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.

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