#silt verses

[xcylo]

The lights are back on.

[thesiltverses]

The Silt Verses RPG has just launched from the acclaimed designers of Brindlewood Bay and The Between!

Investigate stray angels, strange haunts, and murderous cults in a world of gods and sacrifice as a disciple of the Saint Electric, Trawler-man, Watcher in the Wings, Cairn Maiden, Pox Martyr, or the Waxen Scrivener.

Delve into backwoods towns, floating markets where sacred relics are bought and sold, bustling clinics where medical 'miracles' come at a hideous cost - and even a towering skyscraper of conjoined steel, glass, and flesh.

You can purchase a copy over on DriveThruRPG, or at the Silt Verses or The Gauntlet Patreon, netting you the rulebook, 8 Assignments, 6 Faith Sheets, 8 Journey Sheets, and more.

This game really is a labour of love from a small team of innovative indie RPG creators, and already a genuine work of art (so we'd be incredibly grateful for your help in playing, giving feedback, and spreading the word far and wide) - we think it's an absolutely fantastic achievement, and we know The Gauntlet are only going to keep building and improving on the game from here.

You can find out more by joining The Gauntlet Discord.

[transgenderboobs]

my colleague and i are having some compatibility issues.

world's worst kidnappers bicker their way through a carjacking

[mintytea-exe]

my current favourite characters:

1. sister carpenter

2. mallory glass

3. carpenter

3. mallory

4. mal

5. "sandra"

[lunali-moon]

podcast sketches for the mood

[fataldrum]

One of my favorite things about The Silt Verses is that the Parish of Tide and Flesh are simultaneously a Great and Powerful Religion and a tiny, podunk cult. It all just depends on which character is talking.

The Trawlerman can accomplish terrifying miracles, obliterate entire towns--but he's one of thousands of gods littering a cursed landscape. He's inconsequential, bound to one pitiful river, but he managed to call Faulkner from a rusty, abandoned tank miles away from his shores.

He's a half-forgotten superstition.

He's a threat to national security.

His cult is infamous.

No one's fucking heard of them.

[lesbeansprout]

Gentle reminder that when you talk about podcasts on the Rusty Quill network, remember that the shows are created and produced by independent groups, not RQ themselves. The network is a great tool to uplift these smaller creators, so as listeners, let’s do our part in supporting them as well!

[crimeronan]

there are literally incalculable meta posts i could make about the silt verses (it’s one of those stories where i have thoughts about Every Damn Line) but tonight i’m thinking about how..... DELICIOUSLY it sets up and then subverts your worldbuilding expectations.

if you haven’t listened yet. consider this mini essay my pitch. (or rather one of many pitches.)

because you start with this narrative episode about two members of an outlawed religion seeking other members of their faith, and they’re both compelling and sympathetic and layered narrators, but also. one is describing a childhood built on drowning and torturing people to death and the other is delighted by sacrificial corpses and horrific apparitions of eldritch nonsense and you’re like, “okay, yeah, this is a horror podcast. i can pretty damn well see why your religion is outlawed jesus FUCK you guys how is there THIS MUCH MURDER involved in your religious rites-”

and one of the narrators tells you that society is hypocritical because the legal religions Also cause harm. and if you’re anything like me, you go okay, girl, whatever you need to tell yourself to justify your current crusade. your god is a special kind of fucked up but it’s all good

then of course there are hints of social worldbuilding that challenge this assumption, but it’s not until paige’s introduction ep that you’re smacked Full In The Face with like. All Of It. 

because paige is a law-abiding citizen high up on the corporate food chain, and she works a mundane job at a branding company. 

and the company’s margins are bad. 

and the company’s industry is shrinking. 

and the company needs to cut costs and reinvigorate its own brand. 

and of course this is a difficult time for everyone but flexibility is necessary to stay competitive in a cutthroat world.

and now the company is torturing its low-performing employees to death in front of everyone as a corporate ritual. viscerally described. 

and paige, who JUST watched her closest work friend die in the most horrific way imaginable, is playing her part as someone high up on the corporate food chain.

she is being upbeat and being cheerful and encouraging her surviving coworkers to “look lively” and pretending that nothing happened. 

