COUNTER/Weight 00: If Han Solo Used To Be Beyoncé, or: Hashtag Otechku

This episode contains content warnings for teeth, implied harm to animals, and alcohol. With a loud cry, the truth began to spread through Blackwick County. The mysterious egg sac once nestled into the recovered nest structure had been stolen and its guards coldcocked. Now, the Blackwick Group must trace it down, confront whoever's taken it, and bring it back… before a curse falls on Blackwick yet again. This week on Sangfielle: The Candle Factory Pt. 1 The Almanac of the Heartland Rider Peoples Caprak (cap-ROK): The goat folks of the northlands, where they put up with dust, ash, snow, and the unilateral "justice" of the Pale Magistratum. Carpana (car - pahn - a): They're little folks, three to four feet tall or so. A little like capybara, I suppose. Devils: Once, they were contained by (and made to administer) some vast network of hells. But they fought their way out, took over Aldomina, and nurtured a fledgling empire into an expansive one. Drakkan (drah-KAHN): I've always thought we look like seahorses. Skin pulled across spiny, exo-skeletal armor. Bright colors. Good looking. Heritrixes (hare-uh-trixes): Heritrixes are immaterial beings, sometimes confused for ghosts, demons, or other sorts of supernatural spirits, who enter into contracts with physical hosts. Human: A smooth-skinned, hornless type of person, mostly found in the Heartland and in the Unschola Republica these days. Unremarkable. "Except in variety," you'll often hear a human say, revealing only that they're more prideful than wise. Ojantani: The Ojantani, who share traits with buffalo and water oxen, are as often melancholic or timorous as they are the loud, stereotypical minotaur sort. Places Yellowfield: Before the Panic this little valley of yellow flowers was the territory of a petty wizard and the subjects he frightened or beguiled. He called it his Xanthic Demesne, but these days we just call it Yellowfield. In the center of the valley, there's a candle factory, and it is here that the old axiom refers: "All the candle light in Sangfielle was made with just twenty odd hands." Facts and Figures Rana (she/her): An lonely devotee of Kaitankro who now lives out her days attending to one of her chosen god's many kite-shrines. Agdeline (she/her), Ettel (he/him), and Larch (he/him): This devil, drakkan, and human trio once spent time mining in the hills of Blackwick. In recent times, they've found that poorly armed travelers make for better prospecting. Sometimes called "the Toll Collectors." Bucho (he/him) (mentioned): Whether you first hear of him as "Big Bucho" or "Two Step Bucho," once you meet him, you'll understand that no name does the gallant Shape Knight justice. Organizations The Covenant of Kaitankro: You've seen them, haven't you? The unsettlingly gregarious priests with the strange, chitinous crow masks? Of course you have, with their stilt-legs and their stilt-houses and their collection of stakes and strings and, of course, the kites. I asked one once if it was a pun: Kite and Crow, chitin crow. Something like that. The priestess told me that Kaitankro was a very real god, if a funny one, and that one day, he visited her. Like every morning, she raised each of the town's kites up to the winds in daily worship, and Kaitankro landed on the smallest one—a sight to see, she said, since her god is so large a being. And like a carnivalist, Kaitankro walked down the wire, tips of her talons, until he met the priest at the bottom. There, I was told, they whispered in the priest's ear a single phrase: "Better to live as birds on wires than die as men in the wind." Chaos, it seems, breeds community, too. The Shape Knights: It took people with clear minds, great ingenuity, and implacable spirit to face down and defeat one of the living trains of Sangfielle. In the time since, they've crafted armor from their slain foe, and with that have come to be experts of all things train. They herd, they breach, they redirect. But they haven't yet killed a second. Hosted by Austin Walker (@austin_walker) Featuring Janine Hawkins (@bleatingheart) Sylvi Clare (@sylvibullet), Ali Acampora (@ali_west), Andrew Lee Swan (@swandre3000) Produced by Ali Acampora and Austin Walker Music by Jack de Quidt (available on bandcamp) Text by Austin Walker Cover Art by Craig Sheldon (@shoddyrobot) 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!!

