#emea ghost wax

[ghosteso]

For the purpose of the quiz I’m just doing ones we heard from at least twice/order members.

[moosha-mushroom]

They are the uncle and auntie of the Ardent.

[noxcorvorum]

Emea and Cosa are underrated

Both of them hold really important roles in the ardent but also I care them <3

Cosa is the mvp of *actually stopping Charlie from getting in the vault* and is the librarian/guardian of the vault, love the part where Charlie confidently does an incantation to get rid of them and then just nothing happens to them at all actually

Emea takes care of the bees! She's the apiarist! She's also besties with Owen and can and will tell him when he's being a fool

In conclusion I think they should be appreciated more

[lycanlovingvampyre]

New Ghost Wax episode has a lot to unpack! I totally forgot to consider Voncoid's - as Philippa calls it - "shadowy presence", or - as Voncid calls it - "spiritual aura". According to Episode 14 The Cards Voncid has two. Voncid says it's a personal matter (even though he then tells Philippa off the record). I was already guessing that has something to do with his former Sumerian "spouse in a very old way". (Azem? Ezem? I don't know how to spell his name...) Now, in Episode 37 The Apiary Emea says to Voncid the honey would do him a lot more good if he let go of the Sumerian. So he really still has him. (Also something about the Sumerian's nourishment can hardly reach him anymore..??). Voncid speculates to take the ghost bee's sting and that it perhaps lets him and the Sumerian return to "the scattered light" together... He speculates that he shared this form long enough that there is no real difference between the two of them. A Hamsa member has never dwelled within a human being as long as Voncid has (how long has he had that body???). So yeah, I guess that is the whole thing, why Voncid doesn't want to let this body go.

[moosha-mushroom]

guyz you know how Voncid is a hamsa? A parasitic god being that latches onto a human vessel and inhabits it’s body?

His vessel/companion is AZEM. His husband.

some things that I think back up this info:

In Our Unburied Dead, Beers-Weather speaks about a Vonsaied, not specifically a Voncid. She uses specific inflection to differentiate the two(plus I think she calls him ‘Cid’, his nickname) Vonsaied is a combination of Owen’s last name… and AZEM’S. I think Vonsaied is meant to be his Venerem form— monstrous and less in tune with humanity. Voncid chooses to seperate himself from his old self through Owen and his nicknames. If Azem is Voncid’s vessel, him inhabiting it would be a mixture of their souls… so combining the name would make sense.

In Travel By Train, Emea remarks than some vessels do not last longer than others. Havan has to deal with losing sync, and she mentions two names… one of them being ‘Ah-zem’. She claims that Azem has lasted longer than most have… WHO IS HE THE VESSEL TO, HMMMMM?

Also in Travel By Train, Voncid says that the souls of the vessels can survive the process of a Hamsa taking control, though unlikely. There is no evidence of a sort of ‘soul trapping’ magic in Ghost Wax, so the most likely explanation is that in order to keep Azem ‘alive’ or ‘present’, he took Azem’s body and out of sheer will kept his soul around. Hence the two auras, the two souls in a single body, etc.

The fact that consuming Azem in the finale made him monstrous. I think eliminating the soul would take the body with him. There is nothing left of Azem in the world, aside from Voncid’s lackluster memories.

THIS WHOLE ENTIRE TIME VONCID HAS BEEN IN HIS HUSBAND’S BODY. If Kozlowski felt so intertwined with his partner he wanted to consume him, Owen probably beat him to the punch. Literally TOOK OVER his husbands body after death. That is desperation. And it makes me very sad.

[noxcorvorum]

Do you have any horror podcast recs

I liked tma and old gods of Appalachia but I'm caught up and need to BINGE

hello! youve come to the right place :)

Ghost Wax feels kindof similar to tma, especially tma season 1, with the main character (Owen Voncid) taking statements of people who've encountered the supernatural. However, Owen is a necromancer (the last Reclaimer!) who briefly reawakens the dead so that they can tell their final story, and all of the statement givers are dead. He also has an assistant, Luca Eso, who made the wax cylinders that he uses (he's been around for a very long time, and the remembrances are beginning to slip from his brain) and is a pop culture nerd. They work with a seer, Pip (or Phillipa Le Fay, to respect the stagecraft), who uses her grandmother's tarot cards.

All three of these people work for the Order of Hamsa, which fights the supernatural. Hamsa are incredibly powerful entities who have magic such as geomancy and necromancy, and usually inhabit a human body, though generally not for an incredibly long amount of time. There are several Hamsa in this podcast, including Owen. Owen has remained in his body for much longer than usual. Some other characters I enjoyed are Emea, the apiarist as well as Owen's best friend and a Hamsa, Cosa, the android librarian/archivist, and Azem, who is very thoroughly haunting the narrative. Don't look away.