and not a single person protests. and no one shrieks in horror and everyone shifts back into their worksona and the day passes without any particular note because this is a social norm and layoff-sacrifices are too commonplace to report and it is legal and it is accepted and it is a good way to boost the flagging numbers for the giant capitalist machine.

and you have this realization that. 

this Really Is how the world is. 

there really ISN’T anything separating the outlaw narrators’ rituals from those of the corporate and city-based gods.

and then the follow-up question becomes, “wait, then why is THEIR god banned?? if it’s not the murder and the horror then why is their god banned???? what’s the fucking difference????”

and the answer is that their outlawed god draws people away from the cities and the factories and the oil rigs and the pollution and the mineshafts. and their outlawed god does not contribute anything to the state. 

and it’s not about what people worship or what the gods want or what the rituals require or what the hallowed bodies look like.

it’s just about how The State (TM) and Capitalism (TM) are both systems that have weaponized the law to kill every god that doesn’t contribute to their money and power and exploitation and culture and control.

and then it’s.... it’s not about the horror anymore.

it’s not a story of two deeply flawed protagonists from a sick and twisted cult who are reasonably forced into the shadows of a largely normal world because They Are In A Horror Story, And Are Doing What Horror Protagonists Do (Being Fucking Crazy).

it’s a story about our world. the one we live in. we the listener. here in our modern-ass non-supernatural late-stage-capitalism world. it’s about all the structures we’ve built and burned and all the destruction at the center of that goddamn world.

the eldritch gods and terrors are just set dressing.

[aeli-tan-art]

White Gull River Trail Cam

[sketchmre]

happy pride to everyone still recovering from season 2 chapter 14

[oldcloudyellsatman]

"My daughter... She came up with it. It was her idea. Isn't my daughter clever?"

I'm fucking CRYING

[toby-du-coeur]

diversity win!

the thing that eats you respects your pronouns

[thesiltverses]

And we're back!

As Val advances towards Nesh, Paige resolves to shoulder the burdens of leadership, Shrue negotiates back and forth over the faith of the Parish of Tide and Flesh - and a small team of national grid workers decide to take a stand.

This episode includes descriptions of mass civilian death and sanctification. Transcript: https://www.thesiltverses.com/transcript-season-3-chapter-8

This episode features Marta da Silva, Lucille Valentine, Ishani Kanetkar, Damon Alums, Madeleine Turley, Kale Brown, Sarah Griffin, Rhys Lawton, Jimmie Yamaguchi and Méabh de Brún.

Additional voices by William Wellman, Rae Lundberg, Alex Nursall, Nathan Lunsford, Shaun Pellington, Michelle Kelly, Seb Hodgkiss, Rissa Montanez, Marlon Dance-Hooi, Lou Sutcliffe and Alex Stanley-Bell.

As ever, really hope you enjoy the listen.

[sunlitmcgee]

me, my recovering ex-cop buddy, and my deadbeat dad. I think this is the best way to make a new god tbh. I think this is the Ideal environment for divine genesis

[reverendlazarus]

FINISHED THE NEW SILT VERSES EP. JEEESUS CHRIST WHAT AN EPISODE first off, the SOUNDSCAPING? its always so good but this episode was INSANE. major props to the team for conveying an honest to god car chase through the marshland ending with a crash into a chain link fence through SOUND poor poor Carpenter, i need to get her some good hearty soup and a leg brace right fucking now. and i love Faulkner to death but god do i want to wring his stupid little zealot neck. also in the transcripts his people are called Faulknerians? is he gonna create a whole ass denomination??? and the ENDING! hayward my boy i am so glad hes doing well and PROPHET PAIGE!!! PROPHET PAIGE ON THE HORIZON!!!!!! god the parallels between paige + faulkner and hayward + carpenter are gonna be STRONG this season i can feel it. all in all banger episode i am so excited for the rest of the season

[chainofbeing]

First cast announcment of the day is the one and only Méabh de Brún!

Méabhis an award-winning writer, playwright and actor. She enjoys ghosts, the smell of the sea and performing in great audio drama podcasts like The Silt Verses, @thekilda, The Omen Podcast, and others. You can find out more about Méabh's work at http://meabhdebrun.org.

Méabh will be playing Setmesagoras Ankria Senagis, fresh faced crimelord who will stop at nothing to get her way, no matter the cost.