Art Martinez-Tebbel (@atebbel), Keith J Carberry (@keithjcarberry) and Andrew Lee Swan (@swandre3000)

Produced by Ali Acampora (@ali_west)

Music by Jack de Quidt (@notquitereal)

Text by Austin Walker (@austin_walker)

Cover Art by Craig Sheldon (@shoddyrobot)

Spring in Hieron 25: The Second Sun

Fri, 19 Apr 2019 03:52:14 +0000

Above the Last University, two suns hang, unbalanced. Under their shearing light, the heroes of this makeshift city move into action, even though they may not yet know what action they ought take. For Hella Varal, it is the needs of those with the least that must be addressed: shelter, food, water, ease of mind. The fundamentals that all need and deserve. For Adaire Ducarte, who joins the Golden Lance member Callowkeen and the ancient warrior Red Jack, "action" must come only after careful investigation. And for the archivist and bard Lem King, the answers must, must, be found in a book. But if not there, then… perhaps, finally, it is time to get creative.

This week on Spring in Hieron: The Second Sun

ALCHEMY is, of all disciplines, the most underappreciated. Young MAGES, perhaps even yourselves, see it as a vulgar display of MAGIC, something that anyone with a RECIPE, the tools, and patience may pursue. And it is true, alchemy does not draw on the developed talents of a mage, or on the intrinsic strength of a SORCERER; its formulas pale in beauty next to the complex designs of a warlock or witch's ARCANA. And yet, in their simplicity is a different sort of appeal: SPELLS may be countered, HEXES misfire, CURSES be wasted on wind. But set aloft a potion of flame, and know: There will always be fire.
-An excerpt from the Crystalized Lectures of the Wizard Fantasmo

Hosted by Austin Walker (@austin_walker)

Produced by Ali Acampora (@ali_west)

Music by Jack de Quidt (@notquitereal)

Text by Austin Walker (@austin_walker)

Cover Art by Craig Sheldon (@shoddyrobot)

Spring in Hieron 26: An Attractive Offer

Fri, 26 Apr 2019 05:04:40 +0000

Before the travelers from the Last University settle into their guest lodging on the peninsula of Alcyon, they must finish some small bits of business. Throndir, avatar of justice, investigates ways to prevent his unique weaknesses from troubling him during the remains of the visit. Fero seeks an answer to the question of Alcyon's continued magical nature, and finds instead something (and someone) tied to his past. Hadrian's business brings him to his son's ever-studious side. And Ephrim, his work for the day done, waits in the wings to find where he might be useful.

This week on Spring in Hieron: An Attractive Offer

NEOPHYTES often ask why the UNIVERSITY demands that young mages develop not only arcane ACUMEN but also moral CONSTITUTION. The answer is simple. To do otherwise would be a grand, fatal ERROR.
-An excerpt from the Crystalized Lectures of the Wizard Fantasmo

Spring in Hieron 27: A Place and A Time

Fri, 03 May 2019 05:36:03 +0000

Many of the dangers that surround the Last University are new. Bright stones at the bottom of a stream burn bare feet. Sometimes, when the wind blows westerly, it carries a scent that fills eyes with tears and tatters the flags on the University's towers. But there are older dangers, too, in damp tunnels beneath the earth, as Adaire and Red Jack are about to discover. Back in the compound, Hella Varal, Death's Servant, finds time to quell the anxieties of the young Ranger. And Lem King, gangly, human, finds himself burning with hunger and ambition. Around him, the city of Marielda burns too.

This week on Spring in Hieron: A Place and A Time

There will come a MOMENT when you will be required to rely on the MEMORY of others, and you will find yourself disappointed. Details you consider TRIVIAL will have been raised to prominence in RECOLLECTION. Valuable assets will have been FORGOTTEN. Do not, however, allow your frustration to hide from you the GIFT that you have been given. Pay close attention. Everything has been forgotten for a REASON.

