Friends At The Table

Welcome to the Road to PARTIZAN, an interlude connecting Twilight Mirage to PARTIZAN, our next full season (where we’ll be playing Beam Saber by Austin Ramsay) which will begin later this year! On that note, please know that though there is one spoiler for the way a couple of Twilight Mirage factions end up, there are no spoilers about major Twilight Mirage characters or their arcs anywhere throughout these episodes. The Road to Season 6 started with a desire to try out new game systems before we committed to one for a full season, but after thinking about it for a bit, we realized that we could use a bunch of games to explore the history of the massive, fracturing empire that will be at the center of PARTIZAN. And to do that right, we needed to make sure to start outside of that empire. To that end, we kicked things off with Dialect: A Game About Language and How It Dies by Kathryn Hymes and Hakan Seyalioglu. In this episode, we develop a new culture of nomadic space deer, and watch as they encounter an empi

Hey everyone! Austin here. If you've already listened to the entire Spring in Hieron Post-Mortem or follow us closely via social media or our Patreon feed, then you have probably heard about a bunch of exciting Friends at the Table related things recently! But in case that doesn't describe you, I wanted to make sure that you were able to get thsoe updates too! So, enjoy this brief update on merch, music, and the updcoming season. (ALSO: While I forgot to mention it in this update, you can actually listen to the Road to Season 6 games right now by joining our Patreon at the $5 level.) I've included all the relevant links below! Hieron Cover Art Prints by Craig Sheldon Fall of Magic T-Shirt, Hoody, and Print by Simon Sweetman.  Live at the Table Soundtrack The Friends at the Table Patreon PARTIZAN Trailer Beam Saber by Austin Ramsay  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 transc

Thank you for joining us to say goodbye to Hieron.... From beginning...     ...to end!!   It's been quite a journey and we had a great time capping it off by answering some of your questions! We had such a wonderful outpouring of support and love the past week and it really means the most to us! We love doing this and we love that people enjoy listening to it. Over the next weeks, the friends behind Friends at the Table are going to take a short break before starting our sixth season: PARTIZAN, a story of war, politics, faith, and (yes) giant mechs. You can hear the trailer in this episode or by itself, right here, and you can check out the game we'll be playing in PARTIZAN, Austin Ramsay's Beam Saber, right here.  But before we get there, to keep your podcast feed warm, we'll be sharing the Road to Season Six, an anthology of one-shots played in different systems that will bridge the Twilight Mirage and PARTIZAN seasons. The Road to Season Six isn't necessary listening if you want to hop on board PARTIZAN

...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

...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

…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

..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 W

...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 he

…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 pain

Hiya everyone!! Instead of an episode this week, we have a few announcements, which you can either enjoy in audio form or text form or BOTH! -We're at Gen Con this week! We're doing a live show on Saturday, 6 PM!!! Tickets are still available!! W hoo ps ? You can get them here: https://www.gencon.com/events/151345 -We're having a fan meet up Friday, 1:30 at Hudnut Commons!! -Shut Up and Shut Down released our BFF video from SHUX 2019!! The link is  https://youtu.be/5mnsV3NtRWg -There's a Twilight Mirage Zine! You can get more info at https://fundly.com/tmzine, or check out their twitter at @tm_zine -We're gonna have a bunch of new patreon content at our highest tier but if you haven't checked it out we have a TON of stuff over at friendsatthetable.cash

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

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 f

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 fo

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

  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   Hosted by Austin Walker (@austin_walker) Featuring Sylvi Clare (@capt

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   Hosted by Austin Walker (@austin_walker) Featuring Janine Hawkins (@bleatingheart) Sylvi Clare (@captaintras

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 his

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 sti

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 t

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 (@notquite