Join Austin, Dre, Jack, and Janine--a hang-gliding town crier, a swineherd, a golem, and a... bush dog, respectively--as they travel with a mysterious Magus across a world that is slowly losing its mystical energy. This was definitely one of our favorites so far, and we hope you enjoy it while we take some time off to prepare for spring! If you like what you hear and you're able to, you can support us over at friendsatthetable.cash! Donating at the $5 level gives you access to an entire year's b...
Sep 14, 2018•3 hr 28 min
C/W: Discussion of physical and emotional child and spousal abuse 2:12 to 2:15 The Twilight Mirage Post Mortem is here which means the season is really, truly, finally over. Thank you for all of your support this season, thank you for listening, and thank you for all of your questions! We got over 250 which was so, so much more than we were anticipating! Thank you! We had to a lot of cutting to narrow down questions but still ended up talking about everything from Foucault's social theory to our...
Sep 10, 2018•3 hr 28 min
Exigency Register A-TM-V-742 - Total Record of Events, Entry 001 To whoever finds this message: My name is Keen Forester Gloaming. I am, at time of this recording, the Chief Intercessor of the Rapid Evening in the Quire System and Primary Observer of the Twilight Mirage. I speak these words on the eve of Crystal Palace’s arrival and the scheduled deployment of a limited scope stellar combustor to destroy the divine Volition and its’.... Well shit, I guess I have no idea if any of those words mea...
Aug 30, 2018•4 hr 4 min
Dispatch 717. Satellite… I mean, Grey. Sorry, just feels more natural to say 'Satellite' when I’m out here in this tin can. Nostalgia for a different life. Not quite the good old days… I’m so much happier now, with you, with the Brink But things were more certain then. Now, I look at the data that’s coming in, and I don’t know what to think. No. That’s wrong. Things are just as certain as ever, it’s just that now instead of just knowing what’s coming next, I’m scared , Grey. Every day, I’m scare...
Aug 24, 2018•3 hr 53 min
A letter from Grey Gloaming, Exile of the Rapid Evening and Operations Chief of the Brink, delivered to Keen Forester Gloaming by secure courier. Dad, I don’t know if you remember this, but when I was just a little girl, just after you first took me Off Cycle, we got into a big fight about Crystal Palace. I didn’t understand how a thing like that could exist--it didn’t make sense to me--mostly because I still didn’t make sense to me, but I knew that I made sense to it. It knew what I would do, e...
Aug 17, 2018•2 hr 28 min
Once, floating in the sunset-hued safety of the Twilight Mirage, the Divine Fleet hummed and pulsed, its ships bright beacons of culture and technology in an age when both were under threat. All through the fleet, organic and synthetic citizens worked side by side to protect a utopia that the universe thought impossible. But today, in the wake of Independence, and Volition, and the Miracle, and Our Profit, and Schism, many who once called the fleet home have now found their idealism grounded. It...
Aug 10, 2018•2 hr 58 min
Crystal Palace, in all its endless worker-bee wonder, clacks and whirs its way across space, and now, as it nears the destabilizing stain of the Twilight Mirage, time as well. Even now, in transport, it is thinking, predicting, prophesying: Its pulleys spinning with magnetic unison, decks of hole-punched cards flipping through its designators, a pleasant coughing of gears and pinions. This is how it knows everything. But it did not always: There was a moment before its creation--back when there ...
Aug 03, 2018•34 min
In the year after the Miracle, wonder and surprise appeared all throughout the daily life of the residents of the Quire System. Unfortunately, the composition of the system's political structures moved at a much more sluggish pace. Diplomatic gridlock and (well-grounded) fear of conflict leashed even the most aggressive states. The result was the vexing sense that the system had calcified in an imperfect shape. "To live in the Mirage," it was said, "is to see something unimaginable before lunch,...
Jul 27, 2018•3 hr 31 min
At the heart of many capital ships, there is a great flow of heat and energy. Yet the core of of the Restitution of All Things is the coolest place on the vessel: the Center Centra Diplomatic Retreat, a snow covered nature preserve, with lake and lodge and firepit. And right now, inside of the old wooden building aside the icy water, Our Profit, Final Hegemon of Earth, is making her case: the Twilight Mirage itself is more than celestial cloud cover, more than a mist that bends time and hides sp...
Jul 20, 2018•2 hr 1 min
For the hundreds of days after the Miracle of the Mirage, the sky above the planet Moonlock was filled only with dust and color. While the occasional landed by and the odd satellite or station came briefly into view, the world was not--like many others in the system--a harbor for fleets or a rest stop for caravans. Perhaps, those on Moonlock thought, it was the planet's frightening proximity to Volition. Or maybe it was the tension of relationships on the surface, an awkward arrangement of Qui E...
