Friends At The Table

Northwest of the seaside town of Obelle, there is a crater. Inside of that crater are the remains of the Divine Past, and those who wish to claim them: On one side, there are the members of the nascent special operations group the Rapid Evening. On the other, GLORY, a special Apostolosian unit which seeks to resurrect the culture’s greatest heroes as supersoldiers. But as everyone on the holy moon of Partizan knows, there are always more than two sides. This week on PARTIZAN: SHORESIDE RECOVERY - BLACKGLOVES ///Operation Dossier\\\ //Organizations\\ GLORY: With the help of advanced Columnar cloning science, the Glory Project (or simply GLORY), claims to have resurrected (and made immortal) heroes of the nation’s past called Eidolons. On Partizan, they field Kleos, Cassander, Vervain, and the squad’s leader: Apothesa, original Eidolon of construction, military action, and history. Interested in Past’s records chiefly because it might allow them to “better recreate Apostolosian eidolons.” The Zenith Fund: A pub

The destruction of a Divine, the killing of an Elect, and war on a new front: Any one of these could shift the balance of power on a moon like Partizan. So when all three occurred in Obelle, the great Stels began to analyze, strategize, and maneuver immediately. Squadrons were re-deployed, diplomats recalled, artists commissioned, and clergy and commentariat both called to weigh in.  But for Stel Kesh, one matter was more important than any other: The safe and honorable recovery of the body of their lost Elect and the retrieval of enough of their ruined Divine so that they may begin the arduous process of revitalization, a task which required a great deal of knowledge, even more salvaged material, and the gumption to put the two together. To this end, the newly minted—and still clandestine—Rapid Evening are deployed across the sea, under the orders of erstwhile heiress and novice commander Clementine Kesh (Jack de Quidt). Can Clementine, along with former pirate Exeter Leap (Ketih J. Carberry), religious advi

To the west of the small town of Obelle, the Oxblood Clan attempts to secure the landing zone for an inbound VIP. The plan is simple: Recover them and escape east across the sea. To aid them in that task, the Society of Banners and Bright Returns have been sent to take out the nearby Apostolosian militia’s sensors, fuel reserves, and weapon platforms. So far, it’s been light work for the team, with Kal’mera Broun’s artillery-scale flashbang and Thisbe’s powerful mechanical gorilla, Mow, being key to a smash-and-grab that’s given the team control over the enemy’s hollows. But now, as Valence is confronted by a member of an Apostolosian smuggling ring, chaos begins to seep into the mission... This week on PARTIZAN: Obelle, On Fire ///Operation Dossier\\\ //Organizations\\ The Red Fennecs: Technically, the Red Fennecs are an Apostolosian logistics and transport squad. In actuality, they’re utilized by their commanding officer, Tes’ili Serikos, as the backbone of a humble smuggling operation.  The Partizan Palace

It started with as basic a job as they come: The Society of Banners and Bright Returns (SBBR), a rookie outfit based in Oxbridge, was tapped for a contract as a support unit in a rescue op. There was a little town called Obelle on the border between the Apostolosian Barranca and the Prophet’s Path, where damn near the only free folks in the Principality made their home. Some sort of VIP was making landfall just northwest of the spot, and while another crew was doing the pickup, SBBR (which was just the engineer Kal’mera Braun, the alien empath Valence, and that big goddamn robot, Thisbe at the time) had to tilt the scales in favor of a smooth getaway. Drop in, knock out a sensor dish, blow up some reserve fuel, and (if they were feeling especially confident) incap a couple of Troops before they could get up and moving. But SBBR wouldn’t be SBBR if they didn’t find a way to do a milk run in reverse... This week on PARTIZAN: The Seaside Town of Obelle ///Operation Dossier\\\ //Organizations\\ The Society of Ban

It is the year 1423 of the Perfect Millennium, and the galaxy has been conquered by the Divine Principality. At the center of this empire, the only place where its five Great Stels meet, there is a moon beating where a heart should be. The moon of Partizan. Abetted by immortal, machinic gods called Divines, and the legions of Hallowed mechs which extend their terrible reach, the Principality spent millennia sharpening itself on its rivals. What it could not devour it obliterated. What it could not obliterate, it simply outlived. It was an empire, unshakeable. Until now. For the first time in the Principality’s long history, two of its five Stels have gone to war with one another, each guided by a ruler with sound claim to the title of Princept, leader of All Divinity. For five years, they have fought to a standstill, while equivacators and scavengers find profit in rubble.  But historical crises do not only serve crass opportunists, they revive opportunity itself. Under the shadow of this war you find yoursel

