#Spring in heiron

[bearpoll2023]

Art of Throndir provided by @rookfeathers with their permission!

[fourteenfishteen]

Spring in Heiron 8, talking about how rare it is that somebody prays to Samol, Austin says, "and you know, I think Samot has prayed to Samol... for better and worse. and sometimes he gets an answer and sometimes he doesn't."

rotating that in my mind with Tell Me "he doesn't tell me any secrets / he knows that i could know them if i wanted to"

i love samot and samol so much. thousands of years of bearing the pain of losing a son/husband alone and they can't ever bring themselves to say that to one another...

[chromaticorb]

I am once again imploring people to listen to Friends at the Table where you can experience raw ass quotes like:

The end will find us whether we cower or not. There is no reason to be fearful.

[archipithecus]

Friends at the Table is a podcast focused on critical worldbuilding, smart characterization, fun interaction between good friends, and asking "what if X was Y? what if W could do Z?"

anyways here's a non-comprehensive selection of some times FatT asked good hypotheticals

(spoilers for Autumn in Heiron, Marielda, Winter in Heiron, COUNTER/Weight, Twilight Mirage, Sangfielle, and some Bluff City i think) (i know Spring, Partizan, and Palisade must also have good "what if X was Y?" but i'm still catching up) (this got way long so i'm putting it behind a readmore) (shoutout to Search at the Table at https://curiosity.cat-girl.gay/ for letting me do this) (also to Transcripts at the Table for writing this all down in the first place)

KEITH: What if I was a snow...hawk… ART: What if you're like, a Dr. Seuss animal? KEITH: Yeah! What if I was a star-bellied sneetch?

KEITH: (laughing) What if the bird was a can opener!

AUSTIN (as Zaktrak): It's like, what if a, what if a factory or train or a windmill could read a book?

AUSTIN (CONT.): And then he, he looks up, he actually has like a very… his build is kind of like, angular and… not thin in terms of like, weak? But he has a sort of… androgynous character about him, in terms of his like, what you would think of as like his body structure. And… very beautiful blue eyes. He’s sort of like, what if David Bowie was super black.

AUSTIN: And that's kind of like, the picture you get of her, is like, What if Fero was like, 30% less hyperactive? Still way more hyperactive than everybody else in-- the world? (laughter) but like, just a little more in tune, with the world.

AUSTIN: What if fire was matte?

ART: What if a—what if a 90s after school special needed some graffiti

AUSTIN: Yeah. He asks you, um... watching what unfolds, and there's, there's, it's--and this is the fuckin' nerdiest thing I'm ever gonna say; it's like what if A-ha's Take On Me was an AMV? Was an anime music video?

AUSTIN: Ali’s character, how did she describe her character, “what if Han Solo used to be Beyonce?”

AUSTIN: It’s like, what if the American government was just another American company?

AUSTIN: It’s like what if holograms did gifs, basically?

ART: You how like Han Solo’s always talking to the Millenium Falcon, but what if the Millenium Falcon-- AUSTIN: Could talk back? ART: Had a chance of, yeah, of deciding he was angry.

SYLVIA: For example. Like just p - yeah, what if they have psychic assassins there. Oh! What if this planet’s an alien? What if this planet is a psychic assassin? Which is a great sentence I just said.

AUSTIN: Yeah, I should note that this is also like "What if the Super Bowl was attended by high fashion models?", right?

AUSTIN: We don’t get a lot of elderly non-binary people. And so Saint Auger is like, what if someone you knew from Portland was 82?

AUSTIN: It’s almost like, what if a crown could be a dunce cap?

AUSTIN: It's like- what if there was a really enterprising twelve year old, who like, [laughs] made a physiology- uh, person- a physiology like, model, but with dirt and rocks and sticks. Also there's no face, the face is also just one of this solid black rock plates.

AUSTIN: And again, there’s just light streaming in through—I think this room is mostly, like, does not have a huge window, but it does have little eyelet windows at the top of the, towards the ceiling, that run horizontally along the room, and just like, bright—it’s almost like, what if colour could be shadow? Do you know what I mean? Like, what if instead of it being that a shadow crosses your face, it is this prismatic glow that moves across the group of you as this thing crawls around this space station.