11 Kesä 20211h 42min

This episode carries content warnings for skin blisters and boils, hallucinations, and scrimshaw done in teeth. There is a sense of verve in the air by the time the suns rise on Blackwick, today. Visitors arrive from every entry: A magnificent shape train at the station. A caravan and its bazaar. The grand opening of a new trade hall. A line of nuns, faces blooming bright and colorful. Yes, oh yes. It is Market Day in Blackwick. This week on Sangfielle: Market Day in Blackwick The Almanac of the Heartland Rider This issue of the Heartland Rider is brought to you by The Open Hand Trade Hall and its Chief Patron, Dayward yon Vantzon-Estonbergh, who would like you to know that he says"Remember: I might be from Aldomina, but the Open Hand is -A Blackwick 'Original'-" Organizations The Boundless Conclave: Less of an individual church, more of an association between hundreds of independent faiths. Small sects, nearly forgotten cults, and unjealous gods make up this vast pantheon. The Caravan of the Coin: Cursed by Ribbadon, Frog God of Wealth, these traveling merchant-clerics never arrive at a destination carrying what they expect. Sisters of the Mother-Beast: A dedicated priory of worshippers of a now-dead god, their faith now in a moment of transition towards a new figure of worship... Facts and Figures Erlin, the Tactful God of Lakes (he/him): People don't often think of "lakeness," and that's because Erlin does the thinking for you. He embodies the relaxing, if humid, depths of Sangfielle's many lakes. Dr. Vellete Vandrake (she/her): Freelance Physic of Blackwick, Dr. Vandrake has mixed feelings on the influx of newcomers to Blackwick. On one hand, there's more work—and more income—than ever. On the other, there are more people than ever to complain about her bedside manner. Slumbous (any): A minor god of the Boundless Conclave, who is associated with the ritual practice of putting one's candles out at night, but whose domains extend beyond that to include the more general realm of routines of care and rituals of restfulness. Often depicted in a big, crooked hat. Stanislaka (she/they): Marisha's replacement, the new attendant of the Boundless Conclave temple, an young ojantani whose faith to Slumbous knows no bounds. Chantilly Scathe (she/her): The signs and barkers rarely say her name alone. She ain't Chantilly, or even Ms. Scathe, she's always "Ms. Chantilly Scathe and Her Shackled Engine." Don't let her showmanship and ringmaster garb fool you though: She seems to have done what no Shape Knight could: Make a train of the Shape, The Grand Cormorant Limited, her very own pet. Babor Mirah (they/them): As the Trade-Medium of one of nomadic clans of the Caravan of the Coin, Babor serves as a leader Myron Andrashi (they/them): A reporter—and a damned good one—for this very publication, the Serialized Almanac of the Heartland Rider. Aterika'Kaal aka "Roseroot" aka "Rose Shade": An ambivalent and ancient spirit. Offers the sweet smell and sublime beauty of roses and the sturdy foundation of a root structure. In exchange: Feed it. Only a small, dangerous branch of the deity remains. Genburi (he/him): What's there to be said about that old rat that people don't already know? A divine professor, taller than most, with an eye as much for provocative fashion as book learning. Wears a lot of purple. Knows a bunch of languages. Not much else to say. Dayward yon Vantzon-Estonbergh aka Dayward YVE (he/him): The moneyed scion of a minor Aldominan dynasty, Dayward YVE has traveled to the Heartland as both eager-apologist and curious explorer. Sensing opportunity, he's settled in Blackwick County. Dyre Ode (he/they): When an agent of the almanac pressed this mysterious, masked figure for more information about him, they only repeated their name, as if to ensure we'd print it right, adding "Dyre with Y but Ode as you'd like, a poem said in praise or a debt gone unpaid. It bothers me little, how you spell that name." Hosted by Austin Walker (@austin_walker) Featuring Janine Hawkins (@bleatingheart) Sylvi Clare (@sylvibullet), 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 and Austin Walker Music by Jack de Quidt (available on bandcamp) Text by Austin Walker Cover Art by Craig Sheldon (@shoddyrobot) 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!!

