Friends At The Table

In the virtual confines of the Contrition's Figure rehabilitation center, it has come time for the Beloved Dust to face their foes! The bounty hunter Fourteen Fifteen frees the convict Aura Antigua and places her in the care of protege Sho Salon, taking her place in the strange vise which had trapped her. Elsewhere, Signet and Tender Sky climb to great heights to confront the Iconoclasts... and to investigate the mysterious White Cloud entity. Do you have room for...? This week on Friends at the Table: Looking to Land The Living Library of Memorious // VOLUME 205E: Entities: Unknown Origin: Hybrid (Unconfirmed): Unknown Posture: "White Cloud"

 Little is know about the so-called "white cloud" entity, which was first detected in the Mirage minutes within the death of the divine Gumption. Debate about the identity, motives, and origin of the being run throughout the fleet, but early attempts to probe the white cloud have returned conflicting reports—when they return anything at all. Perhaps the only high-val

Driven into a corrupted, digital city by a mysterious foe, the Beloved Dust set up to rescue the inhabitants of the rehabilitation center called Contrition’s Figure. Tender Sky and ⸢Signet⸣ chase the iconoclasts* as they heads towards skyscraper (and a mysterious, living cloud above). Sho Salon and Fourteen Fifteen, meanwhile, contend with streets packed with furious simulacra as they seek the source of a strange song. Watch for traffic! This week on Twilight Mirage: The Sound of Strings The Living Library of Memorious // VOLUME 205E: Entities: Alien (Unconfirmed): Biological (Unconfirmed): Antagonistic (Confirmed): The Iconoclasts The beings commonly called the Iconoclasts are responsible for the deaths of multiple third generation divines. Because communication has been limited, evidence inconsistent, and motivations unclear, the Library has officially placed the Iconoclasts in the “entities” category, pending additional information that might recategorize them as an “organizatisea. Run to it, or run dry,

In the heart of Contrition’s Figure, the Beloved Dust continue to investigate a strange disturbance that is displacing the inhabitants of the rehabilitation facility. Fourteen Fifteen interrogates Declan’s Corrective, unrepentant member of the New Earth Hegemony*. Sho Salon lectures on the divines, while Tender Sky comes face to face with the past. Signet meets a group of the facility’s residents…. and someone else meets them, too. They’re here… This week on Twilight Mirage: We Are the River and It Is The Sea The Living Library of Memorious // VOLUME 103J: Organizations: Non-Divine: Earth Sphere: Governmental: The New Earth Hegemony While many simply refer to the collected forces of the Earth sphere as “the Earth Cult,” this a fundamental mischaracterization of a complex array of distinct (but aligned) governmental, cultural, and military organizations. Reconnaissance has revealed that the fulcrum of these groups is the New Earth Hegemony, a governing body whose reach extends throughout the Sol system and wh

Following a distress call from the Vice-Warden of Contrition's Figure, Seance's correctional facility, the Beloved Dust prepare to enter the building under special circumstances. The gunslinger Fourteen Fifteen checks in with an old friend at The Signal*, and manages to only talk of work, while the Excerpt ⸢Signet⸣ spends time thinking of a past so different from, and yet so close to, the present. Tender Sky, an architect utterly familiar with The Mesh, considers herself ready for what awaits inside the digital environments of Contrition's Figure. But these are strange times. Something has changed in the facility and, worse, perhaps the Beloved Dust aren't the only people interested. These people, these people, They’re people, first This week on Twilight Mirage: Second Street Drifting The Living Library of Memorious // VOLUME 147χ: The Signal Publications: Print: Seance: The Signal Founded in PM 0079 by former explorer Expectancy Saint-Argent, The Signal survived two journalistic crises while establishing