AUSTIN: It’s like white and blue, there are stars, it- you know, I think that the- it’s, it looks like the way you might imagine like, what if the UN had spaceships?

AUSTIN: What if you mixed your- your selfhood, with the notion of wings. Or the notion of flight. Not just flying. That’s where we’re going.

AUSTIN: This giant battleship that’s like ‘what if a millipede instead of legs had guns and what if it was all around it’?

AUSTIN: This thing is like the size of like a major city. This thing is like, what if Manhattan was a battleship. And instead of buildings it had guns. Except now they’re made of weird black glass.

AUSTIN: The first time he showed up I described him as what if Canderous Ordo decided to have a robot body one day? And slowly began to replace it.

AUSTIN: There’s a little— Yes, it’s like what if a cow— what if Christian Slater was playing a cowboy from New Jersey, and also was Canderous Ordo. And also he eats through his hands.

AUSTIN: There is just this like… I think it’s just metal unfolding across space. Like, at some point Volition just kind of spat out a, a, almost, it looks like a cloud of ink but instead of ink, it’s metal. And it’s just unfolding indefinitely in space like a huge— like what if Akira, what if at the end of Akira when Tetsuo turns into a weird flesh monster? It was that but various types of metal, just like bubbling all over the place throughout space, and I don’t know how you deal with that! But suddenly in the middle of the Mirage there is just this, this ink splatter, this, this gaseous, you know, spread of metal.

AUSTIN: And it’s like — again, it’s like a pistol — it’s like what if a pistol was also like a curved sword, like almost like a scimitar or something?

JANINE: What if we do a live show, but the only live show we ever do is at Bakucon?

ART: Um, let me tell you, this is a nice coat, you guys. Um, I think it’s sort of like what if… What if a leather duster jacket was like an ephemeral idea.

AUSTIN: It’s like … I think the way I described it was, what if there was a Companion Cube that could have its corners pulled apart and in the middle is a weird glowing sphere?

AUSTIN: He has this dope, like, “What if the Millenium Falcon was a deep V?” Instead of just that little bit at the top, it goes really deep down. Or like, “What if Pacman was really long?” You know what I mean?

AUSTIN: Okay. You find him like, rolled under the bottom of his, uhh, or like on a, it’s not rolled under, he’s on like a little, like cart that has a pneumatic lift, or it’s like, it’s like a, it’s like a robot that walks around. It has like- it’s like a Boston Dynamics- like what if a Boston Dynamics, like four-legged robot was also a thing you laid on top of? Like one of those carts that goes underneath a car, to repair it. You know what I’m talking about?

AUSTIN (as Morning’s Observation): [exhales thoughtfully] Like what if milk was a solid.

AUSTIN: But it still has that ribbony-quality? [chuckles] It still has the sound of fabric rubbing on fabric? But is definitely amplified a great deal, probably? And also, we know it’s sharp, so there’s probably some… sharpness to it? You know… there’s probably, like… what if a ribbon could be a sword you pull out of a sheath?

AUSTIN: And also, Saint Sommer is a big lion man. Saint Sommer is, like… Skein. And is a big… a big… like, a big lion man. Not like Lion-o from Thundercats. Like… what if Scar could… had a big human body? Was, like… What if Scar was cut?

KEITH: And it sort of like, snap! Like, that, it's like… when we were talking about what the sound it makes, I was picturing… what if folding a blanket sounded like sheet metal?

AUSTIN: Yeah, yeah. I don’t know I think it’s like, I think this is very much like, what if the Venom symbiote was made of thread, right?

AUSTIN: So maybe it's like a- like imagine, what if a mop could just mop by itself.

AUSTIN: I won’t talk more about that stuff, but you already saw the big picture of “what if Connecticut was a space ocean,” so, you have at least some context there.