4 Kesä 20213h 13min

This episode carries content warnings for insect infestation, brief descriptions of bones, decorative bone carving, and disembodiment. Safe in the company of the Didacts of Genburi, Lye Lychen, Duvall, and Es have a moment to rest and consider their options. Between this studious temple and the safety of Blackwick is the realm of Aterika'Kaal, twisted demi-god. And even beyond its reach, there is Roseroot Hall, where its blood thirsty remains sit in the manor's hidden heart, bound by unholy contract to Dayward YVE. If that was not enough, there is, also, the matter of the relic skull, ripped from the creature's roots. Much to consider, they think. Much to consider. This week on Sangfielle: The Secret Ledger of Roseroot Hall Pt. 4 The Almanac of the Heartland Rider Places Roseroot Hall: Now in the northern hills of Blackwick County, Roseroot Hall once stood mighty and imperious as a plantation house in the eastern half of the Heartland. Though the yon Vantzon-Estonbergh held it once, it fell into disrepair sometime after the panic. Details have been lost to time. Facts and Figures Aterika'Kaal aka "Roseroot" aka "Rose Shade": An ambivalent and ancient spirit. Offers the sweet smell and sublime beauty of roses and the sturdy foundation of a root structure. In exchange: Feed it. Genburi (he/him): What's there to be said about that old rat that people don't already know? A divine professor, taller than most, with an eye as much for provocative fashion as book learning. Wears a lot of purple. Knows a bunch of languages. Not much else to say. Dayward yon Vantzon-Estonbergh aka Dayward YVE (he/him): The moneyed scion of a minor Aldominan dynasty, Dayward YVE has traveled to the Heartland as both eager-apologist and curious explorer. Sensing opportunity, he's settled in Blackwick County. Ana Berylia (she/her): Dayward YVE's maid, a somewhat overwhelmed Carpana who has not adjusted to life in the Heartland. Her body is covered in brown/black hair with little streaks of grey at her temples. Mostly seen in uniform, a grey dress with white apron. Mr. Kenson (he/him): Big Horn Ram Kaprak. White fur with brown and black spots. Personal valet. Copper wireframe glasses. Proper black suit. Dyre Ode (he/they): When an agent of the almanac pressed this mysterious, masked figure for more information about him, they only repeated their name, as if to ensure we'd print it right, adding "Dyre with Y but Ode as you'd like, a poem said in praise or a debt gone unpaid. It bothers me little, how you spell that name." Hosted by Austin Walker (@austin_walker) Featuring Janine Hawkins (@bleatingheart), Art Martinez-Tebbel (@atebbel), Keith J Carberry (@keithjcarberry) Produced by Ali Acampora and Austin Walker Music by Jack de Quidt (available on bandcamp) Text by Austin Walker Cover Art by Craig Sheldon (@shoddyrobot) 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!!