-An excerpt from the Crystalized Lectures of the Wizard Fantasmo

Hosted by Austin Walker (@austin_walker)

Featuring Janine Hawkins (@bleatingheart), Ali Acampora (@ali_west), Jack de Quidt (@notquitereal)

Produced by Ali Acampora (@ali_west)

Music by Jack de Quidt (@notquitereal)

Text by Jack de Quidt (@notquitereal)

Cover Art by Craig Sheldon (@shoddyrobot)

Spring in Hieron 28: Significant Concern

Fri, 10 May 2019 05:28:05 +0000

In the city of Coraline, on the isles of Alcyon, the morning sun is welcomed with the ringing of bells. But not today. Instead--for some reason--there is only the sound of waves against rocks, of late-night partygoers babbling through street and alley, of quiet conspiracy and whispered arrangement. And instead, the day is marked with the ominous light of a second sun. But however halting the heat may be for some, the travelers from the Last University push on: Fero, into the fields where he studies this new form of life; Ephrim and Throndir into local dilemmas, political and interpersonal; Hadrian into his own heart, as he prepares for a confrontation that, though not fated, still carries the weight of history.

Today on Spring in Hieron: Significant Concern

However devoted to the THEORETICAL you intend your studies to be, you will eventually be pressed upon in PRACTICAL matters, and none will be more dangerous than those of STRATEGY and WARFARE. This is not because the dangers of combat are any more perilous than those of INDUSTRY, TRAVERSAL, or even EMBELLISHMENT. It is simply because the reckless pride of puffed up generals, who reduce your careful labors into simple SOLUTION. Remember: When someone is eager to turn your stave into sword, show them instead that you can make it into a river.
-An excerpt from the Crystalized Lectures of the Wizard Fantasmo

Hosted by Austin Walker (@austin_walker)

Featuring ndi Clare (@captaintrash), Art Martinez-Tebbel (@atebbel), Keith J Carberry (@keithjcarberry) and Andrew Lee Swan (@swandre3000)

Produced by Ali Acampora (@ali_west)

Music by Jack de Quidt (@notquitereal)

Text by Austin Walker (@austin_walker)

Cover Art by Craig Sheldon (@shoddyrobot)

Spring in Hieron 29: Deeper Than Flesh

Sat, 18 May 2019 07:31:04 +0000

Under crimson light, a plan moves into effect, a counter motion with speed so great that it matches the age of the plot it seeks to derail: the consumption of light, the birth of a dragon apocalyptic, the early days of Summer's lethal heat. Against this: Adaire Ducarte, Hella Varal, and the still dreaming Lem King.

This week on Spring in Hieron: Deeper Than Flesh

It is common aphorism that no EFFECT comes without matching COST. This is, of course, absolute tripe. What would the point of our SCIENCE be if it were not to offset the two in our own favor? To turn bay leaf into bartergold, fowl feather into the wind itself. Yes. There is always a PRICE. This is true. The best of us simply learn how to address reality directly and NEGOTIATE.
-An excerpt from the Crystalized Lectures of the Wizard Fantasmo

Hosted by Austin Walker (@austin_walker)

Featuring Janine Hawkins (@bleatingheart), Ali Acampora (@ali_west), Jack de Quidt (@notquitereal)

Produced by Ali Acampora (@ali_west)

Music by Jack de Quidt (@notquitereal)

Description by Austin Walker

Cover Art by Craig Sheldon (@shoddyrobot)

Spring in Hieron 30: A Safer Second

Fri, 24 May 2019 09:55:16 +0000

Above the waves of the Alcyonic Sea, the second sun has not yet hatched. But below its blood red light, a plan has begun to. But what sort of plan is it? Is it a former paladin's plan to protect his family? Is it the plan of a druid and a lord to stop a threat that has grown too large, too dangerous, to let continue? Or is it something grimmer: the latest, vengeful volley in the decade long arc of enmity between one who was once a wizard and one who was once a ranger?

This week on Spring in Hieron: A Safer Second

Both in your studies and in the field, SUCCESS is not an finality. It is only an opportunity for you to find new COURSES to travel and CONUNDRUMS to consider. The world is endless, and you will never bore for a lack of things to do. But the wise mage knows to tackle these many things with FOCUS and DELIBERATION. However powerful your magic, however full your book of SPELLS, it is a fool who thinks they can do everything all at once. When you find reality bending to your WILL, you may want to take the whole of the world on your shoulders. I promise you, students. It will crush you.
-An excerpt from the Crystalized Lectures of the Wizard Fantasmo

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Featuring ndi Clare (@captaintrash), Art Martinez-Tebbel (@atebbel), Keith J Carberry (@keithjcarberry) and Andrew Lee Swan (@swandre3000)

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Spring in Hieron 31: A Handful of People

Fri, 31 May 2019 09:52:21 +0000

The morning after the second sun broke open, the campus of the the Last University is quiet. But this is not hard-won exhalation. It is a gasp for breath in the middle of a marathon run. Because before the members of the University's ad hoc council can fully settle back into daily life, they are sprung back into action by an impulse as nervous as it is noble. There will be time to rest--and surely they need it. But in this moment, the world burns. And they refuse to let the fire simply light their faces from afar.