AUSTIN: It’s huge. It’s the size of a continent, right? It’s “What if South America was a big circle?” It’s “What if Europe and Eurasia was a big circle?”, constantly cast on this planet. And, you know, from space it kind of looks—not flat necessarily, right, because it’s a curved planet, it’s a sphere, or spherical, but, you know, it’s flat.

AUSTIN: It’s like what if Texas stood up.

AUSTIN (as Morning’s Observation): “What if cars brought things to you instead of bringing you to things?”

AUSTIN: It’s just like a very bright, colorful—like, what if Steven Universe did the Sailors of the Ark? What if that team did it? It’s very good.

AUSTIN: It’s like what if it’s a can opener that does that. Like a living can opener like. Grrrngaaah! I’m going fucking open holes in things! Grrngaah!

AUSTIN: Imagine that they're almost- in my mind they're like what if a martini shaker was a piston.

AUSTIN: It's like what if you could package a sunset, y'know? Into like a cube

AUSTIN: I can't believe we started this recording by looking at pies [KEITH and DRE laugh] that make me hurt and ended with ‘what if all foods could be jelly juice?’.

AUSTIN: I saw a big buffalo picture and I was like what if that was a person, that looks cool.

ART: But what if some of these skeletons are like, sick of this shit?

AUSTIN: I think I pitched this show as like: what if Ghost in the Shell but-but magic and witches instead of cyborgs and stuff?

JACK: So, out come this nascent organization who we’re calling Shapeknights. Who are -- I think the easiest way to say it is “cowboys for trains?” They are, like -- what if instead of the cowboy riding alongside the train on his horse, he was corralling the train? Or he was trying to understand the train, or was trying to --

ALI: I think Marn, herself is a little bit more like—like what if a capybara was a siamese cat?

KEITH: Yeah. So, I wholeheartedly recommend this movie, but if not, if you don't know what I'm talking about with the goggles, at least look at that. ‘Cause it's a good image. It's sort of like, what if you had a jeweler's loupe that had a jeweler's loupe that had a jeweler's loupe?

ART: It’s like, what if the antagonist won the Mummy movie right, this is what happens-

KEITH: What if instead of one, big, beautiful hat I have two small, beautiful hats?

KEITH: Like what if they made headphones just for being cool at a party?

KEITH: What if you make pizza by opening the box? That it was an empty box until you opened it.

AUSTIN: What if insects were made of teeth?

JACK: She’s the fuckin’ person of the train. She’s like what if a train could output a person.

KEITH: What if the train was a nice train?

ART: What if a Madame Tussauds came to life?

AUSTIN: What if fire could be a ghost?

AUSTIN: Looking through this here, sounds like what you wrote here was “What if a dolphin was like a velociraptor?”

AUSTIN: They’re hitched. Yeah, they've been hitched. Three of them have been hitched. And I said horse, but I want you to imagine is what if…what if a shrimp were a horse?

JACK: You sort of just like rise up the slope. It's a bit like what if a train was an escalator.

AUSTIN: What if Beyonce was Poison Ivy?

AUSTIN: All my cards on the table, Millennium Black is like what if Blade stopped being a vampire hunter and started being a casino owner.

AUSTIN: He's sort of like what if Alex Jones wasn't terrible

[vforvalensa]

relistening to friends at the table it's wild to me that they followed up spring in heiron with partizan and i listened to that in real time.

[bestfattsong]

Friends at the Table music is so special and dear to my heart. I started listening to FATT after my father passed away, so Spring in Heiron in particular tends to make me cry. I appreciate this blog for reminding me of my favourite songs.

Awww. I’m glad to hear that you’re enjoying this blog.