28 Touko 20211h 47min

This episode carries content warnings for insect infestation, brief descriptions of eye trauma, general body horror, and blood. Roseroot Hall revolts. All the dye and resin and wool have come undone, dripping down the walls, unfurling across the floor. And unfortunately for the Blackwick Group, they have no intention of staying there. If Es, Duval, and Lye Lychen are going to solve the mystery of this abode, they must first ensure that they, themselves, do not come undone. This week on Sangfielle: The Secret of Roseroot Hall Pt. 3 The Almanac of the Heartland Rider Places Roseroot Hall: Now in the northern hills of Blackwick County, Roseroot Hall once stood mighty and imperious as a plantation house in the eastern half of the Heartland. Though the yon Vantzon-Estonbergh held it once, it fell into disrepair sometime after the panic. Details have been lost to time. Facts and Figures Aterika'Kaal aka "Roseroot" aka "Rose Shade": An ambivalent and ancient spirit. Offers the sweet smell and sublime beauty of roses and the sturdy foundation of a root structure. In exchange: Feed it. Genburi (he/him): What's there to be said about that old rat that people don't already know? A divine professor, taller than most, with an eye as much for provocative fashion as book learning. Wears a lot of purple. Knows a bunch of languages. Not much else to say. Dayward yon Vantzon-Estonbergh aka Dayward YVE (he/him): The moneyed scion of a minor Aldominan dynasty, Dayward YVE has traveled to the Heartland as both eager-apologist and curious explorer. Sensing opportunity, he's settled in Blackwick County. Ana Berylia (she/her): Dayward YVE's maid, a somewhat overwhelmed Carpana who has not adjusted to life in the Heartland. Her body is covered in brown/black hair with little streaks of grey at her temples. Mostly seen in uniform, a grey dress with white apron. Mr. Kenson (he/him): Big Horn Ram Kaprak. White fur with brown and black spots. Personal valet. Copper wireframe glasses. Proper black suit. Dyre Ode (he/they): When an agent of the almanac pressed this mysterious, masked figure for more information about him, they only repeated their name, as if to ensure we'd print it right, adding "Dyre with Y but Ode as you'd like, a poem said in praise or a debt gone unpaid. It bothers me little, how you spell that name." Hosted by Austin Walker (@austin_walker) Featuring Janine Hawkins (@bleatingheart), Art Martinez-Tebbel (@atebbel), Keith J Carberry (@keithjcarberry) Produced by Ali Acampora and Austin Walker Music by Jack de Quidt (available on bandcamp) Text by Austin Walker Cover Art by Craig Sheldon (@shoddyrobot) 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!!

20 Touko 20211h 54min

This episode carries content warnings for description of haunting, disorientation, dissociation, insect infestation of a human body, and discussion of slavery, sacrifice, and mass death. Having arrived at Roseroot Hall, the Blackwick Group's investigation into the manor's supposed haunting may finally begin. The methodology is familiar: One must walk the grounds, take in the passive energies of its passageways, attend to first hand accounts, pore over the home's books, share tea and supper with its distressed master. Here, and rarely in the place that one might guess, is the answer. This week on Sangfielle: The Secret Ledger of Roseroot Hall Pt. 2 The Almanac of the Heartland Rider Places Roseroot Hall: Now in the northern hills of Blackwick County, Roseroot Hall once stood mighty and imperious as a plantation house in the eastern half of the Heartland. Though the yon Vantzon-Estonbergh held it once, it fell into disrepair sometime after the panic. Details have been lost to time. Facts and Figures Dayward yon Vantzon-Estonbergh aka Dayward YVE (he/him): The moneyed scion of a minor Aldominan dynasty, Dayward YVE has traveled to the Heartland as both eager-apologist and curious explorer. Sensing opportunity, he's settled in Blackwick County. Ana Berylia (she/her): Dayward YVE's maid, a somewhat overwhelmed Carpana who has not adjusted to life in the Heartland. Her body is covered in brown/black hair with little streaks of grey at her temples. Mostly seen in uniform, a grey dress with white apron. Mr. Kenson (he/him): Big Horn Ram Kaprak. White fur with brown and black spots. Personal valet. Copper wireframe glasses. Proper black suit. Dyre Ode (he/they): When an agent of the almanac pressed this mysterious, masked figure for more information about him, they only repeated their name, as if to ensure we'd print it right, adding "Dyre with Y but Ode as you'd like, a poem said in praise or a debt gone unpaid. It bothers me little, how you spell that name." Organizations The Covenant of Kaitankro: You've seen them, haven't you? The unsettlingly gregarious priests with the strange, chitinous crow masks? Of course you have, with their stilt-legs and their stilt-houses and their collection of stakes and strings and, of course, the kites. I asked one once if it was a pun: Kite and Crow, chitin crow. Something like that. The priestess told me that Kaitankro was a very real god, if a funny one, and that one day, he visited her. Like every morning, she raised each of the town's kites up to the winds in daily worship, and Kaitankro landed on the smallest one—a sight to see, she said, since her god is so large a being. And like a carnivalist, Kaitankro walked down the wire, tips of her talons, until he met the priest at the bottom. There, I was told, they whispered in the priest's ear a single phrase: "Better to live as birds on wires than die as men in the wind." Chaos, it seems, breeds community, too. Hosted by Austin Walker (@austin_walker) Featuring Janine Hawkins (@bleatingheart), Art Martinez-Tebbel (@atebbel), Keith J Carberry (@keithjcarberry) Produced by Ali Acampora and Austin Walker Music by Jack de Quidt (available on bandcamp) Text by Austin Walker Cover Art by Craig Sheldon (@shoddyrobot) 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!!

