#midst appendices

[midstpodcast]

Season 3, Episode XIX Finale Appendices 🔎 | Lark's Final Journal Entry #MidstSpoilers

[bookshopsbizarreblog]

Midst Appendix Master Document

To the best of my knowledge, there's not a convenient way to see all of Midst's appendices laid out next to one another. While they're all publicly available at https://twitter.com/midstpodcast, it requires digging back through their old messages to access them. Hopefully this will make reading them much simpler. Episode taglines are pulled from https://midst.co/episodes/.

Each one corresponds with a specific episode, and they do reference major story spoilers for Midst, so be aware of that while looking through each season's postings.

Credit and thanks goes to Third Person ( @midstpodcast ) for the incredible universe they built, and for the fantastic story they told within it. To support them, or to access episode transcripts, go to midst.co.

[SEASON 1] [SEASON 2] [SEASON 3] [MOONWARD ART]

[UNEND ART]

[arcanisfrog]

Appendices searches

tee hee i founds a thing

If you want to help me and others find secrets in appendices join this google doc:

[wardensantoineandevka]

This was so incredibly and hilariously petty of Spahr, a Top 10 Jonas Spahr Being Extremely 30ish Moment to me:

[jestersloverre]

Moc Weepe, the boy who would be mayor.

[ghor-dranas]

Teletheric Transduction Pocket Guide - Table of Contents!

So, the appendix for Season 3 Episode 2 of Midst [link] is a pocket book, opened to its introductory pages, but I noticed that if you look closely, you can see the text on the previous and next pages! It's a little hard to read [to say the least], but @captainofthetidesbreath quickly flipped and edited the image which made it much easier!

And to make things even easier still, I am going to give you a full transcript.

Table of Contents Actual Adventure is All Around - 4 Transducer History - 6 Priathic Impulses - 7 Tele-Aetherics - 7 Transduction - 8 Bocular Energy Transference - 8 The Stymie Prototype - 9 Teletheric Transduction: The Modern Standard - 9 Building and Tuning Teletheric Transducers - 10 Building a Teletheric Transducer - 10 Recommended Retailers and Parts List - 10 Tuning - 11 Where to Buy Teletheric Equipment - 12 Common Models - 12 How to Evaluate Controls and Material - 13 Teletheric Science - 14 Broadcast Standards - 16 Upper Un Signal Boost Equipment - 16 Forbidden Broadcasting - 18 Safe Harbor Hours - 19 Teletheric Licensing - 20 License Tradition - 20 Study Guide - 21 Index of License Posts - 22 Shorthand Signals - 24 Teletheric Communication Codes - 28 Distance and Signal Strength Maps and Overlays - 32

The other page shows a variety of signals, with the only text reading "FIG. C: SIGNAL STRENGTH IN IDEAL CONDITIONS"

[utilitycaster]

The answers Marisha gave in this 4SD felt a lot more realized than in the past, which is good! But it still makes me feel like this character concept is incredibly ambitious and when juxtaposed with the various "I don't want to think anymore"/"go with the flow" statements I'm not sure she realized that.

The biggest example is that Laudna has two conflicting traits: she is extremely sensitive to betrayal, and she is very quick to trust even after experiencing a number of betrayals in her life. And when I say "conflicting" I mean that they are in conflict with each other, not that it doesn't make sense for a character to be a complicated person with traits that frequently work against them; in fact that's in my opinion a fantastic way to create a compelling character. But it feels like the why is only just starting to get explored in any capacity, and because of that even good choices raise more questions: why is this only coming out now; why so young a regression; why has it peeked out so weirdly and inconsistently in the past; why haven't the repeated betrayals in the past two months affected her mindset and made her more closed off. It once again makes me really wish we'd gotten a sustained outburst after the party reunited, because that would have made far more sense - a fool me once shame on you, fool me twice shame on me situation.

I agree with the opinion that Laudna conceptually just fits far more with being an actual child herself - her desire to befriend children frankly comes off slightly weirder (not line-crossing or anything, just a little off) than it would had she died younger, as does her approach of dolls, and her failure to do anything with Delilah would make a lot more sense if she was at an age to be much more reliant. It would also make her inability to just blend into a city much more reasonable; no one is going to rent to a lone 11 year old. It really does feel that when the creepy child idea was rejected - which is a valid choice - it wasn't reworked sufficiently to fit someone who died in her late teens or early 20s.

I also don't really get the idea of her childlike nature being without malice. A pretty consistent theme for the various traumatic childhoods the characters of Bells Hells (and, tbh, past parties as well) has been the cruelty children are capable of - Ashton even says it in 3x78. Delilah being stuck with someone without malice would honestly lead to a situation in which Laudna was very trusting of her, which isn't the case, which again goes back to the conflict of betrayal as a trigger vs. being so quick to trust. Given that Laudna was frequently bullied and rejected as a kid, one would think she'd be aware of this. The specific example of Delilah calling Ashton a child and Laudna making him a doll still works wonderfully, but the overarching theme falls apart in places.