This week on Spring in Hieron: A Handful of People

What is the difference between an INSTINCT and an IMPULSE? Everything. The former guides you in thought, shaping your REFLECTION with biases hard earned. The latter triggers ACTION without consideration. Embrace your instinct, even--especially--when others tell you that it confounds their sense of possibility. You know better than them. But resist impulsiveness with all your being. However quick a dead mage was in their final moments, they are still a dead mage.
-An excerpt from the Crystalized Lectures of the Wizard Fantasmo

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Spring in Hieron 32: Insurmountable Odds

Fri, 07 Jun 2019 05:50:06 +0000

It is an old road that travels between the Last University, through the settlement of Baron's Gate, and into what is now called the Mark of the Erasure was built--many times, across many lamina--to bring direction and pace to the roving party of Samot, bringing him between the First University and his father's home at the Hewed Peak.
But in time, with his father retired to convalesce in a more humble home in the woods, the God of Books and Wine carved away the Peak, drawing the finest stone not only from the nearest mountain, but from each Peak of the past ten ages, all to provide material for his new, towering home. And in time further, with the meddling of mages eager to make their own paradise, his new home would fall, bringing about an eternal blizzard. And so the old road found itself untraveled, covered in snow, and lost to time.
Now, new flame has unearthed it, and it sees new use, carrying a dedicated group with their own direction and pace to a new dragon, which roosts and writhes in the ruins of history.

This week on Spring in Hieron: Insurmountable Odds

I have told you already never to TRAVEL alone. Yet this does not mean you ought turn a ROAD into a PARLOR ROOM. Trust in yourselves, and keep surreptitious your thoughts and motives. If you must speak, speak only to yourself. Your allies are there only to protect you, and however shining a SHIELD may be, it is not a MIRROR.
-An excerpt from the Crystalized Lectures of the Wizard Fantasmo

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(Note: Last time on and usual intro music was intentionally skipped this week!)

Spring in Hieron 33: Particular Malice

Fri, 14 Jun 2019 05:07:32 +0000

Weeks ago, the Advocate took flight its cradle hidden in the hills and trees. Its path north took it across places already devoured by the Heat and the Dark: Rosemerrow's once Long Sands, the devastated woods between Old Man's Chin and Twinbrook, across the ancient imperial highway south of Velas, and into the unmappable, frozen wastes of Auniq, deep within the Mark of Erasure. Where does a being unwilling to create go to roost? To a nest already made. The heart of the mark. Atop the fallen tower of Samot. Its hunger for destruction sated, in this brief moment, it rests. And they arrive.

Today on Spring in Hieron: Particular Malice

He has not faced anything quite like what you describe, no. But from what you have told me, your father seems an obstinate and foolhardy man. And those are the qualities of every so-called hero I have ever met.
-A message from the Crystalized Voice of the Wizard Fantasmo

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Spring in Hieron 34: The Variation of Natural Life

Fri, 28 Jun 2019 05:40:59 +0000

Victorious after their journey to the Mark of the Erasure, the leading members of the Last University find time to celebrate. But they know too well the danger of inaction, so while four of the group begin a journey south, to Malle's Fist, the rest take the time to investigate the troubles that remain at home. Chief of all: The continued pressure put on the settlement by Alyosha's Spring. But while Ephrim, Fero, and Lem may find some of the answers they seek, it is not long before they face a new, more imperative dilemma.

This week on Spring in Hieron: The Variation of Natural Life

I simply do not understand. Why would you ever build a wall from a material both capricious and ineffable? This would be like keeping a journal in a code you cannot read: Yes, the work has been done, technically. But whatever value you sought is warped from utility to perilous, and obvious, folly.
-A message from the Crystalized Voice of the Wizard Fantasmo

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Spring in Hieron 35: Unfinished Work

Fri, 05 Jul 2019 00:14:24 +0000

The bounty was plastered from the boulevards of Malle's Fist to the canals of Kanton, on the broken archways of the old imperial road and the mural boards of the old eastern sea wall:

TO WHOMEVER SLAYS THE BEAST, SO CALLED THE ADVOCATE, IN LOYALTY TO ORDENNA AND ALL MANKIND, A REWARD DUE, EARNED, AND PAID BY THE HONORABLE IMPETOR OF ALL HIERON, FELA MALLE: 100,000 IN COIN OR THE ARMORY AND ESTATE OF A BLOODED PEER.

