Friends at the Table

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Bonus Episode: Marielda NNAF Fundraiser Livestream (+Realis teaser) Aug 05, 2022

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Well, I suppose I've got a story or two left in these old bones. And hell, since it is another one about Marielda, why not make one about stories and the people who tell 'em.

Now I know what you might be thinking: Physicality alive, in the era that The Six operated in Marielda, it was knowledge which was forbidden, turned into contraband and currency both, not stories.

But as anyone ever wounded by art can tell you, fiction is a sharper knife than information could be. And living fiction, played out in front of your eyes and ears? Very few things are as well honed as that.

And so it was that Samothes, ever jealous and increasingly suspicious that his erstwhile beau might conquer his capital with culture instead cudgel, all but forbade the theater.

Of course, any scoundrel worth their shadow would narrow in on those two words preceding "forbade": "All but. "

There were two exceptions to the rule banning theater.

The first was liturgical drama, approved by the Blessed Council and performed in the True Church of Samothes on the Day of High Sun and other feasts. Between us, these were boring. They might serve academic value to someone of today's New Archives, and I suppose for the true believer of that old era, seeing even the most sanitized depiction of their King-God, Artificer Divine would make their day.

But most folks, they wanted something a little less sacramental.

Which is where the second exception comes in.

Once a season, as an act of supposed Good Will, the Preceptors of the Font of True Knowledge—the Fontmen—opened the gates of their domain and put on a grand show. A day of comedy and tragedy in the Font Theater—the leash let slack so that the next time those censors pulled on it, they could claim it was done in good faith.

What does any of this have to do with the Six. Well, nothin, until those out-a-towners with mysterious pasts and glorious masks showed up, claiming they had a spot on the stage and job for Hitchcock, Castille, and the rest. Help those actors steal their names back.

Hello everyone!! Here is our livestream marathon finale game, a return to Marielda playing Scene Thieves! Most donation and fundraising shouts were cut to get this (as close as possible) under 5 hours but we'd like to thank everyone again for joining us on stream and supporting the National Network of Abortion Funds with us!

Featuring: Austin Walker, Art Martinez-Tebbel, Jack de Quidt, Janine Hawkins, Ali Acampora and Sylvi Clare

Music by Jack de Quidt

Scene Thieves is available here: https://possible-worlds-games.itch.io/scene-thieves

Bluff City: America's Playground Pt. 05 Jul 28, 2022

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Princeton, The Powdered Sugar Horse

"Only a fool would say the horse does not belong at the beach," wrote a young Elliott Callahan in 1885. "The British, in their usual parsimonious fashion, insist that the beach is the province of the donkey, but the fact of the matter is that as far as strength, determination, and grit are concerned: one can do no wrong by bringing the horse—America's workhorse, if you will—down to the waterfront."

By 1897, horses were a regular sight on the Bluff City boardwalk. Carriah and Letitia dragged the boat launch down to the water and back. Maribeth stood patiently by the bicycle rental stand and blinked placidly at passing cyclists. The less about Big Arthur that is committed to the historical record, the better.

The most beloved of these animals, however, was Princeton: the mild mannered Clydesdale who pulled the Princeton Powdered Sugar wagon. Though whether he was named after the company or vice versa is a matter of some dispute, his sweet temper and calm demeanour is not. In the summer of that same year, Callahan—still clearly an equestrian enthusiast—catalogued this song in commemoration of the animal.