I think things have been on an upswing as of late, but ultimately we're at a point where, without some retcons I don't think Laudna will ever truly make complete sense because it's just such an intensive concept that did not get the work that required, and still feels reliant on a now-rejected premise.

[essektheylyss]

What are the Midst appendices? I’ve been vaguely meaning to listen but that sounds super interesting conceptually

They're REALLY interesting! Basically later in the day after every new episode, Midst puts out some kind of found document(s), often related to the episode, but also sometimes not!

The range of these is pretty broad, from magazine covers to the contents of someone's desk to excerpts of textbooks on different aspects of the universe, so you get a really interesting set of perspectives on small aspects of the world, and the worldbuilding for Midst is utterly buckwild in the best way, so it's SO fun. (This week's was a public transit map, and I had some delightfully punctilious conversations about the weird nuances of how transit even works in that particular location.) There's weird stuff about megafauna! The timekeeping is wild! This society has its own version of Teen Vogue and Jonas Spahr is the sexiest man alive!

Midst is such a delight of a show because the attention to detail is painstaking and astounding and if you like lore and worldbuilding, it is really phenomenal and a master class. (Genuinely, I will keep saying it, but it makes me writhe with envy.)

Also, if you do listen, I gotta plug the episode coverage over on @encyclopediacr which now has all of the appendices linked on their episodes list (and in individual episodes' infoboxes)! Which is much easier than trying to sort through the hellscape that is the twitter feed.

[mehoymalloy]

Lark (and Landlord) in MIDST, Season 2 Episode 19: "Exposed"

Artwork by Will Kirkby

[aanarres]

god midst has been SO good so far, the structure of having it be semi improvised plus the triple narration is so cool, and each main character is flawed in ways that are super interesting, plus the music and sound design are fantastic, and the world building is horrifying in both subtle and overt ways

[midstpodcast]

Season 3, Episode XV Appendices 🔎 | A Central Vault Schematic

[bookshopsbizarreblog]

Midst Appendix Collection: Season 3

All of the appendixes from Midst's third season, along with the tag associated with them. From Midst's twitter. Click for higher quality.

[Master Document] [Season 1] [Season 2]

Episode 1: Imbalance - "Don't be suspicious."

"We the Barons United"

Episode 2: Breakfast - "Bready or not, here they come."

"Teletheric Transduction Pocket Guide"

Episode 3: Change - "Going through the motions."

"An Unfortunate Headline In The Unlight Herald"

Episode 4: Foundation - "Lightbulb moment."

"Family Documents of Phineas Thatch"

Episode 5: Acculturation - "Power is a potent cocktail."

"An Invitiation For An Audience With The Tripotentiary" (sic.)

Episode 6: Switcheroo - "Finally on the right track."

"A Highest Light Rail Transit Guide"

Episode 7: Tempest - "A force of nature."

"The Loxlee Kitchen's Evening Menu"

Episode 8: Fault - "These roots run deep."

"Arraignment Hearing Documents"

Episode 9: Baron - "Unorthodox negotiation tactics."

"Notes on a High Mall Bill of Sale"

Episode 10: Bedrock - "Tonight we wear black."

"A Phosphorfest Band Poster"

Episode 11: Resolve - "It's complicated."

"A Hastily Scrawled Note On A Napkin"

Episode 12: Interest - "Things are finally coming together."

"The Parable of The Investor & The Notary"

Episode 13: Machinations - "A calculated risk."

"A Letter to Hieronymus"

Episode 14: Shindig - "Life is a cabaret, old chum."

"A Heartfelt Drawing" (incorrectly labeled under Episode XVI on their twitter)

Episode 15: Breach - "Trickle-down economics."

"Central Vault Schematic"

Episode 16: Trustfall - "What goes up..."

"An Advertisement For Scrumptious Canned Mirrorhawk"

Episode 17: Ghosts - "The show must go on."

"Minutes From A Stationary Hill Town Meeting"

Episode 18: Home - "A hill to die on."

"The Journal Of Phineas Thatch"

Episode 19: Balance - "It's time."

"Lark's Final Journal Entry"

[ohporcupine]

just finished c1e18 of midst and uh. i think i need to lie down.

as a recap: - the piece of shit businessman realised he had a conscience as soon as it was too late - the sympathetic cop who wasn't sure if he could or should be a cop has finally snapped - the rugged lone outlaw might now be forced to be an adoptive mother - the moon is finally exploding

[wardensantoineandevka]

god, Costigan is AWFUL but in a way that FASCINATES me, I love her as a character and hate her as a person, her entire deal and influence on this mess is just SO fascinating

[acaptainbyanyothername]

The Midst cosmos is weird, right?

A gravity that spans the entire cosmos, allowing someone to theoretically drop from the Un to the Fold? An ocean of darkness with a mono-directional current? What is the gravitational source? Where does the current come from and go? These questions are not answered with the current cosmic hypotheses you may have seen illustrated in appendices. What if there was more to the cosmos that explained these questions, something that our lovely in-canon scientists have no way of knowing?