I absolutely love this podcast, its easily in my top three. There's several incantations/spells which are so fun to me, found family, and really fun sound effects. It has 46 episodes as well as 2 Tales from the Vault, which are filled with smaller stories (I submitted a story to the second one!), there's content on patreon, and season 2 is in production.

Malevolent is about Arthur Lester, a 1930s private investigator from Arkham, Massachusetts, and the voice in his head and his eyes. Episode 1 opens with Arthur coming to on the floor of his office, suddenly blind, a strange entity speaking to him, and his business partner dead on the floor. Arthur and John, as the entity comes to be named, must now figure out how to navigate the horrors, try to find a way to separate themselves, and figure out where John came from. There's lots of cosmic horror/lovecraftian influences in here, and they have so many miles to go before they sleep.

There's a LOT of audio gore/squishy flesh sounds/Arthur screaming because the horrors love ripping into him, so if that's no good then this podcast is not for you. Some of the more eldritch characters also have voice filters, most notably John, which could make them hard to understand, though there are transcripts available. the plot can also be a little hard to follow sometimes.

I really enjoy this podcast, I'm currently relistening to it and having a great time. It's kindof forced family? because Arthur and John physically cannot get away from each other and yet they Have To communicate. They're so so much "its rotten work" "not to me, not if its you" AND "its rotten work" "especially to me, especially if its you, ill do it but christ alive". It's currently 42 episodes at usually 40ish minutes each, and still going, with new episodes releasing mostly monthly. There's also one voice actor, everyone sounds similar because it's the same guy.

Hello from the Hallowoods is a post apocalyptic show about identity, grief, family, and survival. It's formatted as a radio broadcast by an entity named Nikignik, who narrates everything. There is one voice actor for the majority of this show (save for the occasional character speaking outside of Nikignik's broadcast), and they do an amazing job, especially considering the amount of characters.

Some of the characters I really enjoy are Diggory Graves, a nonbinary frankenstein's monster with knife hands and a leather jacket, Percy Reed, a transmasc piano ghost, Riot Maidstone, the lesbian punk daughter of a rockstar, Olivier Song, a genderfluid cloud witch, Ray, a ghost possessing an automobile, Moth Scarberry (moth/mothself), Ray's adopted kid, Walt Pensieve, the asexual groundskeeper of the Hallowoods, and Polly, a devil in a floral suit. Some of the antagonists include Lady Ethel Mallory, a gaslight gatekeep girlboss of a marketing specialist for an evil corporation and the Instrumentalist, a religious fanatic who keeps killing people and turning them into instruments. Darker than your dreams, and farther north than you remember, the Hallowoods loom.

Each episode has a different theme based on the title (such as Keys, Names, and Bones), and is split into several different stories that follow different characters as Nikignik jumps around. There's not very many voice filters, because Nikignik is doing the voices himself, though I think there are a few, and transcripts are available. There's 145 episodes at usually 30 to 50 minutes each, and a new one releases every wednesday.

Sidenote, the Instrumentalist is *really* religious as well as homophobic and transphobic, and he regularly misgenders/deadnames a trans main character. He only exists in the show for about 50 episodes, and definitely gets what he deserves.

The White Vault is a found footage podcast with the first two seasons comprising a repair team's trip to Outpost Fristed in Svalbard. They go up to repair some damaged equipment as well as look at some weird readings, and then have to wait out a massive storm. They find a hatch in the auxiliary bunker, and explore the tunnels beneath to find a village beneath the ice. Theres Graham Casner, the survival guide, Walter Heath, the repair technician, Karina Shumacher-Weiß, the geologist, Rosa De La Torre, the medic, and Jónas Þórirsson, the representative of the company sending them. Travel is not advised.

I listened to the bulk of the first 2 seasons at 2 am while playing powerwash simulator, and it made me so incredibly anxious that I had to have my back to a wall *in the game* so nothing could sneak up one me. Highly recommend. There's so much fear and helplessness surrounding what could be hiding in the storm and in the ice, and I absolutely love the concept for the antagonists.

Seasons 3 and 4 are about a different team in Patagonia, season 5 checks back in at Svalbard, and season 6 is somewhere else entirely. 3-4 are pretty alright in my opinion, maybe a bit repetitive as it follows a similar pattern to the first two seasons, but I don't hate them. I think 5 is pretty good, though it has my favorite character in it, so, you know. I think 6 goes in a bit of a different direction, though I'm not caught up so I can't really comment on it. Seasons 1 and 2 are absolutely stunning, though.

The creators and cast of seasons 1-2 also have a horror dnd podcast called Dark Dice. I must admit I haven't finished the first campaign, though I really liked what I did listen to. I'm told the second campaign has Jeff Goldblum in it, and has 2 different parties with one hunting the other, though I haven't listened to it yet, so take that as you will.