Welcome to the final episode of the Road to PARTIZAN. This week, Dre, Jack, and Austin talk through and discuss through the entirely timeline of events, reflecting the events of the past 10 weeks of play and as outlined during the Microscope games from the past two weeks. For your convenience, we’ve added the Microscope timeline below to help you follow along. There are even a few new events added to round a few things out and fill in a few key details.  Whether you’re a new Friends at the Table fan listening for a quick snapshot of the lore leading to PARTIZAN, or if you’re hoping to remind yourself of everything that happened on the way here, thanks for listening! I hope you’re looking forward to next week’s episode, PARTIZAN 00, as much as we are!   This week on The Road to PARTIZAN 11: Summary & Recap ////PARTIZAN PALACE DATE ENTRY | 100 P.M. 03 43 \\\\ . . . ///OPERATION: CHOOSE SECTION: ANNOUNCEMENTS && PLATFORM | DISPLAY TOP RESULT\\\ . . . //WELCOME TO THE PALACE\\ . . . /OPERATION: EX

Welcome to the final part of the final game (but not the final episode) of the Road to PARTIZAN. Building on the foundation of everything that has come before, this week Andi, Austin, Dre, and Keith fill in more important gaps in the history of the Divine Principality. A fourth and fifth Stel rise. Ploys, plots, and backstabbings abound. A centuries-long war begins in earnest. And final, a fracture forms at the heart of Divinity. As mentioned above, this will not be the last update on the Road to PARTIZAN. Next week, Dre, Jack, and Austin will walk through the entire Microscope timeline, offering a recap of history from the end of Twilight Mirage to the beginning of PARTIZAN. Whether you’re just jumping in or need a refresher, we hope that’ll be useful to you. And one week after that, we’ll be launching PARTIZAN in earnest with episode 00, where you’ll be introduced to the player characters, squads, and starting situation. As a reminder, if you want more info on the world of PARTIZAN, check out our Patreon

Finally, the Road to PARTIZAN enters its final lap. Over the next two weeks, we’ll be zooming the camera out to look at the 5,000+ years that have taken us from the end of the Twilight Mirage to the very moment PARTIZAN begins, and to do that we’ll turn to Ben Robbins’ excellent Microscope, a game which we used in part during COUNTER/Weight’s “faction turns.”  In this first part, we’ll look directly at the moon world of Partizan, where a religious prophet makes a dramatic claim, performs apparent miracles, and winds up caught in the machinations of an empire. Will this shake the religious foundations of the Principality? Or will this prophet be stomped out like so many other challenges to Divinity’s rule… This Week on the Road to PARTIZAN: Microscope Pt. 1 ///YEAR:1418 PERFECT MILLENNIUM ////LOCATION: PARTIZAN | ASHEN STRAND 001.01 | ISLES OF LOGOS ///RECORD TYPE: AUDIOVISUAL This is a low-quality recording of a “Rededication Ceremony” at a temple or church. Across two dozens sequences, the footage follows me

The Road to PARTIZAN continues, and it does so with Alex Roberts’ and Evil Hat Productions’ For the Queen, a card based storytelling game about the retinue of a leader on a critical journey through difficult territory.  Today’s game takes place about 500 years before the events of Partizan, at a moment where the Principality marches against two of the only remaining galactic powers not yet under the heel of the Divine Principality, each an echo of a past culture that fans of our second season, COUNTER/Weight, will know well.  Now those two cultures join on this crucial mission to the heart of Divinity. From the Empire of Apostolos, the Apokine (our stand in for the game’s titular Queen) has gathered around them a cadre of trusted companions: Eudora (Andrew Lee Swan), their adopted sibling, Antigone Gennadiy (Janine Hawkins), their former caretaker and a current soldier in their military, and Orbit Shard (Andi Clare), their bodyguard and most trusted fighter. They are joined by Modus Maria (Austin Walker) a me

The world of Grona is said to hold the key to ending the war between the ever-expanding Divine Principality and its rivals, the recently allied Orion Combine and the Divine Collaborate. But whatever secrets are held on its surface are locked behind a gate, a gate patrolled by the Divine Courage, defended by orbital cannons, and barricaded behind the constant gunfire and flame of a raging battle. Somehow, a squad comprised of superstar mechathlete Memphis Longhand, the brothers David and Smack Talk, and the Candidate Pigeon must breach this perimeter. And they have to do it while carrying a very big box. Today on The Road to PARTIZAN: Beam Saber Pt. 2 ////ASSET: FORMERLY HABITABLE WORLD, ‘GRONA’ ////LOCATION: Lagoon-N 1232 ///STATUS: ABANDONED | EXPENDED ///DESCRIPTION: From its initial colonization in the Miraculous Millennium, through its time as battlefield in the Victorious Millennium, and until the final days of the Perfect Millennium’s first century, Grona was Class IV planet under the Lammer classificat