14 Touko 20211h 32min

This episode carries content warnings for discussion of bombings, insect infestation of a human body, gun use, viscera, and threatening with a knife. For the past few months, the Blackwick County council has kept Dayward yon Vantzon-Estonbergh at arm's reach, close enough that his Aldominan wealth can filter into town, but not so close that he could risk overturning the order of things. Now, he's called in a favor, and eager to keep things even, the council has turned to the Blackwick Group to meet his needs. The problem is less "simple" than "timeless": His home is not acting the way it should. Moonlight fails to pierce the windows. The halls twist and lead him to strange places. The very decor shifts behind him. This is, it seems, a haunted house. So who better than the Blackwick Group to attend his needs? Before they can, however, they must cross the distance (which Mr. YVE has decided to place between himself and the town), and climb the hills north. They ought only hope they aren't the only travelers in the hills... This week on Sangfielle: The Secret Ledger of Roseroot Hall Pt. 1 The Almanac of the Heartland Rider Places Roseroot Hall: Now in the northern hills of Blackwick County, Roseroot Hall once stood mighty and imperious as a plantation house in the eastern half of the Heartland. Though the yon Vantzon-Estonbergh held it once, it fell into disrepair sometime after the panic. Details have been lost to time. Facts and Figures Lye "Lyke" Lychen (he/him): Tossed out of one of the many occult academies of the Unschola Republica, Lyke came to Sangfielle to continue his magical education in the most hands-on (and pockets-full) way he could. Es (she/they): A heritrix with a penchant for the finer things in life and the perilous ventures needed to earn them. Duvall (he/him): Born into one of the few human families who still have noble status in Aldomina, Duvall wasted his inheritance on a doomed adventure into Sangfielle. Now colonized by the insectoid servants of the Structure, Duvall searches to solve a question as old as people: What is "the self"? Tamith "Tamm" Callaki (they/them): An aspiring young sort, 19 or 20, who works as a courier in Blackwick, their home town. Dayward yon Vantzon-Estonbergh aka Dayward YVE (he/him): The moneyed scion of a minor Aldominan dynasty, Dayward YVE has traveled to the Heartland as both eager-apologist and curious explorer. Sensing opportunity, he's settled in Blackwick County. Ana Berylia (she/her): Dayward YVE's maid, a somewhat overwhelmed Carpana who has not adjusted to life in the Heartland. Her body is covered in brown/black hair with little streaks of grey at her temples. Mostly seen in uniform, a grey dress with white apron. Mr. Kenson (he/him): Big Horn Ram Kaprak. White fur with brown and black spots. Personal valet. Copper wireframe glasses. Proper black suit. Dyre Ode (he/they): When an agent of the almanac pressed this mysterious, masked figure for more information about him, they only repeated their name, as if to ensure we'd print it right, adding "Dyre with Y but Ode as you'd like, a poem said in praise or a debt gone unpaid. It bothers me little, how you spell that name." Agdeline (she/her), Ettel (he/him), and Larch (he/him): This devil, drakkan, and human trio once spent time mining in the hills of Blackwick. In recent time, they've found that poorly armed travelers make for better prospecting. Hosted by Austin Walker (@austin_walker) Featuring Janine Hawkins (@bleatingheart), Art Martinez-Tebbel (@atebbel), Keith J Carberry (@keithjcarberry) Produced by Ali Acampora and Austin Walker Music by Jack de Quidt (available on bandcamp) Text by Austin Walker Cover Art by Craig Sheldon (@shoddyrobot) 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!!