And so, floating down the Archivist's River towards the smogging skies of Malle's Fist, a group of heroes intends to collect.

This week on Spring in Hieron: Unfinished Work

If only I had been more attentive during my arrival to the city all those years ago. Or if father would push past his obstinance and help me find it. Or if it had been delivered by fate into Hadrian's hands instead of Eprhim's. Perhaps a less ambitious violence would have brought a Spring more-
No. It cannot be known.
All that can be said with confidence is that of all my contingencies, the killing of my son, turned mocking mimicry of Him, by my erstwhile disciple is the one I least preferred. And in that way, perhaps this tragic unfolding of events has been most kind.
-An excerpt from the journals of Samot, Lord Unbroken, in Exile and Repose

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Spring in Hieron 36: Terrible and Necessary

Fri, 12 Jul 2019 05:01:35 +0000

As the shell-sky ruptures under impossible heat and pressure, the citizens of the Last University face grim prospects. Beings of empty light tread over the familiar until it is unsafe, recasting the world around them in macro and micro, both. And above, a lord looms. Do they have any hope? Does anyone fight for them, still? Yes.

This week on Spring in Hieron: Terrible and Necessary

After too many years of loneliness and solitude, I believe even now that I was blessed by accord with two who moved in kindred ways. The paladin felt His warmth, even from the blade, and worked drunk in his faith as I once did. And in that we knew one another, though he knew (and knows still) so little. I was likely a fool for dreaming a solution through his hands. (Yet I am a dreamer, always.)
The other knew me in a way only one so devoted to knowledge could. The old stories always missed this about me: I found myself alone in study as often, if not more, than among the carousing congregation. And so in the Wizard Fantasmo, I found someone who understood me. So fixed our bond, that I found the elf slipping into memories deeper and older than he could possibly be participant in.
His brilliance made me wonder what might be, again. Old, smashed possibilities picked up like a shattered vase, laid out on cloth, the pieces all there, repair suddenly a possibility. And so I thought: Perhaps Fantasmo could do what I could do not. Perhaps he could retrieve my love from the Blade in the Dark. With the right forge, the right attendants, the right components… I still believe it, in truth. I know he could have. I know he could have brought me, brought us, Samothes again.
But these are shadowed times, and in the unjust dark, the brilliant lights are the first to be snuffed out.
An excerpt from the journals of Samot, the Unbroken Lord in Exile and Repose

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Spring in Hieron 37: Ingenuity and Love

Fri, 19 Jul 2019 06:58:25 +0000

Of all the resources unique to the City of First Light, the Ordennan Impetus was most taken by the ancient city's network of trains. The once-island nation was already familiar with the value of heavy logistics, and though the steam-powered trains of this new island were on tracks, it was not as if their own ships did not have to contend with the more organic rails of weather, wind, and current. As important, they knew first hand how disruptive it would be for a culture to lose control of its transportation system. Which is why they stormed the trains early in their invasion, and grew their occupation through railway terminals.
And this is how Fela Malle found his way to the ancient home of Samothes. The same volcanic palace to which Adaire, Hadrian, Hella, Hadrian, and Throndir now enter, under stormswell skies..

This week on Spring in Hieron: Ingenuity and Love

When those few who know it tell our story, they tell it wrong. They say that we squabbled for years because He told me that there was no solution for the Heat and the Dark. But my love knew me better than to put it in terms so brusque.
He took my hands that afternoon, called me by the name Samol had given me, and shared his hopelessness in the only way he knew would not drive me from him immediately, with the technical mendacity of an engineer or a priest. "Samot, our stumbling block is not in finding a solution, it's in determining the right problem to begin with. We've been trying to brighten the night when we should've been trying to find comfort in the dark." Bad poetry for dressing His cowardice up as practical thinking. I hated it, and soon enough I hated you Him too.
But years later, with my Wizard reduced to mere memory and the paladin's heart clouded, I admit that I fell to despair much like my love's. He was right. All of these scenarios, all of this effort, all of this anxiety spent on cures, when I should have been focused on convalescence.
An excerpt from the journals of Samot, the Unbroken Lord in Exile and Repose

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Spring in Hieron 38: See Where You're Standing

Sat, 27 Jul 2019 02:21:23 +0000

Across the long lawns below the central tower of the Last University, the grass defies itself. In the mind, a field is a million individual blades blending into one. But when Stars of the steppe arrive, they make mental category into physical reality, each blade blending with the next until the trembling, green pasture becomes blinding, fixed tract. But even this transformation, which spreads across the whole of one of the continent's densest settlements, is minute against what occurs above. A distraught god once promised that he would do anything to hold back the Heat and the Dark. Now, he proves his intent, yet wonders to himself if he can be stopped; if, perhaps, eradication might be better.