On today’s entry of the Road to PARTIZAN, we pick up with the characters we made in Dusk to Midnight and zoom in to the climax of the Divine Clash by playing Beam Saber by Austin Ramsay.    Months ago, the OriCom Logistics Division staged a strategic coup against the Divine Principality by successfully escorting Courageous to a rendezvous point where they opened a gate for OriCom’s ally in the war, the Divine Collaborate, so that they could join OriCom’s fleet with their own. In the time since, though, the fighting has been trying, the allies have lost many (including teammate Lunar Leson), and additional reinforcements are far away and moving more slowly than anticipated.    Which is why Memphis Longhand, the Talk brothers, and their new Divine-piloting ally, Pigeon, are being sent on a secret mission. On the planet of Grona, in the city of Zibeline, fighting rages against the occupying Principality’s forces. The resistance there is waiting desperately for a delivery that is supposed to change the war foreve

Welcome back to the Road to PARTIZAN. Today, we’re moving into a new trio of episodes that explore an era of history that would come to be called The Divine Clash. For over a century, the ever-growing Divine Principality would throw its might against the allied forces of the Orion Combine and the Divine Collaborate, the distant successor states of two major nations featured in our COUNTER/Weight season.  Next week and the week following, we’ll see the climax of the Divine Clash via Austin Ramsay’s Beam Saber. But first, we offer a pair of vignette one-shots via two games that were made for the Emotional Mecha Game Jam (which was organized by John R. Harness and Takuma Okada).  First, in Role Over Play Dead’s Ech0, we travel through the wreckage the war left behind, as children born over a generation after the war’s end try to reunite the memory core of a long dead pilot with her machine. Then, in Riley Rethal’s Dusk to Midnight, we define the early days of the Clash, and follow the careers (and the wavering r

The crew of the Constellation-class Carrier Hellebore has breached the earliest defenses of the station which orbits the center of the Milky Way Galaxy. Having dispatched the mercenary Barter and his crew of ConCons, pilots Cerise, Teasel, and Gold repair and rearm. Above them, Captain of the Ivory Prince (and secret leader of the rebel group known as Horizon) Briar Brightline watches over them.. But they are not alone. Beyond the next gate, something strange has made the station its roost. And behind them, out in black of space…. something new, but all too familiar, approaches.   This week on the Road to Partizan: Armour Astir Pt. 2 ////PARTIZAN PALACE DATE ENTRY | 1423 P.M. 03 06 22\\\\ . . . ///OPERATION: CHOOSE SECTION: FAITH AND CULLLLLLLLLPRATION: DSPLTPPPPPP ARTICL\\\ . . . //\\//\\ PERENNIAL WAVE READINGS: HIGH. PALACE ACCESS DISRUPTED. PLEASE TRY AGAIN LATER. //\\//\\   Hosted by Austin Walker (@austin_walker) Featuring Janine Hawkins (@bleatingheart) Sylvi Clare (@captaintrash), Art Martinez-Tebbel

Join us in our second game on the Road to PARTIZAN, where we are playing Armour Astir: Advent by Briar Sovereign, a fantastic PbtA mech game that is equal parts Escaflowne and Mobile Suit Gundam.  Today’s episode starts with about 20 minutes of setup explaining the game and introducing the characters. If you want to skip all of that, then read the next couple of paragraphs and jump ahead to 22:45. Our game of Armour Astir takes place in a time of fables and magic, around 500-1000 years after our first Road to PARTIZAN game. As the Divine Principality spreads and grows in power, one small group inside of it tries to check its imperial ambition. That group is called Horizon, and it is funded and controlled by the powerful House Brightline of Stel Kesh, who are nostalgic for a better age--whether or not that age ever existed is, of course, up for debate. Horizon has heard word that Stel Nideo has located an incredible source of power at the center of the Milky Way galaxy, and is sending some sort of force to cap

For millennia, three rules guided the Hypha as they traveled across the galaxy. First: Follow the light of the strand through the stars, stopping only on worlds marked by its color—and even then, only temporarily. Second: Never leave behind the bodies of our dead. And third: Protect at all costs the mystery of the Chorus Bond, that which connects us to each other, to the Strand, and perhaps to something even greater than that. But now, these rules—and the way of life they protect—have come under threat. The Divine Principality, a vast and hungry empire, has arrived.  This week on Friends at the Table: The Road to Season 6: Dialect Pt. 2 ////YEAR: 850 MIRACULOUS MILLENNIUM ////LOCATION: PARTIZAN | ASHEN STRAND 001.01 | 33550336.8128.496 ///RECORD TYPE: AUDITORY The sound of an excavator’s claw striking clay ground. Voices with Stel Kesh dialects discuss early findings at an archaeological site. [See Conversation 850MM.SK.ASHEN01]. Metal strikes metal, and the heft of something is raised from the ground. Near

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