Days after the crew of the Myriad establishes a connection between Quire and the Divine Fleet, the Beloved* Dust meet at the digital club called The Steady to relax and catch up. But before Tender Sky, Fourteen Fifteen, and ⸢Signet⸣ can really unwind, they’re called back to base… where they meet supposed allies, a young recruit, and someone who they hope can offer answers about the murder of Gumption. It started from nothing... This week on Twilight Mirage: We Want You To Come Home The Living Library of Memorious // VOLUME 103Ɨ: Organizations: Divine: Intelligence and Security: The Beloved The Beloved were founded alongside Seance itself, soon after the death of Affinity, the tenth of the lost Divines. Per the pact that brought the group into being, it can operate with no less than 3 and no more than fifteen members—including a commanding officer. Empyrean extends their Divine authority to the group, whose members must first be approved by the sitting Cadent. In the event that the Cadent dies, the Beloved

With the sounds of conflict guiding them into action, the crew of the Myriad prepares for battle. Grand Magnificent tests his ability to work under pressure while Gig Kep-hart sends a message to the masses. Echo Reverie sets out to save the day, and Even Gardner makes a grand debut. Are you ready to audition? This week on Friends at the Table: The Sunlight of Knowing The Remaining Records of Curiosity // Reference Code: M-Qu75-4:53N-SV 
 Silica-Vitrus The sprawling dunes. Dust under foot. Churning endlessly. Stateless—and of two states. Energetic, yet at rest. Waiting. Ready. A mumbled word: “Glass.” Hosted by Austin Walker (@austin_walker) Featuring  Andrew Lee Swan (@swandre3000), Sylvi 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 A transcription is available for this episode here.A full list of completed tran

A teaser for the first episode of our new patreon exclusive monthly campaign, Bluff City! Get access and listen at friendsatthetable.cash!

The crew from the ship Myriad continue to explore the planet Quire. Grand Magnificent (Arthur Martinez-Tebbel) explains the strange experience that he had in the canyon, but Echo Reverie (Andi Clare) is less interested in chasing shadows than in leading them towards their destination: A church* on the north side of the plateau. Gig Kep-hart (Keith J. Carberry) meets a new friend, and in the face of danger, Even Gardner (Andrew Lee Swan) offers his expert guidance. This week on Friends at the Table: Birds of Prey The Remaining Records of Curiosity // Reference Code: R-Qu75-35-RC1228 
 Remnant Church #1228
 A pneumatic hum. A tower, hollow. A bell, cracked, laying on the ground. Thick wooden slats bolted together to act as doors. Above, a sunk relief of a globe, not inscribed by any known means.   Hosted by Austin Walker (@austin_walker) Featuring  Andrew Lee Swan (@swandre3000), Sylvi Clare (@captaintrash), Art Martinez-Tebbel (@atebbel), and Keith J Carberry (@keithjcarberry) Produced by Ali Acampora (@

In the wake of Gumption's death, and with the killer at large, the divine fleet dispatches a group to prepare the planet of Quire for refugees. The living vessel named Myriad carries six (including herself) individuals to a clearing south of the Painted Plateaux*. Included on the crew are the ship's mind herself, a diplomat authorized to negotiate with the civilizations of Quire, a bio-mechanical cyborg with extensive military experience (Andrew Lee Swan), a martial artist with a commuted prison sentence (Andi Clare), an artist, engineer, and designer of mechs (Art Martinez-Tebbel), and a broadcaster who is designated to report on the operation (Keith J. Carberry). Their first task: Establish an uplink to the Twilight Mirage's network by-way-of a two-ton communications node, which must be installed hundreds of miles north of the ship’s landing point. To take a step, your foot must first be on the ground. This week on Friends at the Table: The Planet of Quire The Remaining Records of Curiosity // Reference Cod

After receiving word that the city-ship of Seance* would come under attack, the Beloved Dust move to intercept the threat. Fourteen Fifteen (Jack de Quidt) tracks their quarry into the mechanical guts of a giant coliseum, while above, ⸢Signet⸣ (Janine Hawkins) protects the human leader of the Divine Fleet’s faith. And deep inside “the Mysteries,” an interactive historical simulation, Tender Sky (Alicia Acampora) confronts a would-be killer. No more time for games This week on Friends at the Table: The Last Divine The Living Library of Memorious // VOLUME 277χ: VESSELS: CITY-SHIPS: DIVINE FLEET: Seance With 10 sides—eight long, horizontal slats and two octogonal cap-sides—this vessel has the largest usable surface area of any in the fleet, and houses nearly one third of the fleet’s population—second in residents only to The By and By. Yet it is also the youngest city-ship in the fleet. For over 29,000 years, (and due to their own beliefs about the value of free-flight), the devotees of Empyrean had no interes

