Embrace 05: Deny Your Maker

These Flimsy Rituals

c/w body horror, possession, insects

"Us that used to play in the alleys and backstreets of Calvary had a game. A bunch of us would cluster together, locked arm-to-arm, roaring and vicious, pretending to be a remnant. Whoever was left got to be one of the Tenders, would try and take that giggling mass of bodies down. They’d pretend to be Carn nim Daker or Arbor’s Precident or another of their legends.

Everyone had their favourite, though there was one we always fought over. Oken nim Shalif, the slayer of Relict and the Ochre Hull. And on those streets where we played, we could see the tower where he was said to keep watch, asleep until Embrace needed him."

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Before Oken nim Shalif lies the rapidly calcifying body of a god. Relict - remnant of preservation, of Eolith - dead by his spear.

In its last moments, that vacant gives one last, parting gift. Time slips. Oken - wielder of the sun spear, Tender of the Dawn’s Embers, remnant-killer, and, at last, a hero worthy of his family’s name - becomes unmoored in time. Days, months and years begin to slip through his fingers.

This episode, we play a hacked version of Jason Morningstar’s The Skeletons, published by Bully Pulpit Games. We play to find out what happens to Oken, as he finds himself slipping through time.

~~ PEOPLE ~~

Relict: Remnant of Eolith, focused on preservation. Slain by the Jackals Oken nim Shalif and Flint Erul Tun.

Mell: One of Relict’s envoys, leader of a gestalt consciousness. Once an enormous woman with a horn of bees, now a bee.

~~ FACTIONS ~~

Jackals: More formally known as the Tenders of the Dawn’s Embers, the Jackals are an organisation of remnant hunters guided by strange divination.

nim Shalif: Embrace’s newest great family. Originally founded in Gallance, they are seen by the rest as opportunistic incomers.

nim Callad: Embrace’s oldest great family. Former monarchs of the city, they long to regain their title.

nim Daker: A great family, founded by the killer of Caerdroia and Rodella. Staunchly anti-remnant.

The Shorach: Embrace’s secret rulers. The Widow, the Slayer and the Bee.

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Episode title from Alice in Chain's Man in the Box

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Follow the show on twitter @flimsyrituals

Find our website at flimsyrituals.com

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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 taken from Kai Engel’s Satin