Realis 02: Feast at the Citadel Bein 01

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 Hosted by Austin Walker (@austin_walker) Featuring Sylvi Clare (@captaintrash), Jack de Quidt (@notquitereal), Keith J Carberry (@keithjcarberry) and Nick Scratch (@drevilbones) Produced by Ali Acampora (@ali_west) Music by Jack de Quidt (@notquitereal) Text by Austin Walker (@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!!

12 Juli 20191h 38min

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 Hosted by Austin Walker (@austin_walker) Featuring Sylvi Clare (@captaintrash), Art Martinez-Tebbel (@atebbel), Andrew Lee Swan (@swandre3000), Ali Acampora (@ali_west) and Janine Hawkins (@bleatingheart) Produced by Ali Acampora (@ali_west) Music by Jack de Quidt (@notquitereal) Text by Austin Walker (@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!!

5 Juli 20192h 16min

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 (@captaintrash), Jack de Quidt (@notquitereal), and Keith J Carberry (@keithjcarberry) Produced by Ali Acampora (@ali_west) 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 Juni 20191h 42min

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 (@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) 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 Juni 20191h 46min

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 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) (Note: Last time on and usual intro music was intentionally skipped this week!) 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 Juni 20191h 40min

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 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) 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!!

31 Maj 20192h 26min

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 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) 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!!

24 Maj 20191h 25min

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) 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!!

18 Maj 20191h 23min