Jar of Rebuke follows Dr. Jared Hel, a cryptid scientist with amnesia in a small Midwestern town, and perhaps closer to the cryptids than they realize. They're also immortal, and (for a reason I don't remember at this particular moment) he has to wear a key around his neck, and never take it off. I'm not caught up, though I really liked what I did listen to. There's lots of fun cryptids and supernatural happenings, such as Jared getting a hellhound as a pet. The episodes are about 10-20 minutes each, and it's ongoing.

As someone on tiktok so aptly said, if you have trust issues with your therapist, you probably shouldn't listen to this podcast. Jared is manipulated by their therapists, and we sometimes hear them talk about him like he's a test subject or creature, not a person.

Do You Copy is another found footage podcast surrounding Redtail National Park, which more or less contains an area called the Dead Zone, in which technology doesn't work and other spooky stuff happens. The Dead Zone has a possible imminent ecological disaster, and though the park is evacuated until the emergency is over, there are a couple people still inside. These include two ghost hunters, a hiker and their dog, and two park rangers who have been instructed to stay inside in hopes of hearing from the three others. I found the Dead Zone and what lies inside VERY interesting, both from a horror perspective and a speculative biology/ecology perspective. It is finished at 14 episodes.

The Hyacinth Disaster is a space horror found footage podcast, and easily in my top three (the other one on that list is tma). It is set in 2151, when Jupiter and Mars have been colonized, and the asteroid belt is being mined for resources. There are two main mining companies in the show, Halaesus Mining Co in Lagrange 4, Greek objects, and Lykaeon Minerals Corporation in Lagrange 5, Trojan objects. The Corvus, a ship contracted to Halaesus and ordered to survey and harvest an asteroid in Lagrange 5, was captured by Lykaeon and held for ransom, and Halaesus denies the ransom broadcast is true, unwilling to pay. The skeleton crew of the MRS Hyacinth has gone rogue in the slowly dwindling time limit to survey a possibly incredibly valuable asteroid, hoping to pay the ransom themselves. But they are 6 people manning a ship meant for 53, and there are so many things to go wrong.

Conlin Hynes is the captain of the Hyacinth and is a good friend of Ember Roth, the captain of the Corvus. Con isn't the greatest captain, not by a long shot, but he's incredibly loyal, and maintains a talented crew. Famke Hynes, or Blue, is Con's sister, and the captain of her own ship, the Sibirica. She would have been the captain of the Hyacinth had she won the rock paper scissors match when they first bought it. She's returned to the Hyacinth to run comms for her brother as they bring Ember and her crew home, and to blow things up along the way.

Finch is Con's wife, and doing an admirable job at being an one-person engineering and seismology team. She's doing her absolute best with the equipment they have that corporate refuses to replace or reapir. Dreadnought in exosuit 2 is by far the youngest of the crew at 24. He's a surveyor, and in fact surveyed Saniss 130991, the very rock they're at, himself. He saw the potential and purposefully misfiled it, hoping to make a bigger profit if corporate didn't know about it, and told Finch, who told Con, and now they're all here.

Grimm is in exo 4, one that he bought himself and has carefully maintained. He refuses to tell the others what he's named it. He moves around a lot, as he gets bored of jobs quickly. Seems like a hardass, but he's actually a pretty nice guy. Argus in exo 7 is one of Con's best friends, having worked with him and Grimm on several jobs. He's a pretty optimistic guy, and follows Grimm as he moves from job to job. His lucky object of choice is a surprise tool that will help us later.

There's lots of angst and horror but also lots of comedy. I've seen a couple reactions that thought there was too much comedy for the situation, but personally I really enjoyed it. It's 7 episodes long, at about 2.5 hours total. There's a lot of sound effects for the ship controls that could potentially be irritating, Dreadnought's dialogue is full of static and sometimes difficult to understand because his radio is partially broken, and there's a loud, extended, high pitched static sound often in the first few episodes (It's when they activate the squealer device, it lasts for about 10-15 seconds each time and there's a countdown from 5 right before), so if you have issues with mechanical/static sound effects, this probably isn't for you. There's transcripts for episodes 1-4 on the website, along with a database of more information about the world.

I'm so so normal about this podcast, I have a note full of facts and trivia (Ember was voted into captaincy by her crew, and according to dreadnought, the ratio of greek names to jovian objects is about 1 in 50,000), my senior quote was from here, I've relistened to it so many times. I cannot recommend this enough.

Among the Stars and Bones is another found footage space horror, but this time it's about anthropology and alien technology. The format is mission files being sent back to the company from a large team investigating an abandoned alien settlement. There's about 7 different perspectives, one from each branch of the team (xenoanthropology, IT, etc).

