Changeling the Podcast

Before the sun finally goes down on Changeling: the Lost's first edition, we've got one more text to talk about. What's that you say? We've gone through all the books and all the Dark Eras, so what could possibly be left? Well, as we prepared those final episodes, author Thomas McVey released Twilit Eildon, a homebrew title on the Storytellers' Vault. It was a surprise out of nowhere, especially because it was angled towards the first edition, so we felt it right and proper to give it a read. The book claims to delve into True Fae who might be less malevolent than expected, as well as the loyalists who support them, with asides on the topic of fae-blooded children and cyberspace. A bit incongruous? Perhaps. Still worth a read and a discussion? Naturally. We'll talk about whether our expectations are met and how much there really is/was left to say about this version of the Lost setting.

Thomas' book is available for purchase at https://www.storytellersvault.com/en/product/554832?affiliate_id=3063731, and we are available for opinionated debate at the usual roundup of links:

Discord: https://discord.me/ctp

Email: [email protected]

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100082973960699

Mastodon: https://dice.camp/@ChangelingPod

Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/changelingthepodcast

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@ChangelingThePodcast

your hosts

Pooka G (any pronoun/they) prefers the mouthfeel of the term gloaming for describing the end of the day.
Amelia Fetch (she/her) wonders whether an eildon can be neon-lit as well, as it would be stunning in pink.

Let us go then, you and I,
When the evening is spread out against the sky
Like a patient etherized upon a table.
—T.S. Eliot, "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock"

It's been a while since we stepped into the old World of Darkness, so today we take a quick look back for one more in our series of crossover book dives. We flipped through both the original and Revised editions of the Fianna tribebooks for Werewolf: the Apocalypse. These are the most fae-adjacent of the Garou, often in the same families as Kithain and Kinain. The first book came out before Changeling: the Dreaming existed, and the second after it had essentially finished, so we get to see two very different perspectives on how these rowdy wolves engage with their fae cousins. Our focus is only on the bits we felt were specifically relevant to crossover games. Imbolc moots, cantrips-as-Gifts, new dimensions of supernatural politics... many are the stories one could tell, so we do our best to explore a few.

The tribebooks can be found at https://www.storytellersvault.com/en/product/2383?affiliate_id=3063731 and https://www.storytellersvault.com/en/product/2515?affiliate_id=3063731, respectively. As for us, we can be found at:

Discord: https://discord.me/ctp

Email: [email protected]

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100082973960699

Mastodon: https://dice.camp/@ChangelingPod

Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/changelingthepodcast

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@ChangelingThePodcast

your hosts

Josh Hillerup (any pronoun) tried to order the Salmon of Knowledge, but they were all out, and so had to settle for the Trout of Exam Anxiety.
Pooka G (any pronoun/they) looks forward to the Irish-language releases someday of Conriocht: an Apacailipsis and Síofra: an Taibhreamh.

O hurry where by water among the trees
The delicate-stepping stag and his lady sigh,
When they have but looked upon their images—
Would none had ever loved but you and I!
Or have you heard that sliding silver-shoed
Pale silver-proud queen-woman of the sky,
When the sun looked out of his golden hood?—
O that none ever loved but you and I!
—W.B. Yeats, "The Ragged Wood"

With apologies for last week's delay, we are back on track with today's readthrough of the last Changeling-focused Dark Era in the first collection, A Grimm Dark Era. The Dark Eras' not-quite-second-edition-ness stands out most of all in this offering, and it's... noteworthy. Set in early 19th-century Germany with the publication of the Grimms' faerie tales as a backdrop, we get some curious Courts, some tantalizing tokens, and a new Seeming(!) to throw into a game. Is it the kind of material with which we can live happily ever after? Opinions shall be shared, but remember that "ever after" rarely lasts as long as you think it will...

If you'd like to secure a copy of your own, stop by https://www.storytellersvault.com/en/product/217370?affiliate_id=3063731. And if you'd like to secure our attention (well, maybe; we've got lives, you know), do reach out through any of the usual channels:

Discord: https://discord.me/ctp

Email: [email protected]

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100082973960699

Mastodon: https://dice.camp/@ChangelingPod

Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/changelingthepodcast

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@ChangelingThePodcast

your hosts

Pooka G (any pronoun/they) got a five-album deal for the Town Musicians of Bremen, but yeesh, they party hard.
Amelia Fetch (she/her) wants stories about the other wards of that sorceress who raised Rapunzel, named after less interesting leafy greens.

Believable fairy-stories must be intensely practical. You must have a map, no matter how rough. Otherwise you wander all over the place.
—J.R.R. Tolkien

To welcome in the Seelie half of the year, behold! a surprise minisode. The original Dark Eras were accompanied by a fiction volume, Tales of the Dark Eras, featuring a number of short stories associated with the modules in the supplement. The entry "Of Ravens and Roses" is set in the 17th-century France of Lily, Sabre & Thorn, so it seemed fitting to include that in the mix. (If only it had been lily of the valley instead of roses, in celebration of the day...) Pooka reads the story in this episode—a fairly traditional Lost narrative, bedecked with the trappings and intrigues of Louis XIV's court. Here's hoping that you enjoy it!

If your appetite is whetted for fiction, you can pick up the story collection at https://www.storytellersvault.com/en/product/187316?affiliate_id=3063731. And as usual, some other links:

Discord: https://discord.me/ctp

Email: [email protected]

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100082973960699

Mastodon: https://dice.camp/@ChangelingPod

Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/changelingthepodcast

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@ChangelingThePodcast

your hosts

Pooka G (any pronoun/they) would have been perfectly content with finches and wisteria, but you take the birb—flower combo you can get.

Aucun chemin de fleurs ne conduit à la gloire.
(No path of flowers leads to glory.)
—Jean de la Fontaine, "The Two Adventurers and the Talisman"

Il était une fois... as we proceed through the historical dives in the first Dark Eras volume, we arrive at the next one for Changeling: the Lost—and the first one that is only for that game, though certainly no one could object if an enterprising Storyteller felt like squeezing in a random Promethean. In this installment, Lily, Sabre & Thorn, we're headed to 17th-century France and the court of Louis XIV, the "Sun King". Versailles drips with opulence as Paris swells with the unwashed masses; the Lost creep among both, leading lives as swashbuckling as they can manage. It's a time for musketeers and grand intrigues, highwaymen and masquerades, all through the thorn-edged lens of absolute monarchy and the beginnings of modernity. What's not to love? (Well, plenty, beginning with hygiene and inequality, but at least the write-up here is fairly decent.) Join us as we romp through the gardens, all for one and one for croissants.

The module is available for purchase as a stand-alone at https://www.storytellersvault.com/en/product/217111?affiliate_id=3063731, and our own points of contact are, as always:

Discord: https://discord.me/ctp

Email: [email protected]

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100082973960699

Mastodon: https://dice.camp/@ChangelingPod

Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/changelingthepodcast

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@ChangelingThePodcast

your hosts

Pooka G (any pronoun/they) enjoyed visiting Versailles, but thought it could use a few band posters on the walls and maybe some ficus.
Amelia Fetch (she/her) occasionally plays a musketeer Lost character who specializes in the Contracts of Nougat.

Et c’est une folie, à nulle autre, seconde,
De vouloir se mêler de corriger le monde.
(Of all follies, there is none greater / than wanting to make the world a better place.)
—Molière, The Misanthrope