This week on Spring in Hieron: See Where You're Standing

Taken all at once, the unearned length of my life, it is easy to call this unavoidable. After all, before I could hold a chalice, I could only drink with tooth and maw, my thirst unsated, as blood stained the ground. Before I could store unfinished thoughts on a shelf, I could only think in agitation, plans and ideas twirling forever, unending in my focus, lest they be lost to distraction. Before I could hold my love, I coveted raw connection, dreamed an I into being even as I was sent to destroy identity itself.

And so, I suspect, as the world becomes more real, more permanent, as those I swore to protect suffer in their sacrifice, even as I too dissolve and join the new firmament, I will have no champions. It will be easy to make sense of my decision this way: 'He was always a beast.' But that would be wrong. Writing these words is a selfish act of guilty conscience, I know. And yet I write them, because I must, because in writing them I am convinced of what must be done.

I will not steep to the vulgarity of cruel maths, a list of how many we'd already killed, or how vast the future I build might be. The suffering is real. The suffering is, after all, the motive. And so that should be first.

When my father told me what had been done, to the man I'd pinned to the bottom of the world, I saw opportunity. With His final ploy undone, the well of divinity had quietly been unblocked. I needed no clever stratagem. My adversarial source could be held back in the old way, a new strata. And so I began my work, drawing in detail for the first time in ages a new world. The ink flowed fresh, no rust to knock away, no lack of new ideas. I was born to steal words, but I lived for writing them.

And then, in that vile cavern, I learned that my dreams were too humble. The ease with which I did it. Hadrian loved her as dear a companion as I did my Wizard. Perhaps, as ours in wisdom kind, theirs in strength. Thoughtless. Grotesque. If anything slithered in the Advocate's room, it was me. It was not only in what I did Death's Servant, though, it was that I so easily broke a promise I made to my aunt, and hid my strength from her, as I once did, so long ago.

That is when I knew. That is I felt it, in my wounds, and in my heart, and in whatever motivates the void in the deep core of every living being into glorious motion. That is when I knew that I had to bring into being a world of consequence, of possibilities irrevertible, each moment concentrated justice in its inability to be undone. No second chances. No erasure. No reconfiguration. Immanence alone. A world without us.

-An excerpt from the journals of Samot, the Unbroken Lord in Exile and Repose

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Spring in Hieron 39: The Second Spring Pt. 1

Fri, 09 Aug 2019 07:40:22 +0000

…was standing there in the midst of utter chaos, I found strength in words uttered by the immortal warrior Red Jack (who you will become well acquainted with as you read on) only days before he led an assault on the being called the Advocate. "Heroism," he said, "is not such a unique thing."
He was right. The heroes that day were not only those who faced down men worshipped as gods—or those that despised them. The heroes were the many whose names were not already known, who rallied their neighbors as the world around them crumbled, and ensured that even if the very body of Hieron itself vanished, Hieron, the collection of people, would not. The world, contrary to this book's title, did not end.
All of which is to say that I am grateful that this text is being published in an incomplete state. The truth is that when I first began to write this volume, it wasn't a volume at all. It was just a book. An encyclopedia, collecting in one place stories from reliable (if not always honest) narrators, who together paint an image of the world as it was when it was still ending.
As a writer and as an archivist, of course I knew a book like this could never be complete: Even if every fact I'd scribbled were true, even if I'd eradicated my bias—and I haven't—how could I be sure that some key detail was not lost in the telling?
And so I am twice happy to be writing this foreword. First, because it means that the world and life (which frankly, I am very fond of) continues yet. Second, with our collective end seemingly deferred it gives me an excuse to begin a second volume, less focused on the apocalyptic end of everything, and more interested in all the minor endings we face as we find out what life even is here in the rhizome.
For now, though, I hope that you find this volume insightful, and that if you do not, that you at least find it entertaining. A final note to that end: While you can read this text linearly from front to back, I advise simply opening to any page and reading the first full entry there, and following the references and footnotes there listed. If you absolutely must be given a defined starting place, though, I recommend entry A919: The Island of Eventide.
Enjoy.

