C/W hanging/public execution, 0’00 to 3’34
“And then, there’s the end. The whole lot of us rounded up and stood on that platform on Mawk’s Mantle. A great crowd of people before us, no cover from that boiling sun. I remember the quiet most. Looking into all those faces and being met with nothing. Everything waited.”
Under the cover of darkness, a wagon rolls its way through the streets of the People’s Ward of Atrium. Four people escort it, moonlight glinting off armour hidden under their coats. They are Jackals, they do not belong here. The wagon they move carries a weapon, something powerful enough to shake the labyrinthine foundations of Embrace.
This is the first of our episodes playing Blades in the Dark, a game about daring scoundrels by John Harper. We meet our crew of radicals as they undertake their most dangerous score yet.
If you’re interested in Embrace – our season about a revolution in a city built on the corpses of two gods – and want to jump straight into the action, this is the episode to start with. We did some worldbuilding in episodes 1-3 and start our main campaign here.
If you don’t know what Embrace is or are new to the show entirely, we spend some time at the start of this episode briefly going over the core concepts of our world, Ryne. We’ve designed this to be a good place to start listening to These Flimsy Rituals.
~~ PEOPLE ~~
Nilkat: A former factory mechanic, turned revolutionary. He’s a member of the Ginnels and our story’s narrator.
~~ FACTIONS ~~
Umbral Provenders: A legitimised organisation of smugglers, who use the cut to smuggle contraband into and out of the city. Based in Atrium, they use criminality to enforce their hold there.
Jackals: More formally known as the Tenders of the Dawn’s Embers, the Jackals are an organisation of remnant hunters guided by strange divination.
~~ PLACES ~~
Embrace: An island city, built on the corpses of the remnant’s Caerdroia and Rodella. It serves as one of the only crossing points of the river Trill.
People’s Ward of Atrium: An old neighbourhood near the docks, once home to wholesale markets and cafes. It has declared itself its own ward, erecting barricades to keep the city’s officials out.
Episode title from Onsind’s Snitches Get Stitches
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Hosted by Adam Dixon. Starring Beck Michalak, Elizabeth Simoens, Ryan Evans, Steve Martin and Thryn Henderson.
Produced by Thryn Henderson
Series art by Ben Swinden
Music from Kai Engel’s Satin