The Beloved Dust, a group of investigators and operatives with Divine mandate, learns that there is an imminent threat targeting Composure's Coliseum* during a important (and highly populated) ritual. Former excerpt and pilot of the Divine Belgard, ⸢Signet⸣, trades favors religious and mundane. The dilapidating assassin Fourteen Fifteen blends into the audience to see things from a higher ground. And Tender Sky, a highly skilled digital architect, enters the event directly in order to protect it from the inside.   Before anything else, recognize what is at stake.   This week on Friends at the Table: The Beloved Dust   The Living Library of Memorious // VOLUME 778Φ Composure's Coliseum In the year 28350AM, in the middle of a boom in historical interest on the part of the Fleet's citizens, the Divine Composure built a this innovative structure that blended virtual mesh space and and material reality. At first, the Coliseum simply offered its audience a place to watch re-enactments of foundational events in t

Heads up: This is our world building episode for our new season, where we describe the setting and some major components. If you're less interested in hearing us chat about that and more interested in getting to the action, you can wait (or skip ahead) to episode 01! The first half hour is us defining our aesthetics for the season, the next hour and a half is us building and explaining different city ships, and the last hour is some basic details about our characters if you want to skip around!   Floating in the sunset-hued safety of the Twilight Mirage, the Divine Fleet hums and pulses, its ships bright beacons of culture and technology in an age when both are under threat. All through the fleet, organic and synthetic citizens work side by side to protect a utopia that the universe thought impossible.   In the past, we’d convinced ourselves that our technologies were just reflections of those who made them: Tools to fit our hands, robots to ease our labor, artificial beings to teach, protect, and entertain

Hey Everyone! Here's the audio from our live post mortem for Winter in Hieron! We looked back at the season together, spoke about our motivations and feelings, and answered your questions! It was a lot of fun and we love doing this every year, so thank you for joining us and for sending in your questions! We also made some pretty big announcements! If you're excited for that sweet patreon content, head over to https://friendsatthetable.cash. If you just can't wait for that Twilight Mirage, you're in luck! Our world building episode is going up thursday, and our first real adventure on Friday! We're so, so excited for Twilight Mirage and wanted to make sure we had a good jumping on point for everyone who just wants to get to the action. We've been really overwhelmed by the support so far. Thank you for listening and we hope you all enjoy what comes next!   Hosted by Austin Walker (@austin_walker) Featuring  Andrew Lee Swan (@swandre3000), Sylvi Clare (@captaintrash), and Keith J Carberry (@keithjcarberry), Al

Hey everyone! Yesterday's live post mortem was a big day for us, and since the turn around time for getting that full episode up for you is longer than just a day, we wanted to be able to bring the announcements we made here as soon as possible. So here it is! Twilight Mirage! Patreon! New games! New shows! Cool Rewards!!!! I talked too much in this announcement so I'm gonna keep from rambling here, but I just want to take the time to say thank you, thank you, thank you. ANYWAY, here's all the links to all the things: Patreon: friendsatthetable.cash Video for the post-mortem stream: https://youtu.be/a9xJB4ZhPvs Twilight Mirage preview if you wanna listen to that banger again: https://soundcloud.com/friendsatthetable/twilight-mirage-preview Twilight Mirage, the song, if you wanna buy it from Jack: https://notquitereal.bandcamp.com/ Invitation to our discord channel: https://discord.gg/6GZkzBC And that's all the stuff! Thank you so much for everything, everyone. That your excitement for all of this mirrors ours

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

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

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 ban

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 in

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 Qui

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