I really enjoyed it the first time I listened, there were a lot of good anxious moments. A couple of my favorite characters are Dr. Celia Pannella, who heads the xenoanthropology section, and Ben Kelleher, who heads the xenoarchaeology section. I found the alien science/speculative biology really really interesting.

Given you liked tma I'm assuming you know of The Magnus Protocol, but if you don't, it's pretty much Magnus but in a civil service job instead of archiving. It has such characters as Colin the longsuffering IT guy, Alice, who is coping with the horrors by ignoring them, Needles, and Chester and Norris, two text-to-speech voices who we have definitely never heard before (/s).

It has 10 episodes plus an Easter/April Fools special, and it's on a break until April 11th.

Mabel is a podcast about ghosts, families, secrets, and connections. Anna Limon is a carer who has been hired to take care of Mabel Martin's mother Sally. The house is odd, the house is alive, and the house is hungry. Anna is unraveling a mystery as fast as she can find the thread, and Mabel, having grown up half-feral and half-faeral, is somewhere under the Hill.

I will admit I haven't finished this show, but I would definitely recommend it. I actually had to restart it because I wasn't expecting to be as invested as I was. It is very much a faerie story, with riddles and all.

The Silt Verses is a story about faith, and what people will do to keep it. It follows Sister Carpenter and Brother Faulkner as they travel upriver, looking for revelations of their outlawed god, the Trawler-Man. There's a whole cast of gods, many of which are capitalistic, and most of the ones that are not have been outlawed. Some examples are the Trawler-Man of the river, the Waxen Scrivener of decay and books, the Saint Electric of radio and electricity, and the Cairn Maiden of graves and death.

I'd say it has semi similar vibes to Old Gods, mostly with the many deities and monsters. I'm only about halfway through it, but I'd definitely recommend it.

Hope you find something you enjoy!

[ghosteso]

The sleeping pills have yet to kick in. Therefore, I’m going to go through my Ghost Wax playlists and explain my reasoning for certain songs. Starting with Cid. As usual most of this is post season one. This is going to get long so look and ofc hints of Vonzem/Goodnight Couple. And for this I’ll choose the lyric that cemented it as a Cid songs for me. Let’s do this!

Secret of Life- Lord Huron

To die for good, it must be earned/ The ways of death can never be learned.

Tbh, this whole songs just screams Voncid to me (I mean look at the title) There’s another lyric that also hits close to me with Cid but this. This one is mostly nodding to Voncid’s status as the last reclaimer. I can’t pull direct quotes just yet but the way he talks to Charlie and parallels there sheer differences hence my chosen for this one.

Thirteen Sad Farewells- Stu Larsen

Darling I should’ve said goodbye/ before you even caught my eye/ now I can’t bear to see this die

The first Goidnight couple song on the playlist from Cud’s perspective and how he can’t let Azem go and how he was willing to let the world burn just to stop from consuming Azem. I want to write a oneshot for this one tbh.

Achilles Come Down- Gang of Youths

Hurt and grieve but don't suffer alone/ Engage with the pain as a motive

More of a nod to post season one as if posting this I haven’t listened to the Patron episodes. But after consuming Azem I do think he is going to realize he isn’t as alone as he thinks. That his relationship with Azem helped him with his other relationships. He has Luca. He has Pip. He even has Emea. And they care about him. There’s more ofc but I think these three are going to be instrumental in helping him grieve with Azem.

1957- Milo Greene

Would it be much better if I knew nothing about you?

More Goodnight couple I can’t help it. Cid’s line in the finale where he’s talking to Azem and Azem tells him he is their love broke me.

Blood Upon the Snow- Hozier

It ceases never to hunger/ And all things nature's given/ She takes all things back from the living

Cid says Hamsa(sp?) are greedy things and somebody else said the hunger inside seemed personal. Then finally consuming Azem.

The Horror and the Wild- The Amazing Devil

Give me back my heart, you wingless thing/Think of all the horrors that I promised you I'd bring/I promise you, they'll sing of every time

More Goodnight couple. Can’t really explain my reasoning for this just trust me this is a Cid song.

Lonesome Dreams- Lord Huron

Where I'm lost and I'm on my own/ Left my best in the beats on this trip, baby/ Just please don't leave me alone

AND

The Ghost on the Shore- Lord Huron

All the dead seem to know where I am

Lord Huron is just Cid coded. Sorry I don’t make the rules

Human- Of Monsters and Men

Breathe in, breathe out/Let the human in/ Breathe in, breathe out/ And let it in

Cid’s relationship with Luca, Pip, Emea and etc.

Dear Fellow Traveler- Sea Wold

You spoke my language and touched my limbs/It wasn't difficult to pull me from myself again/And in our travels, we found our roads/You held it like a mirror, showing me the life I chose

Final Goodnight Couple song. Now I’m heading to bed I think.