-An Excerpt from the Foreword to The Last Days The We Had: A Narrative Catalogue of Hieron, End Apparent, Pt. 1 by Alonzo Victor Devareaux van der Dawes

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Spring in Hieron 40: The Second Spring Pt. 2

Fri, 16 Aug 2019 05:16:33 +0000

...good a start as could be imagined, given the circumstances. But there was a confounding question still, which seemed to rent space in everyone's mind: Yes, the university had survived, but where was it?
This was not a philosophical question. It was a simple matter of fact, a concrete concern.
"Used to be three weeks, with cart, from Twinbrook," said one resident of the University, who operated a food cart both before and after the Second Spring. "Sure, [I] haven't made that trip in eight or nine years, not with everything going on. But [I] could count on it. Three weeks, with cart." The man tapped his temple three times, as if to emphasize the truth of the matter.
While early efforts--DuCarte's map school, the Spider Silk Gondola to Alcyon, Feritas' road project--were progressing on schedule, there was the gnawing feeling among some in leadership roles that these moved too slowly. "If even our people, easy-tempered and well-calloused from the old life want to map this tangle out," wrote Corsica Neue in her journal, "then others, those chronically conditioned by control and ease, must be even more eager mappers than we."
-An Excerpt from The Last Days The We Had: A Narrative Catalogue of Hieron, End Apparent, Pt. 2 by Alonzo Victor Devareaux van der Dawes

This week on Spring in Hieron: The Second Spring Pt. 2

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Spring in Hieron 41: The Second Spring Pt. 3

Fri, 23 Aug 2019 04:30:12 +0000

..alone would drive many settlements to resign themselves to his vassalage, as the Duke's medicinal stores separated him from many of the other warlords in that first year, when the pollen was so severe not only due to its density but to our own body's sluggish adaptation to it.
But the University's leadership was not keen to submit to anyone, least of all a monarch who wouldn't even show his own face on the frontlines; whatever their differences, Corsica Neue and Lord Ephrim had in common a comfort with danger and a respect for those who would wade into it courageously.
In hindsight, though, it has become clear that the Grey Duke's grand project—his attempt to re-order and organize the world around him and his territory—did not need others to kneel before him. They need only decide that facing him was a necessity to ensure his centrality in the new maps of the world.
Which provides some context for the surprising, and not altogether unwelcome, tactics the Duke deployed...
-An Excerpt from The Last Days The We Had: A Narrative Catalogue of Hieron, End Apparent, Pt. 2 by Alonzo Victor Devareaux van der Dawes

This week on Spring in Hieron: The Second Spring Pt. 3

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Spring in Hieron 42: The Second Spring Pt. 4

Fri, 30 Aug 2019 07:19:16 +0000

…unexpected means of conveyance, but at that time, what ought have been reasonably expected at all?
Perhaps such flippancy isn't well placed. Now, with the benefit of distance and context, it's simple to recognize the many ways that the Rhizome should have shaken loose our assumptions along with all that old Hieronic dirt. But by all retrospective accounts--including this historian's own limited recollection--no single question dominated our collective anxiety as much as this one: What can we expect? In a world of giant insects, endless growth, unearthed histories older than the Weaver King was long, how could we know what tomorrow would bring?
Perhaps it was phrased differently, sometimes more specifically or with more sentimentality. But at core, it was this question--this fear--that led many to swear allegiance to the banners of Alcyon, the University, the Grey Duke. The words delivered to us by the Shepherd confirm that it was what motivated those who came to that fateful Understanding. And while this is admittedly conjecture, it is easy to believe that it is what made so many pray to Galenica, whose most authorial power was still grounded in the one bit of old Hieron still left in grand supply: us.
Would tomorrow be worse than today? Would the suns ever find consistency, the pollen ever break? Would those who left us return? Would the threads of the world spiral further apart than they already had? Would 'normalcy' ever arrive? In the face of these things, how common a response fear is. After all, what more could we expect?
-An Excerpt from The Last Days The We Had: A Narrative Catalogue of Hieron, End Apparent, Pt. 2 by Alonzo Victor Devareaux van der Dawes

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Spring in Hieron 43: The Second Spring Pt. 5

Fri, 06 Sep 2019 17:16:08 +0000

...understandably caused us to doubt not only our relationship with them (albeit too late), but also with ourselves and our faculties.