(All the credit to @druidposting for churning out these thoughts with me and teaching me about marshes. These theories are as much their brainchild as mine).

Bernhard and Gottle, this is my pitch to join your research team. Say hello to the Theorized Diagram of the Complete Midst Cosmos (a 2d vertical cross-section of the 3-dimensional cosmos):

You may be surprised. You may be off-put. “What the fuck is this?” is the scientific inquiry you may be posing. Never fear— explanations and mad ravings to be found under the cut

The Three Components of the Cosmos

The three components in the cosmos you see represented in the diagram are the Un, the Fold, and a theorized Un-like space below the Fold monikered as “????” for convenience’s sake.

The Fold’s Gravity

The Fold is the gravitational center of the cosmos— the reason why if a Phineas jumps from the Un, he is pulled down toward the Fold

This is because the Fold is a large enough body of matter that its center of mass has a strong enough gravitational pull to affect the Un

The Fold orbits its center of mass in an ellipse, which explains a) why denizens on this cosmos see its surface as something akin to a flat ocean (it is so massive that it would appear that way without the full perspective) and b) why light and the horizon seem to break down in a location such as the Delta, the point of the greatest bend in orbit

With the Fold being an ovoid, that then creates a hypotheses for an Un-Fold space to exist all around the Fold! After all, the “Un” is simply where the Fold is not. The Un therefore is not just above the Fold, as we already know from Midst-canon, but also below it (above and below are of course relative terms when dealing with gravity, but for ease of communication “above” refers to the top of the diagram and “below” refers to the bottom). This “below” space is referred to as “????” in the diagram.

Though it is important to note that the Un is not empty— it has breathable air, as does the Fold! The primary difference are the microscopic Foldlet molecules that make up the Fold, causing it to be slightly denser than the Un and therefore more amassed around the core

Think of the Fold almost as like a gas-giant planet! A huge source of gravity comprised mainly of a gaseous substance that has huge influence over its surrounding area!

Therefore, to continue this analogy, the Un is essentially the gas giant’s outer atmosphere

The ???? Area

So to recap, ???? is a theoretical area of the cosmos that no one within the canon of Midst knows about. It is similar to the Un in that there is a lack of Fold there.

What is the ???? like? Does it have mica? What does it look like? The unfortunate answer is I do not know. Your guess is as good as mine. Here’s what questions I CAN ANSWER THOUGH:

Why don’t the scientists of the Midst-canon know/theorize the existence of the ???? space? Well, imagine it this way: if you were in the Arctic, and the only way you could get to Antarctica was by tunneling through the Earth’s core, you would probably not know of Antartica’s existence either.

Anyone who would attempt to travel from the Un to the ???? would be forced to go right through/by the core of the Fold, aka its gravitational source. That intense of gravity is not survivable! You’re a pancake now, a pancake who doesn’t know there’s anything beyond this. The red dotted line of the diagram demarcates the known cosmos of Midst-canon.

(Side tangent, this is why the Fold is perceived as something more akin to an ocean in Midst-canon: there’s no way to go through it and see the whole picture that it’s a sphere. Even though the gravitational pressure drastically increases the further down you go into it, that is confused with the Midst-version of deep sea pressure!)

If you WERE to travel to the ???? area, you would still perceive the Fold as below you! That is because the perception of “down” is relative to the direction of gravity, and the direction of gravity is still pointed towards the core of the Fold

The Delta’s Cosmic Purpose

Here is where I ESPECIALLY gotta shout out my amazing co-researcher @druidposting. Mirrorhawk dip’s on me for this amazing cosmological thinking.

The Delta acts as a marsh to the greater ecosystem of the Fold! In essence, the marsh accumulates muck and detritus, but due to their good water outflow they end up serving as an excellent water cleanser— the water comes out on the other side remarkably clean!

That’s what purpose the Delta serves, but instead of water it filters tearror systems

The Fold’s Current

So the Fold flows from the Fount down to the Delta, mucking itself up in the process. The Delta accumulates the sediment of old tearror systems, but also filters the Fold so that it runs pure and clean out the other end

The current essentially orbits around the core of the Fold— once the Fold is purified by the Delta, it circles around until it’s on the ???? side. This newly purified Fold fresh from the Delta therefore acts as the Fount for the ???? side. A reverse Fount, if you will.

The process rinses and repeats on the ???? side— the Fold flows from the reverse Fount, mucks itself up, then is purified again in the reverse-Delta, where it then makes its way up to be the source of the Fount as the Midst-canon characters know it!

Therefore, it only LOOKS mono-directional with no end or beginning from a top-down view— really it makes a full circle loop!

That’s all I’m willing to type out today! There are still so many things to be explored— what is this theoretical ???? space like? How do measly isletary gravitational pulls overpower the much larger pull of the Fold? How do things float in the Fold?

Bernhard and Gottle, if you give me grant money more research can be put into answering these questions. Bernhard and Gottle please give me grant money. Please. Please. PLEASE—