7 Touko 20211h 51min

This episode carries content warnings for implied execution, description of bound people, knives, fingernails, poison/chemical weapons, hallucination caused by substance, dissociation, and descriptions of boils/infected flesh. It was a simple task: Head down into the hidden basement of the Abbey's ruins and find out what happened to neighborhood youth Janek Polyte. But instead of a dank cellar, half of the Blackwick group found their way into a living hymn, simmering under eternal noon-suns, where ashen nuns worship a goddess they once betrayed even as they tried to save her. Inside, Polyte and a Pale Magistrate who pursued him with the same vigor as the Blackwick Group (if much more virulence). Now: A deal is struck and a simple task comes to a close. But not before the rain falls, begging someone to fall with it. This week on Sangfielle: The Hymn of the Mother-Beast Pt. 4 The Almanac of the Heartland Rider Places The Priory of the Mother-Beast: In the streets of Concentus, some food sellers use specially treated props to advetise their goods. The color of fruit is brighter; the loaves of bread retain softness and texture indefinitely; meat glistens. Yet by extending their beauty through time, they trade their very nature as victuals, becoming injurious copies instead. Such is the Priory. Do not confuse the soft canyon breeze or the eternal noon sun for serenity. This place is ash, held. Blackwick County: From the mines to the lake, the hills to the flats, the town once called Eastern Folly has felt a little more expansive now that it's out of the hard grip of the old curse. It's people aren't perfect, but they've made it through some dark times, and that's more than most can say. The Second Canton, aka The Pale Magistratum: The Second Canton has ordered itself around its Magistrates—holy marshals given weapons blessed by Fulmina, goddess of immediate justice, and the right to use that power as they see it. Free Seas of Kay'va, formerly the Fourth Canton: First established after Cecile Cartine's revolution over 300 years ago, today Kay'va is home to a collection of aligned communes who swear that the only way to prosperity is through the defense of equality. The Residuum: A realm of vibrant color, where the things of the world go when their time in the material world fades away. A plane of death, but rendered in glorious light. Facts and Figures Sister Marisha (she/her): For decades, the human called Marisha served as the representative of the Boundless Conclave in Eastern Follow and as the only apparent follower of the old Cult of the Mother-Beast. Eager to guide, and quick to reprimand, she gained a reputation as a well meaning hard ass in the mining town. Now she finds herself adjusting to life inside this secret priory of salt, ash, and ceramic. Akule "Janek" Polyte (he/him): A Drakkan member of Blackwick County's youth community, a member of the group who went beneath the Abbey's ruins a year ago, and if his equipment is anything to go by, an undercover agent of the Free Seas of Kay'va. Ezek Semm (he/him): An up-and-coming Pale Magistrate, whose devotion to Fulmina, goddess of instant justice, is not to be questioned. It is, however, concomitant with his desire for glory. The Shape: Are the trains that run across the Heartland bound to the Structure, or do they direct it? Is the overlap between the two even real at all, or might two machinic forces be at work here in Sangfielle? Organizations The Telluricist Union: Made up by a mix of peoples driven to the hills by Aldomina, this group of knife sharpeners, herbalists, geologists, and all around investigators have made it their job to keep their old wisdom and see it used to help those in need. The best among them are called Keen. The Shape Knights: It took people with clear minds, great ingenuity, and implacable spirit to face down and defeat one of the living trains of Sangfielle. In the time since, they've crafted armor from their slain foe, and with that have come to be experts of all things train. They herd, they breach, they redirect. But they haven't yet killed a second. Hosted by Austin Walker (@austin_walker) Featuring Sylvi Clare (@sylvibullet), Ali Acampora (@ali_west), Jack de Quidt (@notquitereal), and Andrew Lee Swan (@swandre3000) Produced by Ali Acampora and Austin Walker Music by Jack de Quidt (available on bandcamp) Text by Austin Walker Cover Art by Craig Sheldon (@shoddyrobot) 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!!