The world was large, larger not only than what we'd known before but larger than anything it had been before. And it was large in new ways. In the old Hieron, a big place was wide or it was tall. But we'd learned that this place was deep. We'd regularly find new creatures and cultures in the branches we already knew well. How could we trust that we had not missed something important in a place like this?

For the adventurous sort, those who followed in the footsteps of those who founded the modern University settlement, this was a plus. But for those whose task was to catalog, study, and explain the Rhizome, this was an ache that never dulled.

"It's made setting up our beat desks that much harder," said Marisol Sweetwater, then editor, now publisher of The New Current. "We have to constantly ask ourselves questions that back in Rosemerrow would've been given. What does 'Local News' mean in a place where a whole civilization can just show up under some giant petal you never flipped over?"

The Rhizome was not simply vast, it was vasting, endlessly growing. And in the face of that, stability became the chief, communal referent. Even those who prefered the world this way, who were eager to turn leaves over for the rest of their lives, had their own exploits reframed in the popular rhetoric of cataloguing and mastery. One might take to the long branch to explore, but when their stories reached home, it was as proof that the Rhizome could be explored—routed, mapped, finally put to rest.

Who knows why the discourse shifted like this. Some suggest it's because of a generic fear of the unknown. Maybe it was because it was what we already knew. Or, perhaps, it was because deep down we knew that there was only one way left for us to "settle" the world and make it knowable again, and we feared that possibility as much as we desired it.

-An Excerpt from The Last Days The We Had: A Narrative Catalogue of Hieron, End Apparent, Pt. 2 by Alonzo Victor Devareaux van der Dawes

This week on Spring in Hieron: The Second Spring Pt. 5

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Spring in Hieron 44: The Second Spring Pt. 6

Wed, 11 Sep 2019 22:22:34 +0000

...took a new name: the Frost Shepherd. It was in trying to understand this act, its causes, and its consequences, that I first thought this second volume might be necessary. Even as it happened, I sensed a moment of diversion, of what an old mentor would have called a potential "rupture" in history.

In the old Hieron, when such a thing was still possible, I studied and practiced as a semiotician of the New Archives. Because the Rhizome stretches as it does, and because we were so removed from the histories which precede us, you may not know what that means. In short: We collected the world so that we might better arrange it. This is how I fell in love with writing and with history.

Towards the end of my studies, in some north campus basement, Semiotician Emeritus Uklan Tel delivered a guest lecture for a select group out of some technical obligation to the department.

"The world unfolds according to systems and rules," he told us. "History, politics, war, society--they have velocity, they have force, they have momentum. But now and then there is a chance for great change." Any average evening would be followed by an equally average day, but a rupturous evening might bring a day like one we've never seen.

But these moments only carried the potential for transformation, he told us. These moments of historical rupture, he said, offered opportunity for the systems and rules by which we organize ourselves to find a new route. But most of the time? That opportunity was wasted. Things returned to the status quo. The moons past over the edge of the world, the sun arose, and we'd be back to normal.

I had the impression, as he started to speak, that he was trotting out an old lecture, something reliable, that even dead in his voice would impress on our young, eager psyches. But as he spoke, he found a startling rhythm, like an old workhorse building towards a colt's gait.

It was as if something he'd seen, something recent, maybe, had given flesh to words that had only been bone. I could tell that he thought he wasn't just correct, but that he right. He told us, then, that we might not know it, but that we lived in a moment of rupture.

And when I stood in that crowd and heard the Frost Shepherd speak, I recognized in my own blood, on my own skin, an echo of Tel's old confidence in recognizing a moment rupture.

When Tel warned us about the future, he was, of course right--and only now do we know how ironic this warning was, considering his own role in the events of the years that followed that lecture. Which is excuse enough for me to extend his warning to you: In times like these, the rupture is not one night, it is ongoing, and we are all participants in whatever comes next. Pace yourselves. Recognize the way you touch the world. And travel accordingly.

-An Excerpt from the Foreword to The Last Days The We Had: A Narrative Catalogue of Hieron, End Apparent, Pt. 2 by Alonzo Victor Devareaux van der Dawes

This week on Spring in Hieron: The Second Spring Pt. 5

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