[iamalivenow]

hii! you're my source for toptier podcasts, lately i've been getting into actual play and i was wondering if you had any recs for a campaign with a good paladin? i feel the knight concept has potential for max sexiness but i haven't come across anything at utilizes it well yet. thank you either way for the joy your other recs have already introduced me to!

as long as you don’t mind nontraditional paladins the first naddpod season has such a good paladin. this current season also has such a good paladin. naddpod has such good paladins.

if you don’t care about dnd check out friends at the table (i was going to say spring in heiron but like. doesn’t every season of fatt technically have a gods most miserable little servant)

[fiovske]

Hello, you got me to listen to Sangfielle and i just finished it. It was an amazing season the world is stunning, the music, the intros austin does, the monsters, the small and large scale polts and the way they chose to represent the interviews at the gates of sapodia really blew me away. I didn't have any experiences with ttrpg that are not dnd, so it is so good to see how much better games are out there. I want to listen to the seasons of hieron next but i don't know where marielda fits in that worlds in canon timeline. I tried to look it up but i did not want to be spoiled, so if you don't mind telling me when should i listen to marielda if i want to listen to it in the canon timeline? Thank you for geting me to listen to this podcast!! (and pickman my beloved, i live near a train track so any time i see or hear trains my head and heart are filled with thoughts of her)

hi!! I love that you enjoyed sangfielle! it was kind of my proper intro to friends at the table like one that I started while it was airing and managed to keep up with it (most of the time) so it holds a very special place in my heart!! yes yess the gates of sapodilla were. nervewracking and the intro for sapodilla is honestly one of THEE best intros I've ever heard that editing was fantastic I'm halfway on my way to go relisten to it again!!

as for where to start Seasons of Heiron, I will admit mine is very unconventional. I started w Marielda, enjoyed it as a standalone season bc the hooks and worldbuilding was extremely gripping! then after I finished it and clearly wanted more of that universe, i went back to Autumn in Heiron and listened to it for the first time. i haven't finished it fully (yet) but I was gripped by the Marielda bug and had to go relisten to it all over again and this time I could grasp the tidbits and references and jawdrop moments with a much more refined appreciation!

all this to say, I would suggest starting w Autumn! then doing Marielda and then Winter and then Spring, Autumn might be a bit choppy bc the audio isn't as refined and they're still figuring out what kind of podcast they want to make, but it is extremely endearing and I have found myself grinning at odd moments at references they don't even know is gonna be funny yet in the future. If you love the friends at the table and are a fan of the players, I am sure you will enjoy Autumn!

[goatmattersinc]

Finally finished Spring In Heiron, and bro, if anything is gonna get me, it's the last 5 minutes of any Friends at the Table season lol. 😭💖

[cadmium-free]

The thing that is making me become a wild biting animal is how many of you will be like. I started with Twilight Mirage which no one should do or I started with Spring in Heiron which is a terrible place to start and NO!!!!! NO!!!!!!!!!!! YOU ALL GOT HOOKED THAT WAY!!!! YOURE STILL HERE AND IT WAS A GOOD AND FINE PLACE TO START!!!!!! CHRONOLOGY IS NOTHING!!!!!!! TWILIGHT MIRAGE IS A GOOD STARTING POINT TOO I WILL DEVOUR YOU ALL!!!

I love when people reblog the “which season of friends at the table should you listen to” uquiz and assert there is a correct season to start with in the tags and 100% of the time they pick a season I would never pick to tell someone to start with

[framie4]

learning about the impending death of a god from your undead boyfriend via fidget cube as the moon falls, just Lem King things

[fourteenfishteen]

spring in heiron is literally so good oh my god. the music

[an-unimpressed-jackalope]

Adaire Hella and Fero following Ephrim around the last university, trying to convince him to change its name to ‘crotchtown.’ Adaire has a Petition. It has signatures.

[ssuperspacejam]

Safewater

[vlasdygoth]

[ID: A digital painting of Lord Ephrim. He is a man with light skin and wavy, dark hair with streaks of grey in it. He wears a white tunic embellished with gold, a gold crown, and a red cape. He stands in profile facing left, holding his wrist and looking at his hand, which is purple and black. The hand is glowing purple, lighting his face and torso. /end ID]

look. i have a brand. and that brand is weird symbolic portraits of ephrim.

[gendergeometries]

Two of my all-time fave FatT songs. I'm glad Tell Me made it as far as it did; Spring in Heiron is such a mood...

SEMIFINALS, SECOND POLL