30 Huhti 20211h 59min

This episode carries content warnings for gun use, implied execution, knives, and amputation. As the Blackwick Group approaches the Priory of the Mother-Beast, a shot rings out, but it serves as question mark rather than exclamation. What is this place? Why does it seem stuck in time? Where is Janek Polyte, the young Drakkan they've been sent to retrieve? And how did a Pale Magistrate get caught up in all of this? Inside there are answers… but is the group more interested in finding those, or in pursuing their own interests? This week on Sangfielle: The Hymn of the Mother-beast Pt. 3 The Almanac of the Heartland Rider Places The Priory of the Mother-Beast: In the streets of Concentus, some food sellers use specially treated props to advetise their goods. The color of fruit is brighter; the loaves of bread retain softness and texture indefinitely; meat glistens. Yet by extending their beauty through time, they trade their very nature as victuals, becoming injurious copies instead. Such is the Priory. Do not confuse the soft canyon breeze or the eternal noon sun for serenity. This place is ash, held. Blackwick County: From the mines to the lake, the hills to the flats, the town once called Eastern Folly has felt a little more expansive now that it's out of the hard grip of the old curse. It's people aren't perfect, but they've made it through some dark times, and that's more than most can say. The Second Canton, aka The Pale Magistratum (ma-juh-strah-tuhm): The Second Canton has ordered itself around its Magistrates—holy marshals given weapons blessed by Fulmina, goddess of immediate justice, and the right to use that power as they see it. Free Seas of Kay'va, formerly the Fourth Canton (kai-vah): First established after Cecile Cartine's revolution over 300 years ago, today Kay'va is home to a collection of aligned communes who swear that the only way to prosperity is through the defense of equality. The Residuum: A realm of vibrant color, where the things of the world go when their time in the material world fades away. A plane of death, but rendered in glorious light. Facts and Figures Sister Marisha (she/her): For decades, the human called Marisha served as the representative of the Boundless Conclave in Eastern Follow and as the only apparent follower of the old Cult of the Mother-Beast. Eager to guide, and quick to reprimand, she gained a reputation as a well meaning hard ass in the mining town. Now she finds herself adjusting to life inside this secret priory of salt, ash, and ceramic. Janek Polyte (he/him): A Drakkan member of Blackwick County's youth community, and a member of the group who went beneath the Abbey's ruins a year ago. Quiet in public, and little kept in his humble home. The Shape: Are the trains that run across the Heartland bound to the Structure, or do they direct it? Is the overlap between the two even real at all, or might two machinic forces be at work here in Sangfielle? Organizations The Telluricist Union: Made up by a mix of peoples driven to the hills by Aldomina, this group of knife sharpeners, herbalists, geologists, and all around investigators have made it their job to keep their old wisdom and see it used to help those in need. The best among them are called Keen. The Shape Knights: It took people with clear minds, great ingenuity, and implacable spirit to face down and defeat one of the living trains of Sangfielle. In the time since, they've crafted armor from their slain foe, and with that have come to be experts of all things train. They herd, they breach, they redirect. But they haven't yet killed a second. Hosted by Austin Walker (@austin_walker) Featuring Janine Hawkins (@bleatingheart) Sylvi Clare (@sylvibullet), 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 and Austin Walker Music by Jack de Quidt (available on bandcamp) Text by Austin Walker Cover Art by Craig Sheldon (@shoddyrobot) 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!!

22 Huhti 20211h 31min