Jul 12, 2018•1 hr 40 min
CW: This episode contains death and gun violence On one end of the Quire system, eminating from The Restiution of All Things, is the Profit's Star, an overawing beam of scalding light aimed at the distant eye of Crystal Palace, machine sage. But here, inside of the Mirage, the light shines on a free-floating, living sea. Driven by reckless commitment to success, Gig Kephart throws himself into overwhelming odds to achieve his mission and save that creature. Meanwhile, Even Gardner--consumed by a...
Jul 06, 2018•1 hr 30 min
On paper, the Notion's mission to protect the Wandering Sea from the cruel talons of Advent is going well: They've secured the massive, mysterious cube that contains what they need to free the sea. They've reunited, having secured Echo Reverie from the dock at the city of Perigiean. Gig Kephart has recovered from a major injury more ready than ever to jump into danger. And they're heading into space, where pilot Even Gardner is most in his demesne. And yet there is something off about today. The...
Jun 29, 2018•1 hr 55 min
In the year that followed the Miracle, the Brighton Lineage leveraged their skill as diplomats (and their resort-quality holdings) to gain favor with factions throughout the Mirage. So succesful were they that they became the de jure rulers of the Rogue Wave, supported not by a fleet of their own, but through a collection of treaties to the military powers of the Quire system. But with the arrival of Our Profit, the creation of Parhelia, and the revelation of the Rapid Evening, the system has be...
Jun 22, 2018•2 hr 2 min
CW: This episode contains discussion of suicidal ideation. A single family remembers the Divine Pleroma , now. Neither Phive Amala nor her daughter, Aete, lived when Pleroma, a being of wholeness and breadth, still blessed the fleet with their wisdom and perspective. But every evening, just before bed, Phive Amala and her daughter, Aete, work through Pleroma's volume of the Assemblage two lines at a time. Not simply a habit, yet not quite a prayer. Still, the forces at work in the Miracle must h...
Jun 15, 2018•1 hr 50 min
The deserts of Altar are dotted with tombs, and each takes a shape all its own. Some are cathedrals, others monuments. One, a hanging garden. But in the base of a crater atop a volcanic peak, there is a Vault. And inside, is Anticipation... or what is left of Her. After months of study and research, an effort led by the Waking Cadent and Shoghig Salon's Temple of the Lost has learned how to open the outer door of the vault. Now, Tender Sky and the excerpt Signet have been offered the chance to o...
Jun 08, 2018•1 hr 36 min
It is one day after the Second Miracle and the arrival of Our Profit, the so-called final hegemon of the New Earth Hegemony. Lit by the massive, false star projected by the Restitution of All Things, Our Profit's flagship, the Twilight Mirage hangs, shocked and quiet. But not for everyone. Resting and recovering in the apparent safety of the World Without End, a sudden wave of energy passes over the members of the Notion, sparked by a corrupted transmission from the all-seeing supercomputer, Cry...
Jun 01, 2018•2 hr 58 min
Despite the faux-mornings and would-be-nights, the sun never rises or sets over the Quire system. Yet today, in the moments between light and darkness, the air hangs too quiet, the way it only does at dawn and dusk. As Fourteen Fifteen guards the scientist and artist Wind's Poem in a well-barricaded hotel room, Tender Sky goes to convince her ex, Open Metal, not to kill the Notion's Ward. Meanwhile, miles and miles away, Morning's Observation and Grand Magnificent search for answers in the float...
May 25, 2018•2 hr 23 min
As the axiom Ache strikes from above, the Notion joins Acre-7 in trying to end the conflict so Quire can perform a second miracle. Gig Kephart, desperate for some additional help, makes a decision that results in painful consequences. Echo Reverie makes a move, at last, on a dangerous foe, and the planet Quire leaves its mark on them, while Signet is caught between her past and present loyalties. And, in the heart of the Wound, Even Gardner witnesses something remarkable take shape. This week on...
May 18, 2018•1 hr 34 min
With the prophesied "Dark Day" less than 24 hours away, the Notion continue their plan to intercede and stop the murder of Wind's Poem, one of the event's potential catalysts. Grand Magnificent and Fourteen Fifteen look for loopholes (legal and otherwise) that will give them access to the Compel Project blueprint. And while Tender Sky tries to convince their mark to come under the group's protection, Morning's Observation senses a threat to his boring life of simple Tuesdays. This week on Twilig...
May 10, 2018•1 hr 47 min
Across the threshold into the Vale's deepest fog, The Notion is finally sets their sights on their target, Acre-7, as well as the axiom Ache, who brings with it visions of their deepest regrets. As Ache tears through the earth in the distance, the group travels with two uneasy companions, Saint Wynter and Advent agent Gigas, towards Acre-7 to get answers and offer support before focusing on the combat around them. Even Gardner does his best to keep the peace with Wynter and Gigas, and Gig Kephar...
May 05, 2018•1 hr 58 min
Determined to prevent two murders predicted by Crystal Palace, the Notion heads to one of Skein's allocologies, a floating, all-in-one corporate campus. Their plan? Infiltrate the lab of Wind's Poem, one of the potential victims, by pretending to be the inventors of a solid-milk-based art startup. While Tender and Poem talk about passion projects, Fourteen Fifteen and Grand Magnificent try to locate the blueprint to a terrible weapon. This week on Twilight Mirage: Bona Fide, Good Faith Now I'm i...
Apr 28, 2018•2 hr 1 min
After careful planning, the Notion covertly breaches the outer perimeter of the Vale, bypassing the dronefield of Saint Wynter... only to have a bumbling team of Advent Group agents set the alarm off. After retreating, the group find its bearings and begins to moves through the o v ergrown city, a strange echo of an alternate Quire. The group meets a stranger in need, but before he can be fully aided, Saint Wynter comes into sight, looking to stop the intruders. Echo Reverie leads the group deep...
Apr 20, 2018•1 hr 47 min
As half of the Notion explores the jungle valleys of Skein, the others descend to Terncage, the planet’s largest metropolis. A pair of old allies tells the group that a mysterious calamity called “Dark Day” is nearing, and that the Rapid Evening’s oracular Crystal Palace has predicted that it will follow a pair of strange murders. The predicted victims are Wind’s Poem--the artist and researcher responsible for Tender’s ReFrame system--and Profit’s Cadence--the new leader of the Church of the Sel...
Apr 13, 2018•1 hr 54 min
Deep in the jungles and mountains of the planet of Skein, far from the NEH metropolises, scientists from across cultures have come together to form Ternion Research. Their chief object of study is the Wound, a massive gash in the planet’s surface that comes to its deepest point in a place called the Vale, which may be home to the consciousness of the world-being Quire. The three subgroups of Ternion—defector explorers from the Ever Forward, creators from the former Crown university called the Ga...
Apr 06, 2018•2 hr 7 min
With their missions on Gift-3 behind them, the Notion is made to consider what went right, what went wrong, and what they can do to make sure things go better next time.Tender investigates the experimental NEH technology in her Angler unit. Even meets up with an old friend for a quiet dinner together, while Signet finds her own company to celebrate the anniversary of the Miracle with. Gig makes good on a promise to the kids of the Ark, while Fourteen Fifteen ensures that the group has secured re...
Mar 30, 2018•2 hr 30 min
Deep within the endless Q-Glass storm of Gift-3, the Notion investigate and converse with the residents of the Axiomatic town of Polyphony. While Even Gardner trades ship tips with the smuggler Tannoy Kajj and Echo Reverie confronts their feelings about a supposedly perfect place, Signet speaks goes right to the source: Polyphony themself. The question is, if the inhabitants of this quaint town need no rescue, if there is no alibi for violence, what should the Notion do? This week on Twilight Mi...
Mar 23, 2018•1 hr 44 min
Deep in the scrapyards of Gift-3, a bubbling ocean of glass is battered by an massive, endless lightning storm. And beyond the sheets of rain, lies Barricade, the axiom that Notion members Signet, Echo, and Even must deal with on order of Kitcha Kanna, their dubious taskmaster and the Chief Expeditionary of Advent's technology division in the Mirage. They prepare their minds, ready their Anglers, and take flight... But when they pierce the storm, will they find a fight or something more? This we...
Mar 16, 2018•1 hr 51 min
Aboard the floating airship of Big Garage, the Notion come face to face with an old ally, the award winning bounty hunter Waltz Tango (Cache). As Fourteen Fifteen scraps with Waltz and Grand Magnificent squares off against a monsterous foe, Tender, Gig, and Yam attempt to secure a pathway forward for the crew. Unfortunately, these are not the only obstacles between them and the perpetual motion engine they need to power the Ark's shields. T his week on Twilight Mirage: Look the Other Way You are...
Mar 08, 2018•1 hr 54 min
After returning from their meeting with Advent and the Concretetown Particulars, the Notion discusses the complexity of the situation over dinner. When a new offer is made, the group prepares for their largest operation yet: The piercing of a powerful storm and a confrontation against an Axiomatic foe. Even digs for information, Signet reaches out for Divine aid, and Echo returns a gift. This week on Twilight Mirage: No Value in a Closed Door We don't talk much or nothin' But when we talkin' abo...
Mar 02, 2018•1 hr 42 min
Having agreed to help a group of young runaways that go by the name the Sailors of the Ark, the Notion begin to gather information for their mission. Fourteen Fifteen, Grand Magnificent, and Tender Sky head toward Big Garage’s terrestrial transport center to secure passage onto the floating city ship, only to find things more complicated (and tightly scheduled) than they’d hope. Gig Kep-Hart and the sentient Torch Unit named Yam, meanwhile, visit with members of the Ark to piece together clues a...
Feb 23, 2